Carson

The Chargers left La Jolla, they said, to train in Carson because they wanted a place where their team could bond. You would have to say it worked last year, with San Diego exceeding everyone's expectations and winning four whole games.

Carol Wayne, the full-figured, squeaky-voiced blonde who was the Matinee Lady on the "Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" for many years, was reported dead today in the Mexican resort of Manzanillo. Her ex-husband, Barry Feinstein, said from New York that an autopsy disclosed that she had drowned. She was 42. Her body was found Sunday.

Remember when gas stations were cool? In the decades after World War II, gas was cheap and operators competed on service. Every time a car rolled in, a bell would ring and uniformed pump jockeys dashed out to fill the tank, wash the windshield and check the oil level. Sagging tires got a whoosh of air. Station owners made profits from car repairs performed in their garages and especially from selling oil, which vehicles burned quickly by today's standards. Some owners tried to catch customers' eyes with futuristic-looking designs for their buildings like the Googie-style Unocal station in Beverly Hills from 1965 with a swooping white roof.

A motorist who is responsible for the death of an 8-year-old boy in Carson was being sought Friday. Allen Cooper Jr. of Carson died Wednesday at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center of injuries he suffered two days earlier, Deputy Russell Shapley said. The youngster was walking across Santa Fe Avenue between Monroe and Carson streets about 3:45 p.m. Monday when he was struck by a late 1980s dark blue or black Cadillac, possibly an Eldorado, that was northbound on Santa Fe.

Instead of a stellar battle between two traditional City Section powers, Carson and Dorsey took turns trying to give away Thursday night's first-round Championship Division playoff game. Defending champion Carson survived four turnovers and advanced with a 3-0 victory at Veterans Stadium. Eder Gonzalez provided the only points by kicking a 23-yard field goal with 6:33 left in the second quarter. Dorsey committed four turnovers and missed several opportunities.

Responding to a shortage of industrial facilities in the South Bay, Watson Land Co. this year will develop about 600,000 square feet of speculative and build-to-suit industrial buildings in the Carson area. The Carson-based firm's 1987 development activity includes construction of 390,000 square feet of speculative facilities in the 750-acre Watson Industrial Center South and the 175-acre Watson Alameda Industrial Center.

Fifteen-thousand people at East Los Angeles College were the witnesses, and the biggest game so far this year, at least in terms of emotion, was the setting Saturday afternoon as the Carson defense proved what Coach Gene Vollnogle has been saying nearly all season--that it's the unsung group on the City's top-ranked prep team. "Our defense has been coming around," Vollnogle said. "In a couple of weeks, they'll really be awesome. We have a much quicker line than most people realize."

Robert Garrett has slowly built a winning football program at Crenshaw, capped by last season's victory over Chatsworth in the City Division 3-A championship. Heading into Friday's Southern Pacific Conference showdown at Carson, the up-and-coming Cougars were being tabbed as this season's front runner in the 4-A race. They were 4-1 and rated No. 19 in The Times' poll of top teams in the Southland.

Inside linebacker Anthony Murray of Sylmar High met Carson's mammoth offensive line with frenzied surprise. "I can't see!" he yelled frantically toward his team's sideline only moments into the City Section 4-A Division championship game last week at El Camino College. "I can't see!" Murray's vision was limited not by myopia but by Carson's tall and wide front five. Early on, Carson's backfield formation was simply a mystery to him.

The City. Has a ring to it. Joe Friday used to tell us every week, "This is the City." When things got rough, that's when he came in. He carried a badge. The City. A basketball team in San Francisco used to wear that on its jerseys. It said it all. In high school football, the City means Carson and Banning. As the season opens this week for Los Angeles Unified District Schools, Carson will be defending its City 4-A title. Nobody but Carson and Banning has won that title for nine years.