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What Is A Historyscope?

Westerners are not only known as history ignoramuses, but double dumbass history ignoramuses when it comes to Los Angeles history. Since I'm the one-and-only Historyscoper (tm), let me quickly bring you up to speed before you dive into my Master Historyscope.

On Sept. 8, 1771 (Feast of the Birth of the Virgin Mary) Father Junipero Serra founds the San Antonio de Padua Mission in Calif. (#3), followed on Sept. 8 by the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel ("Godfather of the Pueblo of Los Angeles") (#4 of 21), with Cordoba, Spain-born missionary-architect Antonio Cruzado designing capped buttresses and tall narrow windows, showing a strong Moorish influence.

On Sept. 4, 1781 Spanish gov. of Calif. (1777-82) Felipe de Neve (1724-84) along with the Franciscans found El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles (Town of the Queen of the Angels) (modern pop. 3.9M) from an Indian village named Yangma; 29 of the first 44 Spanish settlers (Los Pobladores) are of African ancestry.

On Aug. 13-15, 1842 13,745 ft. (4,189m) Fremont Peak in Wyo. is first climbed by Am. explorer John Charles Fremont (1813-90) (son-in-law of Mo. U.S. Sen. Thomas Hart Benton) on the first of four expeditions of the Am. West., guided by Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson (1809-68), going on to pub. A Report on an Exploration of the Country Lying between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains on the Line of the Kansas and Great Platte Rivers, which was printed by newspapers across the U.S., making him a celeb, with the nickname "The Pathfinder", describing the 700-mi. Old Spanish Trail from Santa Fe to Los Angeles, parts of which go back to the 16th cent., which has been extensively used by pack trains since 1830 (until the mid-1850s); Carson goes on to become the most famous Am. frontiersman after Daniel Boone. In summer 1843 John Charles Fremont (1813-90) goes on his 2nd expedition, crossing the Rocky Mts. N of the Great Salt Lake, and down the Snake River and Columbia River to Oregon, then W to Lake Tahoe, and down the E slopes of the Sierra Nevadas through Carson Pass into the Central Valley of Calif. to scope it out for gringos waiting for da news back east, then down the American River Valley to Sutter's Fort in Sacramento, then S along the E edge of the San Joaquin Valley, then E through Tehachapi Pass to modern-day Las Vegas, Nev., then N through Utah to South Pass, proving that the Great Basis doesn't have any river flowing towards the sea, disproving the legend of a Buenaventura River; in 1845 Fremont pub. a new map, which is pub. by Congress and used by thousands of immgrants to Ore. and Calif. in 1845-9 incl. the Calif. Gold Rush, inspiring the Mormons to settle in Utah. On June 1, 1845 John C. Fremont and his 55 men leave St. Louis searching for the source of the Arkansas River, and when they don't find it, they hastily travel to the Sacramento Valley in Calif. next Jan., trying to stur up a war; in Sonoma after hearing of the U.S.-Mexican War a group of gringo Americans capture Mexican Gen. Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (1807-90) on June 14 and declare the independent Calif. Repub., making up a flag with a Calif. grizzly and star painted on white cloth; the Bear Flag Revolt begins; by late June Fremont endorses the new repub. and sets out for Monterey, but before he arrives the revolt ends as the commodore of the U.S. Pacific Fleet sends a shore party to raise the Stars and Stripes and proclaim Calif. as part of the U.S.; in July Robert F. Stockton becomes the new commodore and prepares to invade S Calif., enlisting Fremont's band as the Calif. Battalion and promoting him to maj.; the Mexican loyalists flee, and on Aug. 17 Stockton declares himself gov. of Calif., with Fremont as military cmdr. in the N.

On Dec. 4, 1881 the Los Angeles Times (originally the Los Angeles Daily Times) is founded in Los Angeles, Calif. by wealthy St. Louis, Mo. businessman Nathan Cole Jr. (1860-1921) and Glasgow, Scotland-born dandy Thomas Gardiner (1826-89); in July 1882 Marietta, Ohio-born Harrison Gray Otis (1837-1917) becomes ed., leaving it to his son-in-law Harry Chandler (1864-1944), who leaves it to his son Norman Chandler (1899-1973), who passes it to his son Otis Chandler (1927-2006) in 1960-80.

In 1886 the Watts section of Los Angeles, Calif. (modern-day pop. 34K) starts out as 220 acres of farmland purchased from the 1843 Rancho La Tajauta Mexican land grant; in 1904 Watts Station is built, becoming its first railroad station; in 1926 it is annexed to Los Angeles, going predominantly black in the 1940s from the Second Great Migration.

In 1895 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles, Calif. is founded by Cincinnati, Ohio-born outspoken Socialist Henry Gaylord Wilshire (1861-1927) on a 35-acre barley field, who donates a strip of land 120' x 1,200' to the city on the conditions that it will be named for him and have no railroad lines or commercial-industrial trucking; it goes on to extend 15.83 mi. E from Ocean Ave. in Santa Monica to Grand Ave. in downtown Los Angeles, running parallel with Santa Monica Blvd. to the Miracle Mile district between Fairfax and Highland Aves. (known for its museums), connecting five major business districts incl. Beverly Hills, hosting most of the city's post-1956 skyscrapers incl. One Wilshire (1966) at Grand, which becomes "the main hub of the Internet for the entire Pacific Rim", and Aon Center at 707 Wilshir Blvd.; it becomes the main street of Koreatown; J. Paul Getty builds a mansion there that is seen in the 1950 film "Sunset Boulevard".

On Apr. 16, 1902 Tex.-born Thomas Lincoln Tally (1861-1945) opens the Electric Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif., the first movie theater in the town; in 1912 he becomes the first in LA to show a color movie.

In 1908 the Los Angeles Aqueductfrom the Owens River in the E Sierra Nevada Mts. to Los Angeles, Calif. is begun, drastically curtailing agriculture in the Owens Valley; water reaches the San Fernando Valley in Nov. 1913; a 2nd aqueduct is built in Sept. 1965-June 1970.

On June 17, 1909 Francis W. Boggs' In the Sultan's Power (Selig Studio) debuts, starring Hobart Bosworth, Betty Harte, Frank Montgomery, and Tom Santschi, becoming the first motion picture made completely in Los Angeles; the film debut of Sherman, Tex.-born Stella Adams (1883-1961), who survives the talkie era poorly, appearing in films until 1936.

On Oct. 1, 1910 the Los Angeles Times Bldg. in Los Angeles, Calif. is dynamited, starting a fire that kills 21 nonunion workers and injures 100 more., causing the newspaper to call it "the crime of the century"; right-wing anti-union owner Harrison Gray Otis (1837-1917), whose L.A. home the Bivouac was also targeted claims a labor conspiracy; brothers J.B. McNamara and John J. (J.J.) McNamara are tried for it, with Clarence Darrow as their atty.; too bad, they confess to escape execution, giving the labor movement a serious setback.

In Feb. 1918 the Million Dollar Theater in Los Angeles, Calif. is opened by Sidney Patrick "Sid" Grauman (1879-1950), becoming the first movie palace on the U.S. West Coast.

On Jan. 1, 1921 the Ambassador Hotel at 3400 Wiltshire Blvd. in Los Angeles, Calif. opens, designed by Pasadena architect Myron Hunt (1868-1952), becoming a favorite spot for Hollywood celebs, Academy Award ceremonies, and U.S. presidents from Hoover to Nixon, who all groove on the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub, going on to become the hotel where RFK is killed on June 6, 1968.

In 1921 Italian immigrant Sabato "Simon" "Sam" Rodia (1879-1965) begins building the Watts Towers (Nuestra Pueblo) in Watts, Los Angeles, Ca., finishing in 1954; after he relocates to Martinez, Calif. and dies on July 17, 1965, it emerges unscathed from the Aug. 11-16, 1965 Watts Riots and ends up as a state historical park.

