April Fools’ Day was really something back in the day, these 3 California pranks show

Good morning. It’s Monday, April 1. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

• Remember these classic California pranks?
• Easter weekend storms brought snow and flooding.
• California wine growers struggle amid a global glut.
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper.

April Fools! Here are 3 classic California pranks

Full disclosure: I’m not a big fan of April Fools’ Day pranks orchestrated by local governments, corporations or, worst of all, news organizations. Rarely do they hit the right tone and level of inventiveness to actually be funny.

Companies announcing name changes or bankruptcies? Yawn.

Sure, plenty are harmless. Cities love to put their amateur Photoshop skills to work or fire off a social media post for some low-stakes tomfoolery. Cool, whatever.

In an age of fake news, increasingly convincing AI-generated imagery, and brands chasing every conceivable trend, April Fools’ Day floods the attention market with forgettable-at-best, tasteless-at-worst content that carries a one-day shelf life.

But it wasn’t always this boring. Some ingenious pranks of the past — and some arguably over-the-line — actually got people out of the house or riled up enough to call the government.

Here are a few California-based pranks that went above and beyond (or maybe too far?) on April Fools’ Day.

The San Diego space shuttle landing

In 1993, hundreds of San Diegans rushed to a small airport in the morning, hoping to witness an event very few get to see in real life: a space shuttle landing.

Because of a systems malfunction at Edwards Air Force Base, space shuttle Discovery was being diverted to touch down at San Diego’s Montgomery Field. Or so they’d been led to believe by a local radio station. But of course, no space shuttle was landing. There weren’t even any in orbit at the time.

The elaborate hoax was orchestrated by KGB-FM, which aired an interview with a faux NASA spokesperson to confirm Discovery was en route. Radio listeners even thought they were patched in with the shuttle crew at one point.

The ruse was believed to bring more than 1,000 people to the area, tying up traffic for hours. The airport manager had to explain to hundreds of angry would-be onlookers that they’d been had. The city’s Police Department threatened legal action for the chaos.

The whole saga was summarized well in this local TV news package.

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Surely some people were peeved, but those interviewed by CBS 8 at the time seemed to take it in stride and appreciate the elaborate hoax, even if it created traffic issues and tied up some police resources for a nonexistent event.

Monkeying around with L.A. Zoo phone operators

Prank phone calls often feel like a remnant from a bygone era. (Do kids these days even know what *67 does?) Which is why this 1986 story I found in the L.A. Times archives struck me as equal parts nostalgic, delightful and wholesome.

Back in those days, when April 1 rolled around, the switchboard operators at the Los Angeles Zoo were inundated with calls. The people on the other end of the line asked if Ellie Font or Al Gator were available. Or they were returning calls from G. Raffe or Ryna Soris.

“Every April 1 it is the same,” former Times reporter Penelope McMillan wrote. “The phone at the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park doesn’t stop ringing.”

For many of these calls, the zoo operators were merely a conduit for someone else’s prank. The likely scenario: Some practical joker left a message for a friend as, say, Mr. Wolf, then provided the zoo’s digits as the callback number.

“It’s crazy, absolutely crazy,” zoo spokesperson Lorri Cohen said at the time. “Several zoos around the country actually close down their switchboards April 1 rather than deal with it, and we considered that. Then we decided we may as well make the best of it.”

Adding to the confusion was the fact that several zoo staffers at that time actually had animal-related names, including Ruth Baer, Bob Wolf and Ralph Crane.

It’s unclear whether this tradition is still common in an era of automated phone menus, but kudos to those pre-internet pranksters for having their fun without the ability to share it further than their landline phone cords could stretch.

The ‘Taco Liberty Bell’

Last but most audacious is a stunt that may still hold the trophy for best corporate April Fools’ Day prank ever.

Taco Bell was behind this 1996 ruse, which created a national uproar. But the “Mexican-inspired” fast-food chain was founded and is currently headquartered in Southern California, so we’ll allow it.

The company took out a full-page ad in several major newspapers announcing it had bought the Liberty Bell to help reduce the national debt.

“It will now be called the ‘Taco Liberty Bell’ and will still be accessible to the American public for viewing,” the ad read. “While some may find this controversial, we hope our move will prompt other corporations to take similar action to do their part to reduce the country’s debt.”

