My 1930s Education at the Movies

The Golden Age of Hollywood Taught Me About War, Crime, Natural Disasters—and What Was Funny About America

I’d long wanted to see the two movies on the double bill at our neighborhood movie house, the Princess at 61st and Main streets in Los Angeles, that week in 1939. Brother Raul and friend Ernie wanted to see the films too, even though they had been made eight years earlier. Mother was not enthusiastic. “Those are very scary movies,” she warned. We were not dissuaded and found ourselves sitting in the darkened theater on Sunday afternoon as the curtains parted.

The first half of the double bill was Dracula; the …

By Manuel H. Rodriguez | September 29, 2014

The Lonely Life of an L.A. Sports Fan

For Decades, Rooting for Southern California’s Teams Was Painful and Even Lonely—but I Persevered

By Manuel H. Rodriguez | May 15, 2014

A Los Angeles radio sportscaster who billed himself as “Super Fan” used to end his broadcasts saying, “In the department store of life, sports is in the toy section.” That’s …

My L.A. Life Through Newspapers

Living Through Earthquakes, World War II, and the Black Dahlia, One Headline at a Time

By Manuel H. Rodriguez | March 10, 2014

My earliest memory is of the evening of March 10, 1933. Our little family was having dinner: father, mother, me, and baby brother Raul, who was sitting in his high …

Booze Deliveries and Pistol Whippings at 70 Cents an Hour

From 1944 to 1946 I Worked at a South Los Angeles Liquor Store. It Was No Place for a Kid, but I Saw a Lot.

By Manuel H. Rodriguez | December 19, 2013

A & J Liquor, on Vernon Avenue a few doors east of Wall Street in central Los Angeles, was where Mother purchased Father’s liquor. Ever on alert for business establishments …

My $2-Per-Month Catholic Education in 1930s Los Angeles

The Nuns of St. Columbkille Brought Out Our Best (Except in My Penmanship)

By Manuel H. Rodriguez | April 24, 2013

We lived in a white, wood frame house a half-block east of 61st and Main Streets in South Los Angeles. It was a pleasant and quiet neighborhood. Our street was …

When I Got Sent to Anchorage Instead of Pyongyang

During a Bloody War in Korea, Army Life in Alaska Postal Unit 50 Was Pretty Good

By Manuel H. Rodriguez | November 29, 2012

On October 3, 1951, after learning that I would be spared deployment to Korea and getting a customary 14-day leave from the U.S. Army, I reported to Union Station in …

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