In 1923 Vienna-born Modernist architect Richard Joseph Neutra (1892-1970) emigrates to the U.S., working for Frank Lloyd Wright before hooking up with fellow Viennese immigrant (Vienna U. of Tech. chum) Rudolf Michael Schindler (Schlesinger) (1887-1953) in Calif. and going on to design numerous Internat. Style bldgs. incl. the Lovell Health House in Los Angeles (1929), becoming the first steel frame house in the U.S., pioneering gunite (sprayed-on concrete).

In May 1927 Studio City (originally Laurelwood) is founded in the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles, Calif. on a triangular lot bisected by the Los Angeles River by film producer Mack Sennett; in 1933 he declares bankruptcy and sells it to Mascot Pictures, which in 1935 merges with Monogram Pictures and Consolidated Film Corp. to form Republic Pictures, becoming Republic Studios, producing B-Westerns starring Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, John Wayne et al.; in the 1950s Republic leases space to Revue Productions (founded in 1943 by MCA), which produces "Leave It To Beaver" et al. before moving to Universal City; meanwhile Four Star Productions leases space to produce "The Rifleman", "Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater", "The Big Valley" et al.; Republic Pictures ceases film production, leasing the lot to CBS-TV, producing "Gunsmoke", "Rawhide", "My Three Sons", "Gilligan's Island", and "The Wild Wild West"; in Feb. 1967 CBS-TV purchases the lot for $9.5M, renaming it CBS Studio Center; in 1970 it rents space to the new MTM Enterprises; meanwhile in 1927 the Sherman Oaks neighborhood in Los Angeles, Calif. is founded W of Studio City, which ends up bordered on the N by Valley Village, on the E by Universal City and Toluca Lake, on the S by Hollywood Hills West, and on the SW by Beverly Crest.

On Oct. 1, 1928 Hangar 1, named for real estate agent William W. Mines, the first modern air terminal in Los Angeles, Calif. is constructed on Mines Field in S Westchester, opening in 1930 as the beginning of Los Angeles Internat. Airport (LAX) (originally Los Angeles Municipal Airport, then Los Angeles Airport in 1937-49), which is purchased by the city of Los Angeles in 1937.

The Babelympics? On July 30-Aug. 14, 1932 the Olympic Flame is inaugurated in the X (10th) Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Calif., held smack dab in the middle of the Great Depression, causing less than half of the 1928 participants to attend, even being stood up by Pres. Herbert Hoover, becoming the first Olympic Games not attended by the sitting head of the govt. of the host country, which doesn't stop them from making $1M profit; 1,332 athletes from 37 nations participate in 116 events in 14 sports; the first Olympic Village is built in the Baldwin Hills (men only); the first use of a victory podium; Jim Thorpe is a press reporter at the Games; Paavo Nurmi is banned for being a pro; the U.S. wins bronze in field hockey because there are only two other nations competing (India gold, Japan silver); Thomas Edward "Eddie" Tolan (1908-67) ("the Midnight Express") of the U.S. wins gold in the 100m and 200m, becoming the first African-Am. world's fastest human; Stanislawa Walasiewicz (Stella Walsh) (1911-80) of Poland wins gold in the women's 100m, and after her death it's discovered that she's intersex; Baron Takeichi Nishi (1902-45) of Japan wins a gold in the equestrian show jumping individual event on his horse Uranus, becoming a tank unit cmdr. and getting KIA during the Battle of Iwo Jima; "unnatural" (not delicate or feminine) Port Arthur, Tex.-born Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson (1911-56) ("the female Babe Ruth") sets four world records in one afternoon during the Olympic trials, then sets world records in the javelin throw (143' 4") and 80m hurdles (11.7 sec.) for two golds, then wins a silver in the high jump (nobody's perfect?); she earns All-Am. honors in basketball 1930-2, appears in vaudeville, then takes up golf; actress-swimmer Eleanor G. Holm (1913-2004) wins gold in the 100m backstroke, setting a world record in that plus the 200m backstroke, then despite having not lost a race in seven years and being the first female swimmer chosen for three U.S. Olympic teams, she is unceremoniously thrown off the team in 1936 by Avery Brundage after being caught drinking, shooting craps, and singing in cabarets past the 9 p.m. curfew on the boat trip to Germany, although if a man did it no action would have been taken?; the publicity makes her a star with the press, and she meets Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering, who gives her a silver swastika, which she has later copied in gold with a diamond Star of David inside it after she marries Jewish hubby Billy Rose in 1939; they divorce in 1954.

On Aug. 16, 1937 the Am. Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) is founded in Los Angeles, Calif.; the T is added on Sept. 17, 1952.

On Feb. 24-25, 1942 the Battle of Los Angeles, Calif. against invading Japanese forces turns out to be a false alarm; it was really a UFO attack?

On June 19, 1942 after meeting him at age 15, Norma Jeane Baker (b. 1926) marries James Edward "Jim" Dougherty (1921-2005), who works with Robert Mitchum in a defense plant, and next year joins the U.S. Merchant Marine, heading for Santa Catalina Island, where she joins him, then heading overseas in 1944 while she works for the Radioplane Co. in Burbank, Calif., which features her in some war propaganda photos that are pub. in the Aug. 2, 1945 issue of Yank, the Army Weekly, becoming her start as a model; after getting ideas about going bigtime, she divorces him on Sept. 13, 1946; in 1947 he joins the Los Angeles Police Dept. and marries Patricia Scoman.

On Sept. 28, 1945 Michael Curtiz' B&W Mildred Pierce (Warner Bros.) debuts, based on the 1941 John M. Cain novel, starring Joan Crawford (first for Warner Bros. after leaving MGM) as a Southern Calif. housewife whose hubby leaves her during the Depression, forcing her to scramble to open a successful chicken and wafffle restaurant chain while juggling beaus incl. Wally Fay (Jack Carson), Bert Pierce (Bruce Bennett), and Monte Beragon (Zachary Scott), only to be undone by her pianist daughter Veda (Ann Blyth); does $5.6M box office on a $1.45M budget; "Father, Wally, Monte, you have what you need."

What happens in Hollyweird stays in Hollyweird? On Jan. 15, 1947 in Los Angeles, Calif. the mutilated remains of 22-y.-o. aspiring actress Elizabeth Short (b. 1924) (known as the Black Dahlia for her dark outfits) are found dumped in a vacant lot in the residential L.A. neighborhood of Leimert Park; she had been hung upside down and tortured, her body cut in half, and her face carved into a hideous rictus; the case is never solved, even though the perp sends the girl's birth certificate and address book, with one page ripped out, to the police; later Steve Hodel claims it was his L.A. cop father?

In 1949 the Googie (Space Age) (Coffee Shop) (Doo-Wop) (Populuxe) style of commercial architecture begins in West Hollywood, Calif. with the Googie (Ship's) Coffee Shop at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Crescent Heights (demolished in 1989), designed by John Edward Lautner (1911-94), inspired by the Atomic Age, the Space Age, the Jet Age, and car culture, characterized by crazy kinetic confections of oblique lines with jagged steel roofs sporting neon signs in wild hipster font ("Tomorrowland Meets the Flintstones"); a Googie icon is the little 1950s McDonald's Man in white chef's hat and black bow tie; the White Spot coffee shops, Bob's Big Boy (founded 1936), and Denny's restaurants (founded 1953), designed by Calif. architects Louis Logue Armet (1914-81) and Eldon Davis are the height of the style, which starts to be discontinued during the Vietnam War protest era and is killed by the environmental movement.

In 1950 Cardston, Alberta, Canada-born swimsuit designer Rose Marie Reid (nee Yancey) (1906-78) of Los Angeles, Calif. files for a patent on a 1-piece bathing suit using elastic fabric sans buttons, which is both fashionable and functional, using photopermeable fabric to allow full body tanning; it catches on, capturing 10% of the women's swimwear market, and she is named Designer of the Year by Sports Illustrated, and Woman of the Year by Time in 1955; meanwhile she uses her free time to proselyte Jews for the Mormon faith.

