Sunday, November 16, 2014

Remembering Don Paul and the Rams Horn

There it was this morning on the obituary page, a paid announcement for a football player who was a star  at UCLA and later with the Los Angeles Rams. A quick check of the Internet showed  that no newspaper obits had been written on Don Paul, who died on November 8 in Woodland Hills at age 89 of what appears to be complications from Alzheimer's,  but he certainly would have deserved a write-up.
Paul was an All-Pro linebacker for the Rams, a third-round draft choice in 1947 who had a stellar eight-year career in the NFL. At UCLA, he is the only player in Bruins football history to be elected team captain as a freshman.
He was a prominent member of the Rams' 1951 championship team that beat Otto Graham's Cleveland Browns, a stalwart on defense that earned him the reputation as one of the fiercest players in the league.

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add Paul: After his football career was over Paul became a football broadcaster for CBS,  and also the owner of two restaurants in Los Angeles. The most well-known was the Rams Horn in Encino on Ventura Boulevard  in the San Fernando Valley. The Rams Horn's marquee was the figure of a noble Ram that at night shown over the sidewalk in gold light along with such other well-known eateries as the Smoke House, Monty's and Pucci's, the latter owned by Len and Mike Pucci, who also played in the NFL.  The Rams Horn was well supported by Valley patrons and Paul's Rams teammates.


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add Encino restaurants: A visit this past Saturday morning to DuPar's, the new arrival next to Walgreen's drugstore, was a treat, especially for a lover of pancakes. The menu's No. 2 Blue Plate Special, which includes two pancakes and one egg with bacon or sausage links, was a hit. DuPar's had returned to a Ventura boulevard location a couple weeks ago, taking over the old space that was vacated by John O'Groat's. The menu features ample breakfast and luncheon selections and almost all the tables were filled at 9:30 a.m. A survey of the dining room also showed a remodeling of the restaurant's bar and spacious banquet room.

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