Photograph by Larry Harnisch / Los Angeles Times
I saw this poster glued to some plywood at a construction site on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice this morning. Alas, there were no similar treatments of other candidates, so I can’t give them equal time. With luck I’ll be able to collect an entire set by election day.
Daily Mirror Mini Survey, January 2008 |
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| More | Less |
Same | |
| 1908 pages | ****** | ** | |
| 1938 pages | **** | *** | ** |
| 1958 pages |
****** | * | |
| Historic sports |
**** | * | ** |
| Mystery photos |
**** | *** | |
| Original stories on vintage crime |
***** | ** | |
| Paul Coates Matt Weinstock |
** | * | **** |
| Everything/Anything else |
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| If you could add one thing … |
More 30s through 50s, more crime and sleaze, more about the beach cities during the 30s, 40s and 50s. I do wish that Is there a way for you to enlarge the print? More stories about other parts of LA…like the Valley, the Westside and the
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| If you could remove one thing |
Nothing.
Spending too much time one the same story…like Main street. |
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| Other remarks |
Keep up the good work, your blog is cool.
I love the 50 If everything You’re I think the site is doing exactly what it should be…… My favorite memory of the Daily Mirror is the day I discovered it and had to I would love to see more of Jim Murray. I would like to see more vintage ads.
More vintage ads. I can’t think of a thing you should change. I enjoy also the commentary of Paul Coates and Matt Weinstock. Paul Coates has a way to get You’ve struck a near-perfect balance on your blog. Please continue in exactly the same manner you have been doing. This is a great blog and you are doing a great job. Times *and* Mirror front pages every day. It’s a great blog. Keep it coming. You might throw in a front page or a front sports page of 1948 once in a while. I love it all, of course. It’s my home page. |
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All told, the survey results are extremely gratifying (and I didn’t tabulate the e-mails that said "don’t change anything").
The blog is a labor of love, with an emphasis on both words: I love doing the Daily Mirror, but it can be laborious. Nothing would make me happier than to add everything requested here, but it’s a matter of time constraints (so many stories, only one Larry Harnisch). The Mirror front pages are especially tricky because I have to scan them into the computer myself and because the lighting isn’t balanced I have to paste two correctly exposed halves together to get a complete page.
I’ll admit that the 1908 pages are an acquired taste and that very few people are as enchanted as I am with Los Angeles 100 years ago. I run the 1908 pages because this is when the city took shape. This is when many of the "outlying" districts were laid out (for example, Sierra Madre, 1907). And turn-of-the-century Los Angeles was a wild and woolly place. The Times of this era offers a treasure of information on the city’s ethnic communities. But, yes, the pages can be extremely hard to read.
I hadn’t planned to do the 1938 pages, but the Harry Raymond bombing and the recall of Frank Shaw are too important to ignore. And I’m crazy about the ads from the 1930s.
More 1958? I’ll see what I can do.
I will do what I can with historic sports. I am by no means an expert in this area, but we have the Dodgers’ first season coming up and I hope to give it some good exposure.
I, too, love the mystery photos. It’s even more fun for me to watch people guess. I would have never imagined how much I’d be pestered over the "Dodger Santa Claus" picture
Original stories–I like them too!
I run Paul Coates and Matt Weinstock because they are voices of the era. Coates is the Steve Lopez of his day, while Weinstock is the Steve Harvey of the 1950s. Both columns are a fair amount of work because I have to get them from the microfilm and type them into a computer. But when I’m all done and reading them over one last time, I have to say I’m glad I spent the effort. What amazes me is how prolific these men were. Coates wrote a column every day AND had an evening TV show. It’s no wonder he died at an early age.
As for the rest of the compliments–thanks!
ps. I’m limited in writing about some areas of the city because The Times didn’t cover them very much.
