Lankershim Laconic

Lankershim Laconic. . , Read All About It! , Back when Lankershim, North Hollywood's predecessor, was literally a growing concern, local newspapers and advertisers enthusiastically ballyhooed the town's virtues. , The Lankershim Laconic went to press in 1909. The four-page newspaper called itself a "try-weekly," because the publishers, businessmen brothers Chauncey and Cecil Wilcox, "tried" to get it out once a week. The advertisement-filled newspaper summoned newcomers to become neighbors. , The Wilcox brothers also bought the town's first two-story hotel, equipped with "sanitary outdoor bedrooms," at what is now Burbank and Lankershim Boulevards. Cecil must have won the coin toss , it was named for him. , The Lankershim Laconic's influence was enormous. Its pages were filled with boosterism, Chamber of Commerce happenings and church news. Front-page editorials demanded flood control and a Pacific Electric streetcar line for the area. Like many newspapers then, it printed lists of building permits, creating self-fulfilling interest in the community. , A 1911 advertisement boasted that Lankershim had "no saloons" and "no mud." Lankershim soon offered other attractions. , Big News for a Growing Town , On March 14,1915, film pioneer, Carl Laemmle opened the world's largest motion picture production facility on a 230-acre Lankershim area ranch. It was called Universal City and welcomed the public to watch the magic of moviemaking close up. Not far away is the notable historical site of Campo de Cahuenga, where the Mexican surrender to California was signed in 1847. , In time, the tiny newspaper office at Lankershim and Magnolia Boulevards found itself flanked by two new businesses, the Lankershim Bakery, and T.W. Herron's Meat Market and Grocery. , Editorials in 1923 crusaded to have the town annexed by Los Angeles. Voters approved annexation 572 to 441. , By 1925, the Laconic had become the Lankershim Press. In 1936, the paper reinvented itself as the North Hollywood Press, and joined with the Valley Times. Local news expanded to such accounts as the enlarging of Mae West's sister's home, and Western film actor Tom Mix buying a 17-acre ranch nearby. , During the epochal 1938 flood, the Laconic reported that the raging Los Angeles River waters swallowed a café and ten houses at Universal City, and five people on the Lankershim bridge were swept to their deaths when the bridge collapsed. , Former Newspaper Office Makes Headlines , By 1952, the paper had moved operations elsewhere, and Denels Music opened in its place. Celebrity guests Liberace, Lawrence Welk, and Spike Jones drew crowds to the opening. , Ten years later, Robert Coogan, the brother of child star Jackie Coogan, owned a hobby shop on the site. He and comedian Lenny Bruce were arrested there for drug possession in October 1962. Police said Bruce had dropped a matchbook with heroin in it when he saw officers. , North Hollywood's "last paper standing," the Valley Times, closed in August 1969.