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March 19, 1960: A 2.8-mile section of the Golden State Freeway opens and officials hope that it will relieve congestion. Also on the jump, complaints about poorly designed off-ramps on the Ventura Freeway in the San Fernando Valley … "The Beast From Haunted Cave" … and the Dodgers' Ron Fairly. |
| “When a Feller Needs a Friend,” by Clare Briggs.
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| March 19, 1920: The Ince Studios presents a film of the Los Angeles Fire Department, including half a block of buildings that were set on fire, The Times says. |
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March 19, 1910: Until recently, about three cars a week were stolen in Los Angeles, The Times says. |
“Travel Town,” by Marion Eisenmann. |
| Marion Eisenmann and I went to Travel Town in Griffith Park last summer because the old trains are popular with young children and I thought there would be some opportunities for interesting sketch subjects. It didn’t work out exactly as I thought because most of the youngsters were riding the miniature train that goes around the park instead of playing on the locomotives.
Marion did this while I wandered through the old rolling stock and studied one of the streetcars – did you ever notice that they’re high off the ground and wonder about handicapped access? Marion says: “A light key suggests the present peacefulness of the place frequented by children and their caretakers. The image has no challenging perspective and looks simple and rudimentary. I felt a little bit like a deer in a nature reserve, well protected against predators, knowing that the trains don't move, as I was sitting right next to some tracks on a foldable drawing chair. There was one exception to the idle gigantic transportation machines, the miniature train that was filled with cheering kids, and they made it easy to hear when it was approaching. “When I get a chance I will go back there.” In case you just tuned in, Marion and I are visiting places that say something about life in Los Angeles in a project inspired by Joe Seewerker and Charles Owens’ Nuestro Pueblo. Daily Mirror readers who are interested in copies of Marion’s artwork should contact her directly. |
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For Liquid Prose
Today's study in wonderful irrelevance brings us to a brochure announcing Writer's Digest's annual $3,500 short story contest. First prize is $500 and contestants must subscribe to qualify. But money and fame aren't the only incentive sending exhilarated, hopeful amateurs to their typewriters. It's the rest of those crazy prizes. Second prize, as described in the folder: "The key to a new world of beauty and enchantment. This winner will receive a complete Voit Underwater Diving Lung, expert instruction in the use of it, and will sail into the blue Caribbean Sea to explore the wonders of the water world for five days. Food, compressed air and underwater writing equipment included. If allergic to water, alternate prize of $300." Fourth prize is a mountain climbing outfit and one week expedition to Pike's Peak. Twenty-fifth prize is an interview with an established writer, travel and overnight expenses furnished. |
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| March 18, 1960: I always worry when Coates is sick because the poor fellow died at the age of 47 in 1968. |
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March 18, 1980: Robert Hilburn wonders whether The Jam will be The Who of the 1980s. Actually, they broke up about 1983. |
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March 18, 1944: Jennifer Jones replaces Gene Tierney in “Laura?” Did this woman ever get anything right? |
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March 9, 1960: The Times ran “You Call It!” as a daily feature in March 1960, but I’m stretching it out to one a week so it will last longer. |
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March 18, 1960: Columnist James Reston explores President Eisenhower’s refusal to intervene in the dispute over segregated lunch counters in the South and what his philosophy signifies for the next president. Reston says, “President Eisenhower believes with great sincerity that the 'active, reformist' concept of the presidency has gone too far. As he told the reporters yesterday: 'I am one of those who believes there is too much interference (by the federal government) in our private affairs. I would like to diminish rather than increase it.' ” |
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March 18, 1920: Alma Whitaker says that American women should seize the historic moment of casting a vote in the presidential election for the first time by supporting Herbert Hoover. After listing his positive attributes (he makes few speeches and has a strong jaw) Whitaker says: “There’s nothing freakish about Hoover.” |
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March 18, 1910: The Times publishes a vivid story from Marion, Ark., about a white mob rampaging through town after two African Americans accused of staging a jailbreak allowing 12 black prisoners to escape – one of whom was accused of killing a white merchant.
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March 17, 1970
Walter O'Malley passed leadership of the Dodgers to his 32-year-old son, Peter, who became the youngest president of any major league team.
Walter O'Malley, 66, became the team's chairman of the board.
Peter O'Malley had served several jobs with the Dodgers, including general manager of the team's Spokane farm club and vice president of Dodger Stadium operations.
In an interview with The Times, Peter O'Malley said he was against interleague play, did not expect expansion in the future and "will soon announce several programs designed to bring the fan closer to the player."
And one other thing: "I'm predicting a pennant for the Dodgers in 1970."
–Keith Thursby
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June 16, 1985: "Having a band is a very difficult thing, especially if you're not making a whole lot of money,” Alex Chilton tells Don Snowden. |
Oct. 5, 1930: A tile top table from an ad for the Dyas department store, priced at $3.95 [$50.28 USD 2009]. The tile table at left has been listed on EBay. The vendor is unsure of the manufacturer. Bidding starts at $99. |
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Conversing Computers
The story goes on to state that the system, which cost $245,000, and is known as a ZA-100 Computer Language Translator, enables two computers, the IBM 704 and the Remington Rand Univac, "to freely interchange mathematical data or to process raw scientific data." No report on what the 704's first words to the Univac were. Probably "Hello." ::
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Further Reaction to White 'Negro'
Both came to me as a result of the articles I printed concerning author John Howard Griffin's masquerade as a Negro in the Deep South. The $5 bill arrived anonymously with the request that I forward the money to a particularly impoverished Alabama family who befriended the incognito Griffin, offering to share their scant rations and bare shack with him. The $1 was mailed by a lady "to begin a campaign" — she wrote — "to buy that nigger-lover a one-way ticket to Russia." If the campaign was a success, she pointed out, then she could start another one to ship me off, too. These were the extremes of local reaction to Griffin's amazing story. |
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March 17, 1980: Charles Champlin takes a brief look at the Academy Award nominees for short documentaries. “Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist,” which won an Oscar, is on Netflix as part of a four-DVD set. |
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March 17, 1960: On the jump, more about Cheryl Crane’s transfer to El Retiro School for Girls in the San Fernando Valley … President Eisenhower says it may be legal for private businesses to bar African Americans or any other group. Eisenhower adds that he’s no lawyer … and says that "there is too much interference in our private affairs and … personal lives already." |
| Nov. 9, 1938: Joe Seewerker and Charles Owens visit a blacksmith shop at 6104 N. Figueroa St. I’ve been forced to stop embedding Google maps because they make the pages load slowly. The original run of Nuestro Pueblo concluded last year. I’m picking up the items I missed the first time around. |
A $1 bill and a $5 bill found their respective ways through the U.S. mails this week, onto my desk.