On Dec. 16, 1951 the 30-min. police procedural drama Dragnet, "a Mark VII Production", based on the 1949-57 NBC radio show debuts on NBC-TV for 276 episodes (until Aug. 23, 1959, then 1967-70, 1989-91, 1 hour show in 2003-4), displaying a badge with the number 714; John Randolph "Jack" Webb (1920-82) plays morally rigid Sgt. Joe Friday; the cool Dragnet Theme is by Walter Schumann; the opening says "This is the city, Los Angeles, California. Every 60 seconds a crime is committed in Los Angeles. In the Los Angeles Police Dept.'s communications center, the telephone rings every 20 seconds, 24 hours a day. Of the 3 million people who live in Los Angeles, 35 thousand of them are known murderers, rapists and thieves. They outnumber the police force seven to one. Every time a policeman answers a call, he takes a calculated risk. There will always be somebody out there who doesn't like him. There are over five thousand men in this city who know that being a policeman is an endless, thankless, glamorous job that's got to be done. I know it too, and I'm damn glad I'm one of them"; the wrapup says "The story you have just seen is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent"; 15 shots are fired in the first 60 episodes.

On Mar. 7, 1955 NBC-TV airs the 7th Annual Emmy Awards, hosted by Steve Allen from the Moulin Rouge Nightclub in Hollywood, Calif., becoming the first coast-to-coast Emmy Awards telecast; Fredric March becomes the first actor to be nominated for two different works in the same category, losing 2x for best actor in a single performance.

On Sept. 15, 1957 (Sun.) the sitcom Bachelor Father, based on the General Electric Theatre episode "A New Girl in His Life" (May 26, 1957) debuts on CBS-TV for 157 episodes (until Sept. 25, 1962 after switching to NBC-TV in 1959 and ABC-TV in 1961), starring John Forsythe (Jacob Lincoln Freund) (1918-2010) as wealthy bachelor atty. Bentley Gregg, who lives in Beverly Hills, Calif. and assumes the care of his niece Kelly, played by Noreen M. Corcoran (1943-) after her parents died in an automobile accident; San Francisco, Calif.-born comedian Sammee Tong (1901-64) plays Chinese houseboy Peter Tong, who carries the show with Forsythe.

In 1957 The Troubadour nightclub at 9081 Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, Calif. near Beverly Hills, owned by 6'6" Alexander Douglas "Doug" Weston (1926-99) opens, becoming a major venue for folk music acts, and later for rock acts, hosting comedian Lenny Bruce (who is arrested in 1962 for obscenity for using the word "schmuck"), Joni Mitchell, The New Christy Minstrels, The Everly Brothers, Hoyt Axton, Leonard Cohen, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Arlo Guthrie, Buffalo Springfield, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Carole King, the Eagles, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison et al.; on Aug. 25, 1970 Neil Diamond introduces Elton John in his first U.S. show; in 1974 pals John Lennon and Harry Nilsson are ejected for drunkenly heckling the Smothers Brothers; launches the careers of Randy Newman, Steve Martin, Cheech & Chong, Guns N' Roses et al.; in the late 1970s it switches to heavy metal and glam bands incl. Motley Crue, Poison, and Warrant, later helping launch the careers of Radiohead, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, Papa Roach et al.

On Oct. 10, 1959 (Sat.) the detective series 77 Sunset Strip (B&W) debuts on ABC-TV for 205 episodes (until Feb. 7, 1964), starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (1918-) as ex-secret agent detective Stuart "Stu" Bailey, Roger LaVerne Smith (1932-) (who marries Ann-Margaret in 1967 after Myasthenia gravis ends his acting career in 1965, becoming her mgr.) as his ex-secret agent partner Jeff Spencer, who operate out of a posh office in West Hollywood, Calif. between La Cienega Blvd. and Alta Loma Rd. on the S side of the Strip next door to Dino's Lodge; Jacqueline Beer plays the French switchboard operator; Edd "Kookie" Byrnes (Edward Byrne Breitenberger) (1933-) as Dino's hair-combing parking attendant Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III, who popularizes the expressions "ginchy" and "piling up Zs"; features the 77 Sunset Strip Theme by Mack David and Jerry Livingston; in May 1960 Kookie becomes a partner of the detective firm, and Robert Logan becomes the parking lot attendant.

In 1959 Stanford Law School grad. Delbert E. Wong (1920-2006) becomes the first Chinese-Am. to be named to a judicial bench in the continental U.S. after Calif. gov. Pat Brown names him to the Los Angeles municipal court; in 1961 he is elevated to the Calif. supreme court; he is cubmaster of Cub Scout Pack 527, and one of his scouts Lance A. Ito becomes judge in the O.J. Simpson murder case, appointing Wong to retrieve a switchblade from the Simpson residence.

On Sept. 26, 1962 (Wed.) the corn-filled Filmways B&W comedy series The Beverly Hillbillies debuts on CBS-TV for 274 episodes (until Sept. 7, 1971), switching to color in 1965, created by Paul Henning (1911-2005), becoming the top-ranked U.S. TV show for two seasons; Buddy Ebsen (1908-2003) stars as Jed Clampett, who strikes oil while hunting on his land in the Ozark Mts. of Tenn., then sells it to an oil co. for $25M, and moves his family to a mansion at you know where at 518 Crestview Dr., incl. Irene Ryan (1902-73) as cantankerous Confederate States of Am.-loving Daisy May "Granny" Moses, Maximilian Adalbert "Max" Baer Jr. (1937-) as dimwitted yokel Jethro Bodine, who made it clear through the 6th grade ("If brains was lard, Jethro couldn't grease a pan"); Donna Douglas (1932-2015) as dickteaser Elly May Calmpett, who wears blue jeans with a rope belt, ruffled pink blouse, and leather mocassins; Raymond Thomas Bailey (1904-80) plays Jed's banker Milburn Drysdale, Harriet E. MacGibbon (1905-87) plays his wife Margaret Drysdale, and Nancy Jane Kulp (1921-91) plays his plain spinster secy. Miss Jane Hathaway, who pines for Jethro; features the cool bluegrass theme The Ballad of Jed Clampett, composed by Paul Henning, sung by Jerry Scoggins (1911-2004), and accompanied by bluegrass musicians Lester Flatt (1914-79) and Earl Scruggs (1924-), who make several guest appearances; in Aug. 2017 the Bel-Air mansion used in the series is put for sale for $350M, becoming the most expensive listing in the U.S. (until ?).

In 1964 the IBM Aerospace Bldg. in Los Angeles, Calif. designed by Eliot Fette Noyes (1910-77) (designer of the IBM Selectric Typewriter) is completed; Noyes goes on to design the IBM bldg. in Garden City, N.Y. (1966), the IBM Pavilion Hemisfair in San Antonio, Tex. (1968), and the IBM Mgt. Development Center in Aramonk, N.Y. (1980); meanwhile he designs a new look for Mobile gas stations.