Here’s one of my favorite pastimes–which I don’t get to do often enough these days: Dig up a "home of the week" from the 1908 Times Real Estate Section and see if it’s still standing. Unfortunately, the residences in downtown Los Angeles are gone, but that’s usually not true for homes built in what were once the suburbs. Although Southern California is frequently dismissed as the mecca of suburban sprawl, there are many, many neighborhoods of 100-year-old homes in Los Angeles. Most Angelenos simply doesn’t know about them because some of the areas are a bit iffy. OK, the neighborhoods can be very iffy.
Here’s a good example, The Times Real Estate Section of Feb. 2, 1908, featured the Wattles Mansion, 1824 N. Curson. Today, the mansion is the home of Hollywood Heritage.
Feb. 2, 1958
Los Angeles
A military version of a DC-6 airliner and a patrol plane collide in midair, showering five square miles of Norwalk with flaming wreckage and bits of metal. The main portion of the C-118 plunges into a gas station at Pioneer and Firestone boulevards, careens across the street and starts a fire when it slams into a gasoline supply dump at the sheriff’s substation. The P-2V comes to rest in the parking lot of the Santa Fe Springs fire station.
In addition to the victims on the two aircraft, Edith Hernandez, 23, 12303 Jersey St., is killed by falling metal when she runs outside to check on the safety of her children.
As emergency personnel from across the area converge on the scene of the disaster, thousands of spectators swarm the area, bringing the Santa Ana Freeway to a standstill.
The crash, which ultimately claimed 48 lives, prompted a congressional investigation and a Navy ban on low-level flights from Los Alamitos Naval Air Station. It is California’s worst air disaster, The Times says.
Click here to download the page: Download 1958_0202_cover.jpg
Page 2, with photos, is here: Download 1958_0202_page2.jpg
Feb. 2, 1938
Los Angeles
After watching The Times twist and turn to avoid saying exactly what the victims in the Paul Wright case were doing when they were shot, we finally get around to it–sort of. Here’s the setup: After a night of heavy drinking by everyone involved, Wright has gone to bed, leaving his wife, Evelyn, and best friend Johnny Kimmel in the living room.
Wright said he was awakened by the sound of the piano and went to investigate, although it was claimed that he merely hid in the bedroom and watched the couple using a full-length mirror on the bedroom door. Continue reading
American women by the numbers, 1907:
508 machinists
185 blacksmiths
46 carriage and hack drivers
45 engineers and "firemen"
37 "brakemen"
10 "baggagemen"
7 conductors
2 "motormen"
2 telephone/telegraph "linemen"
0 soldiers, sailors, Marines, streetcar drivers, firefighters
Leading profession for women: servant (nearly one-fourth of all employed women), followed by farm labor.
Click here to download the page: Download 1908_0201_women.jpg
Photographs by Larry Harnisch / Los Angeles Times
I may have to rethink my comment about "East Germany, 1962."
Here’s a detail of the facade. Glass is being installed on the south side of the building. I’ll try to get a shot of that soon.
Feb. 1, 1958
Los Angeles
Rock ‘n’ roll singer Li’l Julian "These Lonely Nights" Herrera and two
companions are in custody on rape charges after taking two teenage
girls to Griffith Park, The Times says.
The girls told police that Herrera (Ronald Wayne Gregory), 19, 4159 Verdant St.; David Luan, 20, 440 La Cleve [La Clede?] Ave.; and Manny Ortiz, 19, 475 Maple Ave., drove them to a lonely spot near the observatory, The Times says.
One of the girls said Luan and Ortiz attacked her on a hillside, while
Herrera "attempted to molest her," The Times says. Luan and Ortiz admit
being at the park with the girls, but deny any attack. "I am not
involved," Luan said.
Unfortunately, The Times never followed up on this story, so we don’t
know whether Herrera made his weekend concert dates. He is
usually identified as an East L.A. performer, but he lived Glendale and
Herrera was apparently a stage name.
