A 1989 RETROSPECTIVE : ARRIVALS

At age 31, most musical artists spend their time pounding on guitars and preening their coiffures. Finnish native Esa-Pekka Salonen, a different kind of longhair, was selected as the new musical director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Another notable arrival to top management was Art Shell, hired by the Los Angeles Raiders as the first black head coach in the National Football League’s modern era. The year also saw the re-arrival of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, returning from the White House to a Bel-Air home purchased for their use by a group of old friends. Once back, Mrs. Reagan dropped her support for a drug rehabilitation center in the San Fernando Valley, but she did remain visible--plugging her book of White House memoirs and participating with Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates in a live-for-TV drug bust in South-Central Los Angeles. The ex-President made millions on a speaking tour of Japan but kept a lower profile locally, although he did make one highly publicized pre-Christmas shopping foray to the Century City Mall. Reagan’s first stop: a malt shop where he had a bowl of soup and an ice cream sundae for lunch. Stop number two: the Disney Store where he purchased a stuffed Mickey Mouse. Stop number three: a candy store where he cut in line to purchase a five-pound box of chocolates.