Cult members describe bombing, December 11, 1958

Posted on December 11, 2008 by lmharnisch

1958_1211_cover
"Venta will return and be resurrected."
1958_1211_page02

Known as "the barefoot people."

 Above, followers of Krishna Venta describe life at the Fountain of the World religious compound and the bombing that killed 10 people.

"A tower of blue and white flame erupted into the sky. It seemed to go as far as the eye could see," says Brother Martin, who joined the cult three weeks earlier.

At the sect’s compound in Alaska, Venta’s wife, Mother Ruth, says: "Don’t use the word ‘dead,’ He is the Christ and we do not believe in death. His body won’t be found."

1958_1211_page20

Leader born Francis Pencovic.

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"We know we are on a mission."
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Missionary objects to being portrayed by "evil woman" Ingrid Bergman.

1958_1211_sports

NCAA investigates alleged
recruiting violations at USC.

Posted in #courts, @news, Current Affairs, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, Homicide, Religion, San Fernando Valley, Suicide | Comments Off on Cult members describe bombing, December 11, 1958

December 11, 1938: Breakfast of death; voodoo cult killings

Posted on December 11, 2008 by lmharnisch

December 10, 1938: I defy anyone to insist that the past was “a kinder, simpler time” after reading this page. But don’t take my word for it — see for yourself. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1938, Food and Drink, Front Pages, Homicide, LAPD | Comments Off on December 11, 1938: Breakfast of death; voodoo cult killings

Retro holiday gift — Yankees vs. Tigers, 1934

Posted on December 10, 2008 by lmharnisch
1938_october_16_radio1 http://www.archive.org/flow/FlowPlayerLight.swf

Of course, you could buy this broadcast, but it’s free on archive.org. Listening to a 74-year-old baseball game may not be everybody’s idea of entertainment, but it’s fun to hear the announcer talk about Hank Greenberg and Lou Gehrig and speculate on whether Babe Ruth is going to play. 

   

Posted in broadcasting, Sports | 1 Comment

Flying saucer found in man’s garage

Posted on December 10, 2008 by lmharnisch




Saucer_41

After 38 years, a "lost" Hollywood artifact with a truly cosmic
history has resurfaced and, no surprise, it’s headed straight for the
auction block.

This Thursday, Dec. 11, the iconic flying saucer from the 1956 MGM classic "Forbidden Planet"
will be auctioned off in Calabasas Hills and is expected to fetch
anywhere between $80,000 and $120,000, which would be a nice, tidy
payday for its owner, a North Carolina man who had the prop stored in
his garage and didn’t realize its market value.

The silver saucer is 82 inches in diameter and constructed of wood, steel and fiberglass and, according to the Profiles in History auction house,
it is "a marvel of 1950s engineering." That’s because "the central
landing base extends from the bottom of the craft by internal movement
mechanisms with electric motor drive, as does the ladder and two
conveyor-loading ramps."

Read more by my colleague Geoff Boucher >>>


Posted in Film, Hollywood, Stage, UFOs | 3 Comments

Dodgers’ move pays off at the gate, December 10, 1958

Posted on December 10, 2008 by lmharnisch




1958_1210_cufflinks

Luger_cufflinks
 Wow! Luger cuff links and matching tie clip. I mean … wow!–lrh At left, a pair from an old EBay auction. I’ll see if any more turn up. Just for the heck of it.



1958_1210_dodgers
The Dodgers’ move to Los Angeles made money for most of the National League.

Frank Finch has a dry but telling story in The Times, breaking down
how much each team benefited from the Dodgers’ first season in the
Coliseum. Overall Dodger attendance increased from 1,028,258 at Ebbets
Field in 1957 to 1,845,556 at the Coliseum in 1958. Only the Phillies
and the Reds didn’t make more money going to Los Angeles, so the
Dodgers paid the clubs to meet guarantees for their added travel
expenses.

