San Diego disparate but interesting characters

The short career of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap

It was the following spring that Puckett and his band reached the pinnacle. “Young Girl,” written by Jerry Fuller, was released in February of 1968 and remained at the top of the charts for more than five months, becoming one of the three best-selling songs of that year (along with the Beatles’ “Hey Jude” and Bobby Goldsboro’s melodramatic “Honey”).

By Thomas K. Arnold, Nov. 25, 1981 Read full article

It's curly at the top

“The Afro had died,” Morrow explains. “The people was ready for something new.” Unfortunately, however, the California Curl Company wasn’t ready for the barrage of nationwide orders. Johnson says the major beauty supply companies soon jumped in with their own permanent-wave products for blacks, and Morrow’s firm scrambled to play catch-up.

By Jeannette DeWyze, Oct. 29, 1981 Read full article

Faith, fire, and blood

The news of the burning soon reached the other missions, and was demoralizing to all but Father Serra. On hearing of my death, he threw up his hands and cried, “Thank God! Now the ground has been watered, and the conversion of the Dieguehos will be complete.’’ He rushed to San Diego, as did soldiers from all over the territory.

By Joe Applegate, Oct. 15, 1981 Read full article

Herb Klein — the perfect man for Helen Copley

Gerald Warren, unlike Neil Morgan, is not on the list of close friends Klein named in the preface to his book, and there has been much speculation regarding the three men. For example: Warren cannot get along with Mrs. Copley; Morgan, a social confidant of the publisher, has been constantly undercutting Warren; Klein was brought in because Mrs. Copley felt Warren vacillated too much as a leader of the Union.

By Tom Bourne, Sept. 10, 1981 Read full article

The man who talks with plants

When Science magazine and a number of other respected journals declined to publish the results of Backster’s experiment, the rejection might have forewarned the polygraph expert of what lay ahead. However, he soon found a publisher in the International Journal of Parapsychology. News of Backster’s article came to the attention of the popular press almost immediately, and the reportorial orgy that followed would have distracted anyone from ominous premonitions.

By Jeannette DeWyze, Nov. 24, 1982 Read full article

Kalifornia girls: San Diego's dangerous women

Nicole Murray: “I used to deal with people in a dress. But I have had to become more serious. When AIDS hit, we had to be taken more seriously.” And while his drag persona used to be likened to Raquel Welch, Nicole says he is more often compared with Imelda Marcos and Leona Helmsley these days.

By various authors, Aug. 16, 1990 Read full article