Republican National Convention

 

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June 17, 1958

ere's a crime-filled page: Narcotics traffic is responsible for much of the lawbreaking in L.A. (blame those lenient judges, says Police Chief William Parker), a plot to kidnap Bing Crosby's wife and an insurance scheme in which someone intentionally gets some bones broken before staging a car accident. This scam still turns up in Los Angeles from time to time, but now the fraud ring uses several cars to "box in" a victim on the freeway. Also: Gene Sherman takes a look at Disneyland, three years after it opened. Email me

June 17, 1938

Photograph by the Los Angeles Times Police Capt. Earle Kynette, after initially refusing to be interviewed after his conviction in the Harry Raymond bombing, meets with the press. (Howard Decker writes of the flashbulbs the photographers are using: "Methinks them suckers put out a whole lot of light. Stop down your apertures, guys!") Photograph by the Los Angeles Times Bombing victim Harry Raymond in a photo published June 17, 1938

Above left, Auto Club Chief Engineer Ernest East, sometimes called the father of the freeway, and Assistant Engineer Harold Holley.

os Angeles Police Capt. Earle Kynette is convicted in the Harry Raymond bombing. No surprise, except perhaps to Kynette, who spent the next 10 years in custody. Officer Fred A. Browne, who was cleared in the case, died of a heart attack the next year in a Vermont Avenue bowling alley. Former Officer Roy J. Allen died of heart problems in San Quentin in 1942. Kynette was paroled in 1948 despite Raymond's protests. His wife had divorced him while he was in prison. He was sent back to San Quentin in 1951 for violating his parole after he was convicted of being drunk. He was freed again in 1952. His pharmacist's license was restored and he was working in a drugstore in Twain Harte, Calif.,  when he was charged with drunk driving in a car accident that killed two people. He was later cleared. In 1963, Kynette was stabbed in the abdomen and left arm during a drunken fight in a skid row hotel in Oakland. The Times failed to note his death in June 1970 in West Hollywood. Raymond died in 1957.    For me, the most surprising discovery in the Raymond case is The Times editorial, below. As far as the unsigned editorial is concerned, Kynette was a rogue officer in charge of a rogue department. The rest of the Police Department--and City Hall, presumably--was free of corruption. Below left, the next installment of Ed Ainsworth's series on traffic in Los Angeles. Listen to some of the predictions if the "motorway" system is built: Los Angeles to Santa Monica in 15 minutes. Pasadena to Inglewood in 19 1/2 minutes.  Los Angeles to Long Beach in 21 minutes. Email me

June 17, 1908

Alas, I can't find any photos of the original Thomas taxicabs that debuted in Los Angeles in 1908. The Western Motor Car Co. put this Chalmers-Detroit into service in Los Angeles in 1909.

ere we have a truly historic moment: Los Angeles' first taxicab. In fact, it's the first taxicab west of Chicago, The Times says. The taxis proved so popular that the Western Motor Car Co. quickly expanded its service. Earle C. Anthony of Western Motor Car "believes the time has come to put on our streets an efficient service which will meet the wants of theatergoers and others who wish the kind of rapid transit that streetcars cannot give," The Times says on Feb. 14, 1909. Email me

Republican National Convention

 

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Big deal for Dodgers

June 16, 1958 By Keith Thursby Times staff writer he struggling Dodgers traded a piece of their past for a player rich in Los Angeles minor league history. Steve Bilko, who hit 148 home runs in three seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, was traded by the Reds in exchange for pitcher Don Newcombe, a former National League MVP who had been a disappointment in Los Angeles. Two others were involved in the transaction, but the story in The Times predictably focused on the two key figures. Bilko had become a minor league legend with the Los Angeles Angels by hitting 55 home runs in 1956 and 56 in 1957 playing his home games in cozy Wrigley Field. He had hit only four home runs for the Reds at the time of the trade. With the Dodgers going nowhere fast in 1958, he probably seemed like a low-risk deal. "Bilko's a pull hitter, and maybe he can hit some home runs in the Coliseum for us," General Manager Buzzie Bavasi told The Times. And in Los Angeles, he had name value. Less than a year before, The Times chronicled Bilko's run at the Pacific Coast League home run record of 60, set in 1925 by future Yankee Tony Lazzeri. The Times  pictured Bilko next to a photo of Babe Ruth, who held the major league homer record, also with 60. Manager Walt Alston seemed less enthusiastic about the trade. Maybe he was trying to figure out how to use three first basemen -- Bilko, Gil Hodges and Norm Larker. "The deal's been made. That's all there is to it. We're satisfied. I think it will help both clubs," Alston said. Bilko wasn't the answer in 1958. He hit only seven home runs for the Dodgers and next went to Detroit. But he returned to Los Angeles and Wrigley Field in 1961 as a member of the expansion Los Angeles Angels. He hit 20 home runs, then eight more in his final season with the Angels in 1962. keith.thursby@latimes.com

