Ike Rides Wave of Popularity; Dodgers Call Up Reinforcements

Sept. 2, 1959: A story about President Eisenhower's European trip marking the 20th anniversary of Hitler's invasion of Poland notes that he remains popular. But look at what's happening in the country as Ike prepares to leave office: The prime rises half a point to 5%, the highest rate in 28 years (1931) ... and a deficit, though small, is forecast for the national budget.

The Times spent a lot of space covering the sentencing of two women convicted on misdemeanor charges stemming from the eviction of Chavez Ravine residents to clear way for the Dodgers' new ballpark. Here's my problem with that. This is a story The Times covered (I believe) only because it became a huge television story. You couldn't ignore the pictures. Covering the judge's lecture was an obvious way to paint two Chavez Ravine residents as villains in the drama. This from a paper that had spent years ignoring the Chavez Ravine neighborhood and its residents while taking every opportunity to push reasons why a ballpark should be built Makes me wonder how many other misdemeanor cases were covered so thoroughly. I think I know the answer. -- Keith Thursby Should I see "North by Northwest" at the Picwood or the Panorama in Van Nuys? Never mind, let's go see Robert Mitchum and Linda Darnell in "Second Chance." It's interesting to note that the original display ads featured Cary Grant and the crop duster, one of the classic sequences in film.

Meet Ho Chi Minh, communist leader of North Viet-Nam. You'll be hearing more about him. Troubling economic news -- and wedding bells for Ernest Borgnine and Katy Jurado.   Isn't Mr. Pilsnerhead great? I particularly like the little bow tie.

The Gallup Poll surveys America's attitudes on gun control. Remember that this is before the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the resulting Gun Control Act, which took effect in December 1968. Note the attitudes toward gun ownership in the South compared with the rest of the country. Rep. Williams, a Mississippi Democrat, takes a stand against Khrushchev's visit. The jukebox and bongo drums at the Gas House in Venice aren't culture! "She Will! You Can Be Sure of That!"

The Dodgers called up some minor league reinforcements who turned out to have staying power. Frank Howard, Norm Sherry and Bob Lillis were among the September call-ups. The Times' Frank Finch reported that team officials also were considering elevating Tommy Davis, who was leading the Pacific Coast League in hitting. Now that's some farm system. -- Keith Thursby

Sleepwalker Falls From Streetcar

Sept. 1, 1909: Edmund Walller "Ted" Gale draws former Mayor Harper on the witness stand.

Francisco Tralenna breaks his arm while sleepwalking -- on a streetcar. A runaway horse at 1st and Los Angeles streets leaves two men injured, including a police officer.

The Los Angeles Tribune Does Not Tell the Truth

Aug. 30, 1889: Mrs. E.C. Freeman is moving her bakery to 339 S. Spring St.

Harrison Gray Otis responds to an article in a rival paper: "The Los Angeles Tribune, as usual, does not tell the truth." The Tribune accused Otis of warning City Council President Capt. J. Frankenfield that The Times would oppose the sewer bonds in the upcoming election unless the Police Commission members were fired. Otis wrote that in a meeting several months earlier, he told Frankenfield the Police Department was so disorganized that it would be in the public interest if the Police Commission members were removed. Otis said he only alluded to the sewer bonds. In a letter to Otis, Frankenfield wrote: "What you did say is that if the council desired to win the confidence of the people and carry the bond proposition, the Police Commission should be removed; and upon that question we could not agree, as I claimed there was no cause for removal."

Judge Bars Bus Strike; Giants Beat Dodgers

Aug. 29, 1959: A judge's temporary restraining order prevents a bus and streetcar strike. Someone has a Cold War souvenir in the shed. Let's fire it up and see what happens.

The threat of communist aggression casts a shadow over world peace. And Times readers are talking about singing the National Anthem, what it means to get old in America, hating Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev ... and looking for a lost dog. Above, more trouble with Beatniks: Mrs. Swan kept a record of "goings-on" in and around the Gas House. It contained such notations as, "Music not so loud tonight ... closed at 2 a.m." But it also told how one beatnik was "kissing and messing around" on the beach in front of the Gas House on July 12. On the same date, the bongo drums began at 10 am. until police stopped the bearded beats at 10 p.m., she testified. At left, leaders of the National Council of Churches, encouraged by Paramount President Y. Frank Freeman, study whether to begin calling for a boycott of films that emphasize sex and violence. George A. Heimrich, who initiated the idea, says: "We have no interest in harming the movie industry, but apparently producers feel it's difficult to get good box office and that they need sex and violence. We are well aware of the importance of the motion picture industry and we are as much for good box office as the producers. But we don't feel sex and violence are the best answer."