Assume the position, suckah? On Aug. 11-16, 1965 after two black youths clash with the Calif. Highway Patrol, the Watts Riots (worst race riots since 1943 Detroit?) begin in the 98% black Watts section of South Los Angeles, Calif. (only five black cops in a 205-man force), causing 34 deaths, 857 injured, 2.2K arrested, and $50M-$200M in property damage; it all starts when white that's-me-in-the-leather-jacket-and-tight-shoes Calif. Highway Patrol (CHiPS) officer Lee W. Minikus stops black driver Marquette (Ronald) Frye (1944-86) (who had been drinking vodka and orange juice) at the corner of Avalon Blvd. and Imperial Hwy. during the 4th day of a heat wave, and his mommy shows up and jumps the honky as he tries to arrest her son and force him into his car, allegedly brutally beating him; rumors begin that the pigs had hit a pregnant woman in the belly with a club and/or tried to choke her, causing a mob to form by 10 p.m, and at 11 p.m. 2K pissed-off blacks begin roving and looting; on Aug. 12 at 7:45 p.m. the riots resume, and black comedian Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory (1932-2017) is wounded in the leg as he tours with a bullhorn begging for order; on Aug. 13 at 10 a.m. two white salesmen are attacked, followed by a white pig wounding a black looter at 11 a.m., causing 20K Nat. Guard troops to arrive by the afternoon as 5K rioters roam a 150-block area throwing Molotov cocktails; at 9:40 p.m. a sheriff's deputy is mortally wounded, followed by three more deaths; looters ignore signs on stores reading "Owned by a Brother"; on Aug. 14 snipers begin picking off soldiers and pigs, and the Nat. Guard force is increased to 14K, with a curfew imposed; the riots end on Aug. 16 after six days; on Aug. 18 police arrest 35 blacks after a gunfight at a Black Muslim mosque.

On Oct. 15, 1966 La.-born Huey Percy Newton (1942-89) and Tex.-born Robert George "Bobby" Seale (1936-) found the rev. Socialist Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in Oakland, Calif., with the motto "Power to the people"; too, blacks decide to exclude whites (esp. liberal Jews) from the U.S. civil rights movement, causing Jewish orgs. in the U.S. to stop representing Am. Jewish interests in favor of backing Israel; it becomes defunct in 1982.

Another great American what-if? On June 4, 1968 U.S. pres. candidate (D.-N.Y.) Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy (b. 1925) wins the Calif. Dem. pres. primary, beating Eugene McCarthy (Hubert Humphrey was not entered) and giving him a total of 174 delegate votes, incl. those won in Ind. and Neb., and his loss in Ore.; too bad, on June 5 (Wed.) (12:50 a.m. PDT) he is shot as he exits through the kitchen after a campaign speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Calif. (opened in 1921) (where he stands beside UFW leader Dolores Huerta, and utters the soundbyte "Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it") by Jerusalem-born Jordanian Christian Sirhan Bishara "Sol" Sirhan (1944-), who lived in the U.S. since the 1950s; he dies 26 hours later on June 6 in Good Samaritan Hospital; singer Andy Williams (a friend of the Kennedy family) is present at the speech, and Bobby had asked him to be a delegate for him even though he is a Repub.; RFK's bodyguards incl. Rafer Johnson and Rosey Grier; Sirhan uses a snub-nose 8-shot .22-cal. Iver-Johnson revolver (Model 55SA), given to him by his big brother Munir "Joe" Sirhan, an employee at Nash's Dept. Store, originally purchased for $31.95 in Aug. 1965 by a Los Angeles resident for protection during the Watts Riots; Sirhan receives the death sentence, which is commuted to life in priz in 1972 when the Calif. Supreme Court invalidates the death penalty; in 2006 he comes up for parole at a time when gov. Arnold "Terminator" Schwarzenegger is married to Maria Shriver, daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, RFK's sister, and is denied; singer Rosemary Clooney is present at the assassination; ABC-TV journalist Howard K. Smith is anchoring coverage of the Calif. pres. primary at 3 a.m. as the closing credits are airing when word comes in of the shooting, causing him to leave the camera showing a wide shot of the newsroom for several min. while he goes backstage to confirm the story and return with a special report, continuing to air reports of RFK's condition for several hours; the RFK assassination turns Jackie Kennedy against the U.S., with the soundbyte: "I hate this country. I despise America and I don't want my children to live here anymore. If they're killing Kennedys, my children are number one targets... I want to get out of this country"; singer Bobby Darin (Walden Robert Cassotto) (1936-73) is present during the assassination, and later this year discovers that he had been brought up by his grandparents, not his parents, and that the girl he thought was his sister was actually his mother, freaking him out and sending him into a long period of seclusion; was the CIA behind the assassination because the fatal shot came from behind RFK, perhaps from security guard Eugene Cesar, while Sirhan was standing in front, and they couldn't let RFK become pres. and figure out that they were behind the muddah of his bruddah?; 11 bullets were found that supposedly came from Sirhan's 8-bullet gun?; the coroner found powder burns on RFK's ear next to the fatal shot in the back of his head and testified that the gun had to be only 2-3 in. away for that effect, but that Sirhan fired his pistol in front of RFK and was 3-6 ft. away?; an expert on hypnotism hypnotizes Sirhan in prison, and says he could have been programmed under hypnotism prior to the assassination?; how did Sirhan know that RFK would be sneaking through the pantry?; Bobby's brother Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy (1932-2009) becomes the target of constant death threats, incl. a $1M reward offered by Sirhan Sirhan to a jailmate to kill him (which he declines), causing him to delay his run for U.S. pres. for 12 years; liberal Jewish-Am. U.S. rep. (D-N.Y. (1969-71) Allard Kenneth Lowenstein (1929-80) later exposes the anomalous forensic evidence on William F. Buckley Jr.'s PBS-TV show Firing Line in 1975.

In 1969 Houston, Tex.-born Raymond Lee Washington (1953-79) and Shreveport, La.-born black stud Stanley Tookie Williams III (1953-2005) found the Baby Avenues black gang in South Central Los Angeles, Calif., which is renamed the Crips (originally Cribs), soon getting into bloody battles with the rival Bloods black gang for control of the drug trade, and expanding across the U.S.; meanwhile in 1971 two U.S. congressmen visit Vietnam, and report that 10% of U.S. servicemen (up to 16% of whom are black) are addicted to heroin, causing Pres. Nixon to announce in June 1971 that his admin. will give drugs top priority, with emphasis on treatment centers.

On July 27, 1969 Santa Barbara, Calif.-born Manson Family associate Robert Kenneth "Bobby" Beausoleil (1947-) stabs music teacher Gary Hinman to death for failing to pay money owned the Manson Family for a mescaline transaction, and is given a life sentence; Charles Manson slices off part of his ear with a sword before ordering the murder; it was intended as the first of a series of murders by the Manson Family to spark Helter Skelter, and was staged to look like the Black Panthers did it?

On Aug. 8, 1969 (eve.) 8-mo.-pregnant actress Sharon Marie Tate (Polanski) (b. 1943) (wife of movie dir. Roman Polanski) and four other people, Hollywood hair stylist Jay Sebring (b. 1931), coffee heiress Abigail Folger (b. 1943), her common-law hubby Vojciech "Voytek" Frykowski (b. 1936), and delivery boy Steven Parent (b. 1951) are brutally murdered (Parent is shot and the rest stabbed a total of 100x) in her Bel-Air, Los Angeles home in Benedict Canyon at 10050 Cielo Dr. (formerly owned by record exec Terry Melcher (1942-2004), son of Doris Day (1924-), who had refused to record an album for Cincinnati, Ohio-born self-described Flower Power singer-songwriter (hey-hey-I'm-a-Monkee-wannabe) Charles Milles "Charlie" Manson (nee Maddox) (1934-2017) (who has done plenty of hard time, but was let out, allowing him to portray himself as a guru in San Fran's Haight-Ashbury district during the 1967 Summer of Love, while he picked up hippie women then used his study of Scientology and its psycho-babble to hypnotize them, helped by his super sexual stamina that turned them into sexual slaves), and saw him there when he was shacking up with girlfriend Candice Bergen) during a party by uninvited Manson Family members Charles Denton "Tex" Watson (1945-) (a religiously-raised boy who was picked up hitchhiking by Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys and taken home, where he meets Manson), Susan Atkins (1948-2009) (who starred in "Witches Sabbath" by Anton Szandor LaVey), Patricia Dianne Krenwinkel (1947-), and Leslie Louise Van Houten (1949-); Atkins writes "Pig" on the front door in blood; novelist Jerzy Kosinski (1933-91) (invited by Frykowski) misses his plane (and the party), later writing the novel Blind Date about the close call; on Aug. 10 wealthy married business people Leno LaBianca (b. 1925) and Rosemary LaBianca (b. 1931) are murdered in their Los Angeles home; this time "Death to Pigs" (Pigz) is written in blood on a wall, and "Helter Skelter" on the refrigerator door, referring to a song in the Beatles' White Album which Charlie Manson thinks prophesies a race war in which the blacks will kill all whites; on Oct. 12 the Tate-La Bianca Murders are traced to Charles Manson and three female members of his Manson Family, who are arrested while holing up in the Barker Ranch house in the Panamint Mts. of Calif. W of Death Valley, and who are later given death sentences (later reduced to life imprisonment); after the arrests hippies in the Los Angeles area can no longer count on hitchhiking. In 1974 Hibbing, Minn.-born Manson Family prosecutor Vincent T. Bugliosi Jr. (1934-2015) and Lamar, Colo.-born Curtis Marsena "Curt" Gentry (1931-2014) pub. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, which claims there is no conspiracy and it's a simple slam dunk case for a prosecutor of his caliber in this 1.5M-word 1,612-page book, devoting much space attempting to shred conspiracy theorists; "The case is a very simple case" - or your mind is a very simple case?

