You know Antonio Villaraigosa, remember Jim Hahn... sorta remember Richard Riordan, and Tom Bradley -- that's right, he was mayor for decades. There's Sam Yorty and Frank Shaw... and after that, things get hazy.
I meant, but never got around to linking to this excellent piece by Robert Greene in the Los Angeles Times last month. Greene notes that formerly obscure ex-mayor Cristobal Aguilar re-entered our conciousness after Villaraigosa began running for mayor (countless news reports reminded us that Villaraigosa would be the first Latino mayor since Aguilar, in 1872).
Writes Greene:
But do you know any other Los Angeles mayors? Many L.A. residents would be able to name more mayors of New York (Bloomberg, Giuliani, Koch, Dinkins, Lindsay, LaGuardia -- and no big deal if you forgot Abe Beame) or Chicago (Daley, Washington, uh, Daley) than of their own city.
Maybe that's because Bradley was mayor for a generation and made us forget the relative short-termers who came before. In 1993, when Bradley opted against a sixth term, Los Angeles voters adopted term limits. But a good argument could be made that they weren't needed, because before Bradley, voters tossed out one mayor after another. Who was the last pre-Bradley mayor to leave office voluntarily, without being defeated for reelection, recalled or otherwise trying to regain office?
It took Greene a while, but he digs up several contenders -- and the final answer.
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