Readers Remember

I will always remember a small news item in the L.A. Times sometime in the 1950s. The headline was: “L.A. Hotter Than Hell.” The story went on to say that Hell was the name of a small outpost in the Mojave Desert. I remember the place and that the maximum temperature in L.A. the day before was higher than that in the town of Hell.

RICK LOGAN

Upland

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As a very small child in North Hollywood, I used to love to walk with my father to the farm behind our house. On the way we passed a swimming hole where children often splashed and screamed, but no matter how I begged, my parents wouldn’t let me join them. I vaguely realized they were afraid I would get a terribly dangerous disease in the water in the summertime. Of course, it was polio.

Between the age of 4 and about 14, the treatment of my endless bouts of bronchitis progressed from slatherings of mustard plaster to the miracle of cherry-flavored lozenges of penicillin.

I thought back then, There’s one thing they’ll never be able to discover, and that’s the sex of a baby before it’s born.

Well, we’ve experienced Dr. Jonas Salk and the advent of antibiotics, but with amniocentesis and ultrasound, I still can’t believe what we’ve accomplished.

NANCY INGANNI

Palmdale

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What do you recall most about the 20th century? In 200 words or less, send us your memories, comments or eyewitness accounts. Write to Century, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or e-mail century@latimes.com. Letters may be edited for space.