In 1969 Houston, Tex.-born Raymond Lee Washington (1953-79) and Shreveport, La.-born black stud Stanley Tookie Williams III (1953-2005) found the Baby Avenues black gang in South Central Los Angeles, Calif., which is renamed the Crips (originally Cribs), soon getting into bloody battles with the rival Bloods black gang for control of the drug trade, and expanding across the U.S.; meanwhile in 1971 two U.S. congressmen visit Vietnam, and report that 10% of U.S. servicemen (up to 16% of whom are black) are addicted to heroin, causing Pres. Nixon to announce in June 1971 that his admin. will give drugs top priority, with emphasis on treatment centers.

On Sept. 14, 1971 (Tues.) Quinn Martin's detective series Cannon debuts on CBS-TV for 124 episodes (until Mar. 3, 1978), starring pudgy William Conrad (John William Cann Jr.) (1920-94) as a P.I. in Los Angeles, Calif., who retired from the LAPD after the deaths of his wife and son in a car accident, and wants to investigate what really happened, and likes to tool around in a dark blue Lincoln Continental Mark IV.

On Jan. 14, 1972 (Fri.) the Norman Lear black sitcom Sanford and Son debuts on NBC-TV for 135 episodes (until Mar. 25, 1977), based on the 1962-74 BBC series "Steptoe and Son", starring Redd Foxx (Jon Elroy Sanford) (1922-91) as black junk dealer Fred G. Sanford, who lives at 9114 S. Central Ave. in Watts, Los Angeles with his son Lamont Sanford, played by Grady Demond Wilson (1946-), and his cousin-sidekick Grady Wilson, played by Whitman Blount Mayo (1930-2001), known for the catchphrase "Good Goobly Goop!"; LaWanda Page (Alberta Peal) (1920-2002) plays Fred's sanctimonious sister Esther, and Bea Richards (1920-2000) plays Lamont's aunt Ethel; Lynn Hamilton (1930-) plays Lamont's girlfriend Donna Harris; Foxx is billed as the black Archie Bunker; on Sept. 16-Oct. 14, 1977 Sanford Arms debuts on NBC-TV for eight episodes.

On Jan. 15, 1972 (Sat.) Jack Webb's and Robert A. Cinader's Emergency! debuts on NBC-TV for 129 episodes (until May 28, 1977)), based on the 1971 Calif. Wedworth-Townsend Pilot Paramedic Act making Los Angeles County the first in Calif. with paramedics, starring Randolph Mantooth (1945-) (of Seminole descent) as Los Angeles County Fire Dept. Station 51 paramedic Johnny Gage, and Anglo actor Kevin Tighe (Jon Kevin Fushborn) (1944-) as his partner Roy De Soto, plus Robert Wesley "Bobby" Troup Jr. (1918-99) (composer of the 1946 song "Route 66") as neurosurgeon Dr. Joe Early, Troup's wife Julie London (nee Peck) (1926-2000) (known for her sultry singing) as nurse Dixie McCall, and "Jess Harper in Laramie" star Robert "Bob" Fuller (Leonard Leroy "Buddy" Lee) (1933-) as Dr. Kelly Brackett.

On Sept. 11, 1972 (Mon.) after an ABC Movie of the Week pilot on Mar. 7, Rita Lakin's crime drama series The Rookies debuts on ABC-TV for 94 episodes (until Mar. 30, 1976), about the Southern Calif. Police Dept. (SCPD), starring Michael Leonard Ontkean (1946-) as William "Willie" Gillis, Samuel Gardner "Sam" Melville (1936-89) as Mike Danko, Georg Stanford Brown (1943-) as Terry Webster, and Gerald Stuart O'Loughlin Jr. (1921-2015) as their lt. Eddie Ryker; Brown's wife Tyne Daly makes guest appearances.

On Jan. 28, 1973 (Sun.) the Quinn Martin-Philip Saltzman detective series Barnaby Jones debuts on CBS-TV for 178 episodes (until Apr. 3, 1980), starring Christian Ludolf "Buddy" Ebsen Jr. (1908-2003) as a milk-drinking private eye who uses brains instead of brawn, and Lee Ann Meriwether (1935-) as his widowed daughter-in-law Betty, who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles, Calif.; William Conrad plays Frank Cannon in the debut episode "Requiem for a Son", reciprocating with a crossover episode "The Deadly Conspiracy" in 1975.

On May 29, 1973 Thomas J. Tom" Bradley (1917-98) is elected as the first black mayor of Los Angeles, Calif. (#38), defeating incumbent Sam Yorty and being sworn-in on July 1 (until July 1, 1993).

On June 5, 1973 Doris A. Davis (1935-) becomes the first African-Am. woman to govern a city in a major U.S. metro area when she is elected mayor of Compton, Los Angeles, Calif. (until 1977); blacks succeed her until ?.

On Sept. 13, 1974 (Fri.) the sitcom Chico and the Man debuts on NBC-TV for 88 episodes (until July 21, 1978), starring Jack Albertson (1907-81) as Ed "the Man" Brown, Anglo owner of a run-down garage in East L.A., and Freddie Prinze Jr. (1954-77) as his Chicano asst.; the first U.S. TV series set in a Mexican-Am. neighborhood; too bad, Prinze (whose father is German and mother is Puerto Rican) commits suicide on Jan. 29, 1977 in LA, although it is later ruled accidental; the Chico and the Man Theme foretells a largely Hispanic L.A.?

On Sept. 13, 1974 (Fri.) the police drama Police Woman debuts on NBC-TV for 91 episodes (until Mar. 29, 1978), starring big-chested blonde babe Angie Dickinson (Angeline Brown) (1931-) as Sgt. Leann Pepper Anderson, an undercover cop working for the LAPD; Henry Earl Holliman (1928-) plays her boss Sgt. William "Bill" Crowley.

On Sept. 13, 1974 (Fri.) the detective series The Rockford Files debuts on NBC-TV for 122 episodes (until Jan. 10, 1980), starring "Maverick" star James Garner (1928-) as charismatic "$200 a day plus expenses" James Scott "Jim" Rockford, his dilapidated mobile home-office in Malibu, Calif., his answering machine, and an agile Pontiac Firebird; an ex-con pardoned from San Quentin for a wrongful conviction for armed robbery, he prefers closed criminal cases (no domestic cases) to avoid dealing with police, except for friend Sgt. Dennis Becker, played by Joe Santos (1931-); also stars Noah Beery Jr. (1913-94) (nephew of Wallace Beery) as Garner's father Joseph "Rocky" Rockford; created by Roy Huggins, who produced the 1957-62 TV show "Maverick", who teams with up-and-coming Stephen Joseph Cannell (1941-2010) (rhymes with channel).

