July 10, 1959: A heatwave sears Southern California as a fire threatens homes in the Linda Vista neighborhood of Pasadena.
More attacks are feared in Vietnam after a bombing kills two American advisors.
An Inglewood police officer putting a ticket on a car that hadn't been moved for two days discovers the partially clothed body of a missing Fresno woman in the trunk. On the front seat is a sweater and a pair of Capri pants, a front tooth and blood.
The victim is identified as Mary Jean Prestridge, 26, the wife of a truck driver and the mother of two children.
Police are looking for a young man seen with Prestridge in Fresno shortly before she vanished.
The Dodgers' games against the Milwaukee Braves are fascinating to
study since the teams finished the regular season tied and faced each
other in a playoff to decide the 1959 National League champion.
In a typically close game, the Dodgers edged the Braves, 4-3, in 13
innings. The Dodgers moved into second place with the victory, wedged
between the first-place Giants and the third-place Braves.
What stood out was how pitching has changed. Milwaukee's Warren
Spahn took the loss after pitching 5 2/3 innings in relief of starter
Joey Jay.
Spahn was still a top pitcher. He would win 21 games in 1959, the
fourth of six consecutive seasons with at least 20 wins. What was he
doing coming out of the bullpen?
The Dodgers' relief staff was similarly quiet. Roger Craig was the
winning pitcher and he really earned it, pitching the final 11 innings.
There's a reference in the story to how few pitches Craig threw, but 11
innings is a lot under any circumstance. Wonder how many pitchers the
Dodgers and Braves would use in a similar game today.
And this wasn't a rare case. The next afternoon, Don Drysdale came
out of the bullpen to pitch the Dodgers past the Braves in the final
game of the series. Drysdale had pitched two scoreless innings the
night before, but the game was rained out in the third inning. He was
scheduled to pitch the first game of the next series in Cincinnati but
was called in when Sandy Koufax struggled. There was no one else?
Drysdale pitched six innings.
It's impossible to imagine a current manager juggling such a star pitcher.
The Dodgers climbed back into first place in the National League West by sweeping the Atlanta Braves in a Dodger Stadium doubleheader, 5-3 and 4-3. Mota led the way with four hits in each game.
He won the nightcap for the Dodgers with a bases-loaded single that went over the head of Atlanta's right fielder, none other than Henry Aaron.
"It is the greatest thrill of my life," Mota told The Times' John Wiebusch. "A Dodger I always want to be and now I am one and we are in first place. I want to play on a champion."
New Manager Lefty Phillips tried to get his players' attention by attacking their wallets. Five players who missed curfew were fined. Then pitcher Phil Ortega was charged $500 for being found in a Kansas City hotel lobby allegedly wearing only underwear (that costs you only $500?).
Pitcher Bob Priddy fought back, going public after he was sold to the Angels' minor league team in Hawaii. "I could no longer play for Lefty Phillips," Priddy told The Times' Ross Newhan. "I've played for many managers, but he's the worst."
Priddy wasn't exactly Cy Young. He was 0-1 with the Angels after coming with Sandy Alomar in a trade with the White Sox for Bobby Knoop.
The Angels said Priddy had publicly criticized his coaches and, besides, had told Phillips he was going to retire. "I've never heard a player talk about other players like he did," Phillips said about his confrontation with the pitcher. "He broke a code. I lost all respect for him."
Newhan saw the developing trend and wrote a smart story about the struggling franchise.
"It has been seven weeks ago that Dick Walsh ... appointed his friend, Harold Phillips, as manager of the tottering Angels. The 'big' stories continued to occur off the field.
"They have, for the most part, involved fringe players and the question is, are they symptomatic or should they be forgotten? Are they indicative of dissension within or simply a change in style from the laissez-faire policy of Bill Rigney?"
It's not every day you find baseball players accusing their manager of a "reign of terror." Others suggested that the Angels were a last-place team and the manager could do what he pleased.
July 5, 1959: Vice President Richard Nixon waves during the dedication of the Sports Arena.
