Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + +)

Posted on October 16, 2023 by lmharnisch

Man in suitcoat and tie. He looks mysterious!

For Monday, we have a mystery fellow. Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 39 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights — Spooky, Ooky Witch’s House Haunts Beverly Hills

Posted on October 16, 2023 by lmharnisch

Willat-Lescalle House

A sketch of the “The Witch’s House” by Charles Owens from “Nuestro Pueblo,” courtesy of Mary Mallory

Note: This is an encore post from 2013.

Once upon a time, home design and architecture saluted fantasy and make-believe, and not just in fiction. Bilbo Baggins and lucky leprechauns resided in twee little bungalows, short, off-kilter, hutch-like, but so did imaginative and childlike Los Angeles residents of the 1920s. Storybook architecture, dreamed up and promoted by film industry veterans, flourished near movie studios, magical little Brigadoon-like structures.

A strong proponent of storybook design was Hollywood art director Harry Oliver. Noted for his work as art director on films “7th Heaven” (1927) and “Street Angel” (1928). Oliver merrily dreamed up colorful structures on the side, like the famous Van de Kamp’s windmills and Los Feliz’s Tam-o-Shanter restaurant. Another whimsical structure, however, remains his most famous design, the Witch’s House in Beverly Hills.

Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland:Tales Lost and Found” is available as an ebook.

Continue reading →

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George Hodel: Ask Me Anything, October 2023 / The Trial of George Hodel

Posted on October 10, 2023 by lmharnisch

Boxy and I did an Ask Me Anything on the trial of George Hodel. If all you know is what Steve Hodel claims, this will sound quite a bit different.

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‘Ask Me Anything’ on George Hodel — October 10

Posted on October 9, 2023 by lmharnisch

Boxy and I will be doing a live “Ask Me Anything” about Dr. George Hodel on Tuesday, Oct. 10, at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

Have you read Steve Hodel’s books? Watched the TV interviews? Listened to the podcasts? Maybe you’re wondering how much of what he says is true. Boxy and I will talk about that. I can’t claim to know all of Steve’s allegations about his father because they keep expanding. But I’ve been fact-checking Steve for 20 years so I have a pretty good idea of what he says.

This time, I’ll look a long look at the trial of George Hodel. If all you know is what Steve Hodel says, this will sound quite a bit different.

Can’t make the live session? Email me your questions and I’ll answer them! The video will be posted once the session ends so you can watch it later.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on October 9, 2023 by lmharnisch

2023_1014_main_title
This week’s mystery movie was the 1955 Warner Bros. film Young at Heart, with Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Gig Young, Ethel Barrymore, Dorothy Malone, Robert Keith, Elisabeth Fraser, Alan Hale Jr., Lonny Chapman and Frank Ferguson. Continue reading →

Posted in 1954, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 38 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Landmark Vista Theatre Turns 100

Posted on October 9, 2023 by lmharnisch

Vista Theatre, 1951
The Vista Theatre in 1951, via Water and Power Associates.

The Vista Theatre opened October 9, 1923. Built as an upscale house for smaller studio releases, it remains viable even today, as director Quentin Tarantino restores it. One of the first film theatres in East Hollywood though surrounded by film studios at the time of construction, the Vista brings beauty and elegance to the area.

On March 6, the Community Building Corporation announced the construction of a large Spanish Revival motion picture theatre at the intersection of Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards, the former site of the Fine Arts Studio backlot where the massive Babylon set for D. W. Griffith’s 1916 film “Intolerance” stood. Besides a theatre, one of the first in the area, the building would include two storefronts and help elevate the local community as well as its real estate value, running under the operation of theatre showman Lou Bard, who had opened the Hillstreet Bard Theatre downtown Los Angeles two years before. The March 18 Los Angeles Times presented architect Lewis A. Smith’s Spanish Revival elevation for Bard’s, stating that J. H.. Woodhouse & Son of Pasadena would serve as contractor for the two-story building. Continue reading →

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Black Dahlia: Ask Me Anything, October 2023

Posted on October 3, 2023 by lmharnisch

Here is this month’s Ask Me Anything on the Black Dahlia case. I discuss the “suspect of the month” (Mark Hansen) and talk about the gap in Elizabeth Short’s life from Jan. 9, 1947, when Red Manley left her at the Biltmore, and Jan. 15, 1947, when her body was found on Norton Avenue in Leimert Park.