On Dec. 17, 1975 (Wed.) the crime series The Blue Knight debuts on CBS-TV for 24 episodes, based on the 1973 novel by Joseph Wambaugh, starring George Harris Kennedy Jr. (1925-) as veteran LAPD Officer Bumper Morgan.

On Oct. 3, 1976 (Sun.) the medical drame Quincy, M.E. debuts on NBC-TV for 148 episodes (until Sept. 4, 1983), starring Jack Klugman (1922-) as an LA County medical examiner.

On Mar. 15, 1977 (Tues.) the sitcom Three's Company, a remake of the BBC-TV sitcom "Man About the House" debuts on ABC-TV for 172 episodes (until Sept. 18, 1984), starring Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter (1948-2003) (son of Tex Ritter) as Jack Tripper, bodacious blonde Suzanne Somers (Suzanne Marie Mahoney) (1946-) as Chrissy Snow, and hot brunette Joyce Anne DeWitt (1949-) as Janet Wood, who share multi-bedroom apt. #201 in Santa Monica, Calif.; Richard Kline (1944-) plays free-swinging sleazy used car salesman neighbor Larry Dallas; on Mar. 13, 1979 the spinoff The Ropers debuts for 28 episodes (until May 22, 1980), about their landlords Stanley and Helen Roper, played by Norman Fell (1924-98) and Audra Marie Lindley (1918-97); Jeffrey Michael Tambor (1944-) plays next-door neighbor realtor Jeffrey P. Brookes III, and Patricia Ellen "Patty" McCormack (1945-) plays his wife Anne.

On Sept. 15, 1977 (Thur.) the cop show CHiPs debuts on NBC-TV for 139 episodes (until May 17, 1983), starring Larry Wilcox (1947-) as straightlaced Jonathan "Jon" Baker, and Henry Enrique "Erik" Estrada (1949-) as wild Francis "Frank" "Ponch" Poncherello, Calif. Highway Patrol officers touring Los Angeles while reporting to Sgt. Joseph Getraer, played by Robert Pine (1941-); since real officers ride alone, they explain that Ponch is on probation and has to be watched over by Baker.

On Sept. 20, 1977 (Tue.) the drama Lou Grant (a spinoff of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") debuts on CBS-TV for 114 episodes (until Sept. 13, 1982), starring Edward "Ed" Asner (1929-) as ed. of the Los Angeles Tribune after being fired by WJM-TV.

On Oct. 17, 1977 the Hillside Strangler(s), really Rochester, N.Y.-born Angelo Anthony Buono Jr. (1934-2002) (the brains of the outfit) and his cousin Kenneth Alessio Bianchi (1951-) murder their first victim in the Los Angeles, Calif. area, followed by nine more by Feb. 16, 1978; their modus operandi is to pose as police officers, pick them up in an unmarked car, then abuse and strangle them; on Jan. 12, 1979 after revealing to Buono that he applied to become an LAPD officer and had ridden with them searching for the Hillside Strangler, causing a death threat that makes him flee, Bianchi is arrested in Bellingham, Wash. near Seattle one day after luring two female univ. students into his house and murdering them and leaving dumb clues, leading to Buono's arrest; both end up getting life sentences in Wash. after playing legal games that backfire.

On Jan. 26, 1979 (Fri.) Guy Waldron's comedy sitcom The Dukes of Hazzard debuts on CBS-TV for 145 episodes (until Feb. 8, 1985), based on the 1975 film "Moonrunners", featuring the eye-grabbing short shorts (later called "Daisy Dukes") worn by long-legged Daisy Duke, played by Catherine Bach (Bachman) (1954-) (who also wears a belly-baring T-shirt with "Boars Nest" on the front), and car stunts in the red clays of Jawjah by a fleet of 1969 Dodge Chargers (called the General Lee) driven by tight-butted young blonde Bo Duke, played by John Richard Schneider (1960-), and brunette Luke Duke, played by Thomas Steven "Tom" Wopat (1951-); also stars Denver Dell Pyle (1920-97) as Uncle Jesse Duke, Sorrell Booke (1930-94) as Boss Jefferson Davis "J.D." Hogg, and James Best (Jewel Franklin Guy) (1926-2015) as bumbling Sheriff Rosco Purvis Coltrane; on Nov. 12, 1980 the spinoff Enos debuts on CBS-TV for 18 episodes (unil May 20, 1981), starring Otis Burt "Sonny" Shroyer Jr. (1935-) as Hazzard County deputy Enos Strate, who joins the LAPD, and partners with Turk Adams, played by Samuel E. Wright (1946-).

On Aug. 25, 1979 (Sat.) Sidney Sheldon's mystery series Hart to Hart debuts on ABC-TV for 110 episodes (until May 22, 1984), starring Robert John Wagner Jr. (1930-) and Stefanie Powers (Stefanie Zofya Paul) (1942-) as wealthy jetsetter LA married couple Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, who double as amateur detectives.

On Dec. 27, 1979 (Thur.) the David Jacobs "Dallas" spinoff primetime soap opera Knots Landing (inspired by the 1973 Ingmar Bergman film "Scenes from a Marriage") debuts on CBS-TV for 344 episodes (until May 13, 1993), starring Michele Lee (1942-) as Karen Cooper Fairgate MacKenzie, matriarch of the cul-de-sac Seaview Circle in a suburb of Los Angeles, Calif., home to four married couples; it begins as a competitor for the more popular "Dallas", and goes on to outlast it and become the 3rd longest-running primetime series after "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza"; also stars Ted Shackelford (1946-) as Gary Ewing, black sheep of the Ewing family in "Dallas", Joan Van Ark (1943-) as his wife Valene, mother of Lucy in "Dallas", Donna Mills (1940-) as Abby Cunningham, and William Devane (1937-) as Greg Sumner.

In 1979 the city council of Los Angeles, Calif. issues Special Order 40, forbidding the initiating of "police action with the objective of discovering the alien status of a person".

On Jan. 27, 1980 (Sat.) Stephen J. Cannell's comedy detective series Tenspeed and Brown Shoe debuts on ABC-TV for 14 episodes (until June 27, 1980), starring Ben Vereen (Benjamin Augustus Middleton) (1946-) as hustler-on-parole E.L. (Early Leroy) "Tenspeed" Turner, and Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum (1952-) as accountant Lionel "Brownshoe" Whitney (lover of Mark Savage mysteries), who team up with their own detective agency in Los Angeles, Calif., becoming the first series from Stephen J. Cannell Productions.

On Mar. 13, 1982 (Sat.) the police drama T.J. Hooker debuts on ABC-TV for 91 episodes (until May 4, 1985, switching to CBS-TV until May 28, 1986), starring Canadian "Capt. Kirk in Star Trek" actor William Alan Shatner (1931-) as Sgt. Thomas Jefferson Hooker, who sought to avenge his partner's death and ended up training LAPD academy recruits, incl. young rookie Vince Romano, played by Adrian Zmed (1954-); Richard Herd Jr. (1932-) plays Capt. Dennis Sheridan; starting in season 2 foxy Heather Deen Locklear (1961-) plays Officer Stacy Sheridan, and James Darren (James William Ercolani) (1936-) plays Officer Jim Corrigan.

On Mar. 1, 1986 the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament leaves Los Angeles, Calif., arriving in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 15 after traveling 3.7K mi.

On Sept. 15, 1986 Steven Bochco's and Terry Louise Fisher's legal drama series L.A. Law debuts on NBC-TV for 171 episodes (until May 19, 1994), about the Los Angeles law firm of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak, with an ensemble cast of unknowns and liberal leftist favorite cases incl. racism, gay rights, domestic violence, abortion, and AIDS; makes stars of Don Cheadle, Jeffrey Tambor, David Schwimmer, Bryan Cranston, Kevin Spacey, William H. Macy, Christian Slater, Carrie-Anne Moss et al.; in Feb. 11, 1991 C.J. Lamb, played by Amanda Donohoe (1962-) kisses Abigail "Abby" Perkins, played by Michele Dominguez Greene (1962-) for the first lesbian kiss on U.S. network TV.

