Island Court roommates turn dog abusers

Surfer Motel feud kills security guard, baseball card zealots, the early trolleys of San Diego, Mission Beach in the winter, the end of Mission Hills' Hillside Colony

Author

By Mark Orwoll, Larry Keller, Gordon Smith

Publish Date

Oct. 2, 2022

The Clairemont family that owned it was giving it away for free. (Catherine Kanner)

A sad Mission Beach dog story

The old woman who owned the apartment building did not know enough to kick out her tenants in the summer, jack up the rent, and lease the apartments to vacationers from Arizona, so last summer the four boys were able to live in their beachfront flat for a relatively minor charge of $500 a month, split four ways. It was quite an idyllic existence.

By Mark Orwoll, Feb. 19, 1981 Read full story

The Surfer Motel stands on the boardwalk of Pacific Beach, where Pacific Beach Drive intersects with the shoreline. (Jim Coit photo, David Diaz collage)

PB's Surfer Motel attacked, guard killed

Russell checked into Centre City Hospital that week. He told doctors about the Mace and the carbon dioxide, that he had been losing weight since the battle, and that he vomited when he tried to eat anything. He still had the chills and the sweats. There had been intermittent headaches, too. Following his admission to the hospital, x-rays showed a developing pneumonia on his left side.

The obsession and business of baseball cards

According to local collector Walter Evans and others, baseball cards soared in value in the last few years, and only in recent months have prices stabilized somewhat. As word has spread that the cards are valuable (a Topps 1952 Mickey Mantle in mint condition will bring at least $1500; a 1953 Willie Mays, $600),

By Larry Keller, Aug. 20, 1981 Read full story

Park Boulevard and Adams Avenue. One of the more scenic routes wound north through Balboa Park, continued up Indiana Street, and upon reaching Adams Avenue turned eastward and extended out to Normal Heights.

The glories of San Diego's trolley system

Buses are rough; the passengers fall down easier. With the streetcars, you knew where they were—smooth starts and stops. They weren’t swaying back and forth—therefore, less accidents. And with a streetcar operating over the same lines, I could make faster time than I could with a bus. We used to run from downtown San Diego to La Jolla in thirty-five minutes, and you don’t put a bus out there in thirty-five minutes.”

By Coleman Warner, Feb. 15, 1979 Read full story

“It’s like it’s our own beach.’’ (David Covey)

Mission Beach off season

A woman’s voice called out, “I love you, too!” Overhead two California gulls swept past. When I looked again at the woman she had turned and was saying something to a young man who was resting his elbows on the sea wall behind her. To the north the lights of the Pacific Beach pier were twinkling in the distance; a couple of miles south was the long, low outline of the jetty at South Mission Beach.

By Gordon Smith, March 1, 1979 Read full story

To the very end there has been a waiting list of about forty people wanting to live in the Colony. (Jim Coit)

Hillside Colony next to Mission Hills is doomed

There’s talk that the rich and famous from Hollywood would spend the night at the Colony on their way to and from Mexico. Some say Edna St. Vincent Millay lived there for a year or so when she was young. And a beautiful blond starlet, once married to actor Franchot Tone, spent her fading years at the Colony before she finally committed suicide.

By Wayne Swanson, April 3, 1980 Read full story