Phoenix, Arizona was the place where I was born and it was home to approximately 2 million residents at the time. The increase in the population in the city motivated expansion of the city's boundaries. Cranes were often seen downtown due to new buildings being built. You would think this was a good thing, but many residents were not too happy about the construction because it was causing a lot of pollution in the clean desert skies. Some Phoenicians predicted that the pollution would drive away prospective businesses. In any case, Phoenix was quickly becoming a large metropolis that was beginning to see a more diverse community of cultures.
Speaking of culture, August 30, 1987 fell on a Sunday and the song topping the Billboard charts that weekend was "La Bamba" by Los Lobos. This song is a cover of "La Bamba" by Ritchie Valens which in turn is a cover of a Mexican folk song. The song by Los Lobos was, naturally, on the La Bamba soundtrack. The drama was well received at the box office, grossing $52.6 million in the first 12 weeks. One of the reasons that the movie did so well, which had mainly "no-name" actors in it, was because Columbia decided to use $6 million to advertise the daylights out of the movie. It received more airplay on the radio and advertisements were showing up on the television which contributed to its success. It also helped that the song was a hit and had the same name as the movie. It was easy to create name recognition by making the song and movie easy to remember. I can still hear Bob, Ritchie's brother, scream "Ritchiiee!" Great movie! I, of course, did not watch it when it came out because I was hard at work trying to come into this world. 
On August 30, 1987, Ronald Reagan was president. All of
our presidents have a myriad of things to do and President Reagan was no
different. Transparency has always been favored in our country and every day
that President Reagan was in office was recorded and is available at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library. To the right is his
somewhat busy schedule for the week. As you can see, he was unable to make it to the
hospital I was born at because he was busy enjoying a nice vacation at his gorgeous
and serene ranch named "Rancho Del Cielo" which in English means
"Sky's Ranch" or "Heaven's Ranch." It was a beautiful 62°
with a hint of fog the morning after the President arrived on his property and
his diary shows he went for a horseback ride, most likely on his beautiful
white horse, El Alamein. Unfortunately for the President, his horseback ride
was interrupted by work. He received word about two tankers that were transported
to safety in Operation Earnest Will. Good news but still, who
wants to hear about that when they’re on vacation? It is interesting, however,
that even today we have operations in the Middle East. Later that day, President Reagan was
hard at work chopping up an old oak tree he knocked down on his property but he
had to retire by the days end. Not too shabby for a 76 year old President of
the United States!
August 30, 1987 was very similar to today. The temperatures are still as hot as ever and the boundaries of Phoenix, AZ continues to grow as does its population. La Bamba may not be in the box offices anymore but there are new movies in theaters every other week. One thing that has begun to lose its status as an American past time is the movie theater, losing to technology that was unheard of the day I was born. Ronald Reagan was beloved back then and still is now. As hard working as he was, though, he still managed to miss my birth for vacation. I can't say I blame the guy, though.
