Tijuana is a Wonderland

Thirty Years Ago BOB CLARK: What are you up to? I'm cut off from civilization up here in hicktown with no Reader. "Charlie Mansoneer."

YOU BETTER believe there are real women out here, but you won't find them at Bully's. You might try somewhere else though.

TRUE FRIEND: There seems to be two SBs. I'm one you replied to in 9/15 Reader-- not from El Cajon. I'm SB in PB.

GOLDEN HILL Food Co-op members, we desperately need your help and support. Please work your 3-hour shifts or we will have to fold. -- CLASSIFIEDS, October 6, 1977

Twenty-Five Years Ago Human fetuses regularly are showing up in the city's sewage system. The fetuses have been appearing at the city's two pumping stations on Harbor Drive (one is located near the 32nd Street Naval Station in National City, while the other is just west of Lindbergh Field). -- CITY LIGHTS: "FOUND IN THE SEWERS,"Jeannette De Wyze, October 7, 1982

Twenty Years Ago This is Clinton Beveridge Gary. Sometimes known as the Spaceman of Ocean Beach. I came here to Ocean Beach about April 15, 1963. So I've been here about 25 years, and I've become very popular in that time. I'm a well-known painter, known all over the world, had shows all over the world. When I was young, I was a well-known musician, played in some of the biggest bands of the country. -- "THE SPACEMAN OF O.B. CHECKS IN," Neal Matthews, October 8, 1987

Fifteen Years Ago When I was a boy, Tijuana was a place of magic and wonder, a place of dusty gardens laden with fruit, of pretty women, dogs, food, music. Everywhere you looked, there were secrets and astonishments. And everyone was laughing.The crime writer Ovid Demaris had an early success with a lurid book about Tijuana called Poso del Mundo, The Hole of the World. That pretty much sums up all our feelings about "The Calcutta of the Border." Along with several other writers, I myself have made a certain career lately of exploring the demonic face of Tijuana. But what I never told you about the place is that it was also Wonderland -- my favorite town on earth.

My grandfather was a visionary who came north to Tijuana before I was born. His hope was to establish a commune. They thought to bake health bread to support themselves. Along with this commune, he intended to pursue his explorations into Rosicrucianism and occult science, as well as launching a career as a poet. Nobody is quite clear about why he chose Tijuana, but then, why does anyone choose Tijuana? -- "TIJUANA IS THE HAUNTED CITY," Luis Urrea, October 8, 1992

Ten Years Ago I still have the belt from the kimono I bought the afternoon my father died. For years I'd admired an older friend's blue-and-white silk kimono, which hung on a silver hook in her bathroom. When I borrowed it, I was closer to the woman I wanted to be. Fresh from a shower, hair clipped haphazardly atop my head, kimono belted over damp flesh, I felt more sensual, more possible.Ellen's tone, soft and sad, must have carried more information than what lodges in my memory: "Dad died this afternoon." -- "MOE GREENBERG CAN STILL MAKE ME CRY," Sue Greenberg, October 9, 1997

Five Years Ago Rebecca loves Nickel Creek. We all love Nickel Creek. When our family odyssey into country music began early this year, Nickel Creek was one of the first groups that caught our collective ear. Listening to KSON one morning as I drove my two oldest girls to school, I turned up the volume. "I am a lighthouse worn by the weather and the waves," sang a young man in a clear, high voice. -- KID STUFF: "SINGING BY HEART," Anne Albright, October 3, 2002