Found on EBay – Bullock’s Wilshire

Posted on August 24, 2011 by lmharnisch
Bullock's Wilshire Cape Bullock's Wilshire Label

This rather amazing cape with hood and feather boa from Bullock’s Wilshire has been listed on EBay. The vendor says she bought this about 1979. Bidding starts at $75.

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Old Computers: Less Power Than a Cellphone, but Cool

Posted on August 24, 2011 by lmharnisch

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Photo: Deep Thought (OK, not really) in the Living Computer Museum. Credit: Dionne Searcey/Wall Street Journal.

Dionne Searcey of the Wall Street Journal writes about the Living Computer Museum established by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

And of course, the computers  — with less power than your average cellphone – are put to good use:

Museum workers are hoping others will be as interested in the obsolete gear as Mr. Allen. It already has attracted a following by putting some of the old servers online so technology aficionados can play old-school, largely text-based games like Zork—or otherwise access the computer dinosaurs—just for fun. Students and computer junkies stop by to view the collection by appointment.

To play Zork online telnet zorkonline.org. The user and password are zorkonline. Young persons with Windows-based machines: Click Start, go to Run and type in telnet zorkonline.org. Young persons with Macs: Go to the command prompt in Terminal and do the same thing. Young persons with Linux: You already know what I’m talking about.

The L.A. Daily Mirror and L.A. Crime Beat selected by Old World algorithms by the bots at paper.li.

Posted in History, Museums, Retro | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

James Curtis: L.A. Voices – Dick Lane, Part 6

Posted on August 24, 2011 by lmharnisch


Radio, Oct. 28, 1945

Image: Listening to the radio, Oct. 28, 1945.


This is Part 6 of James Curtis’ 1975 interview with Dick Lane. In this segment, Lane discusses Jack Benny, roller derby, professional wrestling and Gorgeous George.

James Curtis’ interview with Dick Lane Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Continue reading →

Posted in Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, James Curtis, L.A. Voices, Radio, Television | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Found on EBay – Stimson House

Posted on August 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

figueroa_stimson_ebay_crop

Continue reading →

Posted in 1892, Architecture, Found on EBay, Obituaries | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

N.Y. TV Shows ♥ L.A.

Posted on August 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

Aug. 22, 2011, CSI: NY

Photo: “CSI:NY” Sign on Spring Street. Credit: Photograph by Larry Harnisch/L.A. Daily Mirror.

“industry veterans have said that the days of shooting quintessential New York shows (like “Seinfeld” and “Friends”) in California are numbered.”

—New York Times, July 21, 2011

The L.A. Daily Mirror and L.A. Crime Beat sculpted from Twitter feeds to the most exacting specifications by the bots at paper.li. The bots that do L.A. Crime Beat seem to like TMZ’s story about Kim Kardashian porn tapes. They must have been studying SEO 101.

Posted in Crime and Courts, Downtown, Hollywood, Photography, Television | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Voices: Police Capt. Ed Jokisch, 1914 – 2011, Part 3

Posted on August 23, 2011 by lmharnisch

Ed Jokisch

Image: Ed Jokisch retires, Feb. 18, 1972. Retirement cartoons are an LAPD tradition. This is what they looked like in the 1970s. Credit: Ed Jokisch family.

This is Part 3 of my interview with the late Ed Jokisch. Note: Toward the end of this segment Ed and I began going through photographs. There are many long pauses, so I clipped off the last eight or 10 minutes of the interview.

