Note: This is an encore from 2007.
February 8, 1907
Los Angeles
About 1903, Charles E. Donnatin, former Pacific Electric Railway superintendent, apparently said something about the young woman across the street at the Stewart home, Savoy Street and Buena Vista (now 1301 N. Broadway).
The woman’s mother was furious and soon a 5-gallon oil can appeared in the Stewart’s yard saying “C.E.D. has been” with the implication that Donnatin had been “canned” from his job.
February 7, 1944
It’s Monday in 1944 and today we have:
— Hop Harrigan refuses to leave Tank behind in escaping from Berlin with the secret plans in “Hop Harrigan.” Courtesy of Archive.org.
— “His Butler’s Sister” with Deanna Durbin, Pat O’Brien and Robert Paige on “Lux Radio Theater.” Courtesy of Archive.org.
Note: This is an encore post from 2007.
February 7, 1907
Los Angeles
A Child’s Testimony
Charles Babbitt is sentenced to 30 days in jail on charges of domestic violence after the testimony of his 6-year-old son. “Papa hit me with a whip and it cut my head,” the boy said. “Then he hit mama.” “The man blinked his eyes and said that he did it because he was drunk” The Times says.
Read the entire Feb. 7, 1863, edition of the Los Angeles Star from the Huntington Library, scanned by USC.
Feb. 7 1863: The coroner holds an inquest in the killing of Christian Hutt. George Wright, the father of accused killer Reason Wright, said Hutt began shooting when he was “geeing” the plow oxen to get out of his way. “Gee” is the word used to tell oxen, mules, etc., to turn to the right. “Haw” means to turn to the left.
The newly created Board of Health reports on the smallpox cases in Los Angeles. Inspectors found a total of 128 cases of smallpox, found 170 people who had not been vaccinated and vaccinated 146 people.
Mr. Mott, Allen and Hubbard competed against Mr. Vandenburg, Phillips and Wiley in a pigeon shoot south of town. And yes, they were using real pigeons, not clay targets.
In an editorial, The Star says that the state Legislature is corrupt.
Cinda Cates, Burbank public information specialist, passes along the images that were recovered from the 1959 time capsule placed in the Magnolia Boulevard Bridge. The anonymous photographer recorded the city’s civic buildings (City Hall, a fire station, etc.) and took quite a few pictures of the new bridge.
Spend a moment on the predictions of Kenneth E. Norwood of Burbank’s Planning Department. He envisioned a city where only 12% of the people lived in single-family homes, with 88% in multi-unit garden apartments made of plastic that were incorporated in commercial complexes. “These complexes are supposed to be the ultimate in urban living, combining offices, hotels, apartments, shops, restaurants, etc., in one continuous complex of buildings, malls and arcades,” he wrote. Continue reading
Photograph by Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times
The 50-year-old time capsule about to be freed from the Magnolia Boulevard Bridge.
Jia-Rui Chong
Times Staff Writer
With a hammer and a chisel, a Burbank city worker this morning carved out a tiny silver time capsule 50 years after it was first tucked into the base of the Magnolia Bridge.
“It was there — we found it,” said deputy city manager Joy Forbes, excitement and relief bubbling through her voice. Continue reading
A representative from the city of Burbank says:
On Thursday, February 5, 2009, at 10:30 a.m., the city of Burbank will be opening a time capsule that was placed in the Magnolia Boulevard bridge when it was built in 1959. There will not be a big ceremony, but the press is invited to attend.
Note: This is a post I wrote in 2007.
February 4, 2007
South Pasadena
The Times publishes three architectural drawings of “artistic bungalows” prepared by the firm of Wilson and Barnes. One is being built by W.E. Fox on Columbia near Sunset Boulevard, the second by Dr. T.H. Lowers on Main Street in Alhambra and the third by A.J. Padau on Marengo in South Pasadena “near the Monrovia car line.”
The Times says of Padau’s home: “This, perhaps, is the best located of the three houses, as from its windows can be seen the entire panorama of mountain and valley to the north and east. It is strictly modern in its design. A feature of the exterior is the broad span from corner to corner of the porch, affording an unobstructed view from the large living room in the front of the house. There are five rooms in the little structure. The cost was $2,500 ($51,308.93 USD 2005).”
Notice the item about the police psychiatrist. This post will eventually be filled by Dr. Joseph Paul De River.
In the February 2026 Ask Me Anything on the Black Dahlia case, I gave an update on my work in progress, Heaven Is Here!
I discussed — yet again — the absurdity of trying to link the Black Dahlia and Zodiac cases. Here’s a link to Elon Green’s January 23, 2026, article in Defector. Continue reading
By GREGG BARRIOS
WATSONVILLE, Calif. — “I still remember the first time we heard Ritchie sing on the
radio,” the mother of the late Latino rock ‘n’ roller Ritchie Valens recalled about that distant day, almost 30 years ago.
