Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Oct. 13, 1907
Los Angeles

Gunmen imported from out of town by the Hop Sing Tong entered the tailor shop of Lem Sing at 806 Juan St. in Chinatown and under the pretense of having some clothing made, wounded him when he turned to reach for some material. The men also killed Wong Goon Kor, who was, according to The Times, “lying in a bunk under the influence of opium.”

The three fleeing men threw away their revolvers as they ran down Marchesault Street, through Stab in the Back Alley to Apablasa Street, where they got into a vegetable wagon that took them away.

But apparently unfamiliar with Chinatown, the gunmen went into the wrong business, mistaking it for the shop at 802 Juan St. run by Joe Fong.

At the hospital, Sing told police: “I owe Chan Mon money. He asked me for it today. Then he sent Deputy Constable McCullock to collect it. I could not pay. Then three Hop Sing Tong men came to my store and asked for clothes. When I turned around, they shot me and my tailor. I fell upon the floor and remember no more until I was brought in here.

“One of the men was about 20 years old, had no queue and was about 5 feet, 6 inches tall and wore American clothes. The second man was about 30 years old and had chin whiskers, and the third man was about 43 years old and wore a queue. He did the shooting.”

Gravely wounded, Sing died the next day after identifying three men as the assailants, although his statement was questioned because he had previously identified three different men.

A few days later, an arraignment was held for Charley Wing of Portland, Ore., a man of mixed ancestry described by The Times as “a man of good education, speaks English fluently and is a power among the yellow men. His hair is brown, his mustache light brown and there is but little appearance of the Oriental in his makeup. In court yesterday, he looked more like some student of theology than like a murderous highbinder.”

Charges were also filed against Charley Sam Foo Ling, known as “the Bakersfield Kid,” and Wong Chung.

The Times noted: “Chinese tong men yesterday buried the dead tong gladiators. From the Pierce Brothers’ morgue, a dismal procession wended its way to the Chinese Cemetery in Boyle Heights. There, the Chinese were interred, money being thrown into the caskets, together with food and paper prayers to see them safe on their journey to heaven.

“On top of the grave, other food was placed to attract the attention of evil spirits lingering near. The chief dish was a fine roast chicken. As soon as the Chinese left the cemetery, evil spirits in the form of barefooted Negro youngsters swarmed down upon the grave and carried off the roast fowl as a prize.”

Historic details like that are certainly vivid, and it’s nice to have them, but they make me wince at the same time.

Unfortunately, there is no further information on the three defendants in the tong killing.

Bonus fact: Apablasa Street was named for the owner of the rancho where the original Chinatown (now the site of Union Station) was built.

Read the Marsakster’s posts on the tong war here and here and here.

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

The Detroit News has published an article (Note: The link is broken) on book dealer John K. King, who is offering “Man Ray: Photographs 1920-1934 Paris” inscribed by Man Ray to Dr. George Hodel. The book sold Sept. 14, 2006, for $4,600 (Update: The gallery page now say $4,800) in an auction by PBA Galleries. The listing at PBA Galleries notes that “The Minotaur,” which Steve Hodel claims inspired his father to pose the body of Elizabeth Short, does not appear in the book.

King is offering it for $8,500. Not a bad profit. Of course it would be worth even more if Man Ray had said something incriminating like, “In fond memory of our murderous little rampage across Los Angeles, you evil genius, you.”

2018 update: 12 years later, King still has the book, now marked up to $9,775 plus $4 shipping. No free shipping on a $9,775 book? Seriously? 

Sorry, no.

If you are familiar with Steve Hodel’s elevator pitch (“retired LAPD homicide cop discovers evil genius dad was maniacal serial killer”) you can skip all of this in the South Pasadenan. It’s more of the same old exaggerated claims, distorted details and suppressed facts that don’t fit with the predetermined narrative. And lots of rambling about surrealism.

But for those who are new to the ever-expanding Dr. George Hodel “evil genius” franchise, you might want to read on. I’m not going to rehash all of the George Hodel material I have done over the years (there is a lot of it) but here are some selected links.

