(March 27, 2004) -- Jan Berry of the 1960s duo "Jan and Dean" has died. He would have turned 63 in April. The sad news is via Reuters, below.

Jan and Dean hailed from WLA. Their music and the southland are inseparable.

"Surf City" ("Two girls for every boy"). "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena" ("She's the terror of Colorado Blvd...Go granny, go!"). And in an awful irony, "Dead Man's Curve" ("He passed me at Doheny and I started to swerve.")

Six transistor AM radios blared KFWB and KRLA. There was sand next to Nu Pike...with girls in bikinis on the sand. A vanished world.

Reuters re Jan Berry.

For partner Dean Torrence's eloquent Jan and Dean web site: www.jananddean.com.