The ABA and LA should have been a good fit. The game was wide open,
with lots of dunks and three-pointers. The team even had a perfect name
for the town--the Stars. Definitely a better match than the previous
season when the franchise was called the Anaheim Amigos.
But things were not going well at the Sports Arena. According to The
Times' John Hall, "The entire scene gave me the feeling I'd just
stumbled into the midst of a sinister secret society."
Attendance was dismal, with counts under 1,000 in three of the last
four home games. The franchise had started cutting back, taking the
team off the radio and dropping halftime shows and the team band.
Later in January, The Times' Dan Hafner was more optimistic after a
season-high crowd came out on a night "when radio stations periodically
were telling people to stay home because of adverse weather."
The record crowd was all of 4,003. By the 1970-71 season, the Stars had moved on to Salt Lake City.
Larry Harnisch. The leading Black Dahlia expert and a collaborator in the 1947project, Harnisch has been a copy editor at The Times since 1988. He has appeared on many TV shows discussing the Dahlia case, notably "James Ellroy's Feast of Death."
Join him for a spin through old Los Angeles in the Mirror's radio car. Keep your eyes open for Mickey Cohen and Tempest Storm. It's quite a ride.
The reporter's badge belonged to Sid Hughes (1908-1958), legendary reporter who worked at nearly every newspaper in Los Angeles.
Keith Thursby. Keith has been an editor at The Times in news, sports and design since 1986. The Rams moved to St. Louis on his first day as assistant sports editor of the paper's Orange County edition. He grew up in Norwalk and lives in Irvine.
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