Nuestro Pueblo

 

Prospect and Myra avenues ...  No, I couldn't make this up. I really couldn't.

View Larger Map

July 15, 1908

View Larger Map

ere's an update on the story of Joseph H.N. Longy, who was arrested on charges of sending threatening letters to local businessmen. The Times gives an elaborate description of his "oil gun" and a primitive hand grenade that was found in his room. At left, Frank Leroyxez is badly injured during a Bastille Day celebration when his parachute becomes snarled after he jumps from a gas balloon at Chutes Park. Leroyxez landed on a building at 16th Street and Main (at left, the intersection), and was rescued by firefighters.  In November, Leroyxez will be part of a balloon race with hopes of setting a distance record. Also ... Chinatown gamblers target police officers for blockading their businesses ... Painters are trapped in a stockade being built to house the homeless ... Wilmington deals a setback to plans for laying streetcar tracks ... And the South Main Street and South Side improvement associations oppose bonds for improved roads. Email me

El Segundo revisited

orman Frederick Gagnon looks like an excellent suspect in the unsolved killing of two El Segundo police officers last year. In an incident quite similar to the El Segundo case, Charles H. May and a female companion (The Times, fortunately, did not identify her) were kidnapped as they left a Lawndale restaurant at 2 a.m. on a Saturday. Gagnon drove them to Crystal Lake, where he pistol-whipped May and raped the woman while bragging that he had killed El Segundo Officers Richard Phillips and Milton Curtis. (Today, we know Gerald F. Mason was the killer). Gagnon was convicted under the Little Lindbergh law and in 1959 was sentenced to prison without the possibility of parole. The Social Security Death Index lists a Norman F. Gagnon, born in 1927, dying March 25, 1997, in Sacramento. Email me

July 14, 1938

he Times lists 25 prospective candidates to run against Mayor Frank Shaw in a recall election. Leading the list is Judge Fletcher Bowron, the eventual winner. The list also includes Judge Fricke, county Supervisor John Anson Ford, former Mayor Porter and Clifford Clinton. And... Hazel Drain and Ray Stanford file an assault complaint against fan dancer Sally Rand. They say the entertainer attacked them at a downtown theater because they were photographing her act. She is accused of biting Drain's arm, scratching Stanford's neck and ruining their film. Email me

July 14, 1908

Adjusted for inflation, the $15 refrigerator sold for $329.81 USD 2007, the $26 refrigerator was $571.66 USD 2007.

abid socialist Joseph H.N. Longy writes threatening letters to Los Angeles businessmen, saying that he'll burn down their homes unless they send him $5. Of course, if he had been psychic Victor Segno, and promised to send a daily "success wave" for $1, he would have been successful.  Longy, who was released in 1909, above, used the return address of Howell Hall, 814 S. Main St. View Larger Map Also note the story on early Los Angeles residents asking the City Council to preserve the Protestant cemetery on Fort Hill, which "has become unsightly through neglect," The Times says. Email me

July 13 1938

North Main Street, below, via Google maps' street view. Where would you rather go for a walk, Main Street 1938 or Main Street 2008? View Larger Map

he upcoming election on whether to recall Mayor Frank Shaw is one of the key moments in Los Angeles history. So where does The Times play the story? Page 8 of the second section. Granted, this is only a prelude (Roy Smith announces that he will file the recall petitions tomorrow),  but one still has to wonder about the editors' news judgment. And although the filing of recall petitions will land on Page 1, it's not the lead story. That will be Howard Hughes' record flight around the world: 3 days, 19 hours, 14 minutes, 10 seconds. Email me

July 13, 1908