Daryle Kelch was one of the most popular seniors at William S. Hart
High School. He had a good friend, Douglas Austin, and a girlfriend,
Karen Deadmon. And he was a dependable boy, according to the eulogy
delivered by the Rev. Fred Dawson of Foursquare Gospel Church in
Newhall.
He
was from a big family, The Times said, with four sisters and two
brothers. His parents were separated and he lived with his mother,
Gladys.
For all the good things about Daryle, the 17-year-old
had one bad habit: hitchhiking. And however many times he caught a ride
with some stranger, it was once too often.
On Monday, Nov. 10,
1958, Daryle and Douglas decided to hitchhike to Los Angeles to see
Douglas' friend, Nancy Rogers, whose parents had a vacation home in
Saugus. For those who are unfamiliar with Los Angeles geography, that's
about 32 miles and although that area of Santa Clarita is developed
today, it would have been remote in the 1950s.
The young men evidently spent the day at the Rogers' home, 10550 Butterfield St.
Daryle left about 5 p.m., saying that he was eager to get home for his
date with Karen. About 6:40 p.m., he called Karen from a gas station at
Santa Monica and Sepulveda boulevards, about two miles from the Rogers'
home, to cancel their date.
About 5:30 p.m., Mrs. Rogers gave Douglas a
ride to Sunset and Sepulveda boulevards. They looked for Daryle on
their way, but didn't see him.
Douglas said friends picked him up and gave him a ride home. But Daryle
never arrived. His mother assumed he was spending the night with his
father, who figured Daryle was staying with his mother.
A
rock hunter named John Brualdi, 7661 Wish Ave., Van Nuys, found
Daryle's nude body the next day under a pile of rocks on Grimes Canyon
Road, about three miles south of Fillmore. He had been sexually
attacked and shot three times with a .25-caliber semiautomatic, once from each side and once in the throat. He was identified by the William S.
Hart High School class ring he was wearing.
Investigators made
plaster casts of tire tracks at the crime scene and searched the area
for his clothes, but evidently never found anything. The Times said
that scrapings were taken from under Daryle's fingernails to see if he
had scratched his killer, but the results were never reported.
Unfortunately,
the trail quickly grows cold. The Los Angeles Police Department booked
Charles Watts Jr. on suspicion of murder after finding stains on the
seat of his car, but further investigation showed that it was blood
from an animal. The Ventura County Sheriff's Department questioned Jack
Blume, a "canine hairstylist," about what appeared to be bloodstains in
his car, but it was only rust.
Sid Hughes, who owned the badge that is the Daily Mirror's icon, worked at nearly every newspaper in Los Angeles: The Times, the Record, the Express, the Herald, the Examiner and the Mirror News. He somehow missed the Daily News.
Above, golf equipment at B.H. Dyas Co., Jan. 29, 1929.
This is a Walker Cup "rainbow face" driver that was sold at the B.H. Dyas store in Los Angeles. Bidding starts at $9.99. The B.H. Dyas Co. opened in 1914 at 321-325 W. 7th St. as "one of the finest sporting stores in America," according to The Times.
In February 1993, I found a box of old letters at the Salvation Army store in Pasadena. The price -- $148 -- was based on the alleged value of the stamps, which were quite ordinary. The letters turned out to be a collection of carefully preserved notes between Earl Boekenoogen, a young serviceman, and Estella Bennett, a Pasadena nurse.
This is Estella's Nov. 18, 1918, description of the armistice celebration in Pasadena.
"I been sick for a week with the 'Flu.' "
"I suppose you celebrated Peace Day 'over there. ' "
"Everyone had a tin pan or something to make a noise."
"They had a big parade Monday."
"I still have an awful cough."
"Eliza went with Mrs. [illegible] to All Saints Church tonight. Do you remember the night we went there?"
"It's a puzzle to me to know what to send you for Christmas."
"I guess it has been everyplace, but they couldn't seem to find you. They even sent it to France."
The 1968 Rams weren't known for their offense and things hit a low
point at Atlanta. But the Rams had enough defense to edge the Falcons,
17-10. It just wasn't pretty.
Jack Pardee returned an interception 29 yards for a score that gave
the Rams a 7-3 halftime lead. Roman Gabriel's touchdown pass to Jack
Snow in the fourth quarter broke a 10-10 tie.
Gabriel fared a little better than Atlanta quarterback Bob Berry,
who took a forearm in the head from Deacon Jones. Berry's helmet came
off but made it back into the game eventually.
"I never thought Berry would come back," Jones told The Times' Bob
Oates "If his helmet doesn't come off his head does. It was beautiful."
