From the Reference Desk: Movie Star’s Mother Dies in Car Crash

Posted on June 18, 2011 by lmharnisch

Feb. 7, 1926, Prevost

1926_0207_prevostHere’s a lesson in what to do if you don’t have access to ProQuest.

Stacia of She Blogged by Night had a question the other day about car a accident involving Vera Steadman, Al Christie and Marie Prevost’s Mother, Mrs. H. Prevost. I have access to ProQuest, so it’s easy to look up the incident and find a story published in The Times on Feb. 7, 1926.

But what if you’re like Stacia and don’t have ProQuest? My first step is Google’s news archive, a large database of U.S. newspapers. Most of the results are pay per view, but material from some smaller papers is free.

Here’s a story from the Calgary Daily Herald of Feb. 6, 1926, with the basic information.

There’s even a follow-up story from the Palm Beach Daily News.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1926, Film, From the Reference Desk, Hollywood, Libraries, Obituaries, Transportation | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Found on EBay – C.C. Pierce

Posted on June 17, 2011 by lmharnisch

San Francisco Earthquake

San Francisco Earthquake
I’m always on the lookout for photographs by Charles Chester Pierce, whose C.C. Pierce and Co. was one of the most active studios in Los Angeles. The images are always sharp and finely detailed. Most of them show Los Angeles, but here’s a book of images that has been listed on EBay, showing San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. Bidding on this book starts at $9.99.

Many of Pierce’s photographs are at the Huntington (51 linear feet!).

Posted in 1906, Found on EBay, Photography | 2 Comments

Los Angeles Tattoo Shops, 1943

Posted on June 17, 2011 by lmharnisch

tattoo_last_supper_ebay

This is one of my favorite discoveries from the city archives, a description of tattoo shops in Los Angeles by an anonymous citizen.

Los Angeles City Council File 15670

September 2, 1943

Dear Sir,

1943_september_03_tattoosI recently made an investigation of the tattoo shops here and the persons who operate them, for a friend of mine, whose young son, age 13, had been marked up like a circus freak by a so called (professor) Freaser.

Of course I knew nothing and cared less about this business until I saw the filthy conditions under which they operate, which are just about as filthy and unsanitary as the restaurants in which I am compelled to eat. Of course I know that no one in the city or state govt. is interested in their sanitation or the filth of the foods they serve. As long as they pay their license they can poison any one they want to and get away with it.

Sept. 3, 1943: Councilman Ira McDonald’s attempt to regulate tattoo shops brought this anonymous response, which I unearthed in the city archives.

Photo: Undated postcard showing Artoria, tattooed by C.W. Gibbons, Los Angeles

Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Art & Artists, City Hall, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Libraries, Photography, World War II | 5 Comments

Coming Attractions — Genealogy Research at the L.A. Public Library

Posted on June 16, 2011 by lmharnisch

The Los Angeles Public Library will present a program on getting started in genealogical research. The free presentation will be from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 18, 2011.

Folks should gather at the reference desk in the History & Genealogy Department on Lower Level 4.  No reservations are necessary for groups of six or less. Larger groups should schedule an appointment at (213) 228-7400.

As we say at the Daily Mirror: Any day we can do research is a good day.

Posted in Coming Attractions, Libraries | Comments Off on Coming Attractions — Genealogy Research at the L.A. Public Library

LAPD End of Watch, June 16, 1935

Posted on June 16, 2011 by lmharnisch

June 16, 1935, Officer Madon The daily NewsWatch of the Los Angeles Police Protective League honors the anniversaries of LAPD officers killed in the line of duty. For June 16,the union honors Alfred C. “Scotty” Madon, a motorcycle officer who was fatally injured on June 14, 1935, when he swerved and struck a curb while trying to avoid a car that made a sudden left turn at 96th Street and Western Avenue. Madon was 37 and had a wife, Phyllis, and 12-year-old son.

