Mario Lanzo Dies!

Posted on October 7, 2009 by lmharnisch

Oct. 7, 1959: Singer Mario Lanza dies of a heart attack. He was 38. Iraqi leader Abdel Karim Kassem survives an attempted assassination.

Posted in classical music, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Obituaries | Comments Off

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movies

Posted on October 7, 2009 by lmharnisch

Oct. 7, 1935: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Warner Bros. Beverly Hills Theatre.

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Orioles Shut Out Angels in Playoffs

Posted on October 7, 2009 by lmharnisch

Oct. 7, 1979: Pope John Paul II tours the U.S.

So much for the playoffs.

The Angels' first taste of postseason ended bitterly thanks to Scott McGregor, who pitched a shutout and sent the Orioles into the World Series.

Baltimore won Game 4, 8-0, and would face the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"There's been more spirit on this club than any I ever was associated with," said Nolan Ryan, who was a free agent.

"We'll be back," third baseman Carney Lansford said.

–Keith Thursby

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Sox Beat Dodgers, 1-0

Posted on October 7, 2009 by lmharnisch

Oct. 7, 1959: Hold off on that victory parade. The White Sox extended the World Series to at least Game 6 by edging the Dodgers, 1-0, before yet another record crowd in the Coliseum.

Sandy Koufax gave up the game’s only run on a double play ball after two singles. The teams headed back to Chicago for Game 6 and if needed, Game 7.

The 92,706 fans in attendance merited another traffic story, and The Times discovered that fans behave better when their team wins. “As it had on Monday, it again took an hour and a half—unless one had exceptional luck—to get from the Coliseum to the Civic Center,” wrote Art Ryon. “But yesterday there was more impatient horn-honking, more verbal snarls in the snarled traffic.”

–Keith Thursby

Oct. 7, 1959: A photo page on the game. Dodger parking!

Posted in Dodgers, Front Pages, Politics, Sports | Comments Off

Cincinnati Beats Black Sox in Game 5

Posted on October 7, 2009 by lmharnisch

Oct. 7, 1919: Edmund Waller “Ted” Gale on Game 5 of the Black Sox World Series.

Oct. 7, 1919: Cincinnati beats the Black Sox 5-0. "Chicago's interest in its White Sox of 1919 practically ended today when they went down to defeat for the second consecutive time without a run in the fifth game of the World Series by a score of 5 to 0, putting their opponents within one game of the big pennant."

June 28, 1921: The Black Sox trial begins in Chicago. "Ten of the 18 defendants in the baseball trial which opened here today put in an appearance. The suspended White Sox players, Felsch, Cicotte, Williams, Jackson, Gandil, Weaver and Risberg, were on hand when the case was called. Fred McMullin, the other indicted player, is on the Pacific Coast…."

Posted in #courts, Front Pages, Sports | Comments Off

October 7, 1909: Jurors Convict Man, Take Up a Collection for Him

Posted on October 7, 2009 by lmharnisch

October 7, 1909; Ad for the New York Cloak and Suit House, an elegantly dressed woman with a huge hat decorated with ostrich feathers
October 7, 1909: Pedro Vasquez was arrested by Detective Talamantes for stealing two pairs of trousers. After the jurors convicted Vasquez, they took up a collection so he could buy a shirt since he didn’t have one. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Fashion, LAPD, Obituaries | Comments Off

Found on EBay – Bullock’s Wilshire

Posted on October 6, 2009 by lmharnisch

This Irene Lentz dress from Bullock’s Wilshire has been listed on EBay. Bidding starts at $9.99.

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October 6, 1959: Matt Weinstock

Posted on October 6, 2009 by lmharnisch

Irony Backfires

Matt Weinstock A great despair has settled on Jeffrey Rimmer of Garden Grove.

Not long ago he became outraged at what seemed a miscarriage of justice and wrote this letter, which a paper printed: “By suspending the wealthy attorney’s jail sentence for killing two old people in a drunk-driving and hit-and-run case, and fining him $5,000, the community benefits in three ways: The people will be saved the expense of keeping one more inmate in prison; two senior citizens have been eliminated from possible public aid; the $5,000 will aid the redistribution of wealth, contributing materially to our prosperity.” Continue reading →

Posted in Columnists, Matt Weinstock | Comments Off

Paul V. Coates – Confidential File, Oct. 6, 1959

Posted on October 6, 2009 by lmharnisch

Oct. 6, 1959: Abby advises a young man to read “Johnny Tremain.”

