2000 Year

New-year cheer will be in short supply this week on Wall Street, as investors brace for another round of warnings of lower corporate profits and a fresh battering for U.S. stocks. Last year, ended badly on the stock market, marking the demise of the five-year bull run, as the Nasdaq composite index clocked the worst performance in its 29-year history, amid a slackening U.S. economy.

Whether you thought of it as the first year of the third millennium or the last year of the second millennium, 2000 was a rich time for purveyors of feature stories. Today, Southern California Living publishes postscripts to the tales of some we've profiled in the previous 12 months. Together, the stories give a glimpse of the startling range of life that has been chronicled in these pages.

With cheers, fireworks and hugs, the third millennium officially began in the continental United States--a more subdued celebration than a year ago but, for many, still a great opportunity to party. The year 2001 clicked over in a chilly Times Square in New York City, while fireworks sprang to life along the Delaware River and New Englanders paused from digging out after their first major blizzard in five years.

Two teenage boys found dead on a La Crescenta elementary school playground. A West Hills teen shot execution-style, allegedly on the orders of a young man owed a drug debt by the victim's brother. A 13-year-old girl slain by her father, who also shot his wife to death and wounded two other daughters. Violence between Latino and Armenian-American students at a Glendale high school that resulted in the death of a student.