L.A. ’85

Angelenos, fresh from an Olympic high in ‘84, were subjected to some grim events in the year past. The Night Stalker, Rock Hudson’s death, sex crimes. But, for better or worse, it is over and a New Year dawns.

When police found the dazed and bleeding man, held captive by an angry mob in an East Los Angeles neighborhood, he cried out: “Thank God, you came!”

Richard Ramirez, 25, could have been speaking for the citizens of every community between San Francisco and Mission Viejo. For police said the 6-foot-1, 150-pound, nearly toothless drifter was the Night Stalker, still another in a recent line of serial murderers in Southern California. His eerie moniker derived from his predilection for sneaking through unlocked doors and windows to attack sleeping residents.

After seeing his own photo in a newspaper on Aug. 31, he attempted to flee through the streets of East Los Angeles but was apprehended by residents. He was later charged with 14 murders and more than 50 other felonies, and is now in jail in Los Angeles awaiting trial.

In terms of drama, the Night Stalker case was perhaps the story of the year in Southern California.

But a word-association test for 1985 in Los Angeles might also elicit a list of once-taboo or ignored social problems: AIDS, the homeless, refugees, child molestation.

It was a grim year in some ways, but it could have been worse. After all, the Big One--the major earthquake predicted for Southern California--again failed to arrive.

The worsening AIDS epidemic was illuminated by the Oct. 2 death of Rock Hudson, 59, the ruggedly handsome actor who had earlier revealed he was suffering from the disease. A fund-raiser held by the entertainment community raised more than $1 million (including $250,000 from Hudson himself) for AIDS research. The city enacted the nation’s first ordinance to prohibit discrimination against AIDS victims.

The state was also plagued by the biggest food poisoning case in its history--an epidemic of listeriosis that was traced to Jalisco Mexican Products Inc. of Artesia. Contaminated cheese killed 22 people in the Los Angeles area, and 38 statewide. Federal and county investigators are still trying to determine how the tragedy occurred.

A second disaster, an arson fire in Baldwin Hills, destroyed 48 homes and killed three people, including the mother of a Los Angeles city firefighter.

The worsening plight of the city’s homeless was dramatized by a makeshift collection of downtown dwellings called Justiceville (a kind of successor to 1984’s Tent City), which was bulldozed after a few days. More than 400 new shelter beds were added, but the number of destitute people seeking county general relief checks grew by more than 4,000 over the year.

Bishop Roger M. Mahony became archbishop of Los Angeles, replacing the more-low key Cardinal Timothy Manning. Mahony termed the homeless and Central American refugees two of the key social issues on his agenda and, reversing his predecessor, canceled the sale of the largely Latino Cathedral High School to a land developer.

The City Council also focused attention on the refugees by voting to declare the city a sanctuary for Central Americans fleeing political persecution and violence, much to the displeasure of federal immigration officials.

One of society’s well-kept secrets--child molestation--emerged as a subject of public discussion. A preliminary hearing in the McMartin Pre-School child sexual abuse case passed through the 17th month with the final resolution perhaps years away. A Times Poll, meanwhile, found that of 2,627 adults surveyed nationwide, 22% said they had been sexually abused as children--a finding that suggested that the problem was more pervasive than earlier, smaller studies had indicated.

Suspected spies were a common species in the nation, and in Los Angeles, Richard W. Miller, a former FBI agent, was charged with passing secrets to a Soviet agent, his lover. After hearing more than three months of frequently bizarre testimony about his weight problems and shoplifting of candy bars, among other things, the jurors declared themselves “hopelessly deadlocked.” A mistrial was declared and a second trial was set for February.

Major Court Cases

Two other major court cases involved fireworks manufacturer W. Patrick Moriarty, who pleaded guilty to seven counts of mail fraud in connection with the bribery of public officials, and Andrija Artukovic, 86, who at year’s end was fighting an extradition order that would enable the Yugoslav government to try him for alleged Nazi war crimes.

Drug abuse, meanwhile, spawned two new, colliding symbols: The battering ram, a 14-foot vehicle accompanying some Los Angeles police raids (and later featured on the “Hill Street Blues” television show), and “rock houses”--fortified dwellings for the manufacture and sale of illegal drugs.

Political upheavals were few. Mayor Tom Bradley, who once said that he would serve no more than two terms, easily won election to a fourth term over . . . remember who? (City Councilman John Ferraro.) After innumerable stops and starts, Metro Rail, a pet project of Bradley’s, received a boost when President Reagan signed a federal spending bill containing money for the subway’s first phase.

New Council Members

Two-fifteenths of the City Council changed with Michael Woo defeating Peggy Stevenson to become its first Chinese-American member and Richard Alatorre winning a special election to become the first Latino member in 23 years. Alatorre succeeded Arthur K. Snyder, who retired.

The state lottery, which began in October, brought riches to some, including a $2-million “Big Spin” winner who was forced to leave the country when his illegal alien status was revealed.

The offbeat--of course--also found a place here: a sex-discrimination suit filed by a 3-year-old girl against a hair salon because her 4-year-old brother’s cut was cheaper; KNBC angering some conservatives with billboards proclaiming, “Fritz said it would be like this” (the station insisted the blurb referred to weathercaster Fritz Coleman, not Fritz Mondale); Torrance outlawing the practice of skateboarding with sails . . . .

Amid all the sensational stories were the quietly upbeat tales, such as that of Dorothy and John Peckham of Whittier. A bottle that they tossed into the Pacific containing their name was found by a family of Vietnamese boat people, who wrote to the Peckhams. The correspondence culminated with the Peckhams sponsoring the grateful family’s immigration to the United States in April.

The sports season also provided some happy endings. The basketball Lakers won a world championship, and the Dodgers captured a division baseball title before a Jack Clark home run knocked them out of the playoffs. While one local pro football team, the Express, had financial problems (its cheerleaders’ outfits were seized by a tailor in a dispute over unpaid bills), the division-winning Rams and Raiders were still in contention for Super Bowl XX next month.

So ended 1985, Year One after the Los Angeles Olympics. And, oh, yes: the Southern California Committee for the Olympics sent in a bid for the city to be chosen to host the 2004 Games. Only about 6,780 days to go.