In 1929, the 776-foot-long Graf Zeppelin dirigible docked at Mines Field (which later became the location for L.A. International Airport) as part of its circumnavigation of the globe. Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, the most powerful and richest man in America at the time, sponsored this voyage, so it was a widely publicized event, and very big news when it arrived. The classiest hotel in town, the Biltmore Hotel overlooking Pershing Square proudly advertised that they were chosen to replenish the Graf Zeppelin before it took off for its homeward bound leg in New Jersey. (There is a scene in my first book – “The Garden on Sunset – which takes place at the Graf Zeppelin’s arrival at Mines Field.)