The Noir Nurse

December 19, 1947
Los Angeles

Nurse Fay Young, 28, was dressed all in black when they found her in a cafe two blocks from her apartment at 826 W. Sixth Street–down to the .45 caliber Army automatic hidden in her purse.

Police were interested, because Fay matched the description of the woman who had just held up Stanley Brown, 1110 S. Lake Street, for $9 nearby. Would that she had walked to the cafe. It was her suspicious behavior in a cab that led driver Sam Wurtzel, 1163 S. Kingsley, to drop a dime on her. It seems she had been cradling the weapon in her lap and cooing to it, “This is my only friend, my best friend.”

Fay and her best friend are in police custody tonight. Neither is talking.

Published by

Kim Cooper

Kim Cooper is the creator of 1947project, the crime-a-day time travel blog that spawned Esotouric’s popular crime bus tours, including The Real Black Dahlia. She is the author of The Kept Girl, the acclaimed historical mystery starring the young Raymond Chandler and the real-life Philip Marlowe, and of The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles. With husband Richard Schave, Kim curates the Salons and forensic science seminars of LAVA- The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. When the third generation Angeleno isn’t combing old newspapers for forgotten scandals, she is a passionate advocate for historic preservation of signage, vernacular architecture and writer’s homes. Kim was for many years the editrix of Scram, a journal of unpopular culture. Her books include Fall in Love For Life, Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth, Lost in the Grooves and an oral history of Neutral Milk Hotel.

One thought on “The Noir Nurse”

  1. City Hall’s elevator operators have been having a little too much fun on the job. Instead of calling out the numbers of the floors, they have been using nicknames and building superintendent Ralph Hoffman wants them to stop.

    The operators say that the passengers were the ones who were using the nicknames:

    Temple Street entrance, police headquarters—â€œFlatfoot Alley.â€Â
    2nd floor, criminal division of the city attorney’s office—â€œBall and Chain.â€Â
    10th floor, divorce courts—â€œThe War Departmentâ€Â and “Alimony Alley.â€Â
    16th floor, adoptions—â€œBaby Farm.â€Â
    17th floor, probate courts—â€œForest Lawnâ€Â or “The Morgue.â€Â

    Bonus factoids: Jean Heather, who played Lola Dietrichson in “Double Indemnityâ€Â is injured when her car overturns at Coldwater Canyon and Mulholland Drive. Her last movie is “Red Stallion in the Rockies,â€Â released in 1949. She died Oct. 29, 1995, as Jean Hetherington Meier, but no published obituary can be located.

    Wealthy socialite Harriet Gardiner Lynch Coogan dies in New York, 37 years after shutting herself away in a hotel room when prominent New Yorkers refused to attend her daughter’s debut in 1910. She was visited only by her four children. The hotel staff left her meals and mail at the door to her room.

    Maria Formicola, 21, arrives in New York from Italy to marry her G.I. fiance. After she waits on the dock for five hours, steamship employees tell her that James H. McIntosh was killed in a car accident on the day she left for the U.S. She receives hundreds of marriage offers to avoid being sent back to Italy, but is released for 90 days to the custody of a cousin.

    10 Commandments to Avoid
    Christmas Tree Fires Given

    1—Choose a small tree instead of a big one.
    2—See that the tree stands well away from radiators or the fireplace.
    3—Never place a tree near entrance doors or in a location that will block exits.
    4—Keep it away from stairways or elevators.
    5—Use electric lights and no candles.
    6—Use no cotton or paper on around tree. Use glass or metal decorations.
    7—Don’t leave Christmas gift wrappings and package materials lying around the living room.
    8—Don’t place electric trains around the tree.
    9—Turn out the tree lights when you leave the house.
    10—When the needles start falling, take the tree down.

    That 8th Commandment is going to be a toughie….

    https://www.lmharnisch.com

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