Sept. 21, 1947: Los Angeles Leads U.S. in Burglaries, Ranks 3rd in Killings After New York, Chicago

Posted on September 21, 2025 by lmharnisch

Sept. 21, 1947, Comics
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September 21, 1907: 26 Men Deported to China

Posted on September 21, 2025 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

September 21, 1907
Los Angeles

It is one thing to know in the abstract about racial intolerance at the turn of the 20th century and quite another to have to read it in the daily paper. I will spare you the long quotes in pidgin Chinese dialect, but trust me, they make the Charlie Chan movies look like models of multiculturalism.

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September 20, 1947: Marie ‘The Body’ McDonald Marries Karl the Shoe Man

Posted on September 20, 2025 by lmharnisch

Sept. 20, 1947, L.A. Times

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

Marie (The Body) McDonald, 23-year-old film actress, last night was married to Harry Karl, 33, shoe merchant, in a quiet civil ceremony at the home of Karl’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Karl, 829 N. Orlando St.

Superior Court Judge Edward R. Brand performed the ceremony, after which the wedding party attended a reception at the Mocambo restaurant on the Sunset Strip.

The couple will fly to New York for a three-week honeymoon, Karl said, and then return to live in Los Angeles.

Miss McDonald and Karl met at a Hollywood party 15 months ago. It was the second marriage for both. The actress divorced Vic Orsatti, theatrical agent, in Nevada five months ago. Karl was divorced from his first wife, Mrs. Ruth Karl, two years ago.

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September 20, 1907: Suicide Note — ‘Everything Is Boiling’

Posted on September 20, 2025 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

September 20, 1907
Los Angeles

For weeks, Colorado mining investor John Geisel, 57, had confided in his diary as he felt his mind and his life coming unraveled “Good God,” he wrote, “for the first time today I began to fear that I could not control my thoughts.”

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September 19, 1957: Paul V. Coates–Confidential File

Posted on September 19, 2025 by lmharnisch

Sept. 19, 1957

Paul Coates, in coat and tieNever underestimate the power of little old ladies.

I did, two days ago.

I accused a frail, grandmotherly type, born circa 1887, of pulling an amusing little con game to gain herself a free meal or a few bucks
pocket change.

She answered classified ads–I pointed out–representing herself as a wealthy, slightly eccentric old dame. Promising to buy $1,000 pieces of furniture or invest a fast ten grand in some business venture, she would then commence to wangle a free dinner invitation or “suddenly” discover she’d lost her change purse and “borrow” an easy five or ten
bucks from the unsuspecting advertiser.

In Tuesday’s column I mentioned a visit by Granny to the home of interior decorator Barney Feldman. Continue reading →

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September 19, 1947: L.A. OKs Right Turn on Red Light!

Posted on September 19, 2025 by lmharnisch


L.A. Times, Sept. 19, 1947
Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

Sept. 19, 1947, Right TurnsAdopted across the country and lampooned by Woody Allen, Los Angeles’ right turn on a red light was born in obscurity. Although the city used traffic semaphores (mechanical devices with metal arms reading “STOP” and “GO” that swung out of the signal—just like in the old cartoons and the opening of “Double Indemnity”) instead of lights, the right turn on red was in effect as early as 1939, when the City Council sought to ban them.

The state Legislature banned the right turn on red in 1945, but because cities were allowed to post exceptions, three survived: Mission Road at Macy Street and Sunset Boulevard at Castellar Street (now Hill Street), both downtown; and at Ventura and Lankershim Boulevards in the Valley.

Restored in 1947, the right turn on red remains the birthright of all L.A. motorists.

Bonus factoids: The city experimented with synchronized signals in 1922 to ease traffic. The length of a stop was cut from 45 seconds to 30.

“The traffic situation is Los Angeles’ single biggest problem,” The Times said — in 1924.

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1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, September 19, 1944

Posted on September 19, 2025 by lmharnisch

Sept. 19, 1944, Comics

Sept. 19, 1944

Walter Winchell says: FDR’s desk has four new miniatures of his sons in uniform. The Copacabana’s new revue starring Joe E. Lewis is the talk of the town. Before Pearl Harbor there were 3,000 Jap organizations in the U.S. The G-men have whittled them down to two.

Danton Walker says: The Pentagon Building personnel is in a dither over Gen. Lear’s determination to move out all officers and swivel chair strategists under the age of 45 who can be used in more active service…. Washington is hopped up over the persistent rumor that the Russians will join us in the war on Japan as soon as the Nazis are pushed off Russian territory.