Executive summary: Dr. George Hodel was never “the prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case. That dubious title would be reserved for Robert M. “Red” Manley, Joseph Dumais and Leslie Dillon. Dr. Hodel was investigated for a while, his house was bugged for about a month and a half and that’s it.

See:

Black Dahlia: George Hodel — Soil Samples at the Sowden House: FAIL
Black Dahlia: The Non-Smoking Gun – George Hodel Files (37 parts)
Black Dahlia: Can You Identify the Black Dahlia? (Updated)

Steve Hodel is in the news because a woman living in Indianapolis found an old letter in her late mother’s belongings, went to Google and here we are.

The letter is dated Oct. 25, 1949, and was apparently written by W. Glenn Martin, whom Steve Hodel identifies as a police informant.

Notice that the letter refers to a “G.H.”

To Steve Hodel, this is unquestionably “George Hodel,” to which I can only say that Mr. Martin could have made life easier for everyone if he had, you know, made it “Dr. G.H.” Because it could have been George Haas (1512 N. Pennsylvania Ave.) or Gerald Hall (342 1/2 N. Sierra Bonita) or Gilbert Harper (6620 Bonsallo Ave.) or hundreds of other men with the initials “G.H.” in the 1948 Los Angeles phone book.

There are several names in the letter who are identified in the South Pasadenan story, but the person who isn’t explained (showing a surprising lack of curiosity, I must say) is Lucille Bowen, who was found dead in the St. George Hotel (Note: Another “G.H.”), at 115 E. Third, on Oct. 25, 1949, the same day Martin apparently wrote his letter.

Here’s the Los Angeles Times story, published the next day:

And it says the LAPD got a bogus tip that former burlesque dancer Lucille Bowen had been killed by the same man who murdered Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia. But according to medical examiner Dr. Frederick Newbarr, Rena Lucille Hodge, alias Lucille Bowen, 40, died of the effects of acute alcoholism. Her death wasn’t related in any way to the Black Dahlia.

Oops.

This case is an interesting one because it touches on the use of police courtesy cards. In fact, Joan Renner and I have each written about it.

The letter offers a few more things that could be explored, but I’m not sure it’s worth my time. Did Glenn Martin and Dr. George Hodel eat together all that often? Was George Hodel really grilled in the Louise Springer killing (a.k.a. the Green Twig Murder), which occurred June 16, 1949? BEFORE he was accused of molesting Tamar Hodel (Oct. 7, 1949)? Did Dr. George Hodel really have lots of connections in Oklahoma City?

I’ll let someone else look into all of that.

As promised, here are views of the home of Mrs. E.N. Eskey, featured in The Times in 1907. Note the damaged chimney, presumably the victim of seismic Darwinism.

And as a bonus, here’s the home of Igor Stravinsky, which I found in West Hollywood. It was here that Stravinsky and W.H. Auden began writing “The Rake’s Progress” in 1947. When I found the house, I struck up a conversation with a man across the street who was hosing off his driveway. He said had inherited his parents’ house and that when he was a young boy, he met Stravinsky.

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project.

Joyce, 13, came home that afternoon and told her father and stepmother what she had done. Her father, an auto body mechanic, ordered his wife and son not to say anything until he figured out what to do. The next morning, Joyce went to school as if nothing was wrong while her stepmother washed out her bloody clothes.

The next day, Joyce calmly faced four detectives, but collapsed in tears when her stepmother fell, sobbing, at her feet. Then she told her story.

She met 5-year-old Myretta Jones, who was going to the store for her mother. Joyce tagged along, then invited Myretta over to her house while she did some chores.
Later, the girls went to play pirate in a cave they dug at the Kern County Fairgrounds.

Once in the cave, Joyce ordered Myretta to undress, but Myretta refused, so Joyce slapped her until she obeyed. Once the crying girl was undressed, Joyce smashed her in the head with a heavy rock and a shovel until she was dead.

A sheriff’s posse, contacted by Myretta’s mother, searched until they found the girl. The coroner reported that she had been raped, so officers rounded up known sex offenders, staged roadblocks along major highways and launched a hunt for a photographer who supposedly made lewd remarks while selling photo packages door to door. Then someone remembered seeing Myretta with an older girl.

