The Archive

Fifty years of stories, already written

Before the book, there was the archive — eighteen memoir stories Doug published at dougkriegel.com, presented here in his own order, in his own words. Every one is free to read at the original site. Start anywhere; they all sound like the man telling them at the kitchen table.

From Doug’s Collection

The photos

The park, the aisle, and the newsroom years — from Doug’s own collection.

The Story Archive

The eighteen stories

From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

What I’m Working On Now

I’m working on a documentary titled “The Financial Abuse of Older People.” It still surprises me that so many Americans, after a lifetime of work, are cheated out of their life savings. Here’s part of the story I’m building.

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

Showers for Those Without Homes

The homeless situation in Los Angeles has actually gotten worse since I did a story on it for PBS SoCal. Every day in parts of the city, a truck that serves as a bathroom on wheels drives around to a different neighborhood…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

When the Twin Towers Came Down

On September 11th, 2001, I was vacationing at my sister’s place on Long Island about 110 miles from New York City. Just as I was getting ready to play golf with my brother-in-law, my sister came rushing into the kitchen and…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

The Dodger Hurler Who Fought for a Hotel Room

I’ve been connected to the Dodgers baseball team ever since I grew up living a couple of blocks from Ebbets Field where the Brooklyn Dodgers played their games. One of my freelance stories involved Don Newcombe, who was one…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

Hawking Hot Dogs

My first actual job at age 15, in 1955, was selling hot dogs at Brooklyn Dodger games. One day I was chased out of the ball park by one of the Dodger pitchers, Roger Craig, who was pissed at me for the wrong reasons. It’s a…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

What’s Wrong with This Picture?

This was the first newsroom where I worked as a TV reporter, KXTV Sacramento. There was one woman on the reporting staff, a former Miss Texas. But she worked strictly on the Noon News Show which targeted housewives. This…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

Michael Jackson and the $50,000 Paparazzi Photos

My station in Los Angeles sent us to Las Vegas in 2005 to see if we could locate Michael Jackson, who was about to be charged with sexual abuse in California. We never did find Jackson, but a paparazzi photographer managed…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

Anchorman Kidnapped

At my station in Sacramento, the popular news anchorman Dick Cable was kidnapped by one of his fans. The news director who engineered this fiasco was Tom Capra, son of famed Hollywood film director Frank Capra. Here’s what…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

The Sad Tale of a Friend Who Wanted to Do Some Good

One of my reporter friends at the Sacramento station was Mike Prokes, a quiet and intense guy who grew up in California’s fertile Central Valley. We often went skiing together at nearby Lake Tahoe. Mike was the Modesto…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

LA Legends – Langer’s Deli

There’s been a steady decline in the number of kosher-style delis in Los Angeles. Even though pastrami and corned beef sandwiches are delicious, they’re not considered the kind of healthy food which has become popular.…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

TV News History

Here’s a video story that looked back at a portion of TV News history in Los Angeles. It aired on my PBS SoCal show, the “Drive-By Economist.”

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

Goodbye, KNBC

I spent 31 years working for the NBC station in Los Angeles. They sent me many places to cover news stories, it was often interesting and exciting. Covered some big stories and won some awards. Then one day my boss invited…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

US Marines

Joined the Marines when I was 18 and it changed my life in a positive way. My life needed changing. I was a below average student in high school, flunked out of college in one semester and after going to work for my father…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

Inside The Newsroom Stuff

The unsettling part of the L.A. Riots in 1992 was that people were firing shots randomly all over the place. Some TV stations issued bullet proof vests to staffers who were working in the streets of South Central Los…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

First Entry-level Job

Spent ten months earning a Master’s Degree in Journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. I was exposed to a faculty of veteran journalists and it was a valuable experience. One month before…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

LA Legends – Remembering Vin Scully

Vin Scully has earned a place in the pantheon of great American storytellers that includes Mark Twain and Will Rogers. Scully’s art was so much more than the 67 years he spent broadcasting Dodger baseball games,first in…

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

One Dribble At A Time

My final story for Spectrum News One in Los Angeles before the pandemic involved a unique guy at the beach in Venice who is trying to make the world safe for basketball.

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From his memoir · dougkriegel.com

Immigrant Nail Salons

Immigration has become a hot button issue the past couple of years. Still, this story shows how much hard-working immigrants can contribute, especially with a little help from their friends. From the Drive-By Economist…

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That is the full shelf — all eighteen stories, free in full at Doug’s own site.

Visit dougkriegel.com

Still Filing, Every Week

818 News Diary

The book is Brooklyn. The day job is the San Fernando Valley: development fights, beloved delis closing, neighborhoods changing — reported by the man who has covered the Valley for five decades. Hundreds of subscribers read it every week.

Read 818 News Diary

And on Substack

TV News Diary

Twelve stories from the craft itself — the newsroom years, the Dodgers history, the deli files — published on Substack — including the book’s opening pages, “Hot Dog Days at Brooklyn Dodger Games” (Oct 2024), free to read there now.

Visit the Substack