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May 27, 1960: Matt Weinstock talks about the marriage of two ideas: advertising and satellites orbiting the Earth. CONFIDENTIAL TO "MRS. FORGET ME NOT": If your religion permits it, visit your PLANNED PARENTHOOD CENTER. They will give you full instructions on how to control the size of your family. The advice is free, Abby says. |
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May 27, 1960: Paul Coates follows up on his survey of prisoners with the transcription of an inmate interviewing another. Sample quote: “It isn't my fault that I was born with a Cadillac appetite into a sharecropper's life.” |
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May 27, 1940: “Jane Withers, newest bowling addict, knocked off 145 pins her first game,” Jimmie Fidler says. |
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May 27, 1980: George Bush’s campaign director, James Baker, says: "We didn't have the long-term base that Reagan has out there." Former California Gov. Ronald Reagan takes the news in stride, saying: “I don’t think it has quite sunk in yet.” On the jump, the Washington Post’s Jim Hoagland interviews the former Shah of Iran in Cairo. Hoagland writes: "He is convinced now that 'the West wanted this Islamic republic (Iran's revolutionary government), perhaps thinking that with Islam it could contain communism.' He specifically blamed the British and U.S. governments and the Western media for promoting his downfall. 'Well, now you have it. Are you happy? Do you have human rights there now? Democracy? Liberalization? … What they are doing to my country in the name of Islam just makes people go away from Islam.' " |
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May 27, 1910: Elizabeth La Rue, a costumer at the Majestic Theater Building, is in the news for grabbing a man who rented one of her costumes and was trying to sell it at a secondhand shop. La Rue took the fellow by the neck, dragged him back to her office and held him until police arrived. She explained: “Why should any able-bodied woman be afraid of a mere man?” |
| Former Police Sgt. Charles Stoker’s “Thicker’n Thieves” has attained a measure of respect that it never had when it was published in 1951. Even five or six years ago, it was possible to pick up a copy for almost nothing in a used bookstore (I got my two copies, one of them autographed, in the Pasadena Salvation Army store less than $10 total). These days, however, we have listings such as this one on EBay, with bidding starting at $189.
Debunking the book would be a life’s work, so let me put it simply and plainly: “Thicker’n Thieves” is a self-published book by a disgruntled crackpot. In later years, Stoker actually gave away copies of his book, asking readers to send him money if they liked it. If you’re actually eager to read the book, get it from the library. Don’t pay any big money for it and above all, do not give it any credence. |
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May 26, 1960: Watch out for the bus home from Hollywood Park, which takes the long way to Glendale, Matt Weinstock says. CONFIDENTIAL TO JENNIE: Of course, the "circumstances" are important, but I would say that a man who has been married and divorced four times was a very, very, very, very poor risk for marriage, Abby says. |
U.N. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. displays a passive listening device, concealed in the Great Seal that hung in the residential office of the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union from about 1945 to 1952. The National Cryptologic Museum has more information and a replica on display.
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May 26, 1960: Paul Coates looks at a survey of 500 American convicts conducted by the prisoners at Atlanta Penitentiary. |
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The Los Angeles County Hall of Records, which survived a 1910 bombing attempt, as it appeared during the realignment of Spring Street in 1929.