Joyce was sent to Camarillo for psychiatric evaluation and upon being pronounced sane, was tried as an adult. On May 27, 1948, she was sentenced to life in prison, first to be served at the Ventura School for Girls, and then to Tehachapi once she became of age.

Why did Joyce kill Myretta? She told the sheriff that she didn’t know.

Bonus factoid: Dr. George Hodel, 5121 Franklin Ave., reports that a burglar broke in a bedroom window and stole a 1,400-year-old Chinese sacrificial tablet. Dr. Hodel says the tablet was 11 by 6 by 3½ inches, had about 50 Chinese characters and was carved on dark, gray stone.

Uh-oh.

You have GOT to be kidding.  Is THIS supposed to be Dr. George Hodel???
This is ridiculous – and has nothing to do with the Black Dahlia case. Nada.

I think we all remember what happened the last time we saw this disclaimer on a movie. It was the disaster known as “Gangster Squad.” At least most of us remember.

Or as I said in 2013: “Inspired by a True Story” is movie shorthand for “what you’re about to see is all b.s.”

“Gangster Squad”: Fail | Part 1
“Gangster Squad”: Fail | Part 2
“Gangster Squad”: Fail | Part 3
How Not to Wear a Hat, “Gangster Squad” Edition

This time it’s “I Am the Night.”

Oh look! It’s the Black Dahlia (1947) in (record scratch) 1965?

The Black Dahlia and the Watts Riots (1965)?

“CAN YOU DIG IT? CAN YOU DIG IT?”

Now. There’s. Some. Dialogue.

And for the record, take a look at Chris Pine.

Nobody and I mean NOBODY dressed like this in 1965 (I was there). So Rhona Meyers, go sit in the corner with an old Life magazine. And the hairstyles. Seriously?

This is how guys dressed in 1965. Van Heusen shirt, skinny tie (probably a clip-on).

Oh.

My.

GAWD.

You cannot be serious.

To be (painfully) continued.

Every so often, my curiosity gets the better of me and I venture out on the Internet to take the pulse of Black Dahlia theories.

On Tuesday, for example, I strolled over to rollingstone.com to see what it said about the Black Dahlia case and “I Am the Night.” The newly released trailer for the upcoming mini-series (“inspired by a true story!”) made my head explode and now that I’ve recovered I can see that Rolling Stone doesn’t bother with editors. See “Faith Hodel” for “Fauna Hodel” (now fixed)  and “Elizabeth Smart” for “Elizabeth Short.” Reporter Daniel Kreps clearly doesn’t believe in checking names, nor does anybody else at Rolling Stone.

So I decided to venture into Reddit.

Wow! The first entry is so crazy I’m not even going to link to it

This is from WestworldFan73, who did his research on “Wikipedia and whatnot”: Elizabeth Short was killed by John St. John? One of the most respected and famous detectives in the LAPD?

Seriously? Based on “Wikipedia and whatnot?”

I could go on, but my head just exploded again.

Above, a frame from “I Am the Night” showing what I have to assume is Dr. George “Evil Genius” Hodel presiding over a meeting of the Hollywood Minotaur Club.

I was looking over the cast of “I Am the Night,” the upcoming TNT mini-series “inspired by a true story” and noticed that Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff appears somewhere or other. There are so many ludicrous claims in the Dr. George Hodel/Black Dahlia Avenger franchise that it’s hard to keep them all straight. I think the rather dubious claim is that Rachmaninoff encountered young George Hodel at some point and was impressed with his prowess as a pianist or a composer.

But you know who’s missing from the cast? Man Ray! That’s right!! The surrealist artist that Dr. George Hodel supposedly idolized so much that he butchered the Black Dahlia in a surrealistic way in homage to … uh-oh. I better stop before my head explodes.

You would think six episodes would be ample time to work in Man Ray for at least a moment. But nope, evidently he doesn’t get any screen time. Is it possible that the Man Ray Trust refused to grant permission for someone to portray him in this little project “inspired by a true story?”

I’ll just leave that right here.