It has been a long time since anyone referred to the Los Angeles Sports Arena as a "marvel of modern design."
But that was the Mirror-News' view in an editorial celebrating the arena's dedication. This would be a sports arena without a team--the Lakers were still a part of the city's future. Shoot, people were still getting used to having the Dodgers in town.
Vice President Richard Nixon was the keynote speaker, mixing sports metaphors with a preview of the stump speak he'd use in his run for the presidency.
The Times' story included Nixon's three rules for participants in all sports:
"No. 1: Never quit, no matter how tough the going. No. 2: The best defense is a good offense. No. 3: Play to win. Don't play a defensive game."
He was talking about sports, but sure sounded a lot like his brand of politics too.
Having Nixon speak at the dedication of an arena that would host the Democratic National Convention was a nice piece of irony. Nixon said the convention "may turn out to be the battle of the century."
The Times published an Associated Press account of Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium, the tribute to the stricken first baseman who had been a symbol of consistency and endurance. Any baseball fan has seen Gehrig's famous speech, the real thing or the movie version portrayed by Gary Cooper.
The story couldn't match those visuals, real or imagined. Here's the first paragraph:
"A bunch of boys whooped it up at the Yankee Stadium today for the guy who's known as Lou." Somebody get me rewrite, and hurry.
Here's the movie version from YouTube. Hard to miss the real Babe Ruth in the background as Cooper speaks.
July 2, 1969: The Sacramento debating society recesses without passing a budget. Why is crime down? Police credit the Neighborhood Watch program.
Photograph by Steve Dykes / Los Angeles Times
Feb. 13, 1992: Dodgers batting instructor Matty Mota, left, and his son Jose discuss the finer points of hitting in a workout at Dodger Stadium.
Manny Mota was the new kid on the block then, trying to stay in the lineup no matter how he felt.
It's hard to picture Mota as the Dodgers' new guy since this season marks his 30th as a Dodger coach, according to dodgers.com.
Mota, who played for the Dodgers until 1980 with one at-bat in 1982, was acquired in the same trade with Montreal that brought Maury Wills back to Los Angeles.
Mota was still in the outfield then, not the premier pinch-hitter he would eventually become for the Dodgers. Despite playing with a painful elbow, Mota hit an inside-the-park home run that was a key blow in a 4-1 victory over the Astros.
"The man is remarkable," Wills told The Times' John Wiebusch. "In all those years in Pittsburgh, when he hit so well but played so little, he never said a word. ... It's too bad he couldn't have gotten here five years ago. He'd be an idol here now."
Mota, a career .305 hitter, finished with a .323 average for the Dodgers in 1969.
"But others say Metro Rail will not be heavily used by poor people because it will not take them where they want to go--to jobs scattered throughout the Los Angeles area," The Times' William Trombley wrote.
"The traffic patterns of low-income blacks and Hispanics are diffused," said George W. Hilton, professor of economics at UCLA. "They are highly auto-dependent and are likely to remain so in the foreseeable future." Hilton also said: "We aren't going to run out of fossil fuels. There's no economic point in finding more than a 20-year supply at one one time. As prices rise, other sources will be found."
Mr. Modular was working on these pages. They look like bento boxes.
Well, of course, the subways work in Los Angeles, but nobody knew it in 1984. Tunneling beneath the city was not without problems, as anyone who recalls the partial collapse of Hollywood Boulevard during construction of the Red Line will remember.
And people with long memories will recall that traffic congestion during the 1984 Olympics was much less than expected.
The 1984 Olympics united Southern California residents over a familiar topic--traffic.
Bob Pool's story focused on concerns in the San Fernando Valley with
the Games starting in less than a month. "We're going to have problems
if 70% of the people going to the Olympics don't take the bus. If 50%
of them go by car, we're going to have total gridlock," David C. Royer,
senior Los Angeles city transportation engineer for the Valley, West
Los Angeles and LAX, told a group of Encino homeowners.
