Category: Kim Cooper

Police Grill Pin Boy in Winters Whack

March 13, 1947 Los Angeles Detectives questioned James Joseph Tiernan Jr., 30, tonight about his movements Monday night, both before and after the time he claimed that Evelyn Winters, 42, left his hotel room at 912 W. Sixth Street. Winters turned up dead just after midnight Tuesday in the railyard at Ducommun Street, her clothes in disarray, with a blood alcohol level of .28, a nearly fatal proportion. According to Dr. Frederick Newbarr of the Coroner’s Office, cause of death was blows to the head, exacerbated by the extent of her drunkenness. Tiernan was arrested the next day at the bowling alley at 924 S. Olive Street where he was formerly employed.

Captain Jack Donahoe is following up on Tiernan’s story. Tiernan admits to knowing Winters–a former movie industry legal secretary fallen on hard times–for about two years. He says he met her on Sunday at the public library, then took her to his hotel room. They both liked reading, and alcohol. On Monday night, they were drinking together in the Sixth Street room. Winters left alone between 7:30 and 8 pm. Tiernan stayed in, and that was the last time he saw his
friend Evelyn.

Nathan’s take on the case is here.

Confidential to 1947project readers: 1947 has been an incredible year, and we hope to see you over at our new digs real soon, where the subject is 1907.

Down By The River

March 12, 1947
Whittier

Sheriff’s deputies have obtained a confession from shaggy-haired Myron Funk, 23, in the shocking slaying of Mae Lorena Lund, the 46-year-old ladyfriend of Funk’s father Frank (aka Hardrock).

Lund’s strangled body was found in the shallows of the San Gabriel River in Norwalk, several miles from her home at 115 Burton Street, Bellflower. Funk admitted that he had returned alone to Burton Street after he and his father went home to South Gate following a night of heavy drinking. He claimed to recall arguing with Lund, but to be uncertain over what. He knew he had hit her in the jaw, shoved her onto the bed, then wrapped an electrical cord from a nearby iron tight around her throat. He claims he drove her corpse to the river, then returned home to sleep.

The next morning, Hardrock Funk asked his son for a ride to Mrs. Lund’s, where the lady’s absence received no special mention from Myron. They fed the chickens and left quickly.

Investigations focused on tire tracks in the soft river mud, which led Sheriff’s deputies to the Funks’ car. Myron was questioned at the Compton jail while his father sweated it out in Whittier. A search revealed human blood on the spare tire.

Myron’s confession seems to exonerate his father, who claims he was too drunk that night to remember much of anything.

Easter Sunday Nightmares of Bunker Hill Crime Bus Tour

Oh, you delightful sickniks! After tabulating the votes for the next Crime Bus date, I see that the majority of respondents have asked for the tour to roll on Easter Sunday, 4/16.

And so it shall. If you would like a seat on the Easter Sunday Crime Bus tour, featuring strange and horrible tales from the history of downtown Los Angeles, please visit this site to purchase through paypal.

You may also email me directly to reserve seats and pay by check or money order, if you prefer.

Each seat is $47, and includes a 5-hour guided tour, snacks, beverages and surprises.

Want to hear what some of the passengers said about the last Crime Bus tour? Check out the latest podcast.

If demand indicates, we will be scheduling another downtown tour in the near future. Please email if you are interested in an alternate date.

best regards,
Kim
1947project

Disclaimer: Although it is extremely unlikely, the organizers reserve the right to postpone the tour in the event of extreme weather, riot, act of war or plague. Refunds may be available no more than 72 hours before Sunday’s tour departs, and at the discretion of the organizers. You may substitute an alternate passenger’s name if you are unable to attend. We regret that there are no refunds for people who miss the bus. Passengers may call Kim at 323-223-2767 or email with any questions.

A new year brings many changes

Welcome, gentle reader, to the new and much-improved 1947project blog. After one full year blogging the crimes and oddities of 1947 Los Angeles, we begin Anno 2 by leaving behind the clunky primitivism of Blogger (no categories? no tags? single RSS feeds? come on!) for the cutting edge power of the Dumplingfeed engine (thanks, Richard!).

The biggest change you’ll notice is the inclusion of our longtime king of comments Larry Harnisch to the official roster of 1947project bloggers. He brings extraordinary depth as a researcher, a sly wit, and a propensity for remixing historical content into intriguing new media. Welcome, Larry, to the front page!

And then there’s the little matter of subject. Since I started this blog last March, people have been asking Nathan and myself: what comes after you finish the year? Will you start in on 1948, or something totally different? Nathan goofed at a party that the next year might be 1923, which was picked up by LAObserved. Sorry about the faux-scoop, Kevin–we actually had yet to decide what came next when Nathan set his gums to flapping.

