More the cost, I would think. I was born in Downey, never did check to see if the birth made it, but my marriage in 1974 did make it in the local paper. My mom and I put it in. Of course, the other two did not. I was very surprised when my mom wanted to put one in the local paper upon my dad's death. She has not been one much for that kind of thing. He spent years looking in the obits and always said he was looking for his, I just kind of thought this was her way of completing the circle. He was active in the LOOM community and she wanted the notice out there for them, she did not want to make the phone calls. I know this does not help, but Los Angeles is very large and many people unfortunately do die here. When I transcribe the death certificates I give a reference number and I think this number some how should represent the number of deaths up to that point in time, especially in the 1990's. I loved the way you explained it. Deborah ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carolyn Chappell Nelson" <homeagain@qwest.net> To: <CALOSANG-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 3:06 PM Subject: Re: [CALosAngeles] obituaries > I can understand this. When I was marrying my husband, who is from > Downey, CA, I asked my mother-in-law about posting our 'announcement' in > the paper, as we did in my hometown paper in NC. She just kind of > laughed and said nobody does that here! > I guess L.A. is just so big and impersonal and there are so many > weddings, births, deaths,...it would be kind of silly to put it in the > big paper! > just my 2 cents...Carolyn > > Lester M Powers wrote: > > > > Kathy O <loster@shaw.ca> asked: > > > Does any one know a cheaper way to get an Obituary from > > > the L.A. Time? I just researched their site and they are > > > $40.00 for a copy from 1966. I think this is an > > > outrageous price.Kathy Oster > > > > Kathy. I strongly recommend that you do *NOT* send > > the L.A. Times so much as 4 cents unless and until you > > know for certain that a) Such an obituary exists and b) > > That it is longer than two or three lines. > > > > It is often said on this list, and may as well be > > repeated again, and it will need to be repeated next > > week if not sooner, that obituaries in Los Angeles are > > RARE! For the most part, obits are not printed. Those > > that are printed are, for the most part, death notices > > that say only that so-and-so died and will be buried by > > some funeral director yonder. This seems to be peculiar > > to L.A. The surrounding counties do have obits. Just > > not Los Angeles. > > > > Now, I think that my local library has the L.A. > > Times on microfilm back to 1966 (just barely), and I > > might be persuaded to take a peek (maybe, though usually > > not), but because perhaps only one out of a hundred or > > fewer people had obits, it's just not worth looking > > unless your target was rich or famous or popular or had > > a big Italian family or there is some similar reason to > > think an obit might exist, especially if your person > > lived in the City of Los Angeles. > > > > As general advice, obit hunters ought to find out > > what city their person lived in and mention that AND > > PUT THE CITY IN THE SUBECT LINE. L.A. is a megalopolis. > > If your person lived at my town, Torrance, for example, > > there could be an obit in my local paper. But I only > > look at those CALOSANG posts with interesting subject > > lines. Some of the small papers in the outlying cities > > do print obits oftener than hardly ever > > > > There are also catalogs listing local papers at > > your own library, and your own librarian can probably > > help you to get films of those papers by interlibrary > > loan. People can have at it themselves, which is the > > fun part of genealogy -- the do-it-yourself; I never > > have understood why folks don't just have at it. We > > live in a too push-button world. > > > > 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/. > > >