For Morbid Fans of Los Angeles History…

…check out a gruesomely fascinating blog co-run by Kim Cooper, editor of a couple of great music books to which I've contributed, Lost in the Grooves.

It's called The 1947 Project and it is dedicated to re-reporting and revisting the scenes and crimes of 1947 Los Angeles. Why that year? From the site mission statement:

Los Angeles in 1947 was a social powderkeg. War-damaged returning soldiers were threatened by a new kind of independant female, who in turn found her freedoms disappearing as male workers returned to the factories. These conflicts worked themselves out in dark ways. The Black Dahlia is the most famous victim of 1947's sex wars, but hardly the only one. The 1947project seeks to document this pivotal year in L.A., through period reporting and visits to the scenes as they are today.

Up on the front page today are tales of crucified dogs, a dead milkman, and a benzedrine-fueled bisection.

Comments

[Andy]

Pretty frickin cool.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

Dude, that is way cool. BTW, I know exactly where that house in Orange is.

[E. Steven]

There's a film in limited distribution called Los Angeles Plays Itself. For anyone interested in a history of how LA has been depicted in movies, this is good film to watch.

[Jim Walsh]

I loved the "Bubblegum" book. The other day I heard the 1910 Fruitgum Co. on our local oldies station and thought, "yeah...that *is* cool music." Joey Ramone was years ahead of us on that one...

[David T]

On bubble gum music: I always liked the song "Bubble Gum Music". Especially the line "The Grateful Dead just leave me cold..."

http://home.att.net/~bubblegumusic/songbubmusic.htm

[Xmas]

Up on the front page today are tales of crucified dogs, a dead milkman, and a benzedrine-fueled bisection

What the hell? Was 1947 the year of Red Meat

[Douglas Fletcher]

Maybe all that weirdness helped inspire Jack
Webb to bring out Dragnet on radio a few years later.

[ralphus]

The perfect way for a James Elroy fan to wasted time at work and another blow to the myth that JFK's assassination marked the end of America's innocence.