1983: Fire Rips Through Local Dry Cleaners

In one of his songs, singer/songwriter John Mayer opines, "Oh, if only my life were more like 1983." For one local businessman, this week in 1983 was one to forget.

Fire ripped through the back room at Dutch Cleaners at 7870 Broadway Rd., causing a shutdown of the business for a day and a half. Hundreds of pieces of clothing had to be cleaned and deodorized to get out the smell of smoke.

Surprisingly, there was neither fire nor water damage to the garments that had already been cleaned and were awaiting pickup. Local fire authorities estimated that there was roughly $300,000 in damage to the structure and equipment.

In other news...

– The California State PTA office offered new scholarship programs to area students. The gruop offered 50 scholarships at $200 apiece, which were able to be used at accreditted California colleges or universities.

– Many local parents were disturbed at the lack of "complete scrambling" of Cox Cable's offering of The Playboy Channel, as they complained that audio could still be heard and some portions of the video were viewable. Customers were asked to contact Cox's customer service to request to have the channel completely tuned out. Cox installed "detuned" converter boxes to customers at no charge.