“I told his brother Bob, come on, let’s go to Saugus. I had some business there. I had a 1950 Olds then. The body wasn’t too good, but I paid $50 for each tire and I bought five. I pulled over to the side of the road
when ‘Come On, Let’s Go’ came on the radio. We just sat there looking at each other amazed.”
In those days, before son Ritchie became
a star, the family lived in the San Fernando Valley. Mrs. Consuelo (Connie) Valenzuela would often take her kids to the Spanish-language movies, especially to the Million Dollar Theater in downtown Los Angeles where they would see master comic Cantinflas and Mexican charro/singer Tito Guizar. “I always thought you had really arrived when a film made it to that theater,” she remembered. Continue reading
Feb. 2, 1938
Los Angeles
After watching The Times twist and turn to avoid saying exactly what the victims in the Paul Wright case were doing when they were shot, we finally get around to it–sort of. Here’s the setup: After a night of heavy drinking by everyone involved, Wright has gone to bed, leaving his wife, Evelyn, and best friend Johnny Kimmel in the living room.
Wright said he was awakened by the sound of the piano and went to investigate, although it was claimed that he merely hid in the bedroom and watched the couple using a full-length mirror on the bedroom door. Continue reading
February 2, 1907
Los Angeles
Conditions at Chutes Park are so bad that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is making a second inspection to see whether operator J.B. Lehigh has made any improvements before his Feb. 20 trial on charges of abuse and neglect.
Chutes is nothing more than a mud-filled stockyards of suffering animals, The Times says. “The ‘park’ is a long puddle of filth, reeking with slime and mud. In the pen where three little does are confined, one of them so emaciated that it is literally hidebound, a thick green scum has formed over the stagnant pool of slime that occupies a good share of the particular part of the ‘park’ where these poor little animals are shut up.” Continue reading
This week’s mystery movie was the 1994 Universal film The Paper, with Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, Randy Quaid, Robert Duvall, Jason Alexander, Spalding Gray, Catherine O’Hara, Lynne Thigpen, Jack Kehoe, Roma Maffia, Clint Howard, Geoffrey Owens, Amelia Campbell, Jill Hennessy, William Prince, Augusta Dabney, Bruce Altman, Jack McGee, Bobo Lewis and Edward Hibbert. Continue reading
Among those who went along on American Airlines’ first jet flight to New York a few days ago was this paper’s Bill Thomas. His colleagues felt the event should be commemorated, and as the hour for departure neared they gathered solemnly around the city desk and each contributed 25 cents for a $25,000 insurance policy on his life.
It is hardly necessary to mention that newspapermen are lacking somehow in reverence for the things most people hold dear. Doubtless this comes from seeing
civilization at its worst.
“As the plane goes down,” one said, “it should be comforting for you to know you are doing a nice thing for your friends.” Continue reading
It’s commencement week, but the proudest graduate in Southern California today isn’t from any institution of learning.
He went through his ceremony in a shabby Ocean Park store-front dwelling crowded with friends whose combined arrest records could overflow the filing cabinets of any middle-sized town in the country.
Most of the guests, like the graduate, were former gutter dope addicts.
A couple of months ago I wrote about their experiment in “communal kicking” of the habit.
The group calls itself Synanon. Continue reading
Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947project.
It is difficult to believe that there was a time when newspapers published rape victims’ names and addresses, but the Herald-Express had no misgivings about it. Aggie Underwood, Herald reporter and eventually the city editor of the Herald Examiner, said she once had to go out eight weeks in a row and interview rape victims. Since this woman may still be alive, I’ve deleted her name and address.
Attacker
Masked Man Assaults
Girl at Gun Point
A young masked gunman early today attacked an attractive 18-year-old girl in the Hawthorne district after forcing her to enter his automobile on 161st Street near Hawthorne Boulevard.
January 31, 1944
Today we have:
—“Random Harvest” with Ronald Colman and Greer Garson on Lux Radio Theater. Courtesy of Archive.org.
Note: This is a post I wrote in 2007.
January 31, 1907
Los Angeles
Showing once again that Los Angeles is out of touch with Sacramento, local health officials are fighting an education bill that would lift mandatory smallpox vaccinations for schoolchildren.
Vaccinations were opposed for several reasons in the Legislature. Assemblyman Sackett objected to placing the burden of enforcement on schools. Assemblyman Percival, a Christian Scientist, apparently objected to the measure on religious grounds. Other opponents said the only reason health officials supported the shots is to protect their jobs.
Continue reading
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