Los Angeles was celebrating.

Magic Johnson was running the break. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was still dominating at 38 years old. James Worthy was becoming a star. Pat Riley was on the sideline. And the Lakers were chasing something the franchise had never accomplished: Beat the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.

It was 1985.

Showtime wasn’t just basketball anymore. It was Los Angeles. Hollywood. Celebrities sitting courtside. Fast breaks. Champagne. Winning.

The Lakers represented everything glamorous about the city.

But while Los Angeles watched one of the greatest teams in basketball history, another story was developing across Southern California.

People were being attacked inside their homes. Some were murdered. Others survived horrifying assaults.

At first, most residents didn’t know that the crimes were connected. They didn’t know the name Richard Ramirez. They didn’t know the nickname that would soon terrify Southern California: The Night Stalker.

That’s what makes the summer of 1985 so fascinating. Los Angeles was living two completely different stories. One happened under the bright lights. The other happened after the lights went out.

 

May 27, 1985: Lakers vs. Celtics

Few rivalries in American sports carried more history. Boston had tormented the Lakers for decades. The franchises had met eight previous times in the NBA Finals. Boston won all eight. The Celtics had beaten Los Angeles again in the 1984 Finals, winning Game 7 at Boston Garden.

Now came the rematch.

Game 1 was May 27, 1985. And it was ugly. Boston destroyed Los Angeles 148-114. The game became known as the “Memorial Day Massacre.” It looked like the same nightmare all over again.

But these Lakers were different. Los Angeles won Game 2 in Boston. Then the series moved west.

On June 2, the Lakers returned to the Forum and destroyed Boston 136-111.

Imagine Los Angeles that day. The Forum packed. Magic pushing the basketball. Kareem hitting skyhooks. Laker flags. Sports bars. People gathered around televisions. Everyone talking about Boston.

But basketball wasn’t the only thing happening in Southern California.

 

Another Story Was Already Being Written

Richard Ramirez’s crime spree had begun before the Lakers ever reached the 1985 Finals. Authorities would eventually connect him to attacks stretching back before that summer.

But Los Angeles didn’t yet understand what was happening. There wasn’t a famous mugshot on television. There wasn’t a name everybody recognized. There wasn’t yet widespread public knowledge that one predator might be responsible for attacks across Southern California.

There were crime scenes. There were survivors. There were grieving families. And there was a killer moving through the same sprawling metropolitan region where millions of people were going about their lives.

That’s one of the strangest things about history. We remember events separately.

The Lakers’ championship belongs to sports history. Richard Ramirez belongs to true-crime history. But the people living there didn’t experience history in separate categories.

It was all happening around them.

 

June 9: Los Angeles Finally Beats Boston

The Lakers returned to Boston Garden leading the series 3-2.

One more victory. That’s all they needed. Kareem scored 29 points. James Worthy scored 28. Magic Johnson had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists.

Los Angeles won 111-100.

For the first time, the Lakers had defeated the Celtics for an NBA championship. And they did it in Boston. Kareem was named Finals MVP.

Los Angeles had its championship. Two days later, the city celebrated the Lakers with a parade.

This was the Los Angeles America saw. Winning. Showtime. Magic. Kareem. Pat Riley. Hollywood.

But summer wasn’t over. And Southern California was about to become famous for something completely different.

 

From Celebration to Fear

As June became July and July became August, attacks continued. Then the public began understanding the magnitude of what was happening.

On July 20, Max and Lela Kneiding were murdered inside their Glendale home. On August 6, Christopher and Virginia Petersen were shot inside their Northridge home. Both survived. Two days later, Elyas Abowath was murdered in Diamond Bar and his wife was brutally attacked. On August 8, Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block publicly announced that authorities believed a series of killings were connected.

Now Southern California knew.

There was a serial killer among them. And suddenly the mood changed.

The Lakers weren’t playing anymore. There was no Forum crowd to disappear into. No Magic Johnson smile. No championship parade. People were lying in their beds wondering whether their windows were locked.

 

He Destroyed the Feeling That Home Was Safe

That’s what made the Night Stalker different from many predators.

There wasn’t an obvious type of person who could simply tell themselves: He isn’t looking for somebody like me. Ramirez attacked men. Women. Couples. Older people. Different ethnicities. Different communities.

He entered homes. And that changed the psychology of the entire region.

Your home is supposed to be the place where you’re safe. Lock the door. Turn off the television. Go upstairs. Get into bed. Go to sleep.

Ramirez turned that ordinary routine into something frightening.

A noise outside suddenly mattered. A window left open mattered. A dog barking at 3 a.m. mattered.

By the second weekend of August, the Los Angeles Times reported that emergency crime calls had increased more than 15%. Gun stores reported increased business. People were buying locks and security devices. Neighborhoods were watching strangers.

Millions of Southern Californians were learning a new bedtime routine: Check the windows again.

 

Think About How Quickly the City Changed

June: The Lakers are NBA champions. Los Angeles is celebrating.

August: People are afraid to sleep.

That’s barely two months. Same city. Same summer. Completely different emotions.

That’s why 1985 Los Angeles deserves to be remembered as more than another chapter in the history of a serial killer. It was a lesson in how quickly the identity of a city can change.

During the day, Southern California was beaches, sunshine, traffic, celebrities and opportunity. At night, people wondered whether somebody might come through the window.

 

Then Everybody Saw His Face

The investigation eventually produced the break detectives desperately needed.

After an August 25 attack in Mission Viejo, investigators recovered a stolen vehicle connected to the crime. A fingerprint was discovered. It led authorities to a name: Richard Ramirez.

On August 30, authorities released his identity and photograph.

Suddenly the monster wasn’t anonymous anymore. He had a face. And that photograph was everywhere. Newspapers. Television. Police bulletins.

Ramirez returned to Los Angeles from Arizona the following morning. At one point he entered a liquor store. He saw his own face on the front page of a Spanish-language newspaper. Now the Night Stalker was running.

And what happened next feels almost scripted for Hollywood. Except it was real.

 

Los Angeles Caught Him

Ramirez tried to flee through East Los Angeles.

Residents recognized him. People chased him. He attempted to steal vehicles. Residents fought back. Eventually an angry group of citizens surrounded and subdued him before police took him into custody.

The man who had made Southern California afraid inside its own homes had finally encountered a neighborhood that wasn’t running from him.

It was August 31, 1985. The summer was almost over. So was the Night Stalker’s reign of terror.

 

Two Los Angeles Stories

When we look backward, history gets organized.

Sports over here. Crime over there. Entertainment somewhere else. Real life doesn’t work that way.

That’s what makes Los Angeles in 1985 so interesting.

Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were renewing America’s biggest basketball rivalry. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was producing one final reminder of his greatness. Pat Riley’s Showtime Lakers were becoming immortal. Los Angeles finally conquered Boston.

And while one story was becoming part of basketball history, another story was unfolding in bedrooms and neighborhoods across Southern California.

One Los Angeles couldn’t wait for nighttime because that’s when Showtime began. Another would soon become terrified of what might happen after dark.

One story ended with champagne. The other ended with handcuffs.

One gave Los Angeles memories it would celebrate forever. The other gave Southern California memories many people probably wished they could forget.

Same place. Same year. Same summer. Two completely different versions of Los Angeles. That’s what makes the summer of 1985 unforgettable.

Showtime was lighting up Los Angeles.

And somewhere beyond those lights, the Night Stalker was moving through the darkness.