It took only one season in Los Angeles for the Dodgers to shift their hours later.
The team's 1959 schedule almost eliminated day baseball at the
Coliseum. The Times' Frank Finch said the team would have a record
number of night games with "possibly only the Sabbath and holiday tilts
falling in the matinee category."
Hard to blame the Dodgers. Only six games in 1958 failed to draw at
least 10,000 fans to the Coliseum--and all those games were on
weekdays. The Coliseum was a tough enough place for a baseball fan to
watch a game, but sitting there with so many empty seats must have made
for one lonely stadium.
Another change in 1959 would be reducing doubleheaders from six to
only one. Season tickets would remain the same, however. According to
The Times, box seats were $2.50 a game and reserved seats $1.80.
'MAMA AFRICA': Makeba's evocative 2005 performance in Los Angeles connected powerfully with audience members.
A spiritual experience
South African singer Miriam Makeba's last L.A. appearance (or is it?) is flowing with style and substance.
Monday October 03, 2005
By Don Heckman, Special to The Times
Miriam Makeba has been called "Mama Africa" and the "Empress of African Song." She sang for President John F. Kennedy's birthday, testified before the United Nations about apartheid, married Black Panther Stokely Carmichael and spent decades in exile from her South African homeland.
No wonder her performances resonate with emotions reaching well beyond the music. And no wonder her fans reacted with a mixture of surprise, regret and admiration when Makeba announced, during a show last New Year's Eve in Zambia, that she would conclude the touring aspect of her career over the next year with a 14-month sequence of programs in 52 countries.
"I am 73 now," she said. "[Touring] is taxing on me. But as long as I'll have my voice," she added, "I'll keep on recording."
On Saturday night, Makeba made what will presumably be her final Los Angeles appearance at the West Los Angeles Church in a Musics of the World Celebration concert as part of the World Forum on Music. And the mood in the large crowd was predictably affecting.
"She's an institution," one listener said during the intermission before Makeba's arrival onstage. "It's hard to imagine not being able to see her again."
Others displayed their feelings with bursts of applause every time Makeba's name was mentioned amid a line of celebratory introductions from representatives of the World Forum and various government officials, including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles).
"I can't believe how lucky we are," said a visitor from Santa Cruz who, with her companion, had become aware of the concert Saturday afternoon. "To get to hear her for the first time, and on this tour -- incredible."
Makeba herself made no direct reference to her semiretirement. But her performance was invested with a rich mixture of elements including what appeared to be a need to express her still-powerful voice as well as poignant references to her South African roots.
Although Makeba seemed, at times, to suggest a physical weariness, she just as often moved with hip-swinging alacrity, especially during the spirited rendering of one of her best-known hits, "Pata Pata." If this was indeed her last Southland appearance, she offered it with style and substance, with the marvelously rich musicality that has been the foundation for her multilayered career.
And for those with hopeful visions of Makeba simply beginning the first in a series of Sarah Bernhardt-like farewell tours, there were the comments she made earlier in the week at a concert in Johannesburg in which, referring to her contemplated retirement, she said, "Do not pay too much attention to that."
The opening portion of the program featured two groups whose presence testified to the expanded interest in world music that Makeba was so instrumental in initiating.
The ensemble Africali included five musicians and three dancers-singers from various parts of Tanzania. Their diverse material, sung in a range of Tanzanian dialects, sizzled with dynamic rhythms, visually enhanced by spirited dancing and an emotional communicability that transcended boundaries and genres.
The Berlin Youth Jazz Orchestra took an entirely different path via a set that owed much to the orchestration style of Gil Evans.
The players, all 25 or younger, soloed and drove the ensemble passages with an enthusiasm and technical proficiency underscoring the status of jazz as a global musical language.
That's one explanation for the Rams drawing only 95,082 to watch their 56-7 rout of the San Francisco 49ers. More than 100,000 fans had attended the previous week's game at the Coliseum, a victory over the Bears. Another 10,000 were turned away at the door.
The Times' Cal Whorton reported that a Rams official thought some people had been scared away by the previous week's crowd. They missed another explosive display by the Rams, led by the running game.
Joe Marconi rushed for 121 yards, 109 of them in the first half, as the Rams built a 35-7 lead.
Daryle Kelch was one of the most popular seniors at William S. Hart
High School. He had a good friend, Douglas Austin, and a girlfriend,
Karen Deadmon. And he was a dependable boy, according to the eulogy
delivered by the Rev. Fred Dawson of Foursquare Gospel Church in
Newhall. 