Sorry, Verve magazine, Dr. George Hodel was NOT known “to have committed the murder of the Black Dahlia.” In fact, he was not known to have killed anybody..

Also, he wasn’t a “Hollywood gynaecologist” infamous or otherwise.

Note: This is an encore post from 2006.

Here’s a publicity still of “Maddy” Comfort from “Kiss Me Deadly” for sale on EBay. Her name is also spelled “Mattie” and “Mady.”

Comfort is referred to in the Los Angeles County district attorney’s files on George Hodel. Investigators checking on his possible involvement in the Black Dahlia murder discovered two photos of her, one by herself in which she is nude and another in which she and George Hodel are holding a cat.

When shown the photos, Hodel’s former wife Dorothy was unable to identify the model. But she is identified elsewhere in the district attorney’s files as “Mattie Comfort, 4028 W. 28th St. RE 2-0207 HO 4-0266.”

By the way, the woman in one of the photos that Steve Hodel claims shows Elizabeth Short has positively been identified as Marya Marco a.k.a. Maria San Marco. Just as I’ve been saying from Day One. I don’t read Steve Hodel’s website, but people who do informed me that Hodel says Marco recognized herself in publicity photos about the case and contacted him. As with all the important witnesses in “Avenger,” she is given a phony a name.

Here’s another picture of Comfort in a screen grab from “Kiss Me Deadly.”

And another photo for sale on EBay:

Here are six reasons Dr. George Hodel did not kill Elizabeth Short that you will need to know before watching the TNT mini-series “I Am the Night” or listening to the eight-part podcast accompanying the production.

Reason No. 1: Dr. George Hodel was never “the prime suspect” or even “a prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case.

Steve Hodel perpetually claims that his father was “the prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case. This is a curious view in that Steve Hodel also says he never knew that his father was investigated in the murder.

To put the question in context, the LAPD considered everyone who ever had contact with Elizabeth Short to be a suspect, so there were hundreds of “suspects” who had to be eliminated. Also understand that there is nothing to show Dr. George Hodel and Elizabeth Short ever had contact (more about that later).

Dr. George Hodel was never publicly linked to the Black Dahlia case, not by the LAPD or by the newspapers, which covered the arrest or detention of every potential suspect.

The first person to publicly link Dr. George Hodel and the Black Dahlia case was the late Janice Knowlton (“Daddy Was the Black Dahlia Killer,”) posting on an Internet bulletin board Aug. 8, 1998, before Hodel’s death in 1999 and before publication of Steve Hodel’s “Black Dahlia Avenger” in 2003. Knowlton committed suicide the next year.

In truth, only one man was publicly identified as “a prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case and that was Robert M. “Red” Manley, the traveling salesman who brought Elizabeth Short from San Diego to Los Angeles in January 1947, and he was cleared. The term occurs in the problematic March 28, 1971, article on the Black Dahlia case in the Los Angeles Times. Notice that The Times introduced the erroneous middle name “Ann,” which has permeated Black Dahlia material. Elizabeth Short had no middle name.

Besides Manley, there were two other main suspects: Cpl. Joseph Dumais (false confessor) and Leslie Dillon (cleared). One could argue that they were also “prime suspects.” But nobody else.

The term “prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case appears one other time and that’s April 1, 1950, several days after the LAPD abandoned its surveillance of George Hodel’s home for lack of interest (March 27, 1950).

The George Hodel files Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 |Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37

The Times said: District attorney’s investigators Walter Morgan and Frank Jemison “declined to name the man they are seeking as the prime suspect, but indicated that he is the owner of the mysterious bloody clothing which has disappeared from police evidence lockers.”

After the Black Dahlia killing, many pieces of bloody clothing and other objects were turned over to investigators. Every item was found to be unrelated to the case.

Was Dr. George Hodel a “prime suspect?” No.

To be continued.

Here are six reasons Dr. George Hodel did not kill Elizabeth Short that you will need to know before watching the TNT mini-series “I Am the Night” or listening to the eight-part podcast accompanying the production.

Reason No. 2: George Hodel was found not guilty of molesting his daughter, Tamar.