The worries weren't limited to the Valley, of course. Events were
scheduled across the Southland so if you lived somewhere in Southern
California, you were planning for the worst-case scenario.
Royer said residents should ask their employers for flexible working
hours during the Olympics and people with tickets should start
reserving seats on RTD buses.
Aug. 19, 1961: Jerry Doggett, left, Wally Moon and Vin Scully.
Photo by Joe Kennedy / L.A. Times
July 26, 1960: Wally Moon playing Texas Hold 'Em? No, it's just an innocent game of solitaire.
Wally Moon's home run made the difference in the Dodgers' 9-6 victory over the Phillies.
Moon became known for the home run during his years in Los Angeles.
He was acquired to give the lineup some left-handed power and moving
the fences in part of the Coliseum was seen as a boost for Moon and
Duke Snider. But he became famous in L.A. for his "Moon shots' over the
left-field screen.
He also had a reputation as a scholar of sorts. The Times' Jeane
Hoffman profiled Moon a couple days after the home run, stressing his
educational background. Moon held a master's degree in administrative
education from Texas A&M. Probably wasn't a lot of players with
master's degrees in 1959--wonder how many there are today.
"I look upon an education as an end to itself; it's a sort of
insurance policy against the day when I don't get to round third as
often or see that curve coming," Moon said. "Baseball life doesn't last
long. Then I can go back to teaching and not have to worry about where
my next decimal point is coming from!"
Moon hit .302 for the Dodgers in 1959, with 19 home runs and 11 triples.
Keith's 1949 post on Gilmore Field has dropped us in the middle of an extremely complicated grand jury investigation of the Los Angeles Police Department.
To summarize: Officers James Parslow, Thomas C. Lindholm and Port A. Stevens were suspended by a police board that included future Chief William Parker for using excessive force during an arrest. The officers were partners of Sgt. Charles Stoker, a figure in the Brenda Allen scandal, and they accused police officials of trying to undermine Chief C.B. Horrall to obtain control of vice in Los Angeles.
This is quite a page: Louise Overell, acquitted of helping Bud Gollum kill her parents, plans to get married. Police search for leads in the Green Twig murder of Louise Springer, who was kidnapped while sitting in a car a few blocks from the Black Dahlia crime scene.
City and county officials look for ways to keep chronic alcoholics out of the legal system. .
Episcopal humor!
Ludovico Muratori, on location for "God's Earth," is killed by fumes from Stromboli volcano.
Leah Ruth Chase says her husband, screenwriter Borden Chase, is having an affair with her daughter from a previous marriage. She wants a handgun permit -- and she wants her husband's gun permit revoked.
I'm amazed this got into The Times -- even as a one-column ad.
The postwar building boom reached the minor leagues.
The Hollywood Stars planned to transform Gilmore Field by
turning bleacher seats into about 260 box seats and 1,000 grandstand
seats. "We hope this will take a little pressure off the demand for box
seats and reserved grandstand seats," said Oscar Reichow, the team's
business manager.
The right-field fence also would be removed so about 4.000 bleacher seats could be added.
Here's a silent home movie showing the ballpark in 1957. Looks like the plans might have been altered or not completed.
Democrats draft a plan to avoid a walkout by Southern delegates at the 1960 presidential convention, to be held in Los Angeles.
Four white men are sentenced to life in prison for raping a black coed.
Scientists say paint and solvents contribute to smog.
Fallout from a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union would not make the human race extinct, a Defense Department scientist says. But half of the homes in the U.S. would be badly damaged.
Maybe there's a reason Detroit didn't take imported cars seriously.
Chavez Ravine update.
Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood on water skis! Chuck Courtney?
Sandy Koufax tied a team record and set an obscure major league record with 16 strikeouts in a 6-2 victory over the Phillies at the Coliseum.
Koufax had a shot at the major league and National League records but failed to strike anyone out in the ninth. He settled for the most strikeouts in a night game and a share of the Dodger record, which according to The Times' Frank Finch was set in 1909.
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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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.