Stories | Back When
1978, Year in Review
Published Dec. 17, 2008
Thirty Years AgoReal estate has been very high for the past 28 months, but if you had bought on the coastline early this year, you would have an irreplaceable resource. Also, getting into an apartment for ...
Poetry's Big Daddy
Published Dec. 10, 2008
Thirty Years AgoVictorian melodrama, on the other hand, does not lie high on anybody’s list of significant art. It is not even a current art, one worth attacking in order to raise the quality of ...
A World Full of Wormboys
Published Dec. 3, 2008
Thirty Years AgoI was astounded (but somehow, not surprised) to read of the $3 million suit being filed against your paper by Ted Giannoulas, the KGB Chicken, over a personal ad that appeared a year ...
Stoning the Border Patrol Published Nov. 25, 2008
Thirty Years AgoIn the incessant border skirmishes between illegal Mexican immigrants and the Border Patrol, a new battle has developed in the last few months. ... More Comment (1)
Just Desserts Published Nov. 19, 2008
Thirty Years AgoI couldn’t help but smirk when reading about the Second Annual Eleanor’s Edibles Contest. If the first prize is dinner with Eleanor Widmer ... More Post a comment
Tarawa Published Nov. 12, 2008
Thirty Years AgoSILHOUETTE, how about the little park by the ocean in La Jolla Sunday afternoon. Quiet Man. PYTHON FANS: Does anyone know the number ... More Comment (1)
Prize Package Published Nov. 5, 2008
Thirty Years AgoSo why does a glance at the front page of the San Diego Union’s Flight 182 “memorial edition” elicit a shiver? “If my ... More Post a comment
Don't Shoot Published Oct. 29, 2008
Thirty Years AgoThe final indignity, scratched by some nitwit on the exact spot where PSA Flight 182 crashed, is this: PSA 128. Leiserson, a photographer ... More Post a comment
River Run Published Oct. 22, 2008
Thirty Years AgoOn this hot morning in May, as I load up my old battered red backpack at the Inaja Memorial Picnic Ground and prepare ... More Post a comment
More On Moron Published Oct. 15, 2008
Thirty Years AgoI would like to reply to the letter “A Moron Lovely As A Tree,” October 5. First of all, you should pay no ... More Post a comment
Eating People Is the Ultimate Control Published Oct. 8, 2008
Thirty Years AgoTO RELATIVES of PSA-Cessna crash: Do you want the truth, the facts? Write J.P., P.O. Box 9224, San Diego 92109. PHOENIX SUNSHINE: I’m ... More Post a comment
Book Him Published Oct. 1, 2008
Thirty Years AgoThe lobby of the downtown library, normally not the scene of high drama, was the arena for some cops-and-robbers-style action last Wednesday at ... More Post a comment
Purple Prose Published Sept. 24, 2008
Thirty Years AgoMy former colleague, Jonathan Saville, has the town abuzz with his “review” of Shange’s For Colored Girls. I found both the poetry and ... More Post a comment
Cunanan's Last Laugh Published Sept. 17, 2008
Thirty Years AgoMany years before For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf appeared at San Diego’s Fox Theatre, a little ... More Post a comment
The Growl of Bulldozers Is the Sound of Money Published Sept. 10, 2008
Thirty Years AgoFREDDIE FREAK. Didn’t you believe me when I said I met Eddie at Parkway Plaza? If I didn’t I got the next best ... More Post a comment
The White Mask Published Sept. 3, 2008
Thirty Years AgoMoving through the shadows along Fourth Avenue is a man who appears to be another holdover from last night’s revelry. But as he ... More Post a comment
It's My Party Published Aug. 27, 2008
Thirty Years AgoMao Tse-tung, chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, will be dead exactly two years September 9. The only major confrontation the Mao Memorial ... More Post a comment
Less Is Morey Published Aug. 20, 2008
Thirty Years Ago“I came across polyethylene foam in the 1960s,” he told me recently. “But it took a long time to turn it into something ... More Post a comment
Josie Scripps Published Aug. 13, 2008
Thirty Years Ago Josephine Scripps, probably the most eccentric living member of the Scripps clan, was coming out of the Natural History Museum one night ... More Post a comment
Let's Get This Straight Published Aug. 6, 2008
Thirty Years AgoThree weeks ago The Unhappy Gays — the 12th book written by Reverend Tim LaHaye, president of Christian Heritage College in El Cajon ... More Post a comment
A Bump on the Head Published July 30, 2008
Thirty Years AgoLocal homeowners and their families know all about the prestige of living near the foot of Nautilus Street. Here is the spot where ... More Post a comment
Bury Me Near the 15th Tee Published July 23, 2008
Thirty Years AgoIn ironic contrast, I find the embarrassing effort at achieving intellectualism exhibited by Duncan Shepherd in his film reviews distasteful and a real ... More Post a comment
Back When Published July 16, 2008
Thirty Years AgoEleanor Widmer’s article about Michael Copley was the most compelling reading to be seen in the Reader in many long months. My congratulations ... More Post a comment
Locked Up and Let Loose Published July 9, 2008
Thirty Years Ago Neddy Massaro’s jail is the best in San Diego. She lives on the tenth floor of the sleek Metropolitan Correctional Center, the ... More Post a comment
Let It Be Me Published July 2, 2008
Thirty Years AgoOne of the most fascinating aspects of interviewing Michael Copley is that despite his best efforts, there exist questions about his past which ... More Post a comment
San Diego's Least Remembered Great Man Published June 25, 2008
Thirty Years AgoOf Big Wednesday I have heard almost nothing good. My sources range from a Warner Brothers studio insider who rather traitorously has nicknamed ... More Post a comment