One nice thing about ProQuest is that it's possible to enlarge the comics and see the details that aren't visible in the newspaper, especially strips like "Li'l Abner." Above, an expert calls for fluoridation of water to prevent dental cavities. In time, the fluoridation of water came to be viewed -- at least by some -- as a shadowy communist conspiracy ... calling Dr. Strangelove!   At left, trouble for Synanon. In the 1950s, The Times wrote stories praising the program's success. But by the late 1960s, leader Charles E. Dederich turned the drug treatment program into a cult. Read more>>>

After losing to the Pirates and the Phillies, the Giants beat the Dodgers in a 5-0 shutout.

Saving the Watts Towers

Photograph by the Los Angeles Times Simon Rodia (or Rodilla as The Times referred to him in early stories) with his creation in 1952. By Devon McReynolds On a recent smoldering Tuesday afternoon, I visited the Watts Towers for the first time in the three years I’ve lived in Los Angeles. The heat was impossible and the area beneath the towers and structures was closed (it will reopen in September). Even so, in the 15 minutes I stayed there, three groups of art-seekers came to visit, and all were in just as much awe as I was. Once you get close to the towers, you can see the incredible creativity with which Simon Rodia meticulously pieced together scrap metal, broken dishes, seashells, pieces of glass bottles, tiles and bed springs into a stunning modern art experience in the middle of a Los Angeles neighborhood. Fifty years ago this summer, public debate arose over whether the folk art sculptures were structurally sound. H.L. Manley, head of the conservation bureau of the Department of Building and Safety, said: "Inspections show these structures are dangerous and should be torn down. They were built without a permit, without inspection and without approval of the design." On May 25, 1959, the Building and Safety Commission declared the towers unsafe and planned to demolish them if they failed to pass a 10,000-pound "stress test" to see if they would topple to the ground. The enraged art community, locally and nationally, including New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum, fought back by supporting preservation. In May, the International Assn. of Art Critics sent a letter of protest to Mayor Norris Poulson. James Johnson Sweeney, the director of the Guggenheim, praised the towers as "an expression of enjoyment and creative work very rare in this country, where we are accustomed to think of the more practical issues." Rodia, 81, refused to take part in the controversy. He had moved to Northern California five years earlier after leaving a grant deed to the property with a neighbor. The deed changed hands again before being bought by William Cartwright and Nicholas King, whose attempts at preservation drew officials' scrutiny. The Times and Mirror-News also took a stand for saving the towers. "The Washington Monument, the Statue of Liberty, even the Leaning Tower of Pisa have never been condemned as attractive nuisances from which neighborhood kids could fall and break their necks," the Mirror's Jeff Davis wrote on July 31, 1959, before the crucial test. He concluded: "Presumably, if the towers are still standing, the populace will then cheer loudly and the villains from the Department of Building and Safety will slink away and art will be triumphant." Mirror columnist and television host Paul Coates wrote extensively about the towers and in 1954 he came close to getting a televised interview with Rodia. An assistant brought Rodia to KTTV 10 or 15 minutes before airtime, but as soon as he was introduced to Coates at the studio gates, Rodia fled down Sunset Boulevard -- with Coates and his assistant trying in vain to chase him down. On Oct. 10, 1959, the Watts Towers passed the test, withstanding a side pull of 10,000 pounds, and they have become an internationally known landmark. There's no danger of the Watts Towers falling victim to skeptics any longer, but during the anniversary of the debate, visit for yourself. Just make sure to resist any childhood temptation to swing from its sculpted metal rods -- even though they withstood 10,000 pounds of pressure, these aren't your playground's monkey bars. Note: UCLA student Devon McReynolds recently completed her summer internship with the Daily Mirror and is now in Paris.

Chief Abolishes Vice Squad

Aug. 17, 1939: USC football player Al Kreuger keeps in shape over the summer by milking cows.

Above, in a radical move, Police Chief Arthur C. Hohmann abolishes the LAPD's vice squad and transfers all the officers to other divisions. He also forms an intelligence unit. Hohmann, part of Mayor Fletcher Bowron's reform movement, served as chief for a relatively brief time and was replaced in 1941 by Clemence C.B. Horrall. Former stagecoach driver Prestley A. "Bud" Swinney dies at the age of 82. Artur Rodzinski and Jan Peerce perform at the Hollywood Bowl in a program including "El Salon Mexico" and a suite from "Der Rosenkavalier." ... and human sacrifice in "Tarzan."

