People and Events

The new Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in Griffith Park displays more than 16,000 pieces of memorabilia, but it seems to have overlooked one region: Los Angeles.

There are no mentions of the wild little pueblo that was nicknamed “Los Diablos” in the 19th Century and was the site of 35 vigilante hangings in a 25-year period.

The ironic thing is that one of the town’s most colorful clashes was fought in 1845 just a few miles from the location of the Autry museum. Two armies vying for control of the region when it was under Mexican rule fired cannon balls at each other all day long during the Battle of Cahuenga. Total casualties: One wounded cow.

As for gunfights, the Bella Union Hotel was the local version of the OK Corral.

In the most famous duel, Frank and Sam King, vowing to avenge the wounding of a third brother by wealthy ranch owner Robert Carlisle, lay in ambush outside the Bella Union (now the site of the Triforium). Carlisle, alerted, left the hotel bar and confronted them in “High Noon” fashion.

The rancher wounded one brother and killed the other. But he himself was hit and died shortly afterward inside the hotel--on a billiard table.

L.A. was the place for bandits, too. A robber named Tiburcio Vasquez was captured in 1874 near what is now Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. While he was awaiting execution, a play based on his life opened downtown. Vasquez volunteered to portray himself--he had no agent--but authorities nixed the deal.

Actually, a revolver that belonged to one local resident is exhibited at the Autry museum. But he was a retired gunslinger by the time he moved here. Wyatt Earp died in Los Angeles in 1929 at the age of 80--with his boots off.

One event that sometimes precedes the Thanksgiving meal is the Thanksgiving oven fire. Scanners monitoring Fire Department dispatch frequencies seem to be ablaze with reports of stove fires around noon every Thanksgiving. The problem is that seldom-used ovens, which have an accumulation of grease and spills, often catch fire when they’re turned on for three or four hours on Turkey Day. So fire authorities remind chefs to clean the oven before putting a bird in there.

A Florence-area man phoned the county Fire Department early Wednesday, requesting an ambulance to take his pregnant wife to the hospital. But the baby didn’t want to wait for the ambulance. So firefighters Rafael Ortiz and Reselle Burke began coaching Dad over the phone.

That was at 3:14 a.m.

At 3:18 a.m., a healthy, 7 1/2-pound Prisilla Corriella said hello to the world.

“At about the time the baby started crying,” Burke said later, “the firefighters were coming through the door.”

Things could be worse. In 1854, the governor’s proclamation of Nov. 25 as a holiday failed to reach here until the day after the event. So Los Angeles had no Thanksgiving that year.