Executive summary: Mark Hansen was eliminated as a suspect after an exhaustive investigation. Nobody knows where Elizabeth Short was for the five days leading up to her murder regardless of what you hear from people who are misinformed or under the sway of retired Detective III Steve Hodel, who has compiled an elaborate list of “sightings,”  all of which were investigated by police at the time and dismissed.

The next Ask Me Anything on the Black Dahlia case will be on the first Tuesday in November (Nov. 7). I’ll be doing an Ask Me Anything on George Hodel next Tuesday, Oct. 10, live on YouTube and Instagram at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. For this session, I’ll discuss the trial of George Hodel – what really happened, not what Steve Hodel claims.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Casa La Golondrina Cafe, L.A.’s Oldest Brick Building

Posted on October 2, 2023 by lmharnisch

La Casa Golondrina, Screenland Magazine, 1930
La Golondrina in Screenland magazine, 1930.

News came this week that current owners of historic La Golondrina Cafe could soon be foreclosed on by the city of Los Angeles. La Golondrina is the oldest brick building in Los Angeles, possibly built in 1857, and located in the heart of Olvera Street and the very beginnings of Los Angeles. It represents the junction of Italian and Mexican history in the city, as early pioneers Antonio Pelanconi and Consuelo Castilo de Bonzo both owned the property and helped promote the winery and restaurant business from its environs.

Some early records claim that Austro-Italian immigrant Guiseppi Covacchichi constructed the brick building on Vine or Wine Street somewhere in the 1850s, with most histories resting circa 1855-1857, in an area surrounded by vines and wine businesses. The two story building featured a second floor exterior wood balcony, while inside featured painted wood beams, balcony inside, and large fireplace on the first floor. Within a few years, he sold to Antonio Pelanconi, who would establish a successful wine business in the property. Pelanconi operated his wine cellar and business on the first floor, living with his large family on the second. Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Mary Mallory, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on October 2, 2023 by lmharnisch

Main Title -- lettering over tree blossoms.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1938 Warner Bros. picture Four Daughters, with Priscilla Lane, Rosemary Lane, Lola Lane, Gale Page, Claude Rains, John Garfield, Jeffrey Lynn, Dick Foran, Frank McHugh and May Robson. Continue reading →

Posted in 1938, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 33 Comments

Reminder: Don’t Dress Up Like the Black Dahlia for Halloween!

Posted on October 1, 2023 by lmharnisch

Women dressed up like the Black Dahlia -- Don't do this!

Annual reminder: Don’t dress up like the Black Dahlia for Halloween. It’s not the lewk you want. Don’t do it.

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Reminder – My Next ‘Ask Me Anything’ on the Black Dahlia Case Is Oct. 3

Posted on September 29, 2023 by lmharnisch

Reminder: Boxy and I will be doing a live “Ask Me Anything” on the Black Dahlia case Tuesday, Oct. 3, at 10 a.m. Pacific time, on YouTube and on Instagram.

I’ll give an update on the book and talk about another suspect — Mark Hansen. I’ll also discuss Elizabeth Short’s “missing week.” Why is Steve Hodel so adamant that there was no missing week and that he, the great detective, has determined her whereabouts by examining (gasp!) old newspapers and by ignoring what the original homicide detectives said.

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. The video will be posted once the session ends so you can watch it later.

Remember, this is only Black Dahlia questions. I have a separate Ask Me Anything on George Hodel on Oct. 10, at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Myrtle Gonzalez – Early Latina Movie Star

Posted on September 25, 2023 by lmharnisch

Myrtle Gonzalez

An autographed photo of Myrtle Gonzalez by the Martel-Carruthers studio, inscribed to Jean Herscholt, listed on EBay at $250

Note: This is an encore post from 2021. 

