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Thirty Years Ago I PROCLAIM MYSELF chess champion of Solana Beach. Anybody wishing to challenge this claim may do so in a nine game match. Call George.

JANNIE, I love you babe, and I always will, and I can only hope to touch your heart with tenderness and fill it with love.

EVERY LIVING room should have at least one Periodic Table! The Cartoon Eel. -- CLASSIFIEDS, February 24, 1977

Twenty-Five Years Ago Las Colinas Women's Detention Center is located just off Mission Gorge Road in the flatlands of Santee. As I slouched into one of the plastic chairs I noticed that all of them were pitted with cigarette burns. The inmate I was waiting to see was my 19-year-old sister Linda.

She had called me a few days before this visit. She had just run out on the $3000 bail that our mother and stepfather had paid to a bondsman to release her from jail in December of 1980, three months prior to her sentencing date for check forgery. -- "LITTLE SISTER, BIG TROUBLE," Renee Prince, February 25, 1982

Twenty Years Ago The Zendik Farm Arts Cooperative is a hippie Utopia that occupies seventy-five acres of land in the East County mountain town of Boulevard. Until recently, the Zendiks have kept to themselves. Founded in 1969 by Wulf Zendik, a former beat poet, jazz drummer, and stunt pilot, the commune currently consists of thirty-five members who live in tents, trailers, and sheds that they fixed up or constructed from scratch. Their music and art are improvisational; their children are reared communally instead of by their parents. -- CITY LIGHTS: "THE ZENDIKS," Thomas K. Arnold, February 26, 1987

Fifteen Years Ago The Magic of the Mt. Soledad Cross Can Now Be Yours! For centuries, or a generation anyway, hordes of tourists and bored commuters have glanced at the legendary Cross of Mt. Soledad and wondered what it all meant.

We're sure you'll want a sliver of this mysterious thing to pass on to your grandchildren. Each piece measures 1" by 1/16" and is accompanied by a notarized Certificate of Authenticity. Slivers are available either plain ($25 each/12 for $275) or permanently encased in two-inch Lucite cube ($50/12 for $550). -- ADVERTISEMENT, February 27, 1992

Ten Years Ago Very little that I write about the new Wolfgang Puck Café in Mission Valley will have any impact on its future. Why? Because Puck is a superstar among restaurateurs. His first Los Angeles restaurant, Spago, brought him instant fame with its clientele of movie and television hotshots. Puck is a true charmer. Several years ago he came to San Diego to publicize a video of his Spago recipes. He was staying at a Sheraton hotel, but because I couldn't reach it easily, he checked into the La Valencia in La Jolla. Even as recently as January 16, when we did a phone interview, he took his time, never rushed me, and in spite of the continuous roar from his café, he answered my questions attentively. -- "LIKE A SPORTS BAR WITH CONFETTI,"Eleanor Widmer, February 20, 1997

Five Years Ago Eighth District San Diego city councilman Ralph Inzunza, running for re-election next month, has been repeatedly wined and dined by some of the Union-Tribune 's top reporters and columnists, according to his recently filed financial disclosure report. Last May 3, Inzunza reports, he was treated to a $21 lunch by reporter Caitlin Rother. On May 22, he had another $21 lunch with reporter Jennifer Vigil. Then in July, he sat down to another $21 lunch courtesy of the U-T with editorial writer Bob Kittle. In August, it was a $21 lunch with real estate writer Roger Showley, and in September, he had a $17 lunch with columnist Neil Morgan. -- CITY LIGHTS: "LUNCH BUNCH," Matt Potter, February 21, 2002