San Diego short takes from 1976 and 1977

Pete Wilson's aides, pro-development Lee Hubbard, the early Roger Hedgecock, anti-Communist siren Ann Watson

Author

By Matt Potter, Jeannette DeWyze, Paul Krueger, Richard Louv

Publish Date

March 13, 2022

San Diego Transit increased its fares to thirty-five cents; express buses went to fifty cents.

Growing, growing, gone (part of 1977 in review)

Hahn's December announcement that Buffums and Montgomery Ward were interested in the downtown shopping center seemed, in the minds of many, to be closely linked to Hahn’s interest in Carmel Mountain. (If Buffums was guaranteed a spot in University Towne Centre, according to Hahn, they would agree to venture downtown.

By Matt Potter, Dec. 15, 1977 Read full article

Conversations I wish I'd overheard this year (Rick Geary)

1976 in Review

It was a younger Councilwoman Maureen O’Connor who supported making Council a full-time job. But now we find a more mature woman stricken with wanderlust. She vacationed for several weeks this summer, and then during the week of October 27th she was again absent from Council duties. No one knows where she was, not even her staff, and she never formally requested time off.

All the mayor's men

"I had run the campaign at night and had the Assembly work during the daytime. We hadn't had too tough of campaign. We’d won with 75 percent of the vote or something outrageous. even though there were more Democrats than Republicans in the district."

By Paul Krueger and Richard Louv, July 14, 1977 Read full article

Lee Hubbard: “Dad always talked about property rights." (Ian Dryden)

Thorn in the mayor's side

When Hubbard and Wilson squared off in the 1974 mayoral campaign. Hubbard's big donors were land developers. construction engineers, realtors, building material suppliers, and builders: Wilson's contributors were primarily business and professional people, particularly lawyers, doctors, and retired people.

By Richard Louv, Feb. 17, 1977 Read full article

Aide Dan Kelly, Roger Hedgecock, Carl Ludlow (Ian Dryden)

When Roger Hedgecock was a kid politician

“I arranged concerts around the state for Jimi Hendrix, Quicksilver, the Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Buffy St. Marie, Ray Charles, Jim Morrison and the Doors—all the San Francisco bands."

By Richard Louv and Paul Krueger, Aug. 25, 1977 Read full article

Ann Watson takes a shortwave radio to bed with her in order to catch Radio Moscow. (Robert Burroughs)

Ann Watson is here to wake San Diego up

“Before I could even get into my speech, the Chicanos started chanting, along with the women’s libbers, who were mostly ugly and who wore no bras, which was the first thing I noticed about them. And the blacks were screaming, saying they were being mistreated and they lived in ghettos."

By Jeannette DeWyze, Dec. 22, 1977 Read full article