Feb. 1, 1958
Los Angeles
Scientists–bruised by the Soviet success with Sputnik–celebrate the successful launch of Explorer … The launch is a triumph for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Rocketdyne, The Times says. … Worries about a television strike against NBC and ABC … The president says the economy is just "catching its breath for a new advance." …
Quotes of the day: "A few political Cassandras pop up regularly to suggest that deep depression is just around the corner and only panicky governmental intervention on a massive scale can stem disaster." President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
"He who lifts a fallen brother from the dust is greater than the hero that conquers the world." –"The Drunkard"
Click here to download the page: Download 1958_0201_cover.jpg
Harry Raymond undergoes surgery to remove more bomb fragments … Times columnist E.V. Durling, an institution of the 1930s, urges restraint in deciding whether the LAPD was involved in the Raymond case
… Sheriff Eugene Biscailuz poses for a gag picture with a very tall visitor … Sordid details emerge in the Paul Wright murder case (note the reference to the finding his wife and friend "in an intimate pose." The papers of the day had to sanitize what the victims were doing when they were shot) … And the former chairman of the Board of Supervisors pleads guilty to tax evasion …
Quote of the day: Nonsmokers are continually complaining of the lack of courtesy on part of smokers. Yet nonsmokers will clutter up streetcar seats assigned for smokers rather than take a few more steps to the nonsmoking section. Bigger and better consideration of other people’s rights would help make the world a more pleasant place to live. –Times columnist E.V. Durling
Click here to download the full page: Download 1938_0201_cover.jpg
Legal troubles among the Daughters of Pocahontas (white members only!) land in court … Imported grass seed from the Sahara is to be planted in the California desert … The Odd Fellows discuss a convention in Los Angeles … A leaky gasoline pipe is blamed for a fire at the Crescent Creamery and Butter Co., 241 Winson St. … A woman is fatally injured after she absent-mindedly steps in front of a streetcar at Pasadena Avenue and Avenue 56.
Click here to download the page: Download 1908_0201_cover.JPG
Jan. 31, 1958
It is generally conceded that newspapermen have an infinite capacity
for nonchalance, irreverence and wryness. No one is sure why. Maybe
it’s the interesting people they don’t meet.
Anyway, several reporters were reminiscing the other day and they recalled a couple of minor classics involving this attitude.
One had to do with the time Chris Claussen was assigned to cover an
important event at Mt. Palomar. Returning from the observatory, Chris
realized he had a deadline problem.
HE STOPPED at
a newspaper office in Escondido or Oceanside or somewhere down there
and asked if he could use a typewriter. He intended to write his story
then phone it collect to his paper, the L.A. Daily News.
As he went to work the staff crowded around to watch. Here was the
big-city reporter on display. One young reporter in particular watched
intently.
After a few minutes Chris, now with Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Lab,
inquired softly, "Does it bother you to have me typing while you’re
watching over my shoulder?"
THEN THERE was
Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941–the fateful day the Japanese bombed Pearl
Harbor. it was also Darr Smith’s first day on the job as assistant city
editor.
As first reports of the attack came through, Manging Editor Phil
Garrison (now ME of the Antelope Valley Ledger-Gazette) phoned from
home and asked Smith (now with an L.A. collection agency) if he thought
the staff should be rounded up and brought in early.
"Oh, no," said Darr in one of the understatements of all time, "I don’t see any local angle to it."
COUNCILMEN Ernest Debs and James Corman yesterday concluded their $1-a-pound wager to determine who could lose the most weight in a month.
Their weights were notarized and Debs, who took off 26 pounds (221 to 195), paid $1 to Corman, who lost 27 (191 to 164).
Any bids on this prime, lean beef?
AN INDIGNANT mother
was just on the phone. Her daughter Vikki, 2, suffered a broken nose at
play. In filling out a report for the insurance company ma ignored one
item on the questionnaire. Now she has been advised she must do the
whole thing over.
The question: "Was the patient pregnant at the time of the accident?"
