Torrance Hearld which is in the Main Torrance Library may not have many obits at the time of 1920 and the social section is stock full of birth and party articles, including such things as "Aunt Millie" came to visit, but let us not forget the Redondo paper, which ultimately became the The Daily Breeze. Carson library carries this paper and I am pretty sure I have seen obits in them in the earlier years. Problem being, Redondo paper, mostly Redondo items. Same as with Torrance. The city of residence is as important as the city of death. "Aunt Millie" could have been visiting in the city of Los Angeles when she passed on, therefore only 12 hours lived in a community, but have lived her entire life in Redondo Beach. Los Angeles County has many cities or suburbs with local papers. Recently I was looking for an article about a relative (turned out he wasn't) that died at the Redondo Plunge. I found the article with more information than the death certificate had on it, but the great find for the day was another article I came across. I had somehow missed putting a request on my list to do and the name stuck in my head. As I was reading headlines I came across the same last name. The spouse of the man I was going to try and help find was killed in Los Angeles City and the article made it to our local paper. Including a picture of the spouse and the husband. The person was happy with their article and I unfortunately found out I had the wrong person. My person had an article for the accident, but no obit. You just don't know what you are going to find. I don't limit my own family obit searches to just a local paper. I try others, just in case. One day I have hopes of checking a Downey paper for my birth, altho my parents did not live there. I have my first marriage announcement from The Daily Breeze and my first born's announcement from the local church newsletter. I call myself a newbie, only because I have been on this quest for only about 3 years. I spend most of my time helping others, but when I find the time to go to a library, it is for my own family now adays. I don't give up looking for obits, but I have yet to find one. (Already had my dad's) Deborah ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lester M Powers" <lesterps@juno.com> To: <CALOSANG-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2002 4:20 PM Subject: Re: [CALosAngeles] obituaries > First of all, as a followup to my earlier thought, > let me clarify that, as a percentage of total funerals, > death notices ("So-And-So died. XYZ Funeral Directors > presiding. End.") are very RARE in L.A. too. Rare as > a percentage. > > Deborah's response reminds me that chances of a > death notice seem to go up a bit if the deceased was a > member of a fraternal organization. That might be > something to keep in mind. > > Now. fellow list member Carolyn, who seems to have > been married at Downey, replied on this subject that L.A. > doesn't do wedding announcements either. L.A. (meaning > the whole entire, boring county) is just too crowded and > faceless an outfit to do that. > > Weeeelllllllllll, now, wait a minute. I live in > Torrance, L.A., County, and I scan through films of our > ancient newspaper, "The Torrance Herald," from time to > time. My favorite era is the 1920s and a little after. > I think we have some 1910s too. Anyway, the point is > that southern California is even weirder than you might > suppose. Back around, say, in the 1920s, Torrance had > **NO** obits whatsoever! None. Absolute zero. What we > did have back then was WEDDINGS!!! Lots and lots of > weddings. And wedding announcements. Way back then, > Torrance was a young community, aspiring to grow, and it > was concerned about its image. NOBODY died in Torrance! > Nobody. Not ever. If anyone tried, they were probably > jailed. That would be bad for the community's treasured > image. Instead, folks got married. And had wedding > announcements. Maybe kids too. > > Perhaps some of the non-L.A.ers on the list might > want to consider the above. If your great Uncle Fred > died in L.A. in, oh, say, the 80s, maybe he was married > here in the 20s or 30s. If so, you might have better > luck finding a wedding announcement than you will with an > obit, and it might even have some useful info. At least, > this is the case for Torrance. I don't know about the > other cities, but I think so for mine. The City of Los > Angeles might well be a lost cause for weddings as well > as obits and everything else, even back in ancient times, > but there was once an era when not all of L.A. was so > L.A.-like as it is now. > > I am not sure I can call this note an offer to > volunteer for Torrance wedding lookups. I've never tried > it, so I don't know what's involved or success/failure > rates. What's on my mind is that I'd almost betcha that > nobody has ever tried it. At least not on CALOSANG. We > who live in this faceless sea of buildings see nothing > but obit requests, and obit hunts are almost always > pointless (unsuccessful), and that's a turn-off. > > And, by the way, especially on this list, you might > have better luck if you include the specific city of your > query in your subject line. Just saying "Los Angeles" > doesn't cut it unless you really do mean the City of Los > Angeles (and if you do mean the City of Los Angeles, well, > don't hope for much). > > And if a query doesn't work, you can always take a > shot at getting a film of the old papers on loan at your > own city library, keeping in mind that chances of success > are better if you have the great good fortune to need > information from an outlying city, like Torrance or > Long Beach or Pasadena or Downey or Santa Monica or > Glendale. Downtown L.A. is grim in more ways than one. > > Lester Powers > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! > Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! > Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: > http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. > > >