Tag Archives: Fires

October 26, 1907: Women Clean Clothes With Gasoline, Die After Explosion and Fire

Posted on October 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 26, 1907: Two women in the West Adams District were badly burned and expected to die after a bowl of gasoline they were using to clean a soiled dress exploded, engulfing their apartment at 42 St. James Park in flames. Continue reading →

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October 21, 1947: Firefighter Sits Through Movie With Dead Friend to Avoid Audience Panic

Posted on October 21, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 21, 1947: Walter Saul and his wife had just settled in for a movie with his friend Aloysius Bollin when he felt Bollin’s head on his shoulder. Saul, a firefighter, realized that Bollin had no pulse. He was dead. But rather than created a disturbance, he waited until the double feature was over. Then told Bollin’s son Joseph to go get his mother because his father was sick. Continue reading →

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October 15, 1907: Fire Threatens Orpheum

Posted on October 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 15, 1907: Fire breaks out in the four-story building housing the Orpheum Theater and the Elks Hall. Entertainer Minnie Seligman made the smoke and sound of fire engines part of her act. Continue reading →

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August 24, 1947: Golfers Play Through as Fire Destroys Clubhouse at Inglewood

Posted on August 24, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 24, 1947: Golfers play through as fire destroys the clubhouse at Inglewood Country Club. Continue reading →

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Aug. 9, 1947: 2 Firefighters Die Fighting Big Tujunga Canyon Blaze

Posted on August 9, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 9, 1947: Firefighters Carl Masterson and Edward “Harry” Duffy are killed fighting a wildfire in Big Tujunga Canyon, which burned 3,600 acres. Continue reading →

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Aug. 3, 1907: Gasoline Stove Explodes, Destroys House

Posted on August 3, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 3, 1907: Gasoline from a stove explodes, destroying a house. Mrs. William Morley was found dazed and stumbling around the smoking ruin of what had been her home. Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: 1961 Bel-Air Fire Burns 450 Homes

Posted on January 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

Mary Mallory revisits the 1961 Bel-Air fire Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: T.L. Tally – L.A.’s Pioneer Film Exhibitor, Part 1 (Updated)

Posted on November 16, 2020 by lmharnisch

T.L. Tally, Moving Picture World, 1915. Note: This is an encore post from 2017. Los Angeles has stood at the forefront of not only motion picture production, but the fields of exhibition and distribution as well. Former Texan T. L. … Continue reading →

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Oct. 26, 1907: Women Clean Clothes With Gasoline, Die After Explosion and Fire

Posted on October 26, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Oct. 26, 1907 Los Angeles Two women in the West Adams District were badly burned and expected to die after a bowl of gasoline they were using to clean a soiled dress … Continue reading →

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October 1947: Firefighter Sits Through Movie With Dead Friend to Avoid Audience Panic

Posted on October 22, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. Moviegoers Walter Saul of Cincinnati and his wife had just settled into their seats for a double feature with his friend Aloysius Bollin and son Joseph … Continue reading →

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October 15, 1907: Fire Threatens Orpheum

Posted on October 15, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. October 15, 1907 Los Angeles On a rainy night in Los Angeles, a fire broke out in the four-story brick office building at 235 S. Spring St. housing the Orpheum Theater and … Continue reading →

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Coming Attractions: Celebrating the Reopening of the Central Library

Posted on October 11, 2018 by lmharnisch

The Los Angeles Central Library, courtesy of the library. Los Angeles is celebrating one of its great treasures – the Central Library – this weekend on the 25th anniversary of its reopening in October 1993, seven years after a devastating … Continue reading →

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Aug. 24, 1947: Golfers Play Through as Fire Destroys Clubhouse at Inglewood

Posted on August 24, 2018 by lmharnisch

  Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. Fire which mushroomed early yesterday from the basement of the clubhouse at the Inglewood Country Club, 3424 W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood, left the building and … Continue reading →

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Aug. 9, 1947: 2 Firefighters Die Fighting Big Tujunga Canyon Blaze

Posted on August 9, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. Their names were Carl Joseph Masterson and Edward Jerome Duffy, who went by the nickname Harry. Carl was 40, born in Kansas and lived at 1032 … Continue reading →

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Aug. 3, 1907: Gasoline Stove Explodes, Destroys House

Posted on August 3, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. Aug. 3, 1907 Los Angeles An enormous explosion shattered the night in the Dayton Heights neighborhood near what is now Virgil Avenue and Middlebury Street. “The shock of the explosion awakened people … Continue reading →

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July 25, 1907: Fire Burns Foothill Bridge, Main Route From Monrovia to L.A.

Posted on July 25, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. July 25, 1907 Arcadia, Calif. Despite the efforts of 75 volunteer firefighters, a blaze rapidly consumed a 150-foot wooden bridge on Foothill Boulevard over the Santa Anita between Arcadia and Monrovia.

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June 27, 1907: New to America, Wife Mistakes Gasoline for Coffee in Making Husband’s Breakfast

Posted on June 27, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. June 27, 1907 Los Angeles Louise arrived in Los Angeles three months ago from Norway with her four young children. She met a man who worked in San Pedro (we only know … Continue reading →

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Found on EBay: Souvenir of Club Mecca, Site of Deadly 1957 Firebombing

Posted on January 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

A vendor has listed a cocktail napkin advertising four Los Angeles night spots, including the Mecca Cafe at 5841 S. Normandie Ave. Six people were killed when a man who had been thrown out of the club threw a five-gallon … Continue reading →

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Jan. 4, 1947: Angry Sailor Sets Fire to Skid Row Hotel After Being Rolled

Posted on January 4, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is a post I wrote in 2006 for the 1947Project. Jan. 4, 1947: Suppose, for a moment, that you are a 19-year-old mess cook second class stationed in San Pedro. Suppose further that while you are on leave … Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, African Americans, Black Dahlia, Crime and Courts, Fires, LAPD | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: T.L. Tally – L.A.’s Pioneer Film Exhibitor, Part 1 (Updated)

Posted on October 16, 2017 by lmharnisch

T.L. Tally, Moving Picture World, 1915. Los Angeles has stood at the forefront of not only motion picture production, but the fields of exhibition and distribution as well. Former Texan T. L. (Thomas Lincoln) Tally pioneered in these fields, seeming … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Broadway, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Main Street, Mary Mallory, Theaters | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments