Kenneth Reich, RIP

Above, Ken Reich interviews Watergate figure Donald Segretti. Ken had terrific stories about covering Watergate. In fact, one of my favorite recollections was an occasion when I got to listen to him and the late Anthony Day, former editorial page editor, discussing their experiences with various Watergate figures.
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June 30, 1958

June 30, 1938

Rodney "Gipsy" (or "Gypsy") Smith, famous evangelist, takes a wife. He died in 1947 while sailing from England to New York on the Queen Mary. He was 87.

APD "squadmen" (now there's an interesting coinage) are questioned before a police board of rights on allegations that they obstructed the investigation of the Harry Raymond bombing. The first three officers to testify say that they refused to answer questions because they considered themselves under technical arrest and acted upon the advice of their attorneys. Also, the tale of an oft-married woodcarver charged with bigamy, a progress report on fundraising for Jewish relief and an oil painting of Mayor Frank Shaw is to be presented at City Hall. I wonder where it is now.  Email me

June 30, 1908

Above, early coverage of the the Times Cup, a race that dates to 1903. The Los Angeles Times Trophy is still awarded by the Los Angeles Yacht Club.

t left, trouble in Whittier at the state school for juvenile delinquents. Supt. G.P. Greeley is accused of failing to enforce discipline, creating "a shocking, immoral state of affairs" at the school. Evidence includes "obscene letters, indecent postals and notes," The Times says. Several young female inmates report overtures and "mistreatment" from school officers while male inmates tell of vicious beatings, the story says. View Larger Map And the Bethlehem Institution, with its El Club Belen branch at 618 New High St., reports success in teaching English to immigrants, notably Italians, Poles and Slavonians, The Times says. Email me

Nuestro Pueblo

Union Station under construction in 1938 and as it appears in Google maps' street view feature. We can only wonder what became of the palm trees planted by Don Mateo.

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Anti-gravity house

An anti-gravity house? You may laugh, the author says, but remember "atomic control" seemed impossible a mere 20 years ago. And no more hassles with dusting!

       

June 28, 1958

Is there oil under Bunker Hill? What an interesting idea, especially now. 

   

June 28, 1938

ometimes one can only sigh. At his sentencing in the Harry Raymond bombing, former Police Capt. Earle Kynette speaks for half an hour in defense of his conduct. Unfortunately, The Times didn't quote a single line of his remarks. Instead, we summarized them in one paragraph: "The onetime head of the police intelligence squad immediately launched into a recital of his accomplishments, including his education, military experience and record as a police officer. He accused most of the state's witnesses as perjurers and wound up with the statement that he presumed that because of the political background to the case Judge Ambrose was loath to grant him a new trial." Also on the jump, Mayor Frank Shaw says a group of Methodists acted in an un-Christian, un-American manner by endorsing his recall and in criticizing his brother Joe and Police Chief James Davis.  And two city analysts begin an audit of the Police Department. "Results of the survey, expected to require one to two months, may presage a complete or partial reorganization of the department," The Times says. Email me

June 28, 1908

n this Sunday, June 28, 1908, The Times is full of politics, past and present. At left, the editorial page praises Frances Folsom Cleveland, the widow of President Grover Cleveland, as the ideal of the American woman. Even making allowances for Victorian hyperbole, this piece is rather remarkable: "In the shadow of her great grief she stands out even more luminously than she did in her lovely youth when, bright-eyed and light-stepping as the fawn, she entered the doors of the White House to become the first lady of the land. "Now that the passing years have made the college girl a wife, mother and widow, her life may be said to be fairly rounded out, and she may be regarded as a character formed and builded to completion...."  Mind you, we are talking about a woman in her mid-40s who was far younger than her husband; they married when she was 21 and he was 49. In fact, she remarried in 1913 and lived until 1947. Meanwhile, the paper hasn't wasted any effort trying to hide its support for Republican presidential nominee William Taft, above, and has done nothing to conceal its disdain for Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan in its editorial cartoons (at top) or in its coverage by Harry Carr, at left. Email me

June 28, 1908

 

The Christian Scientist Church at 948 W. Adams Blvd. is the second under construction in 1908. Recall that another one is being built in Pasadena.

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