History Warp (7/30-8/05): Lotteries and La La Land

You play the lottery? Ever won? Pretty heady stuff, I almost know. Because I came within a single wafer thin digit once of hitting the Powerball to the tune of $68 mill.

So close, but, oh so very very very far. $5 large was a nice consolation prize, but it’s long gone. Some plumbing repairs, a new computer, some CDs, a little trip and . . . sigh . . . life was back to normal.

Which personal anecdote leads to this punchline. On July 30, 1998, the biggest Powerball to that date was won. Thirteen machinists in Westerville, Ohio shared the considerable sum of $296 mill. Okay, that’s not exactly true. They went for the cash lump sum immediately. $162 million, minus Uncle Sammy’s cut, was still a hefty payday. Even divided into a baker’s dozen.

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Juan Crespi and Caspar de Portola were deux amigos. The former was a Franciscan priest. The latter, a Spanish army captain. Or so I’m advised. I never personally made their acquaintance.

In 1796, they looked at each other and, as if one, screamed: “Road Trip!” They headed north from lower Cali up the Pacific Coast. Surfing and hangin’ in their Woody along the way, I suppose. Eventually they arrived at the place we now know as Los Angeles. Except for those who call it LA.

On August 2 of that year — 1796, remember? — the duo named the town. Actually the name they chose was Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula. Which, I’m advised, roughly translates as Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula.