back when

Thirty Years Ago THIS EERIE MALE still playing long shots, nevertheless would like an eerie female around the house. Special inducement, summer trip to Lake Erie. Truman. -- CLASSIFIEDS: June 26, 1975

Twenty-Five Years Ago Cuchama stands somewhat rugged and forbidding on the boulder-strewn line of the international boundary. However, Indians (Diegueños, Luiseños, and Cochomis) used it in secret initiation rites long before the white man arrived.... In the early years of this century, Dr. Walter Evans-Wentz, pioneer editor/translator of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, discovered the spiritual power of this mountain while horseback riding. It impressed him enough that over the years he bought approximately 3000 acres here. For the last 25 years of his life, Evans-Wentz divided his time between the Keystone Hotel on Tenth Avenue in downtown San Diego and Cuchama. He stayed in a small wooden house on the lower slopes during his meditation retreats and practiced the Dharma, the Buddhist "way of truth." -- "THE MAN WHO BOUGHT CUCHAMA," Ken Winkler, June 26, 1980

Twenty Years Ago Mitrovitch says he has his attorney examining the book [Captain Money and the Golden Girl]. "There is no question this does damage to me," he asserts. "It's wounding to me. For twelve years I've devoted a great deal of time and energy to this city. I don't know what Don Bauder has done for the city." Mitrovitch, whom Bauder seems to disdain even more than he does Dominelli, naturally disputes his portrayal in the book. "He stuck it to me in every way he possibly could," complains the founder of the City Club, a renowned speakers forum. -- "PRESS RUN," Neal Matthews, June 27, 1985

Fifteen Years Ago Dirty Dan's Pure Platinum, located in Oceanside, Kearny Mesa, and on Pacific Highway, takes credit for bringing table dancing to San Diego. It is touted as the latest in erotic entertainment, a new twist that will make the customers happy and the dancers rich. "Table dancing is the key to making money at our clubs," states the entertainers' manual at Dirty Dan's. "The concept is that if [the customer] wants to enjoy your company, he needs to ask you to table dance at least every couple of songs or he knows you won't stick around. -- CITY LIGHTS: "GET YOUR FEET ON THE TABLE," Brae Canlen, June 28, 1990

Ten Years Ago Bryan, by virtue of his own years, is the patriarch of the San Diego gothic scene. His club, Therapy, is the center of the 21-and-older Gothic crowd. Same sort of scene. Black and throbbing. Except there are more moving lights. Colored strobes, a siren. Smoke billows over the dance floor, and all you catch are brief glimpses of slither. Every now and then a full body emerges. One of the girls catches my eye and I stare. I stare like staring will win me the lottery. She's wearing these knee-high patent leather stiletto heels and a tutu dress, curls bouncing, shoulders swinging, hips swinging, no, singing, whatever, it's something else. -- MUSIC SCENE: "MY HOME IS THE CATACOMBS," J. Cody Petterson, June 22, 1995

Five Years Ago Dahlia was an old friend of my family's. She'd encouraged my parents to send me to school overseas, and when they balked, she underwrote my education. She pushed me out into the world. She also sent me spending money. Addressed in a flowery old-fashioned cursive, the envelopes contained $50. "Go buy yourself some underwear and socks," her notes said. Or, "Go get yourself a haircut. You probably look like a wild animal." She also gave me my first taste of Château d'Yquem, there in her living room with its big fireplace, big couches, and big black standard poodle named Cocoa. Dahlia liked me, I think, because I listened to her stories about the war, how her family had escaped Lithuania. "The only good thing about the Russians," she told me, "was when they marched in, they were real bastards. They were drunk and they were violent. You knew what they were up to. The Nazis, well, at first they were polite." -- TIP OF MY TONGUE: "WINE," Max Nash, June 22, 2000