Ed Jokisch interview Part 1 | Part 2

In this portion, Ed discusses Inspector Hugh Farnum, Steve Hodel’s “Black Dahlia Avenger,” abortion rings; the arrests of Dr. Eric Kirk and Timothy W. Tully in an abortion ring in September 1948;

Dan Bechtell; Charles Stoker’s “Thicker ‘n’ Thieves“; the killings of Detectives Robert Endler and Charles Monaghan by Leaman Russell Smith on Feb. 1, 1964;  Adolph Alexander; Dr. Leslie Audrain; Vern Rasmussen; Chief of Detectives Thad Brown; Detective Paul Freestone; Detective Harry Fremont; Chief William H. Parker;

The 1951 Bloody Christmas police beatings;   Leonard Thalberg; Police Capt. Robert Lohrman; Detective Harry Fremont killing Jimmy Greene, suspected of shooting Officer Arturo “Art” Fraide, at Georgia Street Receiving Hospital on Feb. 26, 1947;

The shotgun slaying of mob attorney  Samuel Rummel on Dec. 11, 1950; the “Two Tonys” murder of Anthony Brancato and Anthony Trombino on Aug. 6, 1951;

The Oct. 12, 1949, disappearance of Mickey Cohen associate Dave “Davy” Ogul; the Oct. 7, 1949, disappearance of Jean Spangler; Jimmy “the Weasel” Fratianno; the shooting of Endler and Monaghan;

The Feb. 15, 1946, kidnapping of  Rochelle Gluskoter; Detective Jesse Haskins; Chief Clemence C.B. Horrall; Lee Jones of the LAPD crime lab, Inspector James Lawrence; Los Angeles County Coroner Ben Brown; Capt. Lohrman; Detective Stewart Jones; Charles Riblett,; Detective J.W. Wass;

Detectives Marty Wynn, Vance Braser and Capt. Jack Donahoe and the Dec. 20, 1946, arrest of Erwin Walker in the killing of Highway Patrolman Loren Roosevelt; the case was the basis for “He Walked by Night,” the film that inspired  “Dragnet.”

Posted in Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Voices: Police Capt. Ed Jokisch, 1914 – 2011, Part 3

Ray Bradbury — Newsboy

Posted on August 22, 2011 by lmharnisch

June 27, 1947, Ray Bradbury

June 27, 1947, Ray Bradbury

June 27, 1947: Ray Bradbury, who once sold newspapers at Olympic and Norton, publishes “Dark Carnival,” a book of short stories.

Posted in 1947, Books and Authors | Tagged | 3 Comments

Found on EBay – Witzel Mystery Photo

Posted on August 22, 2011 by lmharnisch

Witzel Hamilton

This Witzel studio photo, which the vendor says shows a child performer named Hamilton, has been listed on EBay. I cannot locate anything on a child performer by this name. Bidding starts at $9.99.

Posted in Found on EBay, Mystery Photo, Photography, Witzel | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Job-Hunting Lessons From the Great Depression

Posted on August 22, 2011 by lmharnisch

July 27, 1941, Help Wanted

Image: Help wanted, July 27, 1941. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Joe Light in the Wall Street Journal looks at job-hunting lessons from the Great Depression.

Interviews with historians and Depression-era job seekers suggest that the formula for finding work hasn’t changed much. Then, as now, those who relentlessly work at making personal connections have better luck landing jobs.

The L.A. Daily Mirror and L.A. Crime Beat made with soft Corinthian leather by the bots at paper.li.

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Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Posted on August 22, 2011 by lmharnisch

2003 Hearse

Photo: 2003 Cadillac hearse for sale on EBay. Bidding starts at $10,000.

Queen of the Dead – dateline August 22, 2011

 

• The godfather of Mondo Cinema, Gualtiero Jacopetti, died at 92 on August 17. The director of the silly, can’t-look-away shockumentary Mondo Cane (1962), he influenced everything from John Waters to all those Faces of Death videos to cable’s “Shit Blows Up” shows to one of my own favorite films, The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield. Jacopetti’s own mondo was kind of scioccante, too: in 1961 he was in a car accident that killed his girlfriend, gorgeous British actress Belinda Lee; Italian papers say he will be buried next to her.

Continue reading →

Posted in Eve Golden, Film, Hollywood, Music, Obituaries, Queen of the Dead, Television, World War II | Comments Off on Eve Golden: Queen of the Dead

Found on EBay – Zoot Suit!