Mostly forgotten today because of her untimely death in the 1918 influenza epidemic, Los Angeles native Myrtle Gonzalez began singing and reciting as a child before becoming one of cinema’s first Latina stars. Proud of her Hispanic heritage, Gonzalez never stooped to portraying negative stereotypes of Latinos, but instead focused on dramatic and action roles, gaining the moniker “nature girl.”

Born September 28, 1891, in Los Angeles, Gonzalez grew up in the Catholic Church, a refuge for her Los Angeles-born father, Manuel, and her Irish American mother, Lillian. The Gonzalez family supposedly lived for several decades in Los Angeles, with her great-grandfather one of the first people married in the Old Plaza Church. Lillian practiced her music talents, performing in church and organizing programs of recitations, songs, dance and drama for a variety of venues, often as benefits for organizations like the Plaza Church. She directed choirs for adults and children, taught music lessons and managed her students as well. In 1901, she even produced and directed a children’s opera version of “Cinderella” featuring more than 100 voices.

Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on September 25, 2023 by lmharnisch

Vamp kissing a bedraggled young man.

I picked a mystery movie for this week, but upon previewing the film I decided that the print wasn’t good enough to use, and that there were other issues that sent it back to the vault. While I’m picking a mystery movie, here’s a mysterious couple.

Update: This week turned out a bit strange. I thought I would be able to pick another mystery movie, but life (as they say) got in the way.

This is Jack Mulhall and Jane Winton in The Poor Nut. Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Photography | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments

Black Dahlia: George Hodel, Ask Me Anything, September 2023

Posted on September 23, 2023 by lmharnisch

Boxy and I did another Ask Me Anything on Dr. George Hodel on Tuesday. I covered the history of the Sowden House and who lived there in the 1930s and ‘40s.

I also gave an overview of the life of Dr. George Hodel in the same period, based on public records rather than Steve Hodel’s many fabricated claims. Where Steve has his dad getting a job with the Los Angeles County Health Department in 1945 and buying a house befitting his position, Dr. Hodel actually quit the Health Department in 1944, the year he divorced Steve’s mother, Dorothy. Steve’s claims about living in the Sowden House, his father being the king, his mother being the queen and he and his brothers being the three princes is, alas, utter fiction. Not a word is true.

I also covered the story about whether Dr. Hodel escorted Elizabeth Short to a radio show (no, he didn’t) and whether Fred Sexton really designed the statuette for The Maltese Falcon, as Steve Hodel claims. Executive summary: It’s impossible to find anything – so far – published before Black Dahlia Avenger in 2003 that confirms Sexton was anything other than a painter in 1941, or that he designed the famous “Black Bird.” I’m hoping a trip to the Warner Bros. archives at USC will answer the question.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Two Pioneering Women Photographers

Posted on September 18, 2023 by lmharnisch

Maud_Davis_Baker_1913_0309_LATimes
Just a few years after Susan B. Anthony and others organized the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY in 1848, women began working as photographers in the United States. While many took over their father’s or husband’s photography studio upon their loved ones’ deaths as a means of survival, many turned to the field as a form of artistic expression. Several focused on taking women’s portraits, as ladies often felt more comfortable sitting for other women. Women photographers began moving westward, looking for opportunity and new areas in which to serve. Others fell in love with the field, striving to learn and grow as practitioners.

