Found on EBay

Here's another souvenir postcard from the Great White Fleet's visit to Los Angeles in 1908, for sale on EBay. It was mailed April 20, 1908, in Los Angeles.

Matt Weinstock

April 28, 1958

 

Paul Coates

April 28, 1958

Mystery photo

Photograph by Phil Bath / Los Angeles Times

OK, who are they?

• Karl Malden (Alexa Foreman). Right. He's the easy one.

• Sally Forrest and Milo Frank (Steven Bibb). Absolutely right!

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April 28, 1958

By Keith Thursby
Times Staff Writer
 

It seems like such a small thing now. The Dodgers announced a deal with Channel 11 to televise eight games against the Giants in San Francisco.

Back in 1958, of course, there weren’t baseball games all over the dial virtually every night.

A story in The Times detailing the deal didn’t predict big money ahead for baseball teams or television stations. The idea was all about the fans.

Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley said the team had been amazed by the number of fans who had written wanting road games televised. He said most of them represented shut-ins at veterans’ hospitals in Southern California.

Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett, then broadcasting the Dodger games on KMPC, would alternate on television and radio.

These days, another broadcasting team and especially an ex-player or two would be required for most teams, although Scully can still be heard on the radio and seen on TV games.

keith.thursby@latimes.com

Thanks, Keith.... Also note The Times' coverage of proposed slum clearance on Bunker Hill. Angels Flight will be replaced by a moving sidewalk.

Quote of the Day: "Countless plans for redevelopment have been advanced and discarded. Too expensive or too much opposition from owners and tenants."  -- Gene Blake, on the latest redevelopment plan for Bunker Hill

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April 28, 1938

Below, the trial of Police Capt. Earle Kynette in the Harry Raymond bombing gets particularly juicy when the prosecution introduces a large stack of recording discs, apparently of radio speeches, taken from police. Prosecutors charge that the Los Angeles Police Department's intelligence unit spent most of its time keeping tabs on the administration's enemies rather than tracking criminals. The names include former mayoral candidates, civic officials, journalists and an evangelist ... Nazi Field Marshal Hermann Goering orders the confiscation of Jewish wealth ... Child actor Jackie Coogan's fortune has gone from $4 million to $500,000 ... And wedding bells ring for Albania's King Zog.

Quote of the Day: "If finance would get out of government and government would get out of business, everything would go again." --Henry Ford, on fixing America's economy

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April 28, 1908

Above, recall the assassination last month of Durham Stevens, American adviser to the Japanese government, by a Korean youth ... Below, a crazy cross-section of stories from early 20th century Los Angeles, difficult to read but worth the challenge: A train from New Orleans arrives with 1,000 alligators for one of the local alligator farms. Notice that although the story says the alligators were en route for 10 days, they only needed a little water and no food  ... A Presbyterian missionary named F.W. Bible discusses China's economic future ... Note "Yellow Peril" in the headline... And there's an update on the construction worker who fell 50 feet from facade of the Masonic Temple. He not only survived landing on his head, he also survived 1908-style brain surgery ... The Williams Jubilee singers of Chicago, an African American ensemble, perform "My Old Kentucky Home," "Old Folks at Home" and "Old Black Joe" in a benefit for the black YMCA ... And the school superintendent criticizes a city auditor who found that the district's finances were in disarray, forcing educators to close classrooms and cut teachers' pay.   

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Mob murders in L.A.

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I spent a little time tracking down the addresses of what the LAPD said were Mafia killings from 1906 to 1951. Even a superficial look reveals problems with the Police Department's list. As noted elsewhere, the 1934 killing of Ralph Monterastelli appears to be a botched robbery rather than a mob slaying. And in doing research, I found a 1933 list of mob killings that adds some names and locations, so the 1959 list released by Police Chief William H. Parker appears to be incomplete. Still, it's a starting point.

Note that not all of the killings could be included in the map. The unfortunate Antonio Martimetto, for example, was found floating in a water tank in Elysian Park (Sept. 7, 1921), and it's unclear where the tank was located. His underworld connections, if any, are likewise unclear.

In the same way, The Times merely says Vinciano "Jimmy" Basile was found shot to death Feb. 2, 1931, in a ditch west of Downey. His murder was clearly a mob killing; we just don't know precisely where it happened. All we know is that he was standing next to a palm tree on the Vernon-Downey Road when he was killed with a shotgun, according to a witness who lived at 6211 Howe Ave.

And in other cases, we simply don't know where some crimes occurred. Several victims disappeared and were never found, so we don't know where they were done in. The unfortunate individuals include men involved in the alcohol trade: Joe Porrazzo (May 16, 1929); Frank Baumgarteker (Nov. 25, 1929) and Joe Ardizzone (Oct. 15, 1931).

Frank Niccoli (Sept. 2, 1949) is listed as disappearing from 1354 N. Havenhurst, but it's unclear exactly where he vanished or what became of him -- except that it was presumably unpleasant.*  The continuing absence of David M. Ogul (Oct. 10, 1949) is likewise unresolved, so there's no location listed, although I don't think anybody questions what became of him.

* In an interesting footnote, 1354 Havenhurst also appears in the Robert Mitchum marijuana case.

This is a work in progress, so I'll try to update as time allows.

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April 27, 1958

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April 27, 1938

Above, "Negro News" apparently continued  on KGFJ until the beginning of World War II, according to The Times' radio listings. Below, Police Chief James Davis testifies in the trial of Police Capt. Earle Kynette in the Harry Raymond Bombing. And look at the police intelligence files the district attorney introduces as evidence: Cafeteria owner Clifford Clinton, a member of the 1937 grand jury; the Rev. R.P. "Fighting Bob" Shuler; Los Angeles County Supervisors John Anson Ford and Roger Jessup; and vice investigator Edward W. Atherton.

Quote of the Day: "Are these men criminals?" -- Special Prosecutor Joseph Fainer, questioning Police Chief James Davis

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April 27, 1908

A dispatch from the Washington Post on Haitian leader Pierre Nord Alexis. Yes, this is how foreign figures were covered 100 years ago. No matter how much time I spend with the old newspapers, they still surprise me.

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Great White Fleet

Above, a souvenir of the Great White Fleet's visit to Los Angeles, obtained from that wonderful repository of historic goodies: EBay.

And here's the 100-year-old message, written from Fullerton:

 

 

The Kansas (BB-21) was broken up for scrap in the Philadelphia Naval Ship Yard in 1924.

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