Posted on August 21, 2011 by lmharnisch
Zoot Suit zoot_suit_ebay02
Zoot Suit

What appears to be an original zoot suit, with reet pleat, drape shape and stuff cuff,  has been listed on EBay. According to the vendor, this suit was in the wardrobe department of a movie studio. There is no label, unfortunately.

A perfect find for our continuing series. Bidding starts at $19.99.

“Zoot Suit” and History, Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Posted in 1943, Fashion, Found on EBay, LAPD, World War II, Zoot Suit | Tagged , | 3 Comments

LAPD Pistol Team – 1934 [Updated]

Posted on August 21, 2011 by lmharnisch

LAPD Pistol Team

Photo: The LAPD pistol team puts on a demonstration at the Auto Club headquarters in 1934. Credit: “Three Cars in Every Garage: A Motorist’s History of the Automobile and the Automobile Club of Southern California,” Page 164.

Did they really do this? Yes, they really did.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1934, Books and Authors, LAPD, Photography, Transportation | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Culinary Historians Used Cookbook Sale — See You There!

Posted on August 21, 2011 by lmharnisch

Junior League of Santa Barbara

Photo: The Santa Barbara Junior League Cookbook, 1939. Credit: L.A. Daily Mirror archives.

The Culinary Historians of Southern California will hold its annual used cookbook sale on Aug. 21 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hollywood Farmers Market, at Ivar and Selma avenues. Magazines, menus and other ephemera will also be for sale. The Daily Mirror test kitchen has been inactive for some time, but we do enjoy picking through old cookbooks when we find them and years ago we had a particular soft spot for family recipe boxes we sometimes found in thrift stores. One can discover quite a bit of history in a family’s recipes. See you there!

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Rave Review on Amazon, Only $5

Posted on August 21, 2011 by lmharnisch

Edsel Model 40

Photo: Edsel Ford III, left, and Edsel Ford II at the wheel of the Model 40. Credit: Edsel and Eleanor Ford House.

David Streitfeld of the New York Times reports on how authors, restaurants and hotels can buy a positive Web review for  $5. I call it the cyberclaque and it’s been around for years. The claque, in case you don’t know, was people who were paid to applaud (or boo) at the Paris Opera. Hector Berlioz wrote about it in his wonderful book “Evenings With the Orchestra.”

A restored Model 40 Special Speedster owned by Edsel Ford makes its debut at the Lodge at Pebble Beach. The custom auto was built on a 1934 Ford roadster chassis and designed by E.T. Gregorie based on Edsel Ford’s concept of European sports cars. Jerry Garrett in the New York Times’ Wheels blog.

David J gives an interview about his composition inspired by the Black Dahlia case. Steve Fast on WJBC.

Japanese Americans interned at Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming hold a reunion for the opening of a museum. Esmeralda Bermudez in the Los Angeles Times.

Kevin Nance of the Washington Post visits the National Civil Rights Museum, located in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We can’t be maudlin about this.  I mean, yes, we are a dying breed. We are disappearing from the face of the earth and all of that. That being said, perhaps this is a moment for people to acknowledge the contribution that has been made by women religious throughout our history in the United States.”

–Sister Mary Jean, 73, who has retired as head of SSM Health Care, on the way nuns used to run Catholic hospitals. Kevin Sack in the New York Times.

The L.A. Daily Mirror and L.A. Crime Beat made from Twitter feeds with Old World craftsmanship by the bots at paper.li.

Posted in Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Coming Attractions, Music, Religion, Transportation | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Rave Review on Amazon, Only $5

What Are the 50 Best Books About L.A.?