"We took the average attendance of each club at Ebbets Field over
the last five years and guaranteed them that much in the Coliseum," the
Dodgers’ Buzzie Bavasi told Finch. They had to pay Philadelphia about
$9,000 and Cincinnati about $1,950.

The trip to L.A. certainly increased travel budgets. Finch said some
teams spent up to $30,000 more than the previous season. But revenues
were way up too.

What teams were popular? The Cardinals drew 280,563 in eight games
which earned them $77,154.82, Finch said. And the Milwaukee Braves drew
376,760 and earned $103,609 for their games in Los Angeles.

The Giants earned the biggest share from the Los Angeles receipts,
$105,330.22 for drawing 383, 019 to their games in the Coliseum.

–Keith Thursby


   

Posted in Dodgers, Downtown, Fashion, Front Pages, Sports | Comments Off on Dodgers’ move pays off at the gate, December 10, 1958

Cult leader killed in bombing of religious compound, December 10, 1958

Posted on December 10, 2008 by lmharnisch
1958_1210_buccaneer
American history presented as a lavish pageant, the only film directed by Anthony Quinn, who took over from the ailing  Cecil B. DeMille. With a great score by Elmer Bernstein.
1958_1115_krishna_venta
An ad published in The Times shortly before the explosion.
1958_1210_cover

Gardena OKs 7th poker parlor.

Krishna Venta, seven of his followers and two former members are killed in a suicide bombing at the Fountain of the World compound in Box Canyon near Chatsworth.

"Bits of flesh were found scattered through the area. The remains of the victims were virtually unidentifiable."

A Ventura County sheriff’s official says Ralph J.S. Muller and Peter
Dumas Kamenoff left two rambling, hourlong tape recordings in which
they promised to "bring Krishna to justice." The blast was so powerful
that a woman who lived a mile away was knocked out of bed, The Times
said.

1958_1210_museum

County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn announces plans to build an art museum on Wilshire Boulevard in Hancock Park. 

1958_1210_sports

As one of its last acts, the Pacific Coast Conference lifts sanctions against the UCLA athletic program. UCLA was put on athletic probation in 1956 after revelations that athletes were receiving illegal payments.
Posted in Front Pages, Homicide, Religion, San Fernando Valley, Suicide | 2 Comments

Found on EBay — Florentine Gardens

Posted on December 9, 2008 by lmharnisch
Florentine_gardens_ebay
 Here’s one of the souvenir photos from the Florentine Gardens that occasionally turns up on EBay. It’s listed as Buy It Now for $15.99.
Posted in Nightclubs | Comments Off on Found on EBay — Florentine Gardens

Found on EBay — Bullocks Wilshire

Posted on December 9, 2008 by lmharnisch

Irene_lentz_ebay02
 Irene_lentz_label

Here’s still another Irene Lentz outfit from Bullocks Wilshire listed on EBay. It’s listed as Buy It Now for $698.

Posted in Fashion, Film, Hollywood | Comments Off on Found on EBay — Bullocks Wilshire

Arsonists set fire to university offices, Colts win over Rams, December 9, 1968

Posted on December 9, 2008 by lmharnisch




1968_1209_cover

 

1968_1209_sports
The Rams were supposed to beat the Chicago Bears and then face the
Baltimore Colts to determine the division championship. But a series of
mistakes — and the Bears — got in the way as the Rams lost, 17-16.

The most controversial error was made by the officials, who lost a
down when the Rams were trying to drive for a winning field goal with
less than a minute to play.

The Rams were called for holding on a first-down pass play that fell
incomplete. The Times’ Mal Florence picks up the action: "Seemingly the
Rams had a first down on their own 47, but the yard marker
unaccountably read second down. You don’t lose a down on such an
infraction after the defense accepts the penalty."

But the Rams did.

"We have no excuses, no alibis," Coach George Allen said. According
to Florence’s story, Allen wasn’t aware at the time that the Rams had
lost a down.

Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended the officials, taking them out
of contention for post-season games. Made sense, since the loss did the
same thing to the Rams.

