Thirty Years Ago These, then, are my top ten movies of 1976, in order of ever more mixed feelings: Claude Sautet's Vincent, Francois, Paul, and the Others, Arturo Ripstein's The Castle of Purity, Hugo Fregonese's La Mala Vida, Claude Lelouch's And Now My Love, Martha Coolidge's Not a Pretty Picture, Charles B. Griffith's Eat My Dust, Don Siegel's The Shootist, Francois Truffaut's The Story of Adele H., Bertrand Tavernier's The Clockmaker of St. Paul, and Alan Pakula's All the President's Men. -- "CRITIC'S CHOICE: TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT," Duncan Shepherd, January 20, 1977

Twenty-Five Years Ago The battle over the stadium name began more than a year ago when Mayor Wilson, appearing during halftime on an ABC Monday Night Football telecast, announced his intention to redesignate the stadium in honor of Murphy. However, the mayor's unilateral proclamation triggered an angry public debate. The question was finally resolved in January of last year when the council compromised and came up with "San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium." -- CITY LIGHTS: "THE SAN DIEGO JACK MURPHY STADIUM CONTROVERSY," Matt Potter, January 14, 1982

Twenty Years Ago Doug ("Dutch") Schultz, the former president of the Hell's Angels in San Diego, was voted out of the local chapter last fall. At the same time, three other members were ousted (or voluntarily retired, depending upon whom you talk to). But Schultz, who is serving a five-year prison term on methamphetamine and related charges, was recently reinstated to the shrinking group of San Diego bikers, according to an agent with the U.S. Marshal's office. The local Hell's Angels had to take him back, the federal agent says, because they unknowingly violated their national charter by expelling an incarcerated member. -- CITY LIGHTS: "ANGEL FEUD," Brae Canlen, January 15, 1987

Fifteen Years Ago A series of freak thunderstorms dumped 56 inches of rain on the San Diego area in early January, destroying thousands of homes in the North Inland area, and washing away most of the 1970s residential community of Rancho Bernardo. The month is already the wettest January on record, and local reservoirs are filled to near-normal levels for the first time in seven years. However, local water experts warn that the drought is not yet over and that water rationing must remain in effect. -- SAN DIEGO CONFIDENTIAL: "JANUARY RAINS WASH AWAY RANCHO BERNARDO," Margot Sheehan, January 16, 1992

Ten Years Ago The lady who lived on Lymer Drive for many years, who was there the afternoon Momo shot Marie and then himself, said that San Diego, for people like herself, changed so much after the war. "It had been a lovely, small town. Then," she said, "people with nothing to lose came out here. They had nothing. All they had to do was pack up a suitcase and button up their coats and come. People who were already here, who had good livings, we just stayed and faced it. But, after the war, it was never the same." -- "HONEST-TO-GOD CROOKS WITH BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS," Judith Moore, January 9, 1997

Five Years Ago As an aside, I should note that I have received occasional complaints from readers about my running down the Chargers over and over again. Personally, I don't care if the organization extorts hundreds of millions of dollars from the good citizens of San Diego in order to build a new-fangled football stadium in which to play eight regular-season games each season. Hell, put in another hot tub for me. If the Chargers can swindle that much money from the tax-paying public after the shoddy product they've put on the field year after year after year, well, that's what made this country great. I would love -- if for no other reason than as a change of pace -- to run up the Chargers. -- SPORTING BOX: "SEEMS WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE," Patrick Daugherty, January 10, 2002