Previously:

Reason No 1: George Hodel was never “a prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case.

Steve Hodel perpetually cites the late Tamar Hodel’s molestation charges against their father; they are at the heart of his claim that his father was “a monster.”

But Steve Hodel whitewashes Tamar Hodel’s true nature:

During the proceedings, Tamar’s mother stated in an affidavit that her daughter was a “problem child for many years” and frequently accused men of molesting her. “Much of her abnormal behavior has had to do with stories and statements about sex,” the mother said.

Tamar’s mother sent her to live with Dr. Hodel with hopes that he could handle her, but Tamar filed charges of molestation against Dr. Hodel and more than a dozen students at Hollywood High School. Not one of the high school students was ever charged. All of this is swept under the rug in the “Black Dahlia Avenger” series of books.

Tamar Hodel was an incorrigible liar and problem child who made “unfounded complaints” and lodged mass accusations against her father and more than a dozen high school students. Did Dr. Hodel molest Tamar? The jury, which included eight women, said no.

To be continued.

The “minotaur love/death cult of Hollywood” is apparently getting a big play in “I Am the Night.” Oh dear.

Here are six reasons Dr. George Hodel did not kill Elizabeth Short that you will need to know before watching the TNT mini-series “I Am the Night” or listening to the eight-part podcast accompanying the production.

Reason No. 3: George Hodel had nothing more than a minor business transaction with Man Ray for a photo session. Dr. Hodel also had a book of photos.
__________
Correction: A previous version of this post said Dr. Hodel bought a book of photos. It’s unclear how he obtained the book.
__________

Previously:

Reason No 1: George Hodel was never “a prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case.

Reason No. 2: George Hodel was found not guilty of morals charges.

A book of photos inscribed from Man Ray to George Hodel, 1949.

Steve Hodel perpetually claims that his father was an intimate friend of Man Ray. This supposedly close friendship is at the heart of Steve Hodel’s contention that Dr. Hodel’s admiration for Man Ray’s surrealistic artwork inspired the grotesque mutilation of the Black Dahlia. Steve Hodel says that Elizabeth Short’s body was Dr. Hodel’s “canvas” and that the extensive cutting and slashing of her body were “an homage” to Man Ray.

Steve Hodel’s claim arises from randomly flipping through a book of Man Ray’s photos, finding a 1934 picture of a man’s upper torso titled “The Minotaur,” done for the cover of a French magazine “The Minotaur” with virtually no circulation in the United States. Man Ray left the print in Paris when he fled to America during the war. There is virtually no way Dr. Hodel could have seen this photo (did I mention it was from 1934?), but Steve Hodel claims that “The Minotaur” somehow mimics the position of Elizabeth Short’s upper body as found at the crime scene.

From there, Steve Hodel has spun out an elaborate narrative of a close friendship between the two.

But it is impossible to independently confirm Steve Hodel’s claim.

In truth, there is nothing in Man Ray’s archives to confirm any connection to George Hodel whatsoever. And I could say the same about the papers of another supposed Dr. Hodel intimate friend, Ben Hecht.

George Hodel: Not appearing in the Naomi Savage Papers on Man Ray.

Nor does George Hodel appear in Man Ray’s autobiography “Self-Portrait.”

In other words, there is nothing in the fairly well-documented life of Man Ray to indicate any sort of relationship with Dr. Hodel.

George Hodel: Not appearing in the archives of supposed intimate friend Ben Hecht.

Also note that although “I Am the Night” has six episodes to explore George Hodel’s relationship with Man Ray, the cast list doesn’t show anyone in that role. Could it be that the Man Ray Trust refused to grant clearance to the production?

Was Dr. George Hodel a close friend of surrealist artist Man Ray? No.

To be continued.

Los Angeles, May 25, 1944: At a Shinto shrine near City Hall, Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron, second from left, Dr. George M. Uhl and Nicola Giulli of the city housing authority talk to black residents of Bronzeville. Courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library.

Here are six reasons Dr. George Hodel did not kill Elizabeth Short that you will need to know before watching the TNT mini-series “I Am the Night” or listening to the eight-part podcast accompanying the production.