— Keith Thursby



Posted in #courts, Education, Front Pages, Politics, San Fernando Valley, Sports | 2 Comments

Mayor refuses to give Senate committee secret files on LAPD funds, December 9, 1938

Posted on December 9, 2008 by lmharnisch
1938_1209_cover

Los Angeles sizzles at 92 degrees and thousands of beach-goers went into the
ocean, even though it was 64 degrees. The Soviet weather bureau says the North Pole has been warming up for the last 10 years.
1938_1209_bookies

Octopus saves student from drowning and ends up preserved in alcohol.

Above, Mayor Fletcher Bowron and City Atty. Ray Chesbro refuse requests by the Senate Civil Rights Committee to turn over information on a secret police fund. The fund, which received $30,000 to $90,000 annually from the city budget, was originally used to fight bootlegging and drugs, but since the repeal of Prohibition, the money had been spent on secret investigations, The Times says.

At left, police vice squads arrest 16 people in raids on bookmaking operations across the city.

And Goodwill industries repairs dolls for Christmas presents. Goodwill repairs 5,000 dolls a year, The Times says. 

1938_1209_theater

Early Oscar buzz: An ad for "A Man to Remember" by Dalton Trumbo predicts an Academy Award!

 1938_1209_sports

The Hollywood Stars are sold to a syndicate headed by Robert H.
Cobb, owner of the Brown Derby restaurants, and Victor Ford Collins. I could say that under Cobb, the Stars were in their salad days–but it would be wrong.

Posted in #courts, City Hall, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, LAPD, Politics, Sports | 2 Comments

Nuestro Pueblo — 1st and Broadway

Posted on December 9, 2008 by lmharnisch




1938_1209_nuestro



Posted in art and artists, books, Nuestro Pueblo | Comments Off on Nuestro Pueblo — 1st and Broadway

Found on EBay — Batchelder tile

Posted on December 8, 2008 by lmharnisch
Batchelder_tile_ebay03 An EBay vendor is selling the two marked pieces of Batchelder tile at left, which appear to be part of the same design. Both are listed at $9.99, although there is a reserve. The top piece is listed here. The bottom piece is listed here.

I suspect that they might be in the same design as the piece below, offered by a second dealer:

Batchelder_tile_ebay04 Batchelder_tile_ebay05
Posted in Architecture, art and artists, Real Estate | 2 Comments

Senator, 66, to marry beauty queen, 22; baseball commissioner fired, December 8, 1968

Posted on December 8, 2008 by lmharnisch
1968_1208_cover
Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) plans to marry Miss South Carolina, 1965, Nancy Moore.

1968_1208_sports The Times ran a United Press International story predicting big changes for baseball in the wake of owners firing the commissioner, William D. Eckert. Possibilities included:

— Letting relief pitchers come in and out and back in games.

— Making intentional walks automatic.

— Having specialists who run for slow players or hit for pitchers.

The only thing to see reality was the designated hitter rule, which started a few years later in the American League. They didn’t ask me, but I would have voted for the automatic walks.

A three-member committee was formed to come up with a plan. With baseball’s speed, the group might still be meeting.

— Keith Thursby
Posted in @news, Front Pages, Politics, Sports | 1 Comment

L.A.’s confusing freeways, December 8, 1958

Posted on December 8, 2008 by lmharnisch
1958_1208_gales

Beverly and La Cienega, home of pony rides for two generations of children.
I believe Gales was on a different corner.

1958_1208_letters

Note the Bible verse and the puzzling editorial cartoon.

What was on the minds of Times’ readers in 1958? It’s all too familiar: Healthcare costs, confusing freeways and poor city planning.

"Politicians have good reasons for kissing babies. These are the little angels who will be taxed to pay for the local and foreign aid programs, the public power and housing projects and the other endless giveaways and handouts used by politicians to snag votes and bring victory at the polls."
Posted in Food and Drink, Front Pages, health, Transportation | 2 Comments

Nixon White House tapes released

Posted on December 8, 2008 by lmharnisch
Nixonleavesofficecpia1
From my colleague Andrew Malcom at Top of the Ticket

President Nixon still pretty steamed about suspect staff loyalty

Hard to believe maybe, but ex-President Richard Nixon is still pretty @&^?:%\%# angry.