Maud Davis would become one of these early practitioners. Little is known of her early life. Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1861 and the daughter of Judge Davis of Deer Lodge, Montana, she met older Englishman Thomas C. Baker who had come West somewhere along the way, and married. They ended up in Helena, Montana in the late 1880s with their two children Thomas and daughter Viroque, where he served as secretary of the Buskett Mercantile Comany in Granite before dying of spinal meningitis. Mrs. Baker took an active interest in the arts, attending women’s meetings, hosting them, and taking a strong interest in politics. In 1894, the Democratic County Convention in Lewis and Clarke County nominated her for superintendent of schools. After losing in November, she was elected enrolling clerk of the Montana State Legislature, serving for a short time before discovering a new love, photography. Continue reading →

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated) + + + +

Posted on September 18, 2023 by lmharnisch

Main Title: Lettering over oscilloscope wave forms
This week’s mystery movie was the 1953 United Artists film The Magnetic Monster, with Richard Carlson, King Donovan, Jean Byron, Harry Ellerbe, Leo Britt, Leonard Mudie, Byron Foulger, Michael Fox, John Zarimba, Lee Phelps, Watson Downs, Roy Engle, Frank Gerstle, John Vosper, John Dodsworth, Charlie Williams, Michael Granger, Bill Benedict, Kathleen Freeman, Douglas Evans, Strother Martin, Jarma Lewis, Elizabeth Root and Juney Ellis.

Continue reading →

Posted in 1953, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

Brian De Palma’s ‘The Black Dahlia’

Posted on September 17, 2023 by lmharnisch


Note: This is an encore post from 2006.  I’m running it again because I’m seeing a fair number of comments on social media about De Palma’s Black Dahlia being “Well, OK, not *that* bad.” Yes, yes it was *that* bad. It was entirely *that* bad.

Further note: Rotten Tomatoes, gives this film 32% on the Tomatometer.

“The Black Dahlia,” directed by Brian De Palma, screenplay by Josh Friedman based on the novel by James Ellroy. Starring Josh Hartnett (Dwight “Bucky” Bleichert), Aaron Eckhart (Leeland “Lee” Blanchard), Scarlett Johansson (Kay Lake), Hillary Swank (Madeleine Linscott) and Mia Kirshner (Elizabeth Short). Universal Pictures.

(Contains spoilers. You have been warned)

Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Black Dahlia, Books and Authors, Cold Cases, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, Homicide, LAPD, Zoot Suit | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

‘Ask Me Anything’ on George Hodel — September 19

Posted on September 12, 2023 by lmharnisch

Boxy and I will be doing a live “Ask Me Anything” about Dr. George Hodel on Tuesday, Sept. 19, at 10 a.m. Pacific time.

Have you read Steve Hodel’s books? Watched the TV interviews? Listened to the podcasts? Maybe you’re wondering how much of what he says is true. Boxy and I will talk about that. I can’t claim to know all of Steve’s allegations about his father because they keep expanding. But I’ve been fact-checking Steve for 20 years so I have a pretty good idea of what he says.

Can’t make the live session? Email me your questions and I’ll answer them! The video will be posted once the session ends so you can watch it later.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on September 11, 2023 by lmharnisch

Main Title -- letters on a black background.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1925 MGM picture Zander the Great, with Marion Davies, Holbrook Blinn, Harrison Ford, Harry Watson, Harry Myers, George Seigman, Emily Fitzroy, Hobart Bosworth, Richard Carle, Hedda Hopper, Olin Howland and Master John Huff. Continue reading →

Posted in 1925, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Cinecon 2023 Celebrates Classic Films

Posted on September 11, 2023 by lmharnisch

Cinecon 59

Nothing keeps a good film festival down, even a change of venue.The 59th Cinecon Classic Film Festival put on another entertaining festival at this year’s new location in El Segundo’s Old Town Music Hall, celebrating the power of entertainment. Presenting a wide diversity of programming, the Festival offered a little something for everyone, from silents to sound films to shorts, soundies, and even kinescopes, demonstrating the evolution of entertainment over the last 100 years.

El Segundo, possessing oodles of quaint small town, low-key charm, played host to this year’s version of the Festival in its vintage home town theatre. The Old Town Music Hall was a sweet choice, a charming, intimate venue with a wonderful dedicated staff ready to serve any need. It features a mighty Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ, which kicked things off with a small concert before the start of screenings Thursday.

Continue reading →

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