Sometimes you wonder.
IN A PRESS conference
yesterday Vice Adm. Harry D. Felt talked about the Navy Polaris missile
and remarked that by 1960 its "initial operational capabilities" should
be known.
Realizing he’d inadvertently slipped into official-ese, he shrugged, smiled and added, "Whatever that means."
The gobbledygook-conscious reporters thought it was very refreshing.
AN ELDERLY woman
passenger got to chatting with a cabdriver, and when she confided she
was a tourist here he asked if she were enjoying her visit and what
places she’d seen.
"I’m saving my money for a rainy day," she said. After a moment she
added, "I really mean it. I’m waiting for a muddy track at Santa Anita.
I do my own handicapping and I pick the horses with the biggest feet.
They always finish in the money in the mud."
The cabby renewed his resolve to keep his mouth shut.
MISCELLANY — A
man came into the California Bank at 625 S. Spring St. and asked Mary
Ellen Miranda where he could find Bingham, Walter & Hurry Co., the
investment firm in the same building. Only she’ll swear he said, "Bring
him water and hurry" …
Modern medicine tells of a patient with a penchant for practical jokes
who sent his doctor a collect telegram, "I am perfectly well." A few
days later he received a heavy package with express charges due. Inside
was a hunk of concrete and the message, "This is the weight your
telegram lifted from my mind" …
A woman got onto a Metro bus and complained she’d waited 15 minutes for
it. The driver, reports Johnny Dvorak, replied, "Fifteen minutes? Heck
I waited 54 days to drive this thing" …
Bob Arbogast wonders if anyone has called the Dodgers office and asked for opening day tickets on the 50-yard line.
My earlier post on whether there were original "Poker Dog" paintings at the Redwood prompted this response:
Just read this and it made my day. I can assure you there are no original Coolidge poker dogs here now.
yours truly
Christian Frizzell
current owner of the Redwood Bar & Grill
Los Angeles Times file photo
Charles Starkweather, shortly after his arrest, with blood on his ear and shirt from police gunfire.
Jan. 31, 1958
Los Angeles
A crowd watches flames destroy an old wooden bridge over the Los Angeles River near Compton … An inquiry by the district attorney finds no basis for allegations of misconduct by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office …
Quote of the day: “I always wanted to be a criminal, but not this big a one.”
–Charles Starkweather, killer of 11 people
Jan. 31, 1938
Berlin celebrates Adolf Hitler’s fifth anniversary … Dist. Atty. Buron Fitts promises a crackdown on vice in Los Angeles … The City Council is studying whether to set up an intake bureau to assist homeless men in Los Angeles … Members of the LAPD intelligence squad will be ordered to reveal what they know about the Harry Raymond bombing.
Quotes of the day: Times columnist Chapin Hall warns everyone not to make too much of the incident in which a Japanese sentry slapped an American envoy in Nanking, China:
" After all, it’s not our war–yet–and we’re not making the rules."
"Neither today nor at any other time will there be acts of terrorism against the Jews or anything resembling a pogrom." –Octavian Goga, Romanian premier
Here’s the link to read the page full-size: Download 1938_0131_cover.jpg
A man crossing 9th Street near Maple is injured when he stumbles over a rope that a motorist is using to tow another car … Foreign ships call at the port of San Pedro, delivering large loads of lumber and railroad ties … An artillery company offers to help defend the coast … A Wells Fargo driver is arrested on charges of selling stolen crates of eggs … And a man is badly injured at 7th Street and Figueroa trying to stop a team of horses pulling an undertaking firm’s ambulance …
Jan. 30, 1958
As all dedicated students of trivia know, it’s the little things, not the big ones, that irritate and arouse people.
At
the moment, the mail is littered with derogatory comments about the
proposal, presented at the recent hearing of the Assembly Subcommittee
on Transportation and Commerce, to establish a minimum $50 fine for
convicted litterbugs.