Posted in 1935, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Obituaries | Tagged , | Comments Off on LAPD End of Watch, June 16, 1935

The Daily Mirror Is Moving

Posted on June 16, 2011 by lmharnisch
I’m moving to LADailyMirror.com
Henry Fuhrmann, one of the assistant managing editors at The Times, likes to say: “Always take the high road. The view is nicer up there.”

Henry is my friend, as well as my supervisor, and he and Mark McGonigle, my boss, have been strong supporters of the Daily Mirror, even when the decision was made at a higher level to shut it down. (And don’t worry; I’m still working as a copy editor on the Metro desk.)

Continue reading →

Posted in Countdown to Watts, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, UFOs, World War II | 23 Comments

The Mystery of the Transparent Car

Posted on June 16, 2011 by lmharnisch

Transparent Pontiac

For sale: A transparent Pontiac!

transparent_pontiac_1940_0219

The sale car is on display in St. Petersburg, Fla., Feb. 19, 1940.

transparent_pontiac_1941_0122

The sale car on display in Spokane, Wash., in 1941.

April 13, 1941, Transparent Car

But wait! A different transparent Pontiac is on display in Los Angeles in April 1941. ALSO from the World’s Fair.

April 28, 1940, Glass Car Here’s the mystery of the see-through car. Hemmings Motor News has a feature on the sale of a transparent Pontiac. The story is a bit  complicated but here’s what I found: According to The Times clips, General Motors built a transparent car for the New York World’s Fair and in April 1941 the vehicle was displayed in Los Angeles, as show in the ad above.

The vehicle was so popular that Fisher Body decided to build another transparent Pontiac for the 1940 Golden Gate International Exposition.

But as you will notice, there were actually two transparent Pontiacs, each of which toured the U.S. after the World’s Fair. The transparent car built for the Golden Gate exposition was apparently a third car. The estimated sale price of the transparent car is $275,000 to $475,000.

Photo: Transparent Pontiac Credit: RM Auctions

Continue reading →

Posted in 1939, 1940, 1941, Art & Artists, Transportation | 8 Comments

Found on EBay – I. Magnin

Posted on June 15, 2011 by lmharnisch


I Magnin Store

Feb. 11, 1939, I Magnin This postcard showing the millinery salon at the I. Magnin store in Los Angeles has been listed on EBay. The vendor dates it at 1915 but the store actually opened at Wilshire Boulevard and New Hampshire on Feb. 10, 1939. Bidding starts at $3.

Posted in 1939, Fashion, Found on EBay, Interior Design | 3 Comments

Heresy on L.A. Streetcars!

Posted on June 15, 2011 by lmharnisch

June 15, 2011, Tim Rutten My hair (or what’s left of it) stood on end when I read this portion of Tim Rutten’s column on Wednesday about Rick Caruso’s mayoral campaign:

Mythology has it that the old Red Cars were killed by a conspiracy, but the truth is that after the war, people abandoned them for cars and then came to actively dislike them because they snarled traffic. Just imagine a trolley going up and down Ventura Boulevard and then envision the backups north and south along, say, Coldwater or Laurel. You get the picture.

Such statements are usually considered heresy, but in fact, Rutten is exactly right. Despite the prevailing myth in Los Angeles, the streetcars were impediments to vehicle traffic because they moved on fixed tracks in the middle of the street. If something stopped one streetcar, such as a breakdown or an accident, every streetcar following behind was also stuck until the blockage was cleared.

In one particularly memorable example,  a car making a turn onto Spring Street from the old Hall of Records got wedged between the northbound and southbound streetcars, blocking both lines for hours until the accident was cleared.

Immediately after World War II, Los Angeles experimented with “trackless trolleys” that were powered by overhead wires but had tires – sort of like an electric bus. Being on tires made them more maneuverable, but these vehicles were more costly than buses.  