Reason No. 4: George Hodel operated a clinic serving poor African Americans living in Bronzeville, the nickname for Little Tokyo, left vacant by the internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry.

Previously:

Reason No 1: George Hodel was never “a prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case.

Reason No. 2: George Hodel was found not guilty of morals charges.

Reason No. 3: George Hodel was not pals with Man Ray.

Steve Hodel perpetually claims that the powerful, ruling elite of Los Angeles came to Dr. Hodel’s nearby VD clinic in Little Tokyo for treatment.

It was Dr. Hodel’s supposed knowledge of their sex lives that gave him the power to get away with murder — not just of Elizabeth Short but lots of other women as well. (How did someone who held such power over the police and the courts of Los Angeles get himself arrested and tried on a morals charge? Steve Hodel doesn’t go there).

But to quote an online history of Bronzeville:

In an Aug. 10, 1943 mayor’s meeting report, Dr. George Uhl, Los Angeles City Health officer, stated that in Bronzeville/Little Tokyo “much tuberculosis and venereal diseases discovered” and that they had two public health nurses and two sanitary inspectors assigned to the area. Uhl also noted that the city health officer had written up more than 140 eviction and abatement notices in the area so that substandard living conditions could be cleaned up.

In 1944, the Southeast Area Community Health Association launched a $35,000 “Stop Disease” fund drive to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in the southeast part of Los Angeles. Pioneering African American businessman William Nickerson, president of the Golden State Insurance Company, was one of the first to donate and gave $1,000. The association targeted diphtheria, small pox, syphilis, gonorrhea and tuberculosis.

From March 31-April 3, 1944, Bronzeville/Little Tokyo residents could get free blood testing and view an educational movie at the Bronzeville Arcade, 316 East First Street. The clinic was offered through a joint venture between the Los Angeles Health Department; Dr. George Hill Hodel, chief of staff of the First Street Clinic, which was an office in the Nishi Hongwanji Temple; and Dr. Seymour Kaufman, founder of the Bronzeville Medical Center.

In truth, the clinic served the poor African American residents of nearby Bronzeville — as Little Tokyo was renamed during World War II. Recall that Los Angeles was a segregated city with legally enforced deed covenants, so few places were open to blacks. The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry during the war left Little Tokyo vacant. The solution to a housing shortage and an influx of blacks fleeing Southern racism during the great migration: Let them live in the vacant Little Tokyo and rename it Bronzeville.

Did Dr. George Hodel run a clinic serving the wealthy and powerful elite of Los Angeles? No. He treated poor blacks fleeing racism in the South.

To be continued.

Here are six reasons Dr. George Hodel did not kill Elizabeth Short that you will need to know before watching the TNT mini-series “I Am the Night” or listening to the eight-part podcast accompanying the production.

Reason No. 5: Dr. George Hodel had no surgical practice in Los Angeles. He had no admitting privileges as a surgeon at any Los Angeles hospital.

Previously:

Reason No 1: George Hodel was never “a prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case.

Reason No. 2: George Hodel was found not guilty of morals charges.

Reason No. 3: George Hodel was not pals with Man Ray.

Reason No. 4: George Hodel served the poor blacks of Bronzeville.

Steve Hodel perpetually claims that his father was a skilled surgeon. According to the original investigators, the skill with which Elizabeth Short was cut in half showed advanced medical knowledge. At the heart of Steve Hodel’s purported “case” against his father is the claim that Dr. Hodel was a skilled surgeon. As noted earlier, Steve Hodel claims that his father’s skillful bisection of the body – and mutilation – was done “in homage” to the surrealist art of Man Ray.

In truth, Dr. Hodel never practiced surgery in Los Angeles. (Nor was he a “Hollywood gynecologist,” as portrayed in “I Am the Night.”)

Dr. Hodel did not practice surgery in Los Angeles because he couldn’t. Dr. Hodel lacked the essential accreditation awarded by the American College of Surgeons, the surgeons professional  association. Without that credential, no hospital would let him operate.