Posted in Columnists, Paul Coates | Comments Off

Koufax vs. Shaw

Posted on October 6, 2009 by lmharnisch

Oct. 6, 1959: Sports editor Sid Ziff says the Dodgers outclass the Chisox.

Posted in Dodgers, Front Pages, Sports | Comments Off

A Kinder, Simpler Time Dept.: Your Movies

Posted on October 6, 2009 by lmharnisch

Oct. 6, 1934: Joan Blondell refuses to take off her wedding ring to play a single woman in “Kansas City Princess,” so it’s camouflaged by the makeup department. And look! It’s Rube Wolf.

Posted in Film, Hollywood | Comments Off

Coming Attractions – Fourth Annual Archives Bazaar

Posted on October 6, 2009 by lmharnisch

William Dotson of USC sends along a reminder of the fourth annual Archives Bazaar, which will be held Oct. 17 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at USC’s Davidson Conference Center. Admission is free.

The bazaar, presented by L.A. as Subject, is an essential introduction for anyone planning to research Los Angeles because the city is a vast subject and historical materials have been preserved in astonishing places. Many times, the location of an item has nothing to do with its origin. To cite one of my favorite examples: Material on the early history of USC’s Medical School is at UCLA Medical School’s Special Collections. In the same way, material from the Los Angeles Times can be found at UCLA Special Collections (photos) and the Huntington Library (documents).

More information is here>>>

And there’s a Facebook page>>>

The list of representatives attending the bazaar gives an idea of how many resources there are in Los Angeles:

Academy Film Archive
All the Saints of the City of the Angels
Autry Library and Braun Research Library, Autry National Center of the American West
Beverly Hills Public Library Historical Collection
Robert S. Birchard Collection
California African American Museum
California Council for the Humanities
California State University Dominguez Hills
California State University Fullerton, Center for Oral and Public History
California State University Northridge, Geography Map Library
California State University Northridge, Special Collections & Archives
Chinese American Museum
Chinese Historical Society Of Southern California
Classic American Photos Inc.
County of Los Angeles Public Library Resource Centers
Culver City Historical Society
El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument
Filipino American Library
Gazin Contemporary Cultural Archive
Getty Research Institute
Glendale Public Library Special Collections
Historical Society of Centinela Valley
Historical Society of Long Beach
History Day L.A.
Japanese American Historical Mapping Project
Japanese American National Museum
La84 Foundation Sports Library
La Señora Research Institute In Collaboration
With Adamson House and Santa Monica Conservancy
Los Angeles City Archives
Los Angeles City Historical Society
Los Angeles Public Library
Los Angeles Unified School District Art & Artifact Collection/Archives
Loyola Marymount University Archives And Special Collections
Mayme Clayton Library and Museum
Occidental College Library
One National Gay & Lesbian Archives
The Orange and the Myth of California
Orange County Archives
Orange Empire Railway Museum
Pacific Palisades Historical Society
Pasadena Museum Of History
St. Vincent Medical Center Historical Conservancy
Santa Monica Public Library Image Archives
Seaver Center For Western History Research, Natural History Museum Of Los Angeles County
Shotgun Freeway: Drives Thru Lost L.A.
Society Of California Archivists
Southern California Genealogical Society
The Studio For Southern California History
UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center
UCLA Department Of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library
UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive
UCLA Film & Television Archive
UCLA Library’s Center For Oral History Research
USC Libraries Special Collections
USC Warner Bros. Archives
Wally G. Shidler Historical Collection of Southern California Ephemera
Workman & Temple Homestead Museum

The bazaar will also include appearances by authors:

Alex Moreno Areyan
Mexican Americans in Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach

David G. Brown
Watts Towers: A Tale of a Vision
The Historical West Adams District: Street of Dreams

Stan Chambers
KTLA’s News at Ten: 60 Years with Stan Chambers

Jenny Cho
Los Angeles Chinatown

Judith Freeman
The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved

Florante and Rose Ibanez
Filipinos in Carson and the South Bay

Errol Wayne Stevens
Radical L.A.

And there will be seminars:

Robert S. Birchard
One Hundred Years of Film in Los Angeles

Avery Clayton, Steve Ross, and Sue Tyson
Illuminating History through Archives: The Role of Primary Sources in Historical Discovery

Colleen Fitzpatrick
Photo Forensics: What You Can Learn from Old Photos

Michelle Light
Preservation 101: Basic Tips for the Household Archivist

Two documentaries will also be shown during the event:

“On These Shoulders We Stand” and “Inventing L.A.: The Chandlers and Their Times.”

