Found on EBay – Great White Fleet

A postcard showing a barbecue for sailors during the Great White Fleet’s visit in 1908 has been listed on EBay. This was a huge event in turn of the century Los Angeles, and I had fun exploring The Times’ coverage. Commemorative postcards usually feature ships, and I have seen one postcard of a boxing match, but this is a new one to me. Bidding starts at $4.95.

Grill 'em All

Photograph by Larry Harnisch / Los Angeles Times   X-treme dining on Tuesday at Grill 'em All in Highland Park.

I took a break from blogging the other evening, and on the spur of the moment thought I would check in with the food truck craze that has swept Los Angeles. I’ll warn you now that my opinions on local food are unconventional (ask me my thoughts on Jonathan Gold sometime). I’m no snob, but whenever I pass the Original Pantry and see a long line I wonder, “Are those people crazy?” And I think In-N-Out Burger is probably the most overrated place in town. Part of the appeal of this rolling cuisine is the hunt for the truck, using clues from Twitter and the Web, and my luck has not been terribly good. I once wasted my entire dinner hour waiting in Little Tokyo (in the rain) for the Nom Nom Truck on the recommendation of my newsroom neighbors  Alana Semuels and Roger Vincent and ever since I have been calling it the “No Show Truck.”

Paul Coates, March 22, 1961

 

March 22, 1961: Paul Coates publishes a personal testimonial from a woman advocating free school lunches for children. “It breaks my heart when I hear people say it's a waste of money to feed hungry kids at school," she says.

Chicken Boy

Photograph by Bruce Cox/Los Angeles Times

Feb. 5, 1970: Behold the wonder of Chicken Boy on the roof of a restaurant on Broadway near 5th Street in downtown Los Angeles. In 1977, Art Seidenbaum looked at oversized signs as part of Los Angeles’ vernacular architecture, which he called “litertecture” as in “literal architecture.”  Chicken Boy’s oversized playmates included a turbaned swordsman over Ali Baba’s Restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, the Carpeteria Giant, the supersized mechanic for Hal’s Tires in West Hollywood and the Colossus of Hickory Burger.  There are several more plastic giants to be found in Los Angeles, according to a website that tracks them.

Town Called Hollywood, Feb. 23, 1941

Feb. 23, 1941: An old hand at writing columns but feeling his way in his new assignment, The Home Front,  Tom Treanor writes: "Of all the times in the history of the world to be writing a column this is unquestionably the most exciting. “And of all the places in which to be writing it, Southern California is probably the most varied and interesting.” Jimmie Fidler has the day off, so instead I’m running Philip K. Scheuer’s “Town Called Hollywood,” in which he makes his Oscar predictions (he likes “Rebecca” for best picture) and talks about movie directors’ attitudes toward color.

Found on EBay -- Parkey Sharkey

A copy of “Whiskey Road” by the incomparable Parkey Sharkey has been listed on EBay. Sharkey was a frequent presence in Paul Coates’ columns and many readers suspected that Coates fabricated Sharkey’s letters. Not at all. Sharkey was an actual person, but a rather eccentric one. “Whiskey Road” is sometimes described as a book, but it’s really a pamphlet and much of it consists of Sharkey’s letters to Coates. This copy is signed and is accompanied by a wine list from the Skywood Lodge. I think Sharkey would approve. Bidding starts at $27.95. ALSO Parkey Sharkey on the Daily Mirror

Paul Coates, Feb. 6, 1961

 

Feb. 6, 1961: A religious group moves into a vacant storefront next to a country-Western bar and Paul Coates has the rest of the story... Richard Daniel Johnson, owner of the Eaton Canyon Riding Club, is found shot to death less than six months after he reported being kidnapped. (Curiously enough, The Times apparently didn’t cover this killing).

Movieland Mystery Photo [Updated]

Los Angeles Times file photo

[Update: This is Hugh Herbert, but the rest of the people in the photo are unidentified. Please congratulate Dewey Webb, Mary Mallory, Carmen, Rotter, Mark Heimback-Nielsen, Eve, Cold in Phoenix, Roget-L.A., Herb Nichols, Sarah, Julie Merholz, Randy Skretvedt, Mike Hawks, Benito, Norma Desmond and Stacia for identifying him!] Our mystery folks are making a mystery cocktail! Notice the little risers being used to lift the table!

Found on EBay -- ‘They Call Them Camisoles’

A rather battered but interesting copy of “They Call Them Camisoles” has been listed on EBay. “Camisoles” was written by Wilma Carnes under the pen name Wilma Wilson and is a graphic first-person account of her time at Camarillo (“Camisoles” was the hospital’s nickname for straitjackets.) She was beaten to death by a soldier during a “drinking party at her home” in 1943.  This copy carries an interesting inscription to Howard Francis Chase and is signed, but has suffered water damage and the cover is badly torn. “Camisoles” is hard to find on the open market, although it’s in many public libraries,  and it is usually listed at a high price. Bidding on this copy starts at $200, which seems high, considering the condition. ALSO “They Call Them Camisoles” on the Daily Mirror

Paul Coates, Jan. 23, 1961

Jan. 23, 1961: If brewers are developing instant beer, can “instant writers” be far behind, Paul Coates asks.

L.A. Serial Killer Suspect Kills Himself in Jail

Jan. 12, 1981: Vernon Butts, a suspect with William Bonin in the Freeway Killer case, hangs himself with a towel in his cell at the Los Angeles County Jail. He was 23.  People are struggling to pronounce L.A.’s latest food craze: croissants!

Restaurants and Their Critics

Dec. 29, 1980: A few days after the incident involving Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila at Red Medicine, I came across this piece by the late David Shaw on the relationship between restaurants and restaurant critics.  Long-established restaurants are almost impervious to bad reviews, while other establishments languish or close despite favorable coverage, Shaw said. He also noted that most new restaurants in Los Angeles County don’t last a year. Shaw,  a Pulitzer Prize winner who died of brain cancer at the age of  62, was quite a bon vivant and I’m sure he relished the reporting on this story.  ALSO Food Critic Outed and Ousted From Restaurant