June 16, 1938

ou might well wonder whether the designers actually expected to run "motorways" right through buildings in downtown Los Angeles -- the answer is yes, they did. There's quite a bit of data in this installment of Ed Ainsworth's series on traffic in Los Angeles. If I had the time, I would track down population growth figures to see how successfully the Southern California Auto Club predicted the future. Alas, there are so many stories, and only one Larry Harnisch. I'll leave it to my interested readers to see how the Auto Club did.   But here's the interesting material that should resonate 70 years later: "... Los Angeles, above all other cities, depends upon the automobile for its actual everyday traffic needs. "This is what Automobile Club engineers say: That if the streetcars were to stop, life would go on about as usual. San Antonio --a city of a quarter of a million -- has led the way by being the first major American city to abolish the streetcar in favor of buses. "If the buses were to stop, there would be hardly a flurry. "But if automobiles were to suddenly to cease to function, the whole economic and social structure would be disrupted." And the jury is out in the trial of Police Capt. Earle Kynette in the Harry Raymond bombing ... Stay tuned. Email me

Mystery photo

Los Angeles Times file photo

Just for a change, I decided to have a "what" question instead of another "who" question featuring an old movie star. Well, what is it? Watering trough for horses? (Tim Ahern) Absolutely right. This watering trough was on Broadway near Slauson. Note that the people on the right side of the photo are standing on a "safety island" for the streetcars. Email me

June 16, 1908

Boxing at Chutes Park during the visit of the Great White Fleet, about April 20, 1908.

hutes Park is not the sort of place where responsible parents want their children. Not only does it have boxing, above, there is dancing. The Sunday Rest League and Councilman Lyon have begun a "purity campaign" that would ban minors younger than 18--especially girls--from public dances unless they are accompanied by a parent or guardian, The Times says. "Sunday night I went to the Chutes grounds myself to see what kind of a place is conducted there. I saw a dance in the open where the dancers went to the tables and drank liquor between dances. I never saw a worse dance on the Barbary Coast. Among the dancers were two girls not more than 12 years old. They were dancing with 'roughnecks' and some of the toughest characters in town," Councilman Lyon says. There has been no clamor for coverage of the 1908 Republican National Convention, so I'll skip the matter (political pundits, please note the perishable nature of your labors). Email me

June 15, 1938

A detail of the arch, as shown on San Pedro High School's website. For the full image, go here.

A cloverleaf interchange, as envisioned in 1938. Note the extensive landscaping on both sides of the freeway. A map of proposed "elevated motorway" routes. One of many that have been prepared over the years.

his victory arch at San Pedro High School was salvaged from the Federal Building (1910-1937), which was at Main and Temple. I'm always thrilled to discover that any piece of old Los Angeles has survived, no matter how small. If you click on the photo below, it will appear full size and you can see similar entryways all along the right side of the building.    At left, the prosecution's closing arguments in the trial of Police Capt. Earle Kynette follows the trail of civic corruption to Joe Shaw, the mayor's brother. With Kynette convicted, attention will turn to the Shaws and the recall movement will gain momentum. Part 4 of Ed Ainsworth's series on Los Angeles traffic lays out an elaborate proposal for 420 miles of "elevated motorways."  As superficial as this story is, it contains key elements of what transformed Los Angeles transportation into what we contend with today: "Street railways would gradually be eliminated and bus service substituted, both on surface streets and the elevated motorways." "The elevated motorways would not run along above present streets. They would be cut through the middle of blocks. Preliminary surveys disclose that is is possible to run practically all of these through so-called blighted areas." Would the motorways be an architectural eyesore? "Definitely not. It is almost an axiom of modern civilization that man's highest achievements in industrial design are in themselves objects of symmetry and beauty." Recall that there are some essential differences between what was proposed and what we have today: One of the original plans called for parking structures to be placed at intervals along the motorways. Also take a good look at the map of the network: It's massive. So here we have a blueprint from 1938: Get rid of the streetcars, switch to buses that can use surface streets as well as elevated lanes and build a massive freeway system. Most important, note the source of the proposal: The Auto Club of Southern California. Not a name one usually hears in discussions of what happened to the streetcars. But the Auto Club was a major player in the demise of the streetcar system. Email me

June 15, 1908

et's take a brief survey. One question: How much interest is there in reading stories from the Republican National Convention of 1908? The Times sent two veterans to cover the gathering in Chicago: George W. Burton, above, a longtime editorial writer who died in 1921, and Harry Carr. Out of curiosity I checked to see how we covered previous conventions and learned that we used AP for the 1900 GOP convention in Philadelphia (McKinley-Roosevelt) and sent another veteran reporter, John McGroarty, to the 1904 convention in Chicago. Recall that William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt won the 1900 presidential race and that Roosevelt became president when McKinley was assassinated in 1901. Roosevelt was reelected in 1904 with Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks, a senator from Indiana. Interestingly enough, Roosevelt did not support Fairbanks for president in 1908, backing William Howard Taft, the secretary of War. (Spoiler: Taft defeated Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan.) Email me