Posted on August 21, 2011 by lmharnisch

Los Angeles, Morrow Mayo

I don’t care much for lists because they’re usually nothing but “flame bait.”*  The BBC is an abundant source of these dictums, such as “100 Smashing Top-Drawer Books That Everyone Who Aspires to Cultural Literacy Should Read,” which is second only to AFI’s lists of “100 Classic Films That Ignore Your Favorite Director/Writer/Actor/Script Girl” in polluting the Web.

Continue reading →

Posted in Another Good Story Ruined, Books and Authors, History, Libraries | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Found on EBay – Cursed House $666

Posted on August 20, 2011 by lmharnisch

Note: This is funniest EBay entry I have seen in years. Bidding starts at $666.

Cursed Land and/or House

Five pounds of land removed from the center of the basement of the cursed house. If the bid goes over 80k, I will throw in the deed to the place after I settle with the bloodsuckers at IRS and the loansharks, if you want it.

Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Found on EBay | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Tip Jar

Posted on August 20, 2011 by lmharnisch

I have often said that the Daily Mirror is a labor of love for everyone who contributes their work. And it is. There are a few minor expenses of operating the website, books for the Daily Mirror HQ, etc. I had planned to try some Google advertising on the site, but WordPress doesn’t like javascript and keeps eating the coding. When I was making the transition to an independent blog, one devoted reader insisted on sending me a check, which was not necessary, but greatly appreciated. In that vein, donations are certainly not necessary or expected, but greatly appreciated. Click here to donate via Paypal.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Tip Jar

Mike Wallace Interviews

Posted on August 20, 2011 by lmharnisch

Confidential 1957

I stumbled into a trove of interesting interviews by Mike Wallace that are online at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Austin at Texas. Here’s Wallace’s Aug. 25, 1957, interview with the notorious Freddie Otash, the former LAPD officer who worked for Hollywood Research, which did the snooping for Confidential. Video | Transcript

Look! here’s Lili St. Cyr! Video | Transcript

Continue reading →

Posted in 1957, 1958, Film, Hollywood, Television | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Scarlett’s Costumes Nearly ‘Gone With the Wind’

Posted on August 19, 2011 by lmharnisch

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Sink Sky Blue Crane Persian Red Sink

Photo: Crane bathroom fixtures. Credit: Life magazine, April 29, 1957.

 


We grew up in a sterile, cookie-cutter home, on a sterile, cookie-cutter street, in a sterile suburb of Chicago, where all the people were white and all the bathrooms were pink. The dads went to work, the moms stayed home and they all got drunk and slept with the neighbors.

So we are slightly puzzled as to why anyone would want to live in the Studebaker Lark of American architecture. Maybe it’s just hipster irony.

But for those who are searching for that perfect Persian red sink (above right) or retro “his and hers bathrooms” with “his and hers toilets” (top) there is retrorenovation.com. Steven Kurutz in the New York Times.

The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas is trying to preserve five costumes from “Gone With the Wind” for a 2014 exhibit marking the film’s 75th anniversary. The costumes, part of the David O. Selznick collection, are Vivien Leigh’s wedding dress, nightgown, ball gown, green velvet gown and her green curtain dress, according to the Associated Press.

The L.A. Daily Mirror and L.A. Crime Beat fashioned from Twitter feeds to the most exacting specifications by the bots at paper.li

Continue reading →

Posted in 1957, African Americans, Architecture, Fashion, Film, Futurism, Hollywood, Interior Design, Preservation, Transportation | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Coming Attractions: Classes With Marion Eisenmann

Posted on August 19, 2011 by lmharnisch

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“Santa Anita Racetrack,” by Marion Eisenmann

Marion Eisenmann, who shares her artwork with the Daily Mirror in Artist’s Notebook, will be giving monthly classes in plein air painting on Thursdays at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden in Arcadia. Sessions are scheduled for Sept. 8, Oct. 6 and Nov. 3, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with an hour for lunch. The fee is $120 per session for members and $150 for non-members.  Further information and reservations are available at (626) 821-4623. Students may buy lunch at the Arboretum cafe or bring their own.

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