Many mayors of Los Angeles have reacted furiously to their coverage in this newspaper. Richard J. Riordan may be the only one to retaliate with a satirical essay aimed at one of his tormentors: me.

The trigger was a fake Page One, a tradition among journalists and one established before my (relatively short-lived) departure from The Times in 2015. The former mayor wrote his piece in the fake Times as a rebuttal after I had a review published his 2014 memoir.

Riordan’s short essay suggested that he had considered working with me

though hey

wasn’t sure it was a good idea because Rainey is used to writing fiction. He also poked fun at his own charity (a philanthropist is one who lets his self-aggrandizement overcome his greed) and suggested that the two of us

power

settle our differences in a duel at dawn.

Riordan said he was offered and accepted the antique pistol once used by Aaron Burr. He suggested that I be armed with Alexander Hamilton’s weapon.

. . . .

If you know your history (or have seen the musical

Hamilton

), you know that

the

The confrontation in the 19th century did not work out well for Mr. Hamilton.

The essay distilled our city’s 39th mayor who died Wednesday at

age

92 and his sometimes challenging relationship with the media. Dick Riordan could be combative and wry, unyielding and vulnerable. He tried and often succeeded

to give to give

A happy warrior he left the field of play with a smile on his face.

I covered Riordan’s campaign for mayor in 1993 and his early years in office. After a lifetime in business, the mayor took office at age 63, retirement age for many. He never fully mastered the levers of government, nor did he show that he understood the necessary boundary between the press and the people and institutions we report on.

When he campaigned for re-election in 1997,

I went to cover for Riordan as he took part in an alley cleanup in South Los Angeles

during his 1997 re-election campaign

. The event flared up again

firework

Feud between Riordan and Councilor Rita Walters, who represented many of the neighborhoods south of the 10 Freeway.

The mayor and Walters exchanged rhetorical potshots. But what

stays with me from that day on. I remember the most

is how Riordan seemed most animated

that day

by the news that I bought my first house. He started by offering mortgage buying advice, scrolling through a series of numbers and loan options. I tried to make it clear that I couldn’t take financial advice from someone I covered. Riordan,

looking

stunned, just shrugged and turned his attention

back

to others at the event.

Earlier in

Riordan is his

Times columnist Bill Boyarsky hitched a ride with his tenure

he the mayor

to an event. When a woman asked about it

the mayor Riordan

for his autograph he reflexively handed over his cup of coffee to the

nearest

person

who is closest to him. That

happened to be the veteran journalist.

He goes through life with someone at his side holding his coffee or his coat, Boyarsky wrote. Coincidentally, I was sitting in the gofers seat. Nothing personal. It’s just the way the very rich and powerful are different.

The columnist suggested that Riordan should develop a more casual touch to get the most out of his work. A few days later at City Hall for a press conference, Riordan arranged a prank in which (as I recall) he was left with Council President John Ferraro’s cup of coffee.

After Riordan’s death this week, Boyarsky recalled their frequent jousting.

We argued a lot. It was for men, Boyarsky wrote in an email. Neither of us liked going backwards.

One exception was during a rough wildfire season, when Riordan credited the Los Angeles City Fire Department

with front

save many neighborhoods. Boyarsky wrote that

How

the comment showed that Riordan did not understand mutual aid,

if and that

many other fire departments had helped LA

crew firefighters

during the crisis.

When his phone rang the next morning, the

Time

columnist expected another volley from the mayor. Instead, Riordan admitted, you were right. Said Boyarsky: I was surprised and pleased.

Riordan and his team tried to attract many in the media. The mayor played chess with Times reporter and editor Jim Newton. He started a book club with our Patt Morrison. Another reporter recalled getting special insights into Riordan’s efforts to reform public schools while on a hike in the Santa Monica Mountains when

the mayor Riordan

invited his ally, billionaire Eli Broad.

Several of us played basketball games with the mayor and future elected officials, including Eric Garcetti.

Riordan The mayor

was more prone to fouls than scoring points during those matches, but his feeling was that a little rough competition could bring rivals closer.

Newton recalled this week that Riordan would routinely beat him at chess. Hi

So

remembered the mayor as yelling at him more than maybe

j

other civil servant he dealt with during a long career at The Times. (Although he also remembered the multimillionaire businessman as someone who moved on quickly.)

Riordan was so skeptical of journalism in general, and The Times in particular, that he planned to launch his own newspaper, the Examiner. He claimed his newscast would be more locally focused and

are

more centrist than The Times, which the Republican businessman said had become too liberal.

“What I’d like to do is get a newspaper that’s LA-centered, as opposed to the Los Angeles Times, which is increasingly drifting away from what the city is about,” Riordan told the Christian Science Monitor. “Secondly, I’d like to have a paper that’s pro-honest, where reporters get their [own] ideology unless they can prove what they say is right.”

The Examiner never got off the ground, at least in part because Riordan was busy with a new venture after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named him California in 2003

S

Secretary of Education.

He didn’t mean Riordan’s contempt for the city’s main news outlet

didn’t have no

respect

for

some of his journalists.

Newton remembered going for a walk with

Riordanthe mayor

outside City Hall, as the mayor neared a final pick between two candidates to replace outgoing police chief Willie L. Williams. While discussing the finalists, Riordan suddenly asked the journalist: Well, which one would you choose?

Newton

told remembered telling

Riordan that it would not be appropriate for him to give advice as his job required him to be an independent arbitrator and not an associate.

I don’t think he was manipulative, Newton

remembered said

. I just think it was his genuine instinct to wonder what I was thinking.

Years after leaving office, Riordan kept up with several journalists and remained fascinated with the newspaper in his hometown.

In 2015, The Times reduced its editorial staff by about 100 through a buyout. When Riordan learned that the company was not planning a farewell party, he promptly offered to throw one

go away

shindig at his home in Brentwood.

Riordan had fought against the newspaper for years. He had suggested that he could do better himself. But for one night in early 2016, dozens of us feasted on Mexican food and received a toast from the former mayor.

Riordan understood what our first owners were

departed now,

not: we all had skirmishes in the arena, but there was no reason we couldn’t celebrate the important role of independent media. And our friendly struggle.