People flipped out. Some radio talk show hosts bought it and spread it to listeners. A Clinton press secretary even joked about it to reporters.

The National Park Service, which maintains the Liberty Bell, received hundreds of angry calls and had to assure the public it had not sold off one of the nation’s treasures.

The stunt might have broken the internet, had most people actually used it back then. Only about 8% of the population was on ye olde World Wide Web at the time.

A Taco Bell spokesperson later apologized to “those people who didn’t get the joke.”

Pranks in the April Fools’ Day spirit sure hit differently back then. So as you go about your day, check your back for a “Kick me” sign, take any major brand announcements with a barrel-full of salt, and crank up the Who for good measure.

Today’s top stories

(Los Angeles Times photo illustration; photos via Getty Images)

Policy and power

• How did L.A.’s “mansion tax” do in its first year? Some call it a godsend; others an absolute disaster.
• The census is changing its categories on race and ethnicity. Here’s what that means for Latinos.
• Newsom has approved three California prison closures but is resisting pressure to shutter more.

Crime and public safety

• Sheriff’s deputies fatally shot a man they said drove a van toward officers in East L.A.
• An Oxnard personal trainer was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault of a student.
• So much for the scenic route. Part of Highway 1 near Big Sur crumbled as a new landslide closed more of the historic roadway.

SoCal sports

• Motivated by his move to shortstop, Dodgers veteran Mookie Betts is on a tear.
• Dylan Hernández: Forget the loss. Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto has proved he can pitch in the MLB.
• JuJu vs. Paige? No, it’s USC vs. UConn in the Elite Eight.
• The Ducks couldn’t overcome a late goal by Dakota Joshua in a loss to the Canucks.

More big stories

• Easter weekend storms brought fresh snow to the mountains and flooding to parts of Santa Barbara, Ventura and L.A. counties.
• L.A.’s Mark Taper Forum will reopen, but does Center Theatre Group have a sustainable path forward?
• Powerful unions allege schools are misusing arts education money and demand state intervention.
• How to watch the solar eclipse from California — and avoid heartbreak if chasing ‘totality.’
• Convoys are helping to move stranded travelers after Highway 1 landslide near Big Sur.
  

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Commentary and opinions

• Mark Z. Barabak: Justice is finally coming to some of the liars and cheats who enabled Trump.
• Doyle McManus: Trump loves fossil fuels; California wants clean energy. Cue collision.
• George Skelton: Primary election no-shows in California are a warning to Biden.
• Times editorial board: At long last, women finally have a real shot at California’s top job.
• David Zirin: Here’s why California should continue to hold the line against sports betting.
• Times editorial board: John Eastman tried to help Trump overturn the 2020 election. Of course he should be disbarred.

Today’s great read

Contractor Donald Wortley has removed vines for growers in Lodi for 50 years. Now, he says, “I have so many incoming work orders I’ll never get them done.”

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Global wine glut compounds headaches for struggling California vineyards. Wildfires, years of drought and global warming have plagued California vineyards, but that’s only part of the problem. “More recently,” Times reporter Louis Sahagún wrote this week, “a tectonic shift in generational drinking habits has led to a global glut of wine.”

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your downtime

Drummer Mike Meanstreetz dries laundry during his set at Laundry Wand on Friday in Los Angeles.

(Sinna Nasseri / For The Times)

Going out

• 🧺 Looking for the best underground bands in L.A.? Head to this Highland Park laundromat.
• 🍔 A new month brings a new list of places to eat and drink in L.A.

Staying in

• 🐈‍⬛ ‘The Matrix’ turned 25 yesterday. 🐈‍⬛ Why not re-watch the pop culture milestone, then read Times contributor Manuel Betancourt’s ode to the film and its prescient message about AI?
• 📺 Actor Giancarlo Esposito is used to playing the villain. In “Parish,” he steps into the antihero role.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

And finally ... a great photo

Show us your favorite place in California! We’re running low on submissions. Send us photos that scream California and we may feature them in an edition of Essential California.

An adult male red diamond rattlesnake is photographed at San Timoteo Canyon in Riverside County on March 18.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Keep your distance! Today’s great photo is from Times photojournalist Christina House. She tagged along with William Hayes, a research biologist at Loma Linda University and expert on Southern California rattlesnakes, during a recent search for rattlers. You can almost hear this photo, right?

Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Amy Hubbard, deputy editor, Fast Break

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