Voters Approve Bonds to Buy Water Company

Aug. 17, 1899: Above, an ad opposes issuing $2 million in bonds to buy the water company. Notice that Hoover Street, indicated by a dotted line, was the western boundary of Los Angeles. Aug. 24, 1889: Voters overwhelmingly approve bonds to buy and improve the water works. Below, jurors deadlock in the case of Mrs. May Huxley, accused of stealing two pairs of shoes.

Delays on Chavez Ravine

Aug. 11, 1959: "Horrors of the Black Museum" in Hypno-Vista! 3 1/2 stars on Netflix. Six stars on imdb.

Movement toward a new ballpark for the Dodgers kept slowing down. City Atty. Roger Arnebergh wanted the City Council to wait before approving $2 million in street work for the area destined to be the Dodgers' new home in Chavez Ravine. The whole matter was still in the hands of the Supreme Court so Arnebergh wanted the city to delay until there was a court decision or the Dodgers agreed to reimburse the city the cost of the work if the ballpark wasn't built. Was he just being cautious or was he worried? Meanwhile The Times ran a United Press International story out of Washington detailing another Chavez Ravine appeal filed with the Supreme Court that charged Los Angeles' efforts to lure the Dodgers were "too enthusiastic." --Keith Thursby

Dragnet -- The Stamp

The U.S. Postal Service has released a "Dragnet" stamp featuring series star, writer and producer Jack Webb, who began the program on radio in 1949 and brought it to television in 1951. The stamp is part of a commemorative series honoring programs that include "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "The Ed Sullivan Show," "Hopalong Cassidy," "The Honeymooners," "Kukla, Fran and Ollie," "The Lone Ranger," "Perry Mason" and "Twilight Zone." I suppose we should be smoking Fatima cigarettes (an early sponsor) at the Daily Mirror HQ in honor of the show, but we're not. The "Dragnet" formula was set in concrete the first time Webb stepped before the microphone, and it never varied: A long-suffering, thin blue line of dedicated, hardworking, underpaid officers threading their way through a landscape of dithering housewives; folksy, long-winded clerks and cashiers; and sullen, cop-hating suspects. Except to make a point under rare circumstances, there are no corrupt officers and no police brutality in the world of "Dragnet."  At its best, which was brilliant in the beginning, "Dragnet" was a welcome alternative to shoot-'em-up shows that dominated radio programming. At its worst, "Dragnet" was a ghastly self-parody of a robotic Sgt. Joe Friday delivering rambling, almost-angry monologues about the ills of American society. Not that Webb ever became too upset; Gort, the extraterrestrial police officer in "The Day the Earth Stood Still," showed a wider range of emotion than Webb had as Joe Friday.  My biggest objection to "Dragnet" is that it is accurate without being realistic. All the details are correct down to the names of actual officers and crime lab personnel, and the show even used the LAPD's radio call sign, KMA-367. When Webb brought the show to TV, he precisely and painstakingly re-created the LAPD offices (then at City Hall) on a sound stage down to the number of holes in the ceiling tiles, the dots on the linoleum floor and the cigarette butts in the ashtrays on the detectives' desks.  But at the same time, the show is terribly unrealistic. There are never any unsolved cases in "Dragnet." Especially in the early years, Joe Friday is part of an all-white police department working in an all-white city. His first partner, Ben Romero, is perhaps the only Spanish-surnamed person in Los Angeles with a Southern accent. Taken in that light, the show is ridiculous. I'm glad Jack Webb got a commemorative stamp, and I wish he were around to see it (he died in 1982). But we'll be using "Twilight Zone" stamps around here. Rod Serling -- now there was a writer.

Walter O'Malley Dies

Photograph courtesy of the Dodgers Vin Scully and Walter O'Malley before the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles.

Is it a stretch to suggest that Walter O'Malley was the man chiefly responsible for pro sports in Southern California? Consider that the Lakers might not have moved to L.A. as early as 1960, or that the American League might not have expanded to L.A. in 1961. Never mind about the Kings and Ducks who came much, much later. Without O'Malley's decision to bring the Dodgers to Los Angeles, everything might have been different. O'Malley died at 75 and his passing deservedly received mountains of words in The Times. Here's my favorite section from a story by Penelope McMillan: "He enjoyed building, 'like a kid with blocks,' retired National League President Warren Giles once said of him. It was a theme that ran through nearly all his pursuits, whether the Dodgers, his two children or orchids. 'He liked to see things grow and get better,' Giles said." --Keith Thursby