A Pinch of Porn Published June 18, 2008
Thirty Years Ago“Larry was so nice at first,” Mary sighed, recalling the nights she had spent in his warm embrace. “But then he started getting ... More Post a comment
A Few More Seats. A Lot More Money Published June 11, 2008
Thirty Years AgoIt grieves me that my first letter to the Reader should be in criticism of my favorite columnist, Eleanor Widmer. In writing about ... More Comment (1)
Stuff It Published June 4, 2008
Thirty Years AgoIn a little under nine hours Eichberger takes a dead bird from a clear plastic bag, does things to it that would be ... More Post a comment
Another Opening of Another Show Published May 28, 2008
Thirty Years AgoDear Matthew Alice:With the biggest proposition in years coming to the vote June 6, I’m completely bewildered over what could, should, or would ... More Post a comment
Pecking Order Published May 21, 2008
Thirty Years AgoThe sport survives around here — in Escondido, Solana Beach, Harbison Canyon, La Mesa, San Marcos, and Eden Gardens — but that kind ... More Post a comment
Did Somebody Call a Cab? Published May 14, 2008
Thirty Years Ago“Got a bell at Palm and Kettner. Anybody for Palm and Kettner?” The call means someone at that corner has telephoned for a ... More Post a comment
I Could Have Just Screamed Published May 7, 2008
Thirty Years AgoWhen Weird Marvin screams, he means business. He says he once screamed from the top of Mount Helix and a friend over on ... More Post a comment
The Grim Woozies Published April 30, 2008
Thirty Years AgoJack Ford, son of the former president, will soon make his home in San Diego. The 26-year-old Ford, who first visited San Diego ... More Post a comment
Triumph of Hope Over Experience Published April 23, 2008
Thirty Years Ago1. Why do you buy ink especially designed to come off all over me? I have to be careful not to read your ... More Post a comment
San Diego Confidential Published April 16, 2008
Thirty Years AgoThe cypress trees remain. So do the eucalyptus, pine, and groves of pepper trees. They are memorials to people who turned a dusty, ... More Post a comment
Love Is the Drug Published April 9, 2008
Thirty Years AgoSunday morning in the little desert pit stop of Burro Bend. Everything’s quiet. The sun has just risen over the Salton Sea; in ... More Post a comment
Radio Blabbermouth Published April 2, 2008
Thirty Years AgoThank you for your article on our boss, Lowell Blankfort (“Press Passes,” March 30). We commend Paul Krueger’s skill in capturing the personality ... More Post a comment
Roger Revisited Published March 26, 2008
Thirty Years AgoA former alcoholic, Sister Winnie first immersed herself in rescue work 28 years ago when she took over the city’s oldest such haven ... More Post a comment
Hog Luv Published March 19, 2008
Thirty Years AgoLarry Remer’s first fundraiser for his weekly newspaper, Newsline, held in the stately Mission Hills home of Janed Casady, rallied 150 fellow liberals ... More Post a comment
A Quiet Street and an Old Hotel Published March 12, 2008
Thirty Years Ago“Jacumba Hotel, Ida here.” “Hello, I’d like a reservation for this weekend.” “Sorry, honey, we’re filled up. We’ve got two groups coming in ... More Post a comment
End Without End Published March 5, 2008
Thirty Years AgoSunday, country music figurehead Johnny Cash makes his annual visit to San Diego at the Civic Theatre with his perennial partners, June Carter ... More Post a comment
Winter Storm Published Feb. 27, 2008
Thirty Years AgoWhile I have permitted myself, the last week or two, to become hopelessly tangled up in writing about, or trying to, Wim Wenders’s ... More Post a comment
What Made Them Kill Published Feb. 20, 2008
Thirty Years AgoIt’s 1:30 a.m. Standing beside a pair of pay phones and a silver train of piggybacked carts, you figure you’re ready for Mayfair ... More Post a comment
San Diego Confidential Published Feb. 13, 2008
Thirty Years AgoDear Matthew Alice:How did the word “pot” come to stand for marijuana? Does it have anything to do with the old joke about ... More Post a comment
Fifty Miles of River Published Feb. 6, 2008
Thirty Years AgoI would not complain that Jeannette De Wyze’s story on nudists (“What You See,” February 2) was completely one-sided. But still, De Wyze ... More Post a comment
The Doctor Is Dead Published Jan. 30, 2008
Thirty Years AgoEver since the Ocean Beach Planning Board has begun recommending how the beach community should grow, they have given fast-food franchises a cold ... More Post a comment
Mananimal Published Jan. 23, 2008
Thirty Years Ago Dear Jonathan Saville: I have read all your reviews since you began writing for the Reader, and I have hated them all. ... More Post a comment
Lakeside's Big Man Published Jan. 16, 2008
Thirty Years AgoBallard Smith, executive vice president of the San Diego Padres, had a terrible day at city hall last week. Councilman Larry Stirling called ... More Post a comment
Duncan Hates Movies Published Jan. 9, 2008
Thirty Years Ago Soon I will join the bulk of you in the suburbs. I can hardly wait. In my mind is a vision of ... More Post a comment
Mr. San Diego, Convoy, DUI Published Jan. 2, 2008
Fifteen Years Ago The death of shopping center czar Ernest Hahn last week got plenty of coverage in the San Diego Union-Tribune. There were three ... More Post a comment
Classifeds to Christmas Tree Fires Published Dec. 20, 2007
Thirty Years Ago DENISE: How about going cruising sometime on ATCs?! We can go pick up Mike & Scott. I can dig it!! (Crown Point) ... More Post a comment
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