Update on 1988

LAST YEAR, The Times singled out 88 Southern Californians for their prospects in the year ahead. What happened to the Class of ‘88? Quite a bit.

In sports, there were two clear winners. Tim Belcher, in his first full season with the Dodgers, was among the year’s top rookie pitchers, going 12-6 in 36 appearances with a 2.91 earned-run average. At the Summer Olympics, swimmer Janet Evans took gold medals in all three of her events: the 400- and 800-meter free styles and the 400-meter individual medley.

Among political figures, Cindy Miscikowski, chief deputy to Los Angeles Councilman Marvin Braude, was a key strategist in the effort to halt oil drilling in Pacific Palisades--a campaign that succeeded at the polls in November. On a personal note, in the summer, Miscikowski married Douglas Ring, an attorney for land developers, whom she met when they faced off in a growth-versus-slow-growth debate.

In community affairs, Yoon Hee Kim advanced her campaign to make a nationwide civil rights and advocacy organization out of the locally based Korean American Coalition, of which she was 1988 president. She also spearheaded the campaign that won amends from Rolling Stone magazine after one of its writers insensitively described Korean culture in an article from Seoul. Stewart Kwoh, as executive director of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, oversaw the processing of amnesty applications for about 4,000 Asian immigrants. In November, the Los Angeles 2000 Committee, headed by Jane Pisano, presented the mayor with its long-awaited report containing recommendations for the city’s future, including creation of one regional agency to oversee growth and another to improve environmental quality.

On the design front, knitwear designer Marina Spadafora was nominated for the California Mart’s Designer of the Year award, and landscape architects Doug and Regula Campbell won a National Merit Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects for their work on the Imperial Beach Pier Plaza. The Campbells also were named consulting landscape architects for the L.A. Arboretum.

From the arts, Rodney Gilfrey, who had performed minor parts with the Music Center Opera, took the leading bass-baritone role opposite Placido Domingo in the company’s production of “The Tales of Hoffmann.” And conceptual / performance artist Mike Kelley showed his installation, “Plato’s Cave, Rothko’s Chapel, Lincoln’s Profile,” at the Venice Biennale in Italy.

In the world of business, real estate investor Takaji Kobayashi oversaw the progress of the Japanese firm Shuwa Investments, which acquired its 35th U.S. building and is developing a 7-acre downtown parcel bounded by 8th, 9th, Hope and Flower streets. In a different sort of move, Terry Lundgren--who at this time last year was the youngest president in Bullocks Wilshire’s history--left that position when the chain was sold to R. H. Macy & Co. He is now executive vice president of stores for Neiman Marcus in Dallas.

And at least one of the 88 won acclaim for what he insisted was his secondary occupation. Tim Robbins said he used his acting income to support his “real work” as director of the experimental theater group the Actors’ Gang. But in the hit summer comedy “Bull Durham,” Robbins co-starred as rookie pitcher Ebby (Nuke) LaLoosh--and his performance may well earn him a supporting-actor Oscar nomination.