Posted in City Hall, Columnists, Downtown, Politics, Transportation | 7 Comments

Craftsman Decor

Posted on June 15, 2011 by lmharnisch

118 W. Avenue 44 Ebay

118 W. Avenue 44 Ebay I suppose it seems as though I spend lots of time on EBay – the answer is yes and no. This postcard, showing the interior of 118 W. Avenue 44, Los Angeles,  (dated 1910) has been listed on EBay. It appears that the house is gone. Property Shark keeps taking me to 118 EAST Avenue 44, which is another Craftsman house. Notice the light fixtures, the roll-top desk and the wicker rocking chair.

Bidding on this postcard starts at $3.

Posted in 1910, Architecture, Found on EBay, Interior Design | Comments Off on Craftsman Decor

LAPD End of Watch, June 15, 1920

Posted on June 15, 2011 by lmharnisch

1915_1223_motorcycles

Dec. 23, 1915: LAPD motorcycle officers take delivery of 37 new Indian motorcycles, capable of 75 mph.

June 16, 1920, LAPD Officer Killed

elijah_peter_bradley_1920The daily NewsWatch of the Los Angeles Police Protective League always honors the anniversaries of LAPD officers killed in the line of duty. For June 15, the union features the death of LAPD Motorcycle Officer Elijah Peter Bradley, who was killed by a streetcar at at Ventura and Lankershim boulevards in the San Fernando Valley.

According to The Times, Bradley tried to cross the Pacific Electric tracks ahead of a streetcar, even though the crossing signals had been activated. Motorman R.M. Arnold said that when he realized Bradley was going to try to cross the tracks, he slammed on the brakes, but the streetcar, which was going about 15 mph, couldn’t stop in time.

Bradley was thrown from his motorcycle and dragged almost 400 feet by the streetcar, badly mangling his body. He had been with the department for 10 years and was 36 years old.

Bradley was apparently a compassionate officer. In September 1911, a 60-year-old Latino woman was thrown off the streetcar because she couldn’t pay the 5-cent fare ($1.16 USD 2010), The Times said. The woman threw rocks at the departing streetcar, which stopped so that one of the streetcar operators could call the police.

Bradley arrived, listened to the problem and gave the woman a dime to get home.

Photo: Elijah Peter Bradley Credit: Los Angeles Police Protective League

Continue reading →

Posted in 1911, 1915, 1920, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Obituaries, San Fernando Valley, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged , | Comments Off on LAPD End of Watch, June 15, 1920

Coming Attractions: ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’

Posted on June 15, 2011 by lmharnisch

Dec. 14, 1969, They Shoot Horses

Sydney Pollack’s 1969 film “The Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” will be shown as a tribute to Michael Sarrazin on June 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica. Also showing, “Harry in Your Pocket” (1973). The film is based on a novel by Horace McCoy.  Tickets are $11/$9/$7.

Posted in 1969, Books and Authors, Coming Attractions, Film, Hollywood | 1 Comment

Mack Ray Edwards’ Legacy of Grief

Posted on June 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

Paul Coates

Note: The Times is reporting that Mack Ray Edwards is a suspect in the 1961 disappearance of 7-year-old Ramona Price outside Santa Barbara. Here’s a 1959 column that Paul Coates wrote about one of Edwards’ victims. 

Today marks an anniversary that won’t be celebrated in a Redondo Beach home.

But I promised an anguished father that I wouldn’t let you forget it.

Two years ago today, 8-year-old Tommy Bowman ran down a mountain trail and vanished behind a curtain of secrecy which still defies all investigation.

Yesterday, Tommy’s dad called me. 

“I hate to be a bore,” Eldon Bowman began hesitantly. “But I thought maybe you’d write something about Tommy. I just can’t believe that it’s all over and done with. I just know that someone, somewhere has to know something.

“Somebody has to know where my boy is,” he added with emphasis.

Posted in 1957, 1959, Columnists, Crime and Courts, Homicide, LAPD, Paul Coates | 1 Comment

Found on EBay – Marge Riley

Posted on June 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

Marge Riley Shirt Ebay

Marge Riley Shirt I guess you could yodel like Patsy Montana in this outfit. It’s a Marge Riley shirt, which has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $35.

