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Thirty Years Ago Jane Fonda could in no way duplicate Jon Voight's warmth, nor does she feel the need to. Understandably, she is under pressure. Hayden has spoken to 600 groups since last June. If Fonda appears at even a fraction of these, it must be difficult to answer the same questions again and again and to maintain her poise when people address her as "Jane," and expect her to be informed on such issues as Indo-China, statistics on unemployment, etc. Said she, both as wife and politico, "If the people of California were the jury, Tom would win." -- "POLITICAL GARDEN PARTY," E.J. Rackow, October 16, 1975

Twenty-Five Years Ago It was July 5, 1980, and about 150 people drank and mingled at the Moose Club in Oneida, New York, for the ten-year reunion of the Oneida High School Class of 1970. I had danced a slow dance with my old girlfriend. After graduation she was hired as a file clerk and ten years later had the same job but was divorced, with a two-year-old daughter. I had spoken with the ex-football player I had helped to pass Spanish, now about to get his M.D. degree, the gay entrepreneur and community activist who was most of the way out of the closet in this city of not quite 12,000; and the former majorette who starred in a porno movie I caught at the Guild Theatre in Hillcrest a few years ago. -- "TEN YEARS FROM CLASS," Paul Cleary, October 16, 1980

Twenty Years Ago In the airport bar at Lindbergh Field, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson tossed back the last of his second margarita. He handed the empty glass to a passing waitress and, banging both fists on the cocktail table, let out a belch. "Two hours," he said, "is an awful long time to go without a drink." Thompson's first stop after getting off his United Airlines flight was the airport gift shop. "Is this cool?" he asked, pointing to a black T-shirt bearing the words " San Diego Beach Club." "It's not for me -- it's for my girlfriend, a Persian girl, Maria Kahn, who's 25 and also my manager." Thompson removed the shirt from its rack.

Gladys rang up the sale, but by the time she had finished, Thompson had disappeared; he returned with a " San Diego Beach Club" visor and placed it on the counter along with a hundred-dollar bill. -- "BEDTIME FOR GONZO," Thomas K. Arnold, October 17, 1985

Fifteen Years Ago Director of SDSU's creative writing program, 46-year-old Alcosser came to SDSU in 1986. Alcosser sits at the edge of her chair. She is so delicately boned she seems endangered. A corona of strawberry hair blooms about her face, haloing the wide brow, large hooded hazel eyes, valentine-mouth, small bump of a chin. She wears a blue blouse, beige linen skirt, black shoes, and has a decade-old gray Danish schoolboy bag stuffed with students' poems. -- "WANTING TO WRITE," Judith Moore, October 18, 1990

Ten Years Ago The alternatives were a little tough to swallow at first. Singles Night at Congregation Beth Am. Personal ads. Dating services. Then I discovered the Belly Up Tavern. The club's Sunday night blues parties became the staple of my social diet. I started to feel toward Sunday nights what I imagined my forefathers felt when trudging off to Friday synagogue. -- LOCALS: "MIRACULOUS HEALING AT THE BELLY UP," Scott Herscher, October 12, 1995

Five Years Ago Another recent Ron Roberts donor is listed as Jay Emmett, the Padres boardmember and alleged bag man in New York's famous Westchester Premier theatre mafia case. Back in the 1980s, Emmett copped a plea and testified against his codefendants in federal courts. Today the Manhattan resident is said to be a key point man for the San Diego baseball team and its troubled downtown-stadium deal. -- CITY LIGHTS: "COMPUTER CASH," Matt Potter, October 12, 2000