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In the months leading up to the bombing of the Los Angeles Times by union agitators on Oct. 1, 1910, the city had endured several overlapping strikes. The first one was against local breweries, which began on May 19, 1910, and was followed by another against local foundries and ironworks on June 1. Famous for its support of the open shop, The Times staunchly focused on companies’ efforts to continue operations rather than on labor’s demands, so there is far more information about employers than about what was being sought by unions. The Times reported May 20, 1910: "The bottlers are asking $2 [$45.48 USD 2009] a man a week," said Secretary Kraemer of the Southern California Brewers' and Bottlers' Assn. "They are now getting $17 to $18 [$386.56- $409.30] a week as against $12 and $13 [$272.87-$295.60] a week in Eastern breweries. The drivers demand a raise of $3 [$68.22] a week. They are receiving $18 to $20 a week, and the scale in Eastern breweries is $16 to $18 [$363.82-$409.30] a week." A June 2, 1910, story said that metalworkers wanted a minimum of $4 [$90.96 USD 2009] a day, an eight-hour day and double pay for working holidays. The average wage was 37 1/2 cents [$8.53] an hour and most employees worked a nine-hour day. The Times seems to have been premature in declaring the brewery strike over, although the strike seems to have dissipated in about a month. The strike against the foundries and metal shops was fought with far more determination, and on Sept. 10, 1910, The Times reported a plot to dynamite the Hall of Records, which was then under construction, because it was being built with non-union steel. |
We’re on an Oviatt’s streak with another item today: A tuxedo jacket from the famous Los Angeles menswear store. Bidding on this item starts at $124.99 or Buy It Now for $349.99. As with everything on EBay, an item and vendor should be evaluated thoroughly before submitting a bid. |
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May 25, 1960: That fellow who seemed to be listening intently to a speaker at an AA meeting was actually following a Dodger game on a transistor radio, Matt Weinstock says. And Abby has advice for a woman who’s thinking about going back to work so she doesn’t have to be a free babysitter for her grandchildren. |
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May 25, 1960: Paul Coates has a great story today – and I’m not going to spoil it with a summary. You’ll just have to read it for yourself. |
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May 25, 1940: On the jump, Jimmie Fidler explains Joan Crawford’s mysterious trips to New York. |
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May 25, 1960: The U.S. successfully launches a Midas satellite after a previous attempt failed. The Times editorialized that the satellites would make spy planes such as the U-2 obsolete. Which is why the Midas satellites became space junk and we’re still flying U-2s. And on the jump, burglars at the Queen's Arms get more than they bargained for. |
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May 25, 1950: Gilmore Stadium, a major link to the history of sports in Los Angeles, will be demolished to make room for the new home of CBS television. "Nobody knows how big this television industry is going to be," a CBS spokesman told The Times. "But we have to be prepared." There were few details about CBS' plans, but The Times' front-page story noted that the facility would produce "full color television." What was clear was the end of Gilmore Stadium. The facility was a busy and well-used site for decades, having been host to football, boxing, wrestling, rodeos, bicycle and motorcycle races and for a short time minor league baseball. Among the college football teams affected by the sale of Gilmore Stadium were Loyola University and Pepperdine College, as the schools were then called. The Times noted that the sale of Gilmore Stadium would not affect Gilmore Field, the home of the Pacific Coast League's Hollywood Stars. Of course, it would be only a matter of time before Gilmore Field and the Stars would be gone as well. — Keith Thursby |
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| May 25, 1910: Louis Rogers drank and cursed with other workmen and held her own at hard labor. Only in death was it revealed that Rogers was a woman. It would be interesting to know more about her, but I can’t find anything further in The Times. |
| Items from Oviatt’s men’s store don’t turn up terribly often on EBay and when they do, they tend to be pricey. Here’s a souvenir matchbook with bidding starting at 99 cents. |
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May 24, 1960: A junior high music teacher finds out why one of his students has been taking his trumpet home on Fridays…. And Abby has advice for the woman whose husband spends all of his time and lots of his money with his lodge buddies. |
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May 24, 1960: Paul Coates samples high school students’ opinions. One writer says: "A general apathy prevails, largely because America's two major political parties have failed to cast distinct, meaningful public images; their platforms and their records in the last decade have reflected two identical philosophies of government." |
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Times artist Charles Owens draws a map of fighting in Belgium and France. |
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May 24, 1940: “Hollywood After Dark: Patricia Ellis nursing a bandaged right hand at Cocoanut Grove while an escort gallantly carved her steak,” Jimmie Fidler says. |
