Nuts to Suites

Thirty Years Ago
BOSK - Compt-troller is functioning perfectly, War Tarn is no traitor. Need to send written communication, Reader is too confining. Say Where. Your Brother Misk.

STEVE & STEVE at State Square Pan on November 3 - What happened to Rick? Hope you got home okay! 4 Ski Bums DEKM.

RACINE SKIER: What do you think of the three CrowMen in La Jolla? They’re not scoring any points, are they? HI IM GR.

KIM, Price Club checker. You’re one of the most lovely, sexy, sophisticated, alluring girls I’ve ever seen. Just wanted to let you know! Wholesale Member.
— CLASSIFIEDS, November 15, 1979

Twenty-Five Years Ago
To say the scene at Election Central this past election day was organized chaos would be kind: there was nothing organized about it. Held at the Holiday Inn Embarcadero, the County Registrar of Voters’ annual bash for the media, candidates, and politically inspired public — who gather to mingle while obtaining the latest vote tallies — was so overcrowded this year that Mayor Hedgecock lambasted conditions on a television interview, and city councilman Mike Gotch insists, “Ain’t no way there will ever be an Election Central at the Holiday Inn again.”
— CITY LIGHTS: “NUTS TO SUITES,” Thomas K. Arnold, November 15, 1984

Twenty Years Ago
DENISE V.: please call me. I’m getting married. Your sister, Christy.

DUN: working through hard times brings people even closer together. Thanks for working. “L” word Borrego Bound Beauty.

EARTH MUFFIN: imagine Bryan Ferry blaring (I’d sing along, but my voice cracks). The dog sleeping. I listen to you breathe. If I make you breakfast, will you always be mine? Laidlaw hath no end. Yours.

REMEMBER OAXACA? The radish festival? The bug bed? The killer cactus? Remember cheese, chicken, crackers, and Corona? You should. Let’s do it again, Banana.
— CLASSIFIEDS, November 16, 1989

Fifteen Years Ago
Mrs. Frederick brought one of two dishes to our church potluck. They were spoken of as “Mrs. Frederick’s famous Swedish meatballs” and “Mrs. Frederick’s famous sweet-and-sour pork-u-pines.” The pork-u-pines’ “pines” or “quills” were rice Mrs. Frederick blended into ground pork. As the pork cooked, fat melted; pork shrank away from the rice, which left rice grains sticking out of the meatballs. For serving, Mrs. Frederick nestled her pork-u-pines shoulder-to-shoulder in baking pans, where the little meatballs looked, as Calvary Episcopal ladies were wont to say, “for all the world like baby porcupines.”
— “SWEET-AND-SOUR-PORK-U-PINES, FROSTED LIME-WALNUT JELLO, HAWAII LUAU BAKE, TUNA AND POTATO CHIP LOAF,” Judith Moore, November 10, 1994

Ten Years Ago
Well-heeled San Diegans continue to give generously to their political causes of choice in the months leading up to election year 2000. The Union- Tribune’s David Copley has given $1000 to Congressman Brian Bilbray. Downtown steakhouse owner Laurel Rainwater also gave Bilbray $1000. Controversial port commissioner David Malcolm has contributed $1000 to the reelection campaign of Redlands Republican congressman Jerry Lewis, a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Fat-loss queen Jenny Craig kicked in $1000 to the Northern Lights Political Action Committee, run by Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Ted Stevens of Alaska. Her husband, Sid, gave $1000 to George W. Bush’s presidential campaign, as did radio talk-show host and ex–San Diego mayor Roger Hedgecock and wife Cindy, who gave a combined $2000.
— CITY LIGHTS: “FAT AND LEAN,” Matt Potter, November 11, 1999

Five Years Ago
The U-T could find no consolation for its electoral defeats in the latest readership numbers released this month by the Audit Bureau of Circulation. Daily circulation fell 3.7 percent to 339,032. Sunday was down 2.9 percent to 433,973. That inspired a gloating story in the North County Times, which reported that its own circulation “leapt” 2.5 percent on Sundays and .9 percent daily.
— CITY LIGHTS: “LAST STANDS,” Matt Potter, November 11, 2004