This guy’s mom may have been a Quaker, but he perfected grudges beyond Sicilian-style. Every few months, it seems, we get new evidence that Nixon’s even angrier than the last time we heard from him.

Another 90,000 pages of documents and 198 hours of Nixon tapes were released Tuesday by the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda. Phewee! If we could somehow tap into this thermal anger, bang! National energy independence the next day.

Google swears that Richard Milhous Nixon died on April 22, 1994. But thanks to these tapes, Nixon’s voice lives on as a reminder of something. You can listen to many of them here and we’ve added a couple of video recordings below. (Just click on the "Read more" line to view them and listen.)

This latest tape collection, chronicled elsewhere on this site today, has Nixon plotting with aide H.R. Haldeman to get the income taxes of Clark Clifford, a Vietnam War critic and former secretary of Defense, audited.

Read more >>>

 

Posted in #courts, @news, Current Affairs, Politics | Comments Off on Nixon White House tapes released

Vintage fashion photos

Posted on December 8, 2008 by lmharnisch




Bassman_barbarakiss721

Lillian Bassman/Peter Fetterman Gallery

From Holly Myers at Culture Monster:

Fashion photographer Lillian Bassman, protégée of Harper’s Bazaar
designer Alexey Brodovitch and friend to Richard Avedon, rose to
prominence in the 1940s and ’50s but drifted out of the business, threw
out her negatives and fell into relative obscurity for decades — until
Helen Frankenthaler, who happened to be renting her onetime studio,
came across a cache of lost negatives in 1991. A monograph followed, a
flush of prestigious assignments and a handful of exhibitions,
launching her career once more at about age 80.

A substantial survey at the Peter Fetterman Gallery
reveals Bassman, now 91, to be an artist of singular if rather
obstinate vision. Indeed, her style was so distinct — black-and-white,
highly contrasted, fantastically romantic — that it’s difficult to
imagine how she could have weathered the shift into the ocher-tinted
haze of the ’60s and ’70s.

Read more>>>


 

Posted in art and artists, Fashion | Comments Off on Vintage fashion photos

‘Animal House’ car for sale

Posted on December 7, 2008 by lmharnisch

Death_mobile
Courtesy Hemmings Motor News 		This is the Delta Tau Chi "Deathmobile" from "Animal House." Listed for $19,998. 

   
   
   

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Transportation | Comments Off on ‘Animal House’ car for sale

Guard unit loses fight to avoid overseas combat; riot at Forum, December 7, 1968

Posted on December 7, 2008 by lmharnisch




1968_1207_cover

 

1968_1207_sports
Scary night at the Forum, where a riot broke out after a fight.

Lionel Rose defeated Chucho Castillo in a split decision to retain
the world’s bantamweight boxing title, then fans started throwing what
The Times’ Frank Finch called "a barrage of bottles and debris."

"Fires were set high in the arena’s cheap seats," Finch wrote. "At
one time 11 separate blazes were counted. The Inglewood Fire Department
was called to save the building."

The next fight on the card was stopped in the third round and the final fight of the night was canceled.

In a stories the following day in The Times, the promoter claimed
that troublemakers had been hired to ruin the fight. But Dial Torgerson
reported that "more than 5,000 Mexican nationals crossed the border in
cars and buses" to see the fight. "The cheapest seat in the Forum was
$7.50 and many Mexicans paid $35 for main-floor seats–a large sum in
Mexico.

"Receivers were ripped from pay telephones outside and the phone
books burned. Numerous cars were damaged. Two remained in the
debris-filled parking lot Saturday: a Mustang with four slashed tires
and a 1967 Cadillac which had been set afire."