Louella Parsons says: The much-sought after Academy Award winner, Jennifer Jones, who has had all the studios bidding for her, makes her next movie for Hal Wallis. Yes, indeed, over the weekend David Selznick read the script by Ayn Rand, liked it, and told Hal that Jennifer was free to start any time. So apparently the trouble with 20th is all settled…. I was interested to hear that Ayn Rand, author of “Fountainhead,” had prepared the script. Wonder what happened to “Fountainhead” if it is to be filmed?

From the Philadelphia Inquirer via Fultonhistory.com.
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September 19, 1944: Allies 310 Miles From Berlin!

Posted on September 19, 2025 by lmharnisch

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September 19, 1944

At a Town Hall luncheon at the Biltmore, RAF Wing Cmdr. Christopher Currant tells the audience that what we now know as the V-2 rocket is the greatest argument against isolationism.

“It can be dropped on New York without any difficulty. It is merely a matter of fuel,” he says.

Currant also says that the morale of German fliers is extremely low and added: “Both American and British fliers were disappointed when during the invasion of France they found no air resistance. We had expected the greatest air battle of all times.”

Times reporter and columnist Gene Sherman files a first-person report from Palau and describes fierce fighting against the Japanese.

“The waves lap at a naked Marine whose body was burned yesterday in a shell explosion. He lies with his arms upraised. Another Marine kneels with bowed head in prayer at an ammunition box.”

Opening today: “Kismet” at the Egyptian, Fox Ritz and Los Angeles theaters.

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September 19, 1907: Deadlier Than Male

Posted on September 19, 2025 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Sept. 19, 1907
Los Angeles

“Hidden somewhere in Los Angeles is a daredevil Spanish woman who should be standing with the Mexican revolutionaries when they are arraigned here in the United States Court,” The Times says.

“Letters recently confiscated show that she was the most daring and reckless anarchist of all the band. Her name is Maria Talivera. She is said to be a beautiful and attractive woman. Her friends and even her husband regarded her as a quiet housewife, intent on cooking frijoles. But in her fry pans she was seeing men fighting, hearing in the sizzle of the grease the clash of arms, the pound of horses’ feet and the din and commotion of a nation’s government overthrown.”

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September 18, 1947: Navajo Teenagers Arrive at Sherman Institute

Posted on September 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

L.A. Times, 1947


Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

RIVERSIDE—A contingent of 369 Navajo Indian boys and girls from New Mexico and Arizona has arrived at Riverside’s famed Sherman Institute.

Many of the youngsters, who range in age from 10 to 18, will be introduced to formal schooling for the first time, but others are returning for the second year of the Navajo educational program.

Last year, emphasis was principally on trade schooling, but the younger Navajos, many of them unable to speak English, were brought here for basic schooling.

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September 18, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on September 18, 2025 by lmharnisch
Everyone seems to be trying to settle on what Mr. K. “should really see” when he gets to L.A. — ranging from beatnik joints to supermarkets to the interchange and freeway traffic, Matt Weinstock says.

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September 18, 1959: Paul V. Coates — Confidential File

Posted on September 18, 2025 by lmharnisch
September 18, 1959: “The only trouble with a woman who ‘wants a man’ is that everybody knows it,” Dear Abby says.
Paul Coates writes of Richard Swanson’s death: “At SC, for example, there are 32 fraternities. I’m told, on excellent authority, that at least 90% make hazing an annual practice. There’s a university regulation forbidding it. Now, there’s even a state law against it. Yet the students make no secret of their ceremonies. I’m not so naive as to believe that the school administrators didn’t know what was going on. They did know. But, in spite of a growing list of pointless deaths which result from the practice, they did nothing to stop it.”

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1944 in Print — Life Magazine, Sept. 18, 1944

Posted on September 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

Sept. 18, 1944, Thomas E. Dewey

September 18, 1944

After spending Labor Day in Pawling, Republican nominee Thomas E. Dewey drove to New York for conferences with John Foster Dulles, his adviser on foreign affairs, and Herbert Brownell, Republican National Committee chairman. The next day, on an 11-car special train, accompanied by 65 reporters, he started on his 6,700-mile campaign trip to the Pacific coast. In Philadelphia, he delivered his opening campaign speech.

Ever wonder what would happen of Salvador Dali was a commercial artist?

Life features Ed Wynn’s whimsical “inventions.”

And after the war, get ready for television.

Scanned by Google Books.
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1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, September 18, 1944

Posted on September 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

Sept. 18, 1944, Comics
September 18, 1944

Walter Winchell and Danton Walker refer to the Aug. 5 fight between Jon Hall and Tommy Dorsey in the so-called Battle of the Balcony at Dorsey’s apartment on the Sunset Strip.

Walter Winchell says: Norma Shearer is trying to mend the L.B. Mayers’ split. Jack Marshall suggests a new theme song for slugger Tommy Dorsey: “Would You Like to Swing on a Star?”