Well, if you’ve found this URL in advance of Tuesday’s official changeover, we feel you deserve a little insider information. As hinted broadly in Larry’s horsey video below, we are about to plunge into the strange and fascinating year 1907.

Our initial research has shown us a Los Angeles that is deeply unfamiliar, despite the streets whose names we know. The locals were strange, the newspapers florid, and money flowed like wine. We look forward to exploring this year with you, and to learning more about a Los Angeles that seems very different from any of the versions of the city we feel we know.

The new site features cross-referencing by types of crime and by neighborhood, so readers can delve into subjects that most interest them without having to follow a strictly chronological path. We’ve added tags (a sort of keyword), adding additional organizational data to each post.

Readers may, if they wish, subscribe to any search result by clicking the little orange XML button that appears on the bottom of any page. Want to know whenever someone gets poisoned or tossed out a window? Use a feedreader like Bloglines and subscribe to the appropriate feed, and you’ll be kept up to date. Or subscribe to the full feed for every little thing we publish.

So hop into the Wayback Machine, gentle reader, and join your hosts Kim, Nathan and Larry as we touch down in a very weird and wonderful Los Angeles. We’re still called 1947project, but out the window it’s 1907… and we can’t wait to show you around! 

Lucky Dime, do not disturb

March 11, 1947
Los Angeles

A shiny new dime glinted brieflyat the bottom of a hole at East 58th Street and Naomi Ave. before being topped by a trolley pole, the first of many to planted as part of a new electrical trackless trolley system.

B.M. (Barney) Larrick, L.A. Transit Lines operating manager, dropped the dime as a symbolic good luck offering to the new coach route which, once it opens on June 1, will run up Central Ave. to Fifth Street, west to Beaudry, then east on Sixth. It’s hoped the gods of transit safety will be pleased with so paltry an offering. It’s the thought that counts!

Not quite cleaned out

March 10, 1947
Los Angeles

James Edwards, 57-year-old busboy in a Broadway cafeteria, is one of those folks who doesn’t trust banks. He’s been saving for many years with the dream of owning his own home.

This morning, near East Second and Los Angeles Streets, a robber clouted him over the head and emptied his wallet. When checked into the Georgia Street Receiving Hospital, Edwards still wore his cartridge belt, stuffed to bursting with crumpled bills. Nurses and a detective helped the dazed man count his savings for the first time in a long while… $3843 total, plus $1.17 in loose change. The robber got $75.

Word’s out, oh frugal friend. You better open a bank account, or take a cab to work from now on!

April Crime Bus Tour: Nightmares of Bunker Hill

Gentle riders,

The 1947project bloggers have been hard at work, uncovering some of the
most ghastly tales ever to unfold in the great central heart of our
city. In April, you can discover these horrors on a little bus tour
we’re calling Nightmares of Bunker Hill.

To give us a sense of how much demand there is for seats, we ask your
assistance. If you would be interested in attending this tour, please
visit our online poll and answer three simple questions, as accurately
as you can. Answering will not obligate you to purchase tickets, but
will help up reserve the proper size bus or busses for our passengers.

Don’t forget, it’s just four days until the big changeover from
blogspot to our own URL, and a brand new year of true crime discovery.
If I were you, I’d peel an eye at over the
weekend… some clues might be dropped.

yours faithfully,
Kim
1947project

April 16 Crime Bus Tour: Nightmares of Bunker Hill

Oh, you delightful sickniks! After tabulating the votes for the next Crime Bus date, I saw that the majority of respondents asked for the tour to roll on Easter Sunday, 4/16.

And so it did, to the queasy glee of all. Stay tuned for photos from the tour.

Want to hear what some of the passengers said about the last Crime Bus tour? Check out the latest podcast.

The next scheduled Nightmares of Bunker Hill tour is Saturday June 10. Please email if you are interested in an alternate date.

best regards,
Kim
1947project

Taxi Driver

March 9, 1947
Santa Ana

Flummoxed partway through the ride home to El Toro Marine Base, when the Negro cabbie suggested he come up front and take the wheel as he was feeling sleepy, Patrick Crawford accomodated the snoring driver by delivering him straight to the Santa Ana cops. It was a good instinct on the young Marine’s part: investigation revealed that sleepy Mervin Wilturner, 21, was likely the fare who had shot the cab’s real owner, Beverly J. Barton, twice in the head earlier this evening. Barton is in critical condition in French Hospital, while Wilturner, a transient, is being held at Newton Street Police Station on suspicion of assault with intent to commit murder.