Willie Davis - Los Angeles Dodger great 1940-2010

photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times

Willie Davis probably one of the greatest athletes to wear a Los Angeles Dodger uniform passed away on March 9th in Burbank at the age of 69. Willie, nick-named the “Three Dog” was a multi-talented gold glover winner and was part of those glorious championship teams of the 1960s along with Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Maury Wills. After graduating from Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles in 1958, Willie played for the Dodgers until 1973 and still holds a few Dodger records today including that illustrious 31 game hitting streak in 1969. Along with many great players from that era, Willie never made much money playing professional baseball, so after his playing days were over he made a few bad decisions from time to time which led to brushes with the law and erratic behavior. We have all made bad decisions in our lives, Willie just happened to get the spotlight as he was a former professional baseball player from Los Angeles.

Willie Davis was the first Dodger I can recall who made an impact on me from those early Dodger games we would attend in 1971, 1972 and 1973. Rest in Peace # 3 and I will always see you in center field at Dodger Stadium.

Angels Flight returns to Bunker Hill

Grand Reopening March 15, 2010

Grand Central Market across the street serving Angelenos since 1917.

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Angels Flight, the funky funicular that transported Angelenos from the top of Bunker Hill down to the Hill Street Grand Central Market is back in operation again after a nine year absence. Built in 1901, it operated problem free up until 1969 when it was dismantled and put into storage while waves of gentrification were transforming Bunker Hill from an area of transients and boarding house drifters to the of high rise condos we see today. In 1996 most of the original parts including the two cars (Sinai and Olivet) and the archway were pulled out of storage and mounted onto a newly designed track and haulage system just a half block south of its original location.

Operation ran smoothly up until a 2001 accident which resulted in the fatality of an 83 year old tourist when one of the cars broke loose and smashed into the oncoming second car. After a lengthy NTSB investigation, both Sinair and Olivet were repaired and returned to the tracks and testing of the funicular began in the Fall of 2008. The Public Utilities Commission approved the safer design of Angels Flight and operation was welcomed back to Bunker Hill on March 15, 2010.

Bunker Hill is regularly featured in the writings of Charles Bukowski and John Fante and Angels Flight can bee seen in several films including the Glen Miller Story starring Jimmy Stewart and episodes of Dragnet starring Belmont High School graduate Jack Webb. In my one and only venture into the film making business in 1996, I used Angels Flight in my Super Hi-8 short film which took third place at the PCC film festival. Someday I may dust it off for a digital transfer but I have to warn you, “it ain’t pretty”. For a great film experience that features the funky funicular and Bunker Hill, check out a recently restored film by the UCLA Film Archive called The Exiles. Shot in 1961 by Kent MacKenzie, The Exiles chronicles the lives of several native Americans who leave the reservation in the 1950s and take up residence in Bunker Hill. The DVD also features an interesting 1956 documentary on this historic downtown Los Angeles area.

I like Ike - Who wouldn’t have liked Ike?

President Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower, January 1953
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“I like Ike“ was the presidential campaign slogan for General Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower in 1952. Who wouldn’t have liked Ike? He was the man in his day and had more impressive titles than any other person in mid-century America. Being “Tight with Ike” meant that you ran with the in crowd at the Pentagon.

Among the many titles he held in his career:

Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Military Governor of the American Occupation Zone in Germany
Five Star General of the Army
Commanding General European Theater of Operations (ETOUSA)
Supreme Commander Allied (Expeditionary) Force of the North African Theater of Operations (NATOUSA)
Commander in Chief
President of the United States
President of Columbia University

More than likely he was also President of the local chapters of the Elks Club, the Rotary Club and Supreme Commander of the PTA. He was even a real estate broker as he brought in a couple extra states for us (Hawaii and Alaska) to make it a nice even number of 50. I am sure Ike never had a problem getting a table at his favorite nightclub back then. A conversation with the maitre d' would have gone like this: “You remember that D-Day invasion at Normandy back in ’44? well, I was in charge of that whole operation, now how about a table for two right next to Sinatra and Brando."

The snapshot in this post was taken in January 1953 during his inauguration parade back in a time when we could get close enough to capture a candid moment in history without the fantastic telephoto lens. Thanks to the actions of Squeaky Fromme, John Hinckley, Sirhan Sirhan, Mark David Chapman and the fictional Travis Bickle (from Taxi Driver) the whole up close and personal feel to these events is a thing of the past. In June of 1968 we were living on Beverly and Kenmore in Los Angeles about a mile north east of the Ambassador Hotel when Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed in the pantry of the hotel. I don’t remember a thing since I was about 4 years old but years later at a neighborhood reunion party, a neighbor from that time recalled hearing the small caliber gunshots that day from several blocks away, through Wilshire Blvd traffic and from the inside of his apartment. We just poured him another Johnnie Walker on the rocks and humored him.