Danton Walker says: The Xavier Cugat divorce papers were filed a month ago and the story leaked out only accidentally.

The Crown Prince of Nigeria has arranged with Barney Josephson, owner of the two Cafe Society nightclubs (Uptown and Downtown), to have prominent Negro talent visit his country after the war.

This week, Universal Pictures sent out beautiful invitations for the premiere of “San Diego, I Love You,” the covers of which bore pictures of Jon Hall fighting over a beautiful gal.

Louella Parsons says: I felt sure it would be only a question of time before the story of Mother Cabrini, who devoted her life to underprivileged children, would reach the screen.

VIRGO: Profits, returns from investments, collections no prominent but tasks will done will bring just reward in due time. Be guided by importance and urgency of duties.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer via Fultonhistory.com.

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September 18, 1933: Bandit Killed, LAPD Officers Wounded in Burlesque Theater Shootout

Posted on September 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

Sept. 18, 1933, Comics

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

September 18, 1933: Jack Keating, 30, and John Melvin Early, 35, had a plan to rob the Girlesque Theater at 510 S. Main St., but when the shooting was over, Keating was dead and Early and two men who helped plan the robbery were in jail.

The robbery began shortly after the midnight show, when Keating and Early drew guns and forced  Girlesque employees Robert Winslow and his wife, Mildred, to escort them to the theater office, where manager John R. Ward and C.C. Hurst were present.

Another employee, Edward Sweeney, seeing the Winslows with two strangers, sensed that something was wrong, slipped out of the theater through a side door and found Officers H.W. Tash and S.D. Moore at 5th Street and Main.

In the meantime, Ward told the gunmen: “If this is a holdup, here is all the money I have,” throwing two $5 bills and 11 $1 bills ($377.35 USD 2013) on the floor, The Times said.

The officers arrived at the theater as Early and Keating were tying up the victims with wire, and the robbers began shooting. The police killed Keating, but were badly wounded by  Early, who surrendered when he ran out of bullets.

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September 17, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on September 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 17, 1959: A man with a moving and storage company has thoughts about the ratio of families who are moving into Los Angeles with those who are moving out. The city has reached the saturation point, he tells Matt Weinstock.

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September 17, 1959: Paul V. Coates — Confidential File

Posted on September 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 17, 1959: Paul Coates looks at the case of Caryl Chessman, scheduled to be executed in the gas chamber. A letter writer asks Dear Abby if it's appropriate to ask restaurants for leftovers in a doggy bag.

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1944 in Print — Hollywood News and Gossip by Louella Parsons, September 17, 1944

Posted on September 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

Sept. 17, 1944, Bloomer Girl

September 17, 1944

Bestsellers: “Green Dolphin Street,” “Leave Her to Heaven,” “History of Rome Hanks,” “Strange Fruit,” “I Never Left Home,” “The Time for Decision,” “Yankee From Olympus,” “Anna and the King of Siam” and “Invasion!”

Louella Parsons says: All her life Vivian Blaine will be grateful to Victoria Elizabeth James and Phyllis Faye Harris for starring parts, for if these young ladies hadn’t elected to be born Vivian would still be just one of the bevy of pretty girls on the 20th lot.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer via Fultonhistory.com.
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September 17:1907: L.A. Celebrates Mexican Independence Day

Posted on September 17, 2025 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

September 17, 1907
Los Angeles

Mexican Independence Day was celebrated in a grand program sponsored by the Club Porfiro Diaz of Los Angeles at Turner Hall, 325 S. Main (demolished 1951), which was decorated with American and Mexican flags.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Olvera Street, Salute to Los Angeles’ Spanish Past

Posted on September 16, 2025 by lmharnisch

Avila Adobe
A postcard of the Avila Adobe, listed on EBay for $1.89.


“A people that has lost touch with its historical past, forgotten its traditions and wasted its heritage is as unfortunate as a man who has lost his memory. Without knowledge of the past, both the present and the future are meaningless.”

Harry Chandler, Olvera Street News, December 1933

Note: This is an encore post from 2019.

Christine Sterling Long before Los Angeles or Hollywood possessed any historic preservation organizations fighting to save architectural, cultural or historically significant buildings, Los Angeles Times Editor and Publisher Harry S. Chandler astutely summed up what preservation is all about: saving structures that help define a sense of identity and place, showing where we as a society and people come from.

Throughout its history, the city has often turned a blind eye to its past, demolishing buildings reflecting the daily lives of both ordinary and powerful citizens trying to make an impact on their own time and place. These sites and buildings often reveal the history of less powerful citizens of the time, those of other races, cultures, and orientations that are often written out of historical texts.

Mary Mallory’s latest book, “Living With Grace: Life Lessons from America’s Princess,”  is now on sale.

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