Posted in art and artists, books, Coming Attractions, Current Affairs | Comments Off

Angels Beat Orioles, 4-3

Posted on October 6, 2009 by lmharnisch

Oct. 6, 1979: Hey, Keith! Sister Sledge!

Another first for the Angels. They won their first playoff game in franchise history, a 4-3 ninth-inning nail biter at Anaheim Stadium. The big play was made by Baltimore's Al Bumbry. He dropped a ball hit by Bobby Grich, scoring Rod Carew to tie the score 3-3 in the ninth inning.

Then Larry Harlow drove in Brian Downing with a double to keep the Angels from being eliminated.

So the Angels had some fight left in them. If the victory wasn't enough, they showed some emotion on the plane ride from Baltimore after Game 2.

The Times reported that pitcher Jim Barr, broadcaster Don Drysdale and Manager Jim Fregosi were involved in confrontations aboard the Angels' chartered flight.

Barr had a cast on his pitching hand and wasn't pitching in the playoffs. Drysdale thought he should be. "He told me if I was a man, I'd cut it off and pitch. I told him to stop messing with my mind," Barr said.

Players and coaches put a stop to things before punches were thrown. Fregosi told Drysdale to leave his players alone, The Times reported.

Fregosi called it one of those things. Drysdale said he took "full blame for the whole thing."

— Keith Thursby

Posted in Front Pages, Sports | Comments Off

Sox Face Sudden Death Against Dodgers

Posted on October 6, 2009 by lmharnisch

Oct. 6, 1959. Two Rembrandts, a Rubens and a Renoir are among stolen paintings recovered by Canadian authorities.

The Dodgers were one win away from a World Championship, their 5-4 victory over the White Sox in front of another record Coliseum crowd giving them a commanding 3-1 lead.

How bad were things for Chicago? Here's how The Times' Frank Finch saw it: "No damsel in distress in the old saw mill ever found herself in such a desperate fix as has now engulfed Al Lopez's American League champions."

Gil Hodges broke a tie ballgame with a home run in the eighth. A front-page photo showed Hodges receiving a congratulatory kiss from his wife. "In fact the Dodgers' big first baseman was embarrassed as the wave of sports writers charged him," Al Wolf wrote in a sidebar. "He quickly tried to remove a bit of lipstick from his cheek.

" 'The wife, you know,' he said. 'She planted this kiss on me.' "

Sandy Koufax, described as the Dodgers' hot and cold left-hander, would try to close out the series. — Keith Thursby

Posted in art and artists, Dodgers, Front Pages, Sports | Comments Off

Black Sox Game Rained Out

Posted on October 6, 2009 by lmharnisch

Oct. 6, 1919: Rain in Chicago stops the fifth game of the Black Sox World Series. Los Angeles baseball fans set an attendance record of 21,000 for a double-header between the Angels and the Tigers. I believe this was the ballpark at Washington and Grand.

Sept. 30, 1920: The Times says, "Crooked baseball! Before that proven charge the American sporting public bows its head in humiliation."

Oct. 1, 1920: Former boxing champion Abe Attell says gamblers made $250,000 [$3,085,954.23 USD 2008] from fixing the 1919 World Series.

Newsboys call the eight Black Sox players the "Benedict Arnolds of Baseball.”

Posted in #courts, Sports | 1 Comment

Police Raid Chinatown Gambling Operation

Posted on October 6, 2009 by lmharnisch

Oct. 6, 1909: Police officers cross the roofs of buildings, using a ladder to span alleys, to raid a lottery operation in Chinatown. I suspect the Sgt. Sebastian mentioned in the story is future Police Chief and Mayor Charles E. “Charlie” Sebastian. School will be dismissed early on Oct. 11 so students can see President Taft during his visit to Los Angeles. And an overdose of morphine kills a baby – but nobody can determine how he got it.

Posted in #courts, City Hall, Downtown, LAPD, Religion | Comments Off

Found on EBay – Chester Place

Posted on October 5, 2009 by lmharnisch

This postcard of homes on Chester Place has been listed on EBay. Chester Place was named for Chester Silent, the son of Judge Charles Silent, who developed the tract. Chester Silent died in a mysterious accident with a shotgun while attending Stanford. Bidding starts at $3.99.