No arrests were made, police said in part because of the number of
people involved. "By the time we got enough reinforcements there those
people just got back in their buses and disappeared," an unnamed
Inglewood police official told Torgerson. "How could we say which ones
threw which rocks?"

Torgerson’s story included a tacky comment from Jack Kent Cooke,
whose Lakers and Kings teams played in the Forum. Repairs were made in
time for the Kings to play the next night. "Cooke, outwardly
unperturbed amid the drifting smoke and breaking bottles of the Friday
night fight aftermath told an associate: "I’m glad Mexicans don’t like
hockey."

Stupid thing to say, no matter the situation.

–Keith Thursby

Postscript: Dial Torgerson died in 1983 covering the war in Nicaragua. He and photographer Richard Cross were leaving the small town of Las Trojes on the Nicaraguan border when their car was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and machine gun fire. –lrh



Posted in #courts, @news, Current Affairs, Front Pages, Sports | 2 Comments

Meltdown delays U.S. atomic airplane; Rams win over Colts, December 7, 1958

Posted on December 7, 2008 by lmharnisch




1958_1207_plane_2

Longtime viewers of the History Channel (or "The Adolf Channel" as we call
it at the Daily Mirror HQ) may have seen a program on the U.S. project to
develop an atomic airplane. As you can imagine, a key component of a nuclear reactor — lead — proved a challenge in airframe design.  On the jump, The Times reveals what actually happened: just a core meltdown, nothing serious, folks.

1958_1207_zones
 The Times bragged on Page 1 about the success of the zone editions:

A 50-page Orange County (OC/ORA) Edition.
A 32-page San Gabriel Valley (SAG) Edition.
A 24-page Valley (SFV) and Centinela-South Bay (CB) editions.
A 20-page Westside (WE) Edition.
And 16 pages for the Glendale (GL) and Southeast (SE) editions.

At the heighth of the Orange County Edition, The Times frequently revised stories to emphasize those elements. Because the edition was often referred to by the initials ORA, we coined the phrase of "Orafying" a story.   

   
   
   

1958_1207_sportsSid Gillman’s big gamble continued to pay off for the Rams.

That’s how The Times’ Cal Whorton referred to quarterback Bill Wade,
who was picked by Gillman to replace one of the most famous Rams in
franchise history, Norm Van Brocklin. Wade continued his outstanding
season by passing one of Van Brocklin’s Rams’ records in a 30-28
victory over the Baltimore Colts in front of another huge crowd at the
Coliseum.

Wade passed for 257 yards and a touchdown. He broke Van Brocklin’s
record for completions in a season and ended the game only five yards
short of Van Brocklin’s record for yards gained in a season. The Rams
had one game left, against Green Bay.

Wade played with the Rams until 1960, when he was traded to the
Bears. His Ram years live on–on EBay, at least. Here’s a link to a
1959 Wade card.

–Keith Thursby



Posted in @news, Front Pages, Science, Sports, Transportation | 1 Comment

Gambling and vice on Central Avenue, December 7, 1938

Posted on December 7, 2008 by lmharnisch
1938_1207_cover

France signs a friendship pact with the Nazis.

1938_1207_runover

Dine at Lucca, 5th and Western.

 Above, a group of African American leaders tells the Police Commission that gambling and prostitution are rampant in the black district along Central Avenue, but that crime leaders are under police protection because they supported Mayor Bowron’s election.

Grand jury testimony paints a portrait of corruption in the Frank Shaw administration. Retired Fire Battalion Chief Guy Kuykendall says he paid thousands of dollars to Joe Shaw and spent thousands more on political campaigns on behalf of men buying jobs with the police and fire departments.

1938_1207_theater

Paulette Goddard and an "unidentified girl from the East" are up for the lead in "Gone With the Wind."

 1938_1207_sports

107 horses named to Santa Anita Handicap, including Seabiscuit
and Stagehand.

Posted in Countdown to Watts, Film, Front Pages, Hollywood, LAPD, Sports, Stage | Comments Off on Gambling and vice on Central Avenue, December 7, 1938