Remembering The Rainfall Tables

A headline on Page one of the Dec. 29 California section says, "Record Rainfall Pounds L.A." But in the days that the LAT was California-owned, this story would have been on Page one of the A section, and, years before that, before the paper became so sophisticated, there would have been detailed rainfall tables from all over the Southland, showing not only how much rain had fallen in each locality in the storm, but how much had fallen thus far in the season.

When I was a boy growing up, everyone loved the rainfall tables. They were quintessentially Californian, showing the only weather that really counted in California.

Later, they were dropped. Maybe, because they were too much work. Now, even when there's a record rainfall, the stories are sketchy as to how much rain has fallen outside a few places.

And years ago, every Jan 2, The Times had a Southland magazine that was available to be mailed to friends back east. It was a great booster of Southern California, with pictures of the Rose Parade and so many features as to how well we were doing.

All those things are now part of the past, when The Los Angeles Times really was a California paper, proud of this state and disdaining cold, distant and unimportant cities like Chicago.