Knives Under Our pillows and Bats Under Our Beds - Growing up with the Night Stalker in Our Neighborhood -

June Gloom

I never quite understood why the beginning of summer always had a marine overcast known as the "June Gloom," but this year it was something different. A nervous tension hung like a thick fog over the Summer of 1985 in typically happy and Sunny Southern California. The sun was out, but there was still a dark shadow to the day. Brutal murders in what seemed an indiscriminate manner where taking place throughout California, with many of them occurring within 5 miles from my childhood home which border-lined Boyle Heights (City of Los Angeles) and East Los Angeles.

By the time summer came around that year, Richard Ramirez, known as the Night Stalker, had brutally raped and murdered many victims with no end in sight to his carnage and destruction. His ability to stealthily enter and escape the homes of his victims made everyone look under their bed and check their windows before sleeping at night. The callousness and brutality coupled with the randomness and the Satanic writings left at the crime scenes put "boogie man" type fear in everyone's thoughts and dreams at night.

The "Clubhouse"

That summer, my brothers and I would sleep in our detached garage which had been converted into a large bedroom with a window. The garage also served as our "club house". Here we could rumble into the night without getting screamed at or catching a real ass whooping (something that today would most likely cause "The Law" to get involved with the punishing parent's child rearing abilities and actions). Although Our Mother worried that my brothers and I would sleep away from the house, Father didn't mind too much I am sure, being that two years later my youngest brother was born.

Growing up in the barrios of ELA/Boyle Heights, the five of us boys considered ourselves a band of brothers. We looked out for each other, and stood up for one another. The streets were mean, so we had to be meaner. Then we watched "The Outsiders" movie (and I later read the book by S.E. Hinton) and our unspoken motto was solidified; "Mess with one, and you mess with all of us." Our fearlessness and bravado was based on knowing that we always had each other's back because no one else did. It was Us against the World, much like the Greasers versus the Socials. So sleeping in the garage at the age of 13 years old with the reassurance of my brothers was a huge and bold step towards independence and manhood, plus it was a lot of fun playing our version of "Roller Derby" into the the wee hours of the night. Talk of the Night Stalker did come up, especially at night, but we continued to sleep in the converted garage away from the house nonetheless. Then, towards the end of summer, things got much more serious.

Street Vengeance

"The Streets" have always amazed me at how quickly and accurately they can sometimes be when it comes to discovering and revealing secrets and hidden information that are supposed to remain out of the public's knowledge. Towards the end of summer, the Los Angeles Police Department was combing through alleys a few blocks away from our house. These were alley ways that I was quite familiar with since I would often use them when out in the street with friends. We found out that the police were looking for guns that might have been discarded there. We later found out that the police believed that the Night Stalker might be "in the area." That is why they were checking the alleys, believing the "Night Stalker" could have possibly dumped guns there. This definitely made the situation much more serious. My brothers and I decided against telling our parents what we had found out about the Night Stalker investigation for fear that they would not allow us to sleep in our "Club House."

Instead, we decided to arm ourselves as best we could. Since my brothers and I played baseball, baseball bats were out first weapons of choice. We knew how to swing them very well, and they would not look out of place to our parents. We kept the bats handy until we finally decided to sleep. Then we kept the bats either under our beds or standing next to our beds at the ready. We also took a few of our steak knives out of the kitchen drawer and snuck those out to the garage every night as well. Those we kept under our pillows, reassuring our dreams. The Night Stalker would have found his knees surrounded by armed kids should he have attempted to victimize us.

The "Night Stalker" after receiving some
"Street Vengeance."
Within days of the rumors of the Night Stalker being in our neighborhood, he was caught. Richard Ramirez had been staying in a nearby hotel and when going to a nearby liquor store, realized that he was finally recognized as the homicidal maniac known as the Night Stalker. He ran away and attempted several failed "car jackings," then he attempted to "car jack" a woman who screamed. Her family and friends ran outside, chased and then caught Richard Ramirez, known as the "Night Stalker" on Indiana Street and E. Hubbard Street in Los Angeles, one school block away from my home. Ramirez did receive some "street vengeance" from the neighborhood heroes before the Los Angeles Police Department showed up to arrest the "Night Stalker." The City of Los Angeles could again sleep easy, and we no longer needed knives under our pillows and bats under our beds.

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Picture Sources:

[Pic 1](Google screen shot)
Pic 2- Wikimedia
Pic 3 - LA Times