Memory Lane Winds Through Irwindale

You get word the other day that Irwindale, pearl of the West, is moving commercially in a new direction.

Irwindale announces its aims to fill in its gravel pits, surpassed as holes in the ground only by the mines of Kimberley, and arrange their development as industrial property.

The result, it was explained, would be significant new tax revenues for the metropolis of 1,100, which apparently has expanded since it set out to bag the Los Angeles Raiders.

At that time, three years ago, the population was listed at 1,068, but urban growth, you know, is a problem today that is universal.

Filling in the gravel pits, especially the one earmarked for the Raiders, Irwindale appears to be telling us it has bid adios forever to football and to the $10 million it posted as a deposit when it made its deal with the team.

Irwindale pleaded with a suspicious Al Davis to take the money. Handed the check, Al dropped it, testing for resiliency. It didn’t take a hop.

For Al, it was like raising treasure from a sunken ship.

The truth is, though, the Raiders wanted the stadium that Irwindale proposed much more than they wanted the 10 million bucks. The plan was a beauty--state of the art, capacity 65,000. Designed by the same people who did Texas Stadium, a standout football facility.

When Ralph Wilson, owner of the Buffalo Bills, got word that Irwindale was passing out $10 million, he observed: “I like their style. Maybe they could use a second team in their town.”

He never got a check, but was invited to join at breakfast the senior citizens the sporty town feeds.

Signing the Raiders, Irwindale accelerated quickly, announcing it would go after the Super Bowl and the World Cup.

And why not? Irwindale had everything to offer, except a hotel, a fire department and public schools. It featured one restaurant and four police cars. And its city attorney doubled at that post in nearby Temple City.

Asked to explain Irwindale, a local spokesman replied: “We are to Los Angeles what Liechtenstein is to Europe--a dot on the map, surrounded by millions. But we are a proud, progressive force.”

Irwindale also had a bond rating of AAA, or an “A” higher than the state of California. This meant that when Irwindale borrowed money, it was odds-on to pay it back.

So what went wrong with this grandiose venture, leading first to delays and, now, the grim disclosure that the gravel pit reserved for the Raiders would be set up for an occupant less costly, however less cultural?

In quick succession, the following accidents would befall Irwindale:

(a) The Los Angeles city attorney would order an investigation.

(b) The L.A. district attorney would order an investigation.

(c) An L.A. city councilman would file a taxpayer suit.

(d) A California state assemblyman would introduce a bill that would make it illegal to float bonds to build a stadium running in competition to a stadium producing revenue for the state. (The L.A. Coliseum is such a stadium.)

(e) An environmental study, supposed to take three to six months, would stretch out to 18. (f) The L.A. County Board of Supervisors, controlling land that would provide parking next to the new stadium, would fail to make a decision; three of the five supervisors also serve on the Coliseum Commission.

Irwindale, you can see, got a lot of support and, during all the foot-dragging, the city government there would change and many of the football proponents, including the mayor, would be displaced.

So, barring a dramatic attitude shift, Irwindale will be converting its gravel pits to other purposes.

The Raiders, having long ago spent the $10 million, are hardly shocked. Months back, the feeling grew with them they wouldn’t be residing in that paradise that is to Los Angeles what Liechtenstein is to Europe.

The Raiders, besides, don’t know much about Liechtenstein, guessing he is an offensive tackle weighing maybe 285.

But when the gravel pit is filled in, housing, say, the western regional warehouse of J.C. Penney or a Ford plant producing transmissions, you want to take your grandson there and explain: “On this site, we came close to getting the Super Bowl and the World Cup.”

And the kid will answer: “Don’t stroll down memory lane with me. In Brooklyn, on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush, they came close to getting the World Series.”