An early episode of the sitcom Happy Days had the Fonz character played by Henry Winkler endorsing Ike in the 1956 re-election campaign. The Fonz gave a quick speech at a rally that went like this: “I like Ike, my bike likes Ike….heeeeey”. The Fonz gave Dwight Eisenhower his two thumbs up approval that night and the rest of America soon followed.

Los Angeles Rams Legend – Merlin Olsen dies at 69.

photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times
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Merlin Olsen the legendary Los Angeles Rams NFL hall of famer, actor, broadcaster and the FTD florist spokesman has passed away at age 69. Merlin who spent his entire professional career in Los Angeles was the 1974 NFL MVP and a member of the “Fearsome Foursome” defensive line in the 1960s. He was also one of the first athletes that made the successful transition from the sports stage to the acting stage playing Jonathan Garvey on NBC’s Little House of the Prairie and later staring in his own show, Father Murphy. A native of Logan Utah and a longtime resident of San Marino California, Merlin was a big gentle giant who never lost his temper. When I think of Los Angeles sports icons there are three names that come to mind; Sandy Koufax, Jerry West and Merlin Olsen.

Bobby Espinosa, founding member of El Chicano has died at 60

El Chicano 1970

Bobby Espinosa founding member and keyboardist for El Chicano passed away in Boyle Heights last week at age 60. El Chicano from East Los Angeles along with other bands of that era such as Tierra combined a creative blend of pop, funk, Latin Soul and R&B to create that unique sound of 1970’s Eastside Los Angeles. El Chicano scored two top 40 hits with “Viva Tirado” and “Tell Her She’s lovely” in the early 1970s. When I hear “Tell Her She’s Lovely” today on K-EARTH 101 it reminds me of my older brother driving us to school in the classic Chevy Nova. Bobby was born here in Los Angeles and came from a family that was very passionate about music and creativity. We will miss you Bobby.

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"Tell Her She's Lovely" on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H74UVW9-m-o&feature=fvw

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For a history of Chicano Rock n' Roll in Southern California check out the book "Land of a Thousand Dances" by David Reyes and Tom Waldman.

The Dingbat - The 1950s Southern California Apartment Complex

A Dingbat ornament at the Harmony Terrace - Silverlake, CA

The outline of a missing Dingbat (upper left) - South Pasadena, CA

“Stifle Dingbat” was a term of endearment so to speak that Archie Bunker would say to Edith Bunker when he wanted command of their conversations in the Queens, New York based sitcom, All in the Family. The term Dingbat is also very prominent in Southern California culture and as you drive through sections of Santa Monica, Culver City, Hollywood, South Pasadena and in neighborhoods such as St. Andrews Square, Koreatown, and Little Armenia you will definitely see a Dingbat or the remains of one. Apartment buildings built in the 1950s in Southern California were just big stucco hat boxes adorned with palm trees and modern style decorations and letterings with kitschy names such as the Gower Arms or the Ambassador Gardens. These decorations were made of inexpensive metals and were usually in the form of a sunburst and somehow the buildings were coined “Dingbats“ from this. “Want to come over to my Dingbat for a drink?” after a night out on the town would be amusing today. These apartment buildings housed the thousands who flocked to post war Southern California in search of jobs, stardom and of course better weather. Over the course of time, many of these starburst ornaments have been removed, have fallen off, or have succumbed to the elements and have never been replaced. I am assuming replacing a cheap metal sunburst decoration on the façade of the building is on the bottom of a landlord’s to-do list, thus bringing more meaning to the term, “Stifle Dingbat” and gone forever.

Jamie Escalante, L.A. teacher from Stand and Deliver fighting cancer.

Photo Courtesy of Dept of Special Collections/UCLA Library.

Jamie Escalante the Bolivian born educator who gained famed in the early 1980’s as the Advanced Placement Calculus teacher at Los Angeles Garfield High School is battling cancer and his family has run out of money to pay for his cancer treatments. The story of Jamie Escalante and Garfield High School is depicted in the 1988 film Stand and Deliver staring Edward James Almos, Lou Diamond Phillips and Andy Garcia. In 1982, 18 of Mr. Escalante’s students passed the Advanced Placement Calculus exam and the results of the tests were questioned because each of the 18 students made the exact same error. More than likely because they were all taught the same techniques by the same teacher as noted in the film. 14 students were asked to retake the exam and the 12 that agreed to do so passed the second time. The number of Garfield students that passed the AP calculus exam continued to rise each year until Mr. Escalante left Garfield High School in 1991. The cast members from Stand and Deliver are currently raising money to help pay for his medical bills. Edward James Almos portrays Mr. Escalante in this touching film that showcases period Los Angeles in the early 1980’s.

Please get well Mr. Escalante.