In fact, Dr. Hodel had no admitting privileges as a surgeon at any Los Angeles hospital, a matter that Steve Hodel refuses to address because it’s inconvenient to his “Black Dahlia Avenger” narrative. Dr. Hodel’s practice was public health.

Dr. Hodel was not a practicing surgeon in Los Angeles.

To be continued.

Elizabeth Short contrasted with the unidentified woman found in George Hodel’s photo album. Not at all the same.

Here are six reasons Dr. George Hodel did not kill Elizabeth Short that you will need to know before watching the TNT mini-series “I Am the Night” or listening to the eight-part podcast accompanying the production.

Reason No. 6: Dr. George Hodel had no connection to Elizabeth Short.

Previously:

Reason No 1: George Hodel was never “a prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case.

Reason No. 2: George Hodel was found not guilty of morals charges.

Reason No. 3: George Hodel was not pals with Man Ray.

Reason No. 4: George Hodel served the poor blacks of Bronzeville.

Reason No. 5: George Hodel had no surgical practice in Los Angeles.

Steve Hodel’s entire case against his father, the foundation on which he built the massive “Black Dahlia Avenger” franchise about Dr. Hodel being a serial killer,  stands on the claim that Dr. Hodel had a photo of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia.

Steve Hodel originally claimed that two photos he found in his late father’s belongings are of Elizabeth Short. One photo was eliminated when the woman in the picture came forward and identified herself as Marya Marco. The woman in the other photo remains unidentified.

When pressed, Steve Hodel will say that it doesn’t matter whether the photos are of Elizabeth Short because they only served to get him interested in the case.

But he always — inevitably — circles around to say that he believes the remaining photo is of Elizabeth Short.

In truth, Elizabeth Short’s family issued a statement saying that neither of the photos are of Elizabeth Short. And they were merely confirming what would be obvious to anybody with good eyesight and thinking untainted by “confirmation bias.”

Even if it was, mere possession of a photo of Elizabeth Short doesn’t make anybody a killer. But it is a hard fact that neither of the two photos presented by Steve Hodel are of Elizabeth Short.

Steve Hodel is perpetually discovering “new evidence.” But without the foundation — that his father had a photo of Elizabeth Short — Steve Hodel’s massive “Black Dahlia Avenger” enterprise crashes to the ground.

Dr. Hodel was never a “prime suspect” in the Black Dahlia case.
Dr. Hodel was found not guilty of molesting Tamar Hodel.
Dr. Hodel was not close friends with Man Ray.
Dr. Hodel ran a clinic that treated impoverished blacks, not the wealthy elite.
Dr. Hodel was not a practicing surgeon.
Dr. Hodel did not have a picture of Elizabeth Short.

Anything else is a lie.

As longtime readers know, I always begin a new year with an annual donation in memory of Elizabeth Short to Heading Home, which works with the homeless in the Boston area.

Partly because of my research on Elizabeth Short, I try to make the issue of homelessness a continuing theme of the Daily Mirror. I donate to an agency in the Boston area because of Elizabeth Short’s connections there, but Los Angeles also has a severe, chronic problem with homelessness and there are many local agencies that welcome donations.  I believe people will find this more meaningful in the long term than, for example, leaving a bottle of liquor and some cigarettes at her grave, especially since Elizabeth Short didn’t smoke and rarely drank.

A practical joke from 1947 is the source of the “Black Dahlia Avenger” franchise.

During the investigation of the Black Dahlia case, the killer mailed a small envelope of Elizabeth Short’s belongings to the newspapers. After that, crackpots and pranksters flooded the police and the newspapers with joke messages. One prankster using the name “Black Dahlia Avenger” sent a string of postcards and messages to the Los Angeles Herald-Express, often spelling the name “Hearld.”

Police and the newspapers attached no significance whatsoever to these prank messages. it wasn’t until Steve Hodel came along in 2003 that “Black Dahlia Avenger” was anything but a joke.

On Jan. 30, 1947, the Los Angeles Herald-Express published, under the subhead “ ‘Idiots’ Delight Messages,” a communication of cut-out words and the picture of a young man later identified as Armand Robles.

