Thirty Years Ago TO ALL MY male "friends" who stood me up at my stag party (Dennis Johnson excepted): You'll pay for this! Katherine George II.

ANITA. Saw last week's Reader on your desk. Thought you might read the personals. Did I assess the situation properly? CAC Mystery Man.

TO THE BARTENDER with gigantic dimples at Mom's Saloon. The Valentine of the '70s. You're the greatest!

MORENA LAKE fishermen who found and returned my purse May 16th. Many, many thanks. Your honesty and thoughtfulness will be returned to you. Stephanie. -- CLASSIFIEDS, May 26, 1977

Twenty Years Ago David Nuuhiwa. I have never met him, but I have heard his name spoken with respect. I'll tell you when and where. Where the boardwalk in Manhattan Beach jags toward the ocean, at the boundary of Hermosa Beach, I was surfing one June morning in 1965 when a friend paddled up on his noserider and said he had just seen him. Nuuhiwa, he explained, was Hawaiian and was an unbelievable surfer. He said Nuuhiwa despised the ocean in California because it was cold and dirty. He was unimpressed with the waves, which he found to be slow and thin. Anyway, he had just gone into the water for a minute to catch a few waves when I saw him, and he was great. -- "LONGBOARD TIME COMING," Joe Applegate, May 28, 1987

Fifteen Years Ago A bunch of the boys were whooping it up at the Chee-Chee Club saloon the other day. Reason: with the primaries just a few days off, the candidates have finally opened their coffers, and every five minutes a new political spot comes on the tube. Favorite ad at the Chee-Chee is the low-budget video spot a hot-shot New York agency produced for Susan Golding. Susan has a swell new hairdo, and she's lost about 15 pounds over the last year. Only trouble with her new look is that now she looks too young. They remedy this by showing her walking in the park with her two handsome teenage sons. Susan's wearing trousers, and in the distance shot she reveals a pronounced middle-aged spread around the hips. Bingo -- from slim ingénue to well-padded matron! Brilliant.

For the record, the Chee-Chee boys favor Susan 2-to-l. -- "VOICE OF BROADWAY," The Old Flack, May 28, 1992

Ten Years Ago As the nationwide manhunt for Andrew Cunanan grinds on, an almost palpable discomfort is growing in the hills of La Jolla. Not only is Cunanan the son of a Prospect Street stockbroker who purportedly swindled thousands of dollars from his clients, but in newspaper accounts from Houston to Minneapolis, the 26-year-old Bishop's School track star is being linked to some of the village's wealthiest denizens. Many of Cunanan's old friends and acquaintances have fled the city, reportedly because they fear the return of a man suspected of torturing and killing his four victims in a weeklong orgy of terror. -- "LA JOLLA GENTLEMEN AND THE PARTY BOY," Matt Potter, May 22, 1997

Five Years Ago At the restaurant, Ben got worse. We had made reservations for 11:45. When we arrived with five hungry children, the hostess told us our table wouldn't be ready for another half-hour. The four older kids played outside. Ben stood by the restaurant's door and tried to get back inside. When I tried to hold him, he screamed. When I set him down, he threw himself onto the sidewalk at the feet of other diners. When I picked Ben up, he snagged my shirt again. While my mom, the kids, and I had lunch at Mimi's, Jack took Ben across the street to McDonald's. "This is not how I imagined my Mother's Day," I fumed to myself. "Can't we have at least one meal without someone spoiling it?" -- KID STUFF: "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY," Anne Albright, May 23, 2002