Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Manuscripts
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
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Manuscripts
Approx. 5 items: approx. 80-pp. of transcripts of interviews, likely by Marshall Berges, with Otis Chandler. The interviews were conducted on several days between 8/1980 and 2/1981. The remarks range across many topics: race car driving ; a four-day visit to the Lyndon B. Johnson Ranch in the 1960s ; other Times Mirror business ventures in broadcast media. Part of this material is a 25-pp. transcript of an interview of Otis Chandler by Michael Jackson of KABC (radio). Segments of the 1980 interviews deal with corrections Otis wished to make to comments made earlier.
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Manuscripts
1 item. 73-pp. transcript of Marshall Berges' interview with Otis Chandler. Subjects include: earliest memories ; kidnapping attempt when Otis was six or seven ; early surfing memories ; summer camp ; his competitiveness ; injuries at camp ; after riding accident at age nine, Otis was declared dead - his mother refused to believe it and took him to a second hospital ; on not getting involved in smoking and drinking with high school buddies ; trip to Hawaii in 1941 (just before Pearl Harbor attack) ; his first girlfriends ; his parents objections to Otis being surrounded exclusively by "spoiled rich kids" ; attending Andover ; track & field - shot put ; Stanford - girlfriends - pranks ; "raising hell" as a Stanford senior.
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Manuscripts
1 item: 78-pp. transcript of Marshall Berges' taped interview with Otis Chandler. Subjects appear in this order on the transcript: hunting (Afghanistan, Mongolia, Brazil) ; surfing ; vintage auto collecting ; luxury automobiles ; motorcycles ; experiences while attending Stanford ; the Duesenberg (auto) ; buying and selling cars as an avocation ; Porsches ; car racing.
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Manuscripts
1 item. 78-pp. transcript of Marshall Berges' taped interview with Otis Chandler, 1/18/1980. Subjects include: Otis' thoughts on his father's and his mother's contributions to Los Angeles Times and Times Mirror ; Otis' relationships to first wife ("Missy"), his children, his friends and business associates ; Otis' objectivity in evaluation and criticism of others and of himself ; Missy's embarking on a career in urban planning ; "the demise of the marriage" ; origins of Otis' "attitude of independence" and his desire to excel in shot put ; participation in somewhat dangerous sports - surfing, hunting, race car driving, riding motorcycles ; how many Chandler clan members were unhappy with Otis' moving the paper editorial policy from conservative to moderate ; as publisher - "off and running with ten balls in the air...that's just sort of my style" ; changing Los Angeles Times from a paper that was just "dull and gray" ; specifics of what Otis wanted to improve ; the downside of being prominent, of being highly visible ; his philosophy of management.
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Manuscripts
2 items: 4-pp. Los Angeles Times "Conflict of interest policy guide," no date ; 10-pp. transcript of "Sixth taping with Otis Chandler," 8/6/1975. Subjects discussed include: Times Mirror expansion from the 1950s to the 1970s, antitrust issues involving print and broadcast news outlets being owned by the same entity (pp. 1 - 2) ; on getting out of Vietnam (pp. 5 - 6) ; Geotek scandal (pp. 8) ; security threats to Otis and his family (pp. 9 - 10).
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Manuscripts
1 item: 19-pp. transcript of "Second taping with Otis Chandler," by Bassett, 7/30/1975. Subjects include: the "Jack Hart thesis" that the years when NC was publisher was an "Era of Mediocrity at Los Angeles Times was challenged by Otis Chandler (pp. 1 - 2) ; Editor Nick Williams and his Managing Editors, Frank Haven and Frank McCulloch (pp. 3 - 5) ; political "kingmaker" Kyle Palmer (pp. 6) ; Otis Chandler - in 1960s "I wanted to move The Times into a position of political independence..." (pp. 6) ; ending Los Angeles Times endorsements for President, Governor and U.S. Senate (pp. 7) ; Otis Chandler comments on those who, after the relative liberalization of Los Angeles Times editorial policies, wished for "The Times of old" (pp. 9 - 10) ; comments on the John Birch Society series and the editorial, signed by Otis, that accompanied it (pp. 10 - 11) ; the Geotek affair (pp. 17+).
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