Here’s the actual photograph, from the Los Angeles Public Library. The Herald-Express retouched the picture for publication. It also ran the unretouched image.

The next day, the Herald-Express ran the picture of Armand Robles holding the previous day’s front page.

Here’s the image from the Los Angeles Public Library’s photo collection.

Here’s the Herald’s story. Notice that it calls the crackpot letters “a strange flotsam of venomous scribblings and low buffoonery.”   Armand Robles said the photos were in his wallet, which was stolen several weeks before. He described the robber (or “footpad” to use the archaic newspaper term) as “a well-dressed tall man driving a late model car.”

There were still more messages, signed “Black Dahlia Avenger” or B.D.A.

These two postcards from “B.D.A.” were sent Jan. 29, 1947.

Black Dahlia Avenger was nothing but a practical joke and whoever sent the messages must be laughing, if only in the afterlife.

This popped into my inbox this morning and golly it’s amazing just how many mistakes some crime buffs can pack into one blog post. Then again, the Internet.

Ready? Let’s find five obvious errors.

It is written in stone that the Black Dahlia story must begin with the discovery of Elizabeth Short’s body. In reality, Betty Bersinger was pushing her daughter in a stroller as she walked down to the stores in Leimert Park to run errands. The Black Dahlia myth demands that the willful, disobedient child runs off into the weeds and finds a body. (Extra points if she cries for “Mommy!”) But no. That didn’t happen.

Once again, the Internet gets it wrong.

Elizabeth Short’s body was found in the city of Los Angeles, making it an LAPD case. The FBI had no jurisdiction.

But let’s do drag in the FBI, because it’s the FBI. Trivia note: The FBI file is labeled Elizabeth “Ann” Short, which ought to be a warning about the quality of what it contains. Elizabeth Short had no middle name.

The LAPD refuses to give anyone access to its Black Dahlia files, noting that it is an open case.

Which means this is nonsense. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has released its redacted files on CD, but that’s quite different from the LAPD.

Government jurisdictions in Los Angeles are tricky things and confuse many people, like James Ellroy, who repeatedly writes that the Los Angeles COUNTY district attorney has some sort authority over the CITY of Los Angeles Police Department. Nope. Separate agencies.

In the last months of her life, Elizabeth Short posed for some pictures at John Marshall High School. She’s 22 in these pictures.

Oh dear. Elizabeth in high school. Tell me, does she look like she’s a teenager in this picture? Really?

And then there’s the photo of Elizabeth Short taken in 1946 when she stopped in Indiana en route to Los Angeles.

The Internet loves, loves, LOVES to speculate about the man in this picture. Is it “Ed Burns?” Is it “Mack Wayne Edwards?” Nope. Not taken in Florida and she was 21.

I could go on, but my head will explode.

One thing you know about evil sociopaths is that they like to treat impoverished people of color. Yep. That’s what evil sociopaths do, fer sure.

The website MEAWW.com has published a brief interview with actor Jefferson Mays, who portrays Dr. George Hodel in the upcoming TNT mini-series “I Am the Night.” The article, by Mangala Dilip, calls George Hodel “one of the evilest men [in] history.”

Really? (Evilest? Evidently MEAWW doesn’t have editors).

Now for some tiresome facts. Dr. George Hodel specialized in public health and treated poor blacks who lived in the segregated neighborhood called Bronzeville, formerly Little Tokyo, which was empty because the residents had been put in internment camps during World War II.

George Hodel never had a surgical practice in Los Angeles – he didn’t have the essential accreditation and thus no hospital was open to him.

He was also not a “Hollywood gynecologist,” as claimed in “I Am the Night.”

And there is zero evidence. Nothing. To connect him to any homicide, not the killing of Elizabeth Short nor anyone else. In fact, there is nothing to show George Hodel even knew Elizabeth Short. Nothing.

The only person to accuse George Hodel of murder is his son Steve Hodel — and anybody that repeats Steve’s claims. Independent research cannot verify even one killing and certainly not that he was a serial killer allowed to run rampant in Los Angeles because he knew about the sex lives of L.A.’s ruling elite.

“One of the evilest men [in] history?” I mean really.