On Apr. 15, 1988 Dennis Hopper's Colors (Orion Pictures) debuts, starring Sean Penn as rookie LAPD CRASH Officer Danny "Pac-Man" McGavin of the LAPD Rampart Div. in gang-ridden South Central Los Angeles and East Los Angeles, Robert Duvall as his veteran partner Officer Bob Hodges, and Maria Conchita Alsonso as Penn's babe Louisa Gomez, showing how the cops are above the law as they take on the Bloods, Crips, and Hispanic street gangs; "Two bulls are up on the hill staring down upon their herd. The young bull says to the old bull, 'Hey let's run down there real quick and fuck one of those cows!' The old bull says 'Nah, lets walk down... and fuck em all'"; $46.6M box office on a $10M budget.

On Aug. 20, 1989 entertainment exec and his wife Jose and Mary "Kitty" Menendez are murdered by a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun in their Beverly Hills, Calif. mansion; their sons Erik Galen Menendez (1970-) and Joseph Lyle Menendez (1968-) are tried for the murders in a high-profile trial shown on Court TV, and are convicted in 1996 after the first trial jury is deadlocked by their defense of parental abuse.

On Sept. 18, 1989 (Mon.) the sci-fi series Alien Nation debuts on Fox Network for 22 episodes (until May 7, 1990), set in Los Angeles, Calif., starring Gary Graham (1950-) as human detective Matthew Sikes, and Eric Pierpoint (1950-) as Newcomer detective George Francisco, who has the hots f or female Newcomer Cathy Frankel, played by Terri Treas (1957-).

On Mar. 23, 1990 Garry Marshall's Pretty Woman (Touchstone Pictures) (Buena Vista Pictures), written by J.F. Lawton debuts, making Smyrna, Ga.-born Julia Fiona Roberts (1967-) (after Molly Ringwald turns it down) into a superstar in the role of Vivian Ward, a pretty Hollywood hooker with a heart of gold, who gets rich dream hunk Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) to give her the fairy tale and let him kiss her on the mouth, despite already naming her price (it's true what they say, opposites attract?); Hector Elizondo continues his habit of showing up in Garry Marshall movies, playing capable Beverly Hills Hotel mgr. Barney Thompson; Jason Alexander plays Gere's schmucky friend Philip Stuckey, and Laura San Giacomo plays Roberts' ho friend Kit De Luca; #4 movie of 1990 ($121M U.S. and $463.4M worldwide box office on a $14M budget).

On Oct. 4, 1990 (Thur.) the teenie series Beverly Hills, 90210 debuts on Fox Network for 293 episodes (until May 17, 2000), producing by Aaron Spelling Television, about upscale twins Brandon Walsh, played by Jason Bradford Priestley (1969-) and Cindy Walsh, palyed by Carol Potter (1948-), who moved to star-studded you know where and attend West Beverly Hills H.S., followed by Calif. U. while exploring date rape, gay rights, animal rights, alcoholism and drug abuse, domestic violence, sex, AIDS and teenage pregnancy and suicide, and anti-Semitism; Aaron Spelling's daughter Victoria Davey "Tori" Spelling (1973-) plays Donna Martin.

On Mar. 3, 1991 (shortly after midnight) after a 117 mph car chase, black motorist Rodney Glen King (1965-2017) is arrested by Los Angeles, Calif. police, who severely beat him when he's down while bystander George Holliday videotapes it all from a distance, shocking the U.S. with the appearance of Third World police brutality in the Land of the Free. On Apr. 2 black Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley calls for the resignation of white police chief (1978-92) Daryl (Darrel Francis) Gates (1926-2010) (known for telling the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that casual drug users are guilty of "treason" and "ought to be taken out and shot") 1 mo. after the Mar. 3 Rodney King incident, saying "I simply will not stand by as our city is being torn apart"; one hour earlier the ACLU announces it has 20K signatures calling for it; councilmen Zev Yaroslavsky and Michael Woo had already called for it; trouble is, Bradley doesn't have the power to fire him, and the Police Commission must do it; Gates replies that he will resign if the two blue ribbon citizen's panels in L.A. find him derelict in his duty, and calls the mayor's actions "kind of sneaky". On Apr. 29, 1992 the 1992 Los Angeles Riots begin after a jury acquits four police officers (three white, one Hispanic) accused of the Mar. 3, 1991 beating of suspect Rodney King (1965-2017), with mobs shouting "black justice" and "no justice, no peace"; at 6:46 p.m. white 18-wheel construction truck driver Reginald Oliver Denny (1953-) (carrying 27 tons of sand) is attacked by the "L.A. Bad Four", a gang of pissed-off black rioters, starting with Antoine Eugene "Twan" Miller (1972-2004), opening the door of his truck at Florence Ave. and Normandie, after which the others pull him out, then Henry Keith "Kiki" Watson (1965-) (who apologizes on the Phil Donahue show in 1993), holds his head down with his foot, then an unknown man throws a 5-lb. piece of medical equipment at him then hits him in the head 3x with a claw hammer, then Damian Monroe "Football" Williams (1973-) hits him in the head with a concrete slab, knocking him unconscious, then does a victory dance over his body and flips-off news helis, while Marika Tur and Bob Tur film the whole sequence from their heli, and later spend years suing everybody who play their video without paying them; finally Anthony Brown spits on him and leaves with Williams, and bystanders throw beer bottles at him and attempt to set his truck on fire, while Gary Williams (1958-) rifles Denny's pocket and steals his wallet, and Lance Parker (1966-) tries to shoot the gas tank of Denny's truck but misses; enter the "L.A. Good Four" (all black), Bobby Green (truck driver), Titus Murphy and Terri Barnett (boyfriend-girlfriend), and Lei Yuille (dietician), who come to Denny's aid, and Green drives Denny to the hospital in Denny's truck, where he is found to have 91 skull fractures and a dislocated left eye, and suffers a seizure and comes close to death, ending up with a permanent crater in his head; on Aug. 6 after it took a riot to get U.S. prosecutors to do their job on sacred cow cops, a federal jury indicts the four officers for violating Rodney King's civil rights, and this time two of them, Laurence Powell and Stacey Koon are kapow convicted next Apr. and sentenced to 30 mo., while Theodore Brisene and Timothy Wind breeze away; meanwhile non-cops Gary Williams and Football Williams get 3 and 10 years.

On May 12, 1994 Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (A Band Apart) (Jersey Films) (Miramax Filmes) debuts, making writer-dir. Quentin Jerome Tarantino (1963-) and his humor-laced violent ensemble material a mainstream hit, and revives the career of John Travolta, who plays pulp fiction-reading L.A. gangster Vincent Vega; Samuel Leroy Jackson (1948-) is great as Vega's partner, vicious-but-philosophical Ezekiel-misquoting black ghetto hit man Jules Winnfield, who decides to go straight; Bruce Willis plays boxer-on-the-run Butch Coolidge, Maria de Medeiros his potbelly-hating babe Fabienne; Eric Stoltz plays coke dealer Lance, and Rosanna Arquette his nose-ringed babe Jody; Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer play restaurant robbers Pumpkin and Honey Bunny; Ving Rhames plays black gangleader Marsellus Wallace, and Uma Thurman his white wife Mia, who never talk directly to each other; Harvey Keitel plays fast-driving fixer Winston "the Wolf" Wolfe; the code that unlocks the briefcase is 666?; #9 movie of 1994 ($108M); "You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in France? Royale with cheese" (Travolta); "You won't know the facts until you've seen the fiction" (ad); Jackson's killing speech: "And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee"; not really what Ezekiel 25:17 says, he got it from "Bodyguard Kiba" (1973) and "Karate Kiba" (1976); the novel that constipated heroin addict Vincent Vega is reading is Modesty Blaise by Peter O'Donnell (1965); Vega is killed with his own Mac-10 AKA Le Big Mac; does $213.9M box office on an $8.5M budget.