Posted in Fashion, Found on EBay | Comments Off on Found on EBay – Marge Riley

Queen of the Dead by Eve Golden

Posted on June 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

hearse_photo_2007_0526

You’ll recognize Eve Golden as one of the Daily Mirror regulars. Now that I’m no longer at latimes.com I’m free to use outside writers and Eve is my first addition. She describes herself as: a biographer, show-business historian, photo archivist and obituary writer. And a haughty dowager.

Queen of the Dead—dateline June 13, 2011

 

• Carl Gardner, the cutest and most elfin-looking of The Coasters, died on June 12, age 82. A tenor, he sang lead on such hits as “Yakety Yak,” “Charlie Brown,” “Poison Ivy,” and “Searchin’.”

• There are not many female movie producers in Hollywood, and now there is one less: Laura Ziskin, 61, died on June 12. She is best known for the hugely successful Pretty Woman—the annoying tale of an adorable, perky prostitute—but for my money her masterpiece was the dark, funny thriller To Die For, based on the Pamela Smart murder. Ziskin also produced four Spider-Man movies and was the first woman to produce the Oscars telecast (in 2002).

• Singer Seth Putnam, 43, died on June 11 after ingesting a truly impressive amount of Ambien. In a 25-year career, Putnam fronted for such festively named bands as Anal Cunt, Shit Scum, Adolf Satan, Vaginal Jesus, Necrophiliacs, and Seven Minutes of Nausea. Putman had a Sid Vicious-caliber death wish: “I have a really high drug and alcohol tolerance,” he somewhat optimistically told The Boston Phoenix in 2004, adding sadly that “I don’t want to be a suicidal mess anymore.”

• The Telegraph can always be relied upon for the very best in obit writing, and they did not let us down with the passing on May 5 of Henry Lorimer, 71. The Scottish-born marketing director started out to become a Benedictine monk, arriving at the Abbey in a Rolls-Royce, but his clerical career ended “when the novice master found fault with his polishing of the brass in the abbey. Lorimer is said to have upbraided him in turn with a large Easter candle before stuffing him into the confessional.” Hats off, as usual, to good folk at The Telegraph.

—Eve Golden

Posted in Books and Authors, Film, Hollywood, Music, Obituaries, Photography, Queen of the Dead, Religion, Stage | 9 Comments

Sex Mysteries Demonstrated With Living Artist Models

Posted on June 14, 2011 by lmharnisch

 

July 24, 1932, Olympics

July 24, 1932, Sex Mysteries July 24, 1932: Cartoonist Edmund Waller “Ted” Gale puts Miss Los Angeles in the midst of a dazzling array of national stereotypes for the 1932 Olympics (note that Mexico is in a sombrero … and is Japan wearing a uniform?) Miss Los Angeles is one of those cartoon characters that disappeared ages ago, but she was a frequent presence on the Los Angeles Times editorial pages.

Is Jack Gilbert generous? Wow! Virginia Bruce sports a new blue Packard roadster and one of the biggest diamond rings in Hollywood, The Times’ Tip Poff says.

And at the California Theatre, “Sex Mysteries Demonstrated With Living Artist Models.” Reminds me a little bit of “Mom and Dad.”

Continue reading →

Posted in 1932, Art & Artists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Stage, Theaters | 1 Comment

Found on EBay – 345 S. Broadway

Posted on June 13, 2011 by lmharnisch

jewelry_shop_ebay_02

This postcard showing the interior of the H.J. Whitley & Co. jewelry store, 345 S. Broadway, has been listed on EBay. The store opened on Dec. 9, 1903, (yes, just in time for Christmas)  and was a branch of the business at 111 S. Spring St. The store had a lavish opening, with floral decorations and an orchestra, The Times said.   “Smilax and asparagus plumosus was used in profusion in the windows and in the store, where the fine bouquets continued to rival the jewelry in attractiveness,” The Times said.  Bidding starts at $3.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1903, Architecture, Downtown, Found on EBay, Interior Design, Music, Photography | 1 Comment

End of Watch, June 13, 1991

Posted on June 13, 2011 by lmharnisch
randall_champe LAPD Officer Charles Randall “Randy” Champe gary_howe LAPD Officer Gary Alan Howe

The daily NewsWatch of the Los Angeles Police Protective League always honors the anniversaries of LAPD officers killed in the line of duty. For June 13, the union features the deaths of Officers Charles Randall “Randy” Champe and Gary Alan Howe, who were killed in 1991, when their helicopter had engine failure and crashed at Raymond and Vernon avenues.

