Above, Thomas Mann, “The Drunkard” and “Fra Diavolo” with an African American cast. Below, former President Herbert Hoover (yes, a graduate of Stanford, home of the Hoover Institution) discusses his views on international relations after his European tour.
Reminder: Boxie and I will be doing an Ask Me Anything on the Black Dahlia case a week later than usual: April 14, 2026, at 10 a.m. Pacific Time on YouTube.
As always, I’ll give an update on the book and discuss various subjects, notably Michael Connelly’s Killer in the Code podcast.
Then our schedule returns to normal with the Black Dahlia Book Club on April 21, 2026, at 10 a.m. Pacific Time on YouTube. In this session, I expect to discuss the treatment of the Black Dahlia case in various crime anthologies before publication of Jack Webb’s The Badge in 1958.
Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, via Archive.org.
Can’t make the live session? Email me your questions and I’ll answer them! I’ll also get to the backlog of questions from previous sessions.
An ad for Hollywoodland, October 1923.
Note: This is an encore post from 2022.
On March 31, 1923, owners of a new hillside development in the Hollywood Hills called Hollywoodland announced the opening of their elaborate new tract in stories run in Los Angeles and Hollywood newspapers. For all the syndicate partners, it represented the pinnacle of their real estate careers in hyperbole as well as class, the first tract to sell a lifestyle of glamour and success. Hollywoodland would be as much about selling ambition and making it as it would be in promoting a humble family home location.
Hollywoodland perfectly encapsulated the lives and careers of its five owners, men who had risen from modest means to achieve wealth and power. Savvy in real estate and business promotion, all were as shrewd in crafting career personas to build their empires. Behind the scenes, these dreamers and schemers plotted their rise up the ladders of success, achieving renown and respect from other hard-nosed businessmen.
Above, the city introduces the concept of a traveling blacksmith who shoes all of the Fire Department’s horses rather than take them to the nearest blacksmith. The Times says the blacksmith (for some reason, we didn’t use his name) shoes about 150 horses on a monthly rotation. But the new program didn’t last long.
Above, Ernie Bushmiller, a feminist? Who knew? Below, with less than 48 hours remaining before its sessions ends, the state Legislature is unable to agree on a budget–shocking, I know … The Times promotes an upcoming series on the Strategic Air Command, which historians may some day credit for stopping the spread of Communism … Landslides block Malibu Canyon Road … And the Soviet Union protests U.S. atomic tests in the Marshall Islands. Continue reading
Above, The Times editorial page opposes allowing wholesale immigration of German and Austrian Jews to America. The Times notes that they would be penniless and that many of them would either go on welfare or take jobs from Americans. Instead, The Times says, let them go to South America … if the South American nations want them. Unfortunately, the anonymous authors are not available to atone for this piece. Below, Earle Kynette claims he conferred with anti-vice crusader Clifford Clinton and his attorney over a possible defense. Alas, we did not contact Clinton for a comment. Bonus fact: Kynette is being held in the same cell block as convicted killer Robert “Rattlesnake” James, who was the last man to be executed by hanging in California. Continue reading
This week’s mystery movie was the French animated feature Le Roi et L’Oiseau (The King and the Mockingbird), after La Bergere et la Ramoneur by Hans Christian Andersen. Continue reading
Above, a look at the Great White Fleet in Magdalena Bay. Below, the federal government interviews prisoners and mental patients in Los Angeles in a campaign to deport immigrant radicals. Recall that The Times bombing will occur Oct. 1, 1910. Continue reading
Note: This is an encore post from 2016.
Though the United States is a nation of immigrants, in times of trouble people act of fear and ignorance, hating and blaming the other for their problems. Throughout the country’s history, in times of economic problems, the newest immigrant group found itself hated and attacked for the ills affecting other ethnic groups. Families passed down myths and folklore concerning those of other nations as well.
During World War II, at a time when the country should have banded together to fight our common enemy, some were still attacking others for looking or being different, be they those wearing zoot suits or those of Japanese or German persuasion.
“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.
Roby Heard, 1921-1960.
Note: This is a blog post from 2010.
This is something I wrote in 2002 at the request of Det. Rick Jackson of the LAPD’s cold case unit. Jackson said that the “murder book” for 1960 was missing and that the department had no information the case, so I pulled this together from news accounts.
There was some speculation at the time of the killing that Heard had been assaulted by a couple of young self-styled Nazis who were attacked while picketing a Sammy Davis Jr. performance, but that theory was eventually abandoned. The case was eventually closed by the LAPD, and as I recall it was based on what was aired on an old TV program. One website attributes the killing to Clarence Best.
March 27, 1944: Landing craft 220 transports troops to an Italian beach, while LCI 226 lands troops in New Guinea and New Britain, the subject of a profile by John Hersey. Universal movie studios photographer Ray Jones gives a lesson in how to pose a glamour shot, with Elyse “Mummy’s Tomb” Knox. The featured photographer is Alfred Eisenstaedt and this week’s movie is “See Here, Private Hargrove.” Courtesy of Google. Continue reading
March 25, 2011: Site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire / Photograph by Eve Golden
Note: This is an encore post from 2011.
Daily Mirror reader Eve Golden went to Friday’s memorial for the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire victims and sends these photos. Continue reading
Above, time to get ready for barbering the lawn … Below, the Korean community voices strong criticism of Durham W. Stevens, an American adviser to Japan, who was assassinated in San Francisco. Feelings against Stevens are so strong among local Koreans that he might have faced a similar attack here, The Times says …
Note: This is an encore post from 2006.
Technology has changed, but people have not. Simply because they lived nearly a century ago doesn’t mean Angelenos were unable to indulge their vices, they simply procured them in a different manner.
One of the main staples was the throngs of young bicycle messengers who traversed the city in packs.
Florence Casler, 1928.
Long before Rick Caruso, CIM group, Lincoln Property, and others hit the Los Angeles real estate world, Florence C. Casler dominated its ranks, constructing many of Los Angeles’ most successful skyscraper buildings in the 1920s. Powerhouse Casler observed her father and husband in their financial and real estate dealings, turbocharging herself into one of Los Angeles’ earliest real estate developers through daring, drive, and insight.
Born Florence C. Sherk in Sherkston, Weiland, Ontario, Canada in 1869, Casler grew up on her family’s farm, where her father Hugh grew mammoth strawberries and other fruits and vegetables and she studied music. Her successful father Hugh made extra money allowing the gas company to set up their telegraph and telephone office on his property.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1947 RKO film The Long Night, with Henry Fonda, Barbara Bel Geddes, Vincent Price, Ann Dvorak, Howard Freeman, Moroni Olsen, Elisha Cook Jr., Queenie Smith, David Clarke, Charles McGraw, Patty King and Robert A. Davis. Continue reading
Above, an artist’s concept of the proposed Hall of Records, a white gingerbread building between Broadway and New High Street that was one of the landmarks of old Los Angeles.
March 21, 1944
It’s Tuesday in 1944 and today we have:
— Rita Hayworth is the guest on “Burns and Allen.” Courtesy of Otrrlibrary.org
— “Fibber McGee and Molly.” Courtesy of Archive.org.
Above, baseball and ostriches. Below, the Rev. G.W. Woodbey, an African American minister described in The Times as a rabid radical, is convicted of speaking on a street corner without a license. Continue reading
March 20, 1944
It’s Monday in 1944, which means we have:
— Franchot Tone, Chester Morris, Anne Baxter and Miriam Hopkins in “The Hard Way” on Lux Radio Theatre. Courtesy of Archive.org.
— “The Lone Ranger.” Courtesy of Archive.org.
ladailymirror.com 