On Jan. 3, 2001 Framingham, Mass.-born Calif. state senator (1997-2000) Adam Bennett Schiff (1960-) becomes a Dem. U.S. rep. for Calif. (until ?), based in the Los Angeles area, going on to introduce House Resolution 106 on Oct. 11, 2007 recognizing the Armenian genocide, followed by a campaign finance reform amendment, and legislation to force the FAA to curb heli noise in Los Angeles County; in 2007 he joins the House Foreign Affairs Committee, working up to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; in 2014 Nancy Pelosi appoints him to the House Select Committee on Benghazi, which he turns into an investigation blocking committee?; in 2018 he goes on to become a thorn in Donald Trump's side with the fake news Russia-Trump investigation, causing Pres. Trump to call him "Sleazy Adam Schiff".

On Oct. 24, 2003 the $130M Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 S. Grand Ave. in downtown Los Angeles, Calif. opens, designed by Frank Gehry, seating 2,265, becoming the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

It never rains in Southern California? On Feb. 17-21, 2005 storms in and around Los Angeles, Calif. drop 6.5 in. of rain, making the total since July 31.4 in. (5th highest on record), and killing four in mudslides; on Feb. 22 N Calif. is hit by severe thunderstorms and a pair of tornadoes.

America's justice for the stars system produces two verdicts in one day? On Mar. 16, 2005 71-y.-o. actor Robert Blake (Michael James Gubitosi) (1933-) is acquitted of the May 4, 2001 murder of his wife Bonnie Lee Bakley (1956-2001) in a parked car outside a restaurant in Studio City, Calif. by a Los Angeles jury after a 4-mo. trial; he claims to have spent $10M in his defense and to be broke and in need of a job; on Nov. 18 he is found liable for his wife's death by a civil jury in Burbank, Calif. and ordered to pay her children $30M (O.J.'s victims got $33.5M).

On Oct. 11, 2005 the Los Angeles City Council votes to turn the famed Florentine Gardens nightclub in Hollywood on Hollywood Blvd. near the Hollywood Fwy. (big among stars in the 1940s) into a fire station; they later give up after a backlash.

On Oct. 24, 2005 a Los Angeles judge signs a Dec. 13 death warrant at San Quentin Prison for Crips gang co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams III (b. 1953), who has been on death row since Apr. 20, 1981 for four 1979 shotgun murders, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his prison-written children's books; his lawyers appeal to Calif. Gov. Ahnuld for clemency, hoping to be the first to receive clemency since Reagan spared a mentally-ill killer in 1967; on Dec. 12 the Governator nixes it, and he is executed by lethal injection on Dec. 13 - appealing to the Terminator for clemency?

On May 2, 2005 after random highway shootings in the Los Angeles area begin occurring within a 75-mi. area on Mar. 12, police close down a section of the highway to search for bullet fragments after the shooters remain unidentified.

On May 17, 2005 Dem. Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa (nee Antonio Ramon Villar Jr.) (1953-) defeats Dem. Mayor James Hahn by 59%-41%, and on July 1 is sworn in as Los Angeles mayor $1 (until July 1, 2013), becoming the first Hispanic mayor of Los Angeles since 1872, when it was a town of 5K people; the city is now 48% Hispanic, 31% white, 11% Asian, and 10% black; Mexican ambassador Carlos de Izaga attends the inauguration; in Nov. 2016 he announces his candidacy for Calif. gov. in 2018 - the reconquista is 48% complete?

On June 3, 2005 Catherine Hardwicke's Lords of Dogtown (Columbia Pictures) (TriStar Pictures) debuts, written by Stacy Peralta, about the Z-Boys (Zephyr Boys) skateboarders (former surfers) in "Dogtown" Venice Beach, Los Angeles, Calif. ("kennel by the sea") in the late 1970s, who turned skateboarding from a safe to an extreme sport and launched a nat. craze; stars John Robinson as Peralta, Emile Hirsch as Jay Adams, Victor Rasuk as Tony Alva, Michael Angarano as rich kid Sid, and Heath Ledger as mgr. Skip Anglund; does $13.4M box office on a $25M budget.

On Mar. 30, 2007 a wildfire burns in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles behind the famous Hollywood sign.

In Jan. 2008 vending machines for marijuana and other prescription drugs go into service in Los Angeles, Calif.

On Mar. 8, 2011 zillions of dead fish wash up along a marina in Redondo Beach, Calif..

On Jan. 3, 2013 St. Louis, Mo.-born Maxine Waters (nee Maxine Moore Carr) (1938-) becomes Dem. U.S. Rep. from Calif. (until ?), representing the South Los Angeles area, becoming a leading critic of Repub. U.S. presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald J. Trump.

On Feb. 3, 2013 ex-LAPD cop Christopher Jordan "Chris" Dorner (b. 1979) begins a shooting rampage against police officers, causing one of the largest manhunts in LAPD history; on Feb. 12 he is killed while holed-up in a cabin in Big Bear, Calif. after it is set on fire by incendiaries; burned alive?

On July 1, 2013 Eric Michael Garcetti (1971-) becomes Dem. mayor #42 of Los Angeles, Calif. (until ?), becoming its first elected Jewish mayor, 2nd straight Mexican-Am. mayor, and youngest mayor (until ?); too bad, he makes campaign promises he doesn't keep, incl. getting rid of the homeless problem, causing impeachment efforts in 2019.

On Feb. 3, 2015 Los Angeles, Calif.-born TV broadcaster Robert "Bob" "Zoey" Tur (1960-) (inventor of the TV news helicopter) is hired by Inside Edition, becoming the first transgender TV reporter.

On Dec. 15, 2015 the school district of Los Angeles, Calif. closes schools for 500K students after a Muslim terrorist email threat, which turns out to be a hoax, sent to many U.S. cities, spelling Allah with a lowercase a.

On Feb. 1, 2017 (eve.) a building at the U. of Calif. Berkeley (UCB) where gay conservative anti-Islam speaker Milo Yiannopoulos is set to speak is attacked by violent masked Antifa and other leftist student protesters, causing the speech to be canceled and police to close the campus - the free speech movement started and ended in Berkeley?

In June 2017 the Los Angeles Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the U.S. Dept. of Justice bust a Hollywood Pedophilia Network, arresting 238 incl. entertainers, community leaders, white-collar professionals, and high-ranking clergy members incl. a monk.

On May 15, 2018 the Wealth-X Billionaire Census is pub., revealing that billionaire wealth surged 24% to a record level in 2017, and the billionaire pop. surged 15% fo 2,754 (vs. 2,473 in 2015); San Francisco, Calif. leads the other cities, with one billionaire for every 11,612 inhabitants, vs. 81,311 for New York City, 84,007 for Dubai, 84,962 for Hong Kong, 101,957 for Los Angeles, Calif., and 135,198 for London.

On Jan. 14, 2019 the 2019 Los Angeles Teachers Strike in Calif. begins (ends ?).

On Feb. 25-26, 2019 Kew Gardens, London, England reaches 21.2C (70F), becoming the first winter temps over 20C, breaking a 1998 record, causing the climate alarmists to come out chirping about evil CO2; Weldstone, Middlesex reached 75F on Mar. 9, 1948 sans high CO2; Feb. becomes the 15th warmest month in England on record (6.7C avg.), tied with 1702 1750, and 1997, way behind 1779 (7.9C) and 1869 (7.5C); meanwhile downtown Los Angeles, Calif. fails to reach 70F in Feb. for the first time in 132+ years.

On Apr. 17, 2019 by 12-0 the city council of Los Angeles, Calif. passes an ordinance prohibiting discrimination and bigotry, with stiff $125K fines for violators.