The crash also killed  a man on the ground who was burned beyond recognition. John Doe No. 121 was  eventually identified as Lino Daniel Falguero, a 36-year-old furniture salesman.

Witnesses praised Howe, who was the pilot, for maneuvering the crippled helicopter away from a day-care center and an elementary school, crashing in a vacant lot. The officers were flying a 2-year-old Aerospatiale 350 B-1 and were scheduled to make a flyby at Main Street Elementary School as part of the DARE anti-drug program. According to the Los Angeles Times, the final words from the helicopter were Champe, saying: “We’re going down with an engine failure.”

At the time of the fatal accident, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates voiced concern that the officers’ deaths were eclipsed by public outrage over the police beating of Rodney G. King on March 3, 1991.

In 1995, the engine manufacturer agreed to pay the officers’ families $8 million.

Credit: Los Angeles Police Protective League

Posted in 1991, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Obituaries | Tagged , | Comments Off on End of Watch, June 13, 1991

From the Reference Desk

Posted on June 13, 2011 by lmharnisch

The Lookies

My childhood heroes: The Lookies! They don’t guess, they look it up in their new World Book Encyclopedia!

Dr. Michele K. Troy of Hillyer College writes: Rob Wagner (Red Ink, White Lies) recommended I contact you with an odd research question I have regarding the original L.A. Daily News. He said if anyone would know the answer, you would.

Thanks Michele! Nothing quite makes my day like an odd research question.

imageMichele is wondering about a fellow named Wolfgang Krause-Brandstetter, a German writer who was in the U.S. as a representative of Tauchnitz, which was affiliated with Albatross Press  “a British-owned firm that printed and sold Anglo-American paperbacks in English from German in the 1930s.”

At least that was his cover story. According to Michele, Krause-Brandstetter might have been using his journalist’s credentials to gather intelligence on military activities in Los Angeles.

She explains: He later claimed that he wrote for the L.A. Daily News while he was here.  I know he was in the U.S. from February 1936 to August 1936, spending the beginning in New York, but the bulk of his time in California. He returned to California again around July/early August 1938 and stayed in California through December 1938, when he returned to Germany.

Sure enough, he turns up in a Lee Shippey column from May 11, 1936.

I already checked Google’s news archives, but didn’t find too much. Now I’ll throw it open to the brain trust.

And some folks say research drudges lead uninteresting lives.

email me

Posted in 1936, Books and Authors, Brain Trust, Columnists, From the Reference Desk, Lee Shippey, Libraries, World War II | 2 Comments

Immigrants Overwhelm San Diego!

Posted on June 13, 2011 by lmharnisch
June 13, 1941, Abbott and Costello

June 13, 1941, Immigration San Diego has everything a family might want: A moderate climate and jobs in the expanding defense industries. But there’s no place to live. 

Rep. John H. Tolan (D-Oakland) is holding hearings in San Diego on the plight of migrants who came to California in hopes of getting a job but can’t find a home.Otis Porter, 39, of Pawnee, Okla., who earns $135 ($1,976.74 USD 2010) a month at the Consolidated Aircraft Corp., says he’s paying nearly $80 ($1,171.40 USD 2010) a month in rent for a one-room cabin for his family of eight.

Porter says: “I would rather be back in Oklahoma if I had a job.”

Eventually, the government will build the Bayview Terrace Housing Project for government workers.

That is where Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, stayed with the French family for the last month of her life.

June 12, 1941, Jimmie Fidler

Posted in 1941, 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Environment, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, Immigration, LAPD, San Diego, Transportation, World War II | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment