Inventing L.A.: The Chandlers and Their Times

by Bill Boyarsky

In 1882, when General Harrison Gray Otis began working for the paper that was to become the Los Angeles Times , the city of Los Angeles was still a sleepy little town with fewer than a hundred thousand residents. However, Otis was the first of a dynasty of men to build what would later become a world-renowned and award-winning newspaper. Created as the companion book to the Peter Jones Productions documentary film, this book tells the century-long story of Los Angeles’ most famous family and their dominion over the Times , as they worked to create a city of international fame. The story follows the history of the paper as it was passed down from the hands of General Harrison Gray Otis, to his son-in-law, Harry Chandler, to Norman Chandler, and finally to Otis Chandler. With each generation, the paper changed more and more, from a paper used to win support for the family’s own interests (such as keeping labor unions out of Southern California, the creation of the Los Angeles Harbor, and the election of Richard Nixon) to a more unbiased and representative journalistic icon on par with the New York Times and the Washington Post . Inventing The Chandlers and Their Times is the tale of the Chandlers’ reign over Los Angeles with the help of their mighty scepter, the Times, and their entwinement with politics, family feud, and fortune. This is truly the story of the building of one of the most famous, populated, and culturally rich cities in the world. In his 30 years with the Los Angeles Times , Bill Boyarsky was a political writer, featured columnist, and city editor. He was a member of reporting teams that won three Pulitzer Prizes. He is the author of two biographies of Ronald Reagan. He is author of Big Jesse Unruh and the Art of Power Politics and Los City of Dreams ; with his wife, Nancy, he coauthored Backroom Politics . Native Angeleno Peter Jones began his career as a broadcast journalist. In 1987, he formed Peter Jones Productions, originally specializing in documentaries related to the history of the film industry. His special on Judy Garland won a 1997 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series, the first for the A&E Network. The Bette Davis Story had its U.S. premiere on Turner Classic Movies in 2006, garnering Jones and his team an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Nonfiction Special and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming.

Genres: History

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is a rare companion book to a TV documentary series that packs the same punch—and may do a better job at explaining context. Bill Boyarsky does this in his history of the LA Times and four generations of owners that transformed a city and a business. I expected the first two generations to be the heart of the book—the oft-failed, hardworking Ohio transplant whose sweat equity and political connections imagined a Shangri-La of sunny opportunity and relentlessly promoted that utopia view; and his canny general manager, who married the boss’s daughter and created clubby syndicates that used inside information to make favorable land purchases, create gigantic water transfers, a port creation, and build CalTech to fuel science-based avionics and defense industries.

Norman Chandler, his son, made incremental change from his hard-right, prejudiced predecessors, but the LAT still shamed itself in coverage of the mass Japanese American roundup and Zoot Suit racist attacks during WWII. It’s WASPy focus was on enclaves like Pasadena and Hancock Park, where Jews and Blacks couldn’t buy homes. Norman’s wife, Dorothy Chandler, argued for a move from lockstep Republican support, saved the Hollywood Bowl, and brought WASPy LA and the Jewish Westside together in building a world-class downtown music and arts complex.

She advocated for their son, Otis, to take charge instead of Norman’s meek, hard-of-hearing brother. After a seven-year apprenticeship, the dynamic, detail-oriented Otis took over, making the LAT bigger and more profitable than he ever imagined.

As Boyarsky wrote, he left behind “the sacred cows, conservative political doctrine, rabid anti-unionism, blind boosterism, and basic lack of curiosity that had long crippled the Times’ coverage.”

But Otis had weak spots. He concentrated on the LAT and refused clubby behind-the-scenes deal-making. At 6-3 and broad-shouldered, he also invested considerable time in game hunting, surfing, biking and car racing, and his daily weightlifting routine.

importantly, he didn’t think his kids measured up—and enraged his cousins in the family trust by presenting a more moderate voice. That was a portent to the end of the Chandlers at the LAT, but secular causes alone might have rocked their empire and made LA’s leadership more fragmented. Boyarsky is frank and often holds the Chandlers accountable when necessary, yet considers Otis and Tom Johnson’s period in the 80s the high-water mark for the paper. I love Boyarsky’s enduring and unflinching love for the city in this work.

[Adriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough, if at times boosterish, biased and sentimental historical account of the LA Times. But I’m sure it’s not difficult to find more in-depth looks at the dark side of the “LA Crimes” in the first half of the twentieth century.

[Aloud LA]

Bill Boyarsky in conversation with filmmaker Peter Jones on Tues, June 22 at ALOUD at Central Library.