Joseph Chapman

He was a New England Yankee who arrived in California as first mate to the most feared pirate ever to ravage the West Coast. When he died 31 years later, he was revered as a uniquely skilled pillar of the tiny City of the Angels and the builder of its most enduring public structure. Dubbed a "miracle worker" by the Franciscan padres who first employed him, Joseph Chapman--Los Angeles' first U.S.

He was a New England Yankee who arrived in California as first mate to the most feared pirate ever to ravage the West Coast. When he died 31 years later, he was revered as a uniquely skilled pillar of the tiny City of the Angels and the builder of its most enduring public structure. Dubbed a "miracle worker" by the Franciscan padres who first employed him, Joseph Chapman--Los Angeles' first U.S.

For more than 25 years Joseph Chapman has made his living, in part, by breaking into museums. "I walked through the museum like I was a visitor and then at the end of the day I went into a men's room stall and hid there," said Chapman, 60, a ruggedly built man who speaks about art with reverence. The story he was telling took place in 1965 at the Amon Carter Museum in Ft. Worth, Tex. "At 5 o'clock I heard the toggle switches go and everything got dark and quiet," he said.

For more than 25 years Joseph Chapman has made his living, in part, by breaking into museums. "I walked through the museum like I was a visitor and then at the end of the day I went into a men's room stall and hid there," said Chapman, 60, a ruggedly built man who speaks about art with reverence. The story he was telling took place in 1965 at the Amon Carter Museum in Ft. Worth, Tex. "At 5 o'clock I heard the toggle switches go and everything got dark and quiet," he said.

The Chapman women's basketball team received its first NCAA bid in 12 years when the pairings for the Division III West Region tournament were announced Sunday. The Panthers, seeded fifth in the region, will play Wednesday in the first round at fourth-seeded College of St. Benedict (20-5) in St. Joseph, Minn. Chapman (19-6) lost its regular-season finale to UC San Diego on Feb. 22. The loss stopped a nine-game winning streak and likely cost the Panthers a first-round home game.

Electronics has revolutionized museum security in the last two decades. According to Warren Danzenbaker, chief of security systems for the Smithsonian museums, a variety of high-tech detectors are now used to monitor storage areas and, when the museum is not open to the public, display rooms. * Passive Infrared Sensors: Known in the industry as PIRs, these small sensors detect the body heat of humans. If a person walks into a room covered by activated PIRs, a signal should go out.

Fumes from an industrial complex in Orange sent 14 people to hospitals Monday, and fire officials evacuated hundreds of others. Officials got calls at 12:10 p.m. from two businesses--one at 654 N. Hariton St. and the other at 645 N. Cypress St.--reporting that workers smelled a strong odor of natural gas or propane, said Capt. Larry Boyd, spokesman for the Orange City Fire Department.

Dorm life has taken an unexpected turn for dozens of Chapman University students who suddenly find themselves living at hotels miles from campus. Though the move has brought unaccustomed perks, including kitchens and maid service, "it's been a major inconvenience not being able to live close to campus," said senior Wynne Caburian, 22. "It's the last thing I need to add to the stress of finals next week and just before I graduate."

In tribute to the vitality of L.A.'s art community, Los Angeles Visual Arts (a collaborative effort between commercial art galleries and academic institutions) has planned a number of festive events beginning Jan. 21. An exhibition titled "To the Astonishing Horizon" was organized by New York art critic and writer Peter Frank; it opens Jan. 21 at the Los Angeles Design Center. The show consists of 131 works by California artists and remains on view through Feb. 15.

In the early 1990s -- a time angrily recalled in Altadena -- developers offered a swath of historic Millard Canyon as public open space for hiking in return for permission to carve an upscale tract into the hills at the edge of the Angeles National Forest. Yet "No trespassing" signs were recently posted to keep out hikers and equestrians who have traversed the lush canyon for decades, even without the trails that were to have been built as part of the agreement with Los Angeles County.

The late Jack Smith once wrote that Easterners seem to believe that the city of Los Angeles didn't exist until a megaphone-wielding Cecil B. DeMille ordered its creation on a movie set one day in the 1920s. "Los Angeles" and "history," in other words, sort of go together like "Boston" and "surfing." But L.A.

When Gloria Alm of Tustin saw on television the tanks, the tears and the gas masks of the Gulf War, painful memories returned. Her husband was killed in 1966 in Vietnam, leaving her with two babies and a lifetime to re-experience the loss. To cope, Alm put pen to paper.