More particularly, these people are hot about the further suggestion that willing folk be constituted as a corps of unofficial litterbug watchers, encouraged by cash rewards, to report such misconduct.
"EVERYONE will
concede that city and county beautification is highly desirable," writs
R.R.G., "but what we’re creating here is a flock of stool pigeons. Men,
women and children would become informers straining to punish persons
who deliberately or accidentally threw a chewing-gum wrapper out a car
window."
Mrs. Helen F. writes, "This is another insult to the intelligence of decent people. Why are elected officials constantly looking for new ways to belittle, embarrass or punish people?"
R.B.’s
approach is simpler: "I hear they’re planning a new law to help curb
people from throwing refuse from cars. We could call it our Little
Litterbug Law."
A PALMS lady
named Elsie brought back from a trip to Acapulco a huge black velvet
sequined sombrero which she claims has magic qualities.
After purchasing
it, she and her husband went to a restaurant. There was no place to set
it down so she took it along when she went into the powder room.
While
combing her hair she discovered in dismay that she had no change to tip
the maid–nothing less than 50 pesos. She was wondering what to do when
the answer presented itself. Other patrons, it seemed, had been tossing
money into her sombrero. She gathered up the coins and handed them to
the grateful maid.
SOMETIMES the imaginings of youngsters make more sense than what adults dream up.
The other day Sandy, 7, announced to Paul and Margaret Landacre that she had written her first novel–about Piddocks, a very unusual kind of people.
As Sandy explained it, "The big Piddocks were bad and evil, the little Piddocks were good and nice. But the big Piddocks made war on the little Piddocks. The argument was about being good."
"Then the big Piddocks began having dreams. They dreamed that the little Piddocks had the Loch Ness monster on their side. God was sending down these dreams to help the little Piddocks and make the big Piddocks turn good. They did turn good and they signed a peace treaty and all lived happily ever after."
REMEMBER when youngsters used to bedevil passing motorists by calling out, "Hey, mister, your wheels are turning!"
The
other day two teenage boys trying to hitch a ride at Wilshire and
Western were rebuffed by a Cadillac driver. As the signal changed and
he took off, one boy climbed onto his rear bumper, out of sight, and
crouched there. The other yelled, "Stop! He’ll get killed!" When the
terrified driver stopped, the boy nonchalantly got off.
AT RANDOM — Confused world note: White’s Electronics Co. of Sweethome, Ore., gets out an item called Sputnik I — a Geiger counter and radiation detector … Gene Coughlin,
my former playmate on the L.A. Daily News, hits the $2,500 "First
Person Award" jackpot in the February Reader’s Digest … Jesse
Daniels, chief elevator operator at The Broadway, retires Saturday
after 34 years, during which he was never absent or late … Mark
Scott, who broadcast the Hollywood Stars’ baseball games for six years
during which they finished no worse than third, got a new car and drew
license plate PCL 123.
January 30, 1958
Memphis Harry Lee Ward, Hollywood’s oldest newsboy and foremost collector of literary works, once made the observation to me that:
“Parkey Sharkey is far more literary than you are, sir.”
It wasn’t a comment meant to degrade me. This I’m sure of.
First, because Memphis and I are very good friends. Such good friends, in fact, that on one occasion he admitted grandly that I was his
favorite columnist on Page 2, Part II of the Mirror News.
And second, because Memphis regards Sharkey as a literary equal to many of the famous masters whose volumes are stacked ceiling-high in his small living quarters. Continue reading
A movie crew has been dressing the third-floor newsroom to film scenes of the "Steve Lopez Movie" and have put metal jackets and overhead lights around the old columns (in reality, there is no overhead lighting in the newsroom). They remind me of "War of the Worlds" but other folks are calling it a Christo "Pinwheel" installation. The clutter is genuine, authentic L.A. Times clutter.
Photograph by Larry Harnisch / Los Angeles Times
