Photo by Dave Allen

Clifford Newman: “Lady, that’s a good way to get yourself killed!” He glanced past her shoulder, pretending to see someone behind her.

• A page or two out of Clifford Newman's book

• “Then these three guys come and I’m still on the phone with the dispatcher. And they’re standin’ there — with the gun and the burritos — and she goes, ‘Well, do you still want us to send somebody out?’’ (April 12, 1990)

Slug Signorino

• Book-lovers chew the fat at the Mission Hills Library

• “Mysteries,” says the sign above the shelves. From rows of books below, John Parker removes one hardback, examines the cover, opens to a page, not the first page. He reads a few lines." (September 21, 1989)

Dan Rock: “Rumor has it we’re all depressing people anyway,”

Paul Stachelek

• Meet El Cajon garage band Psychotic Waltz

• "Some people are naturally rude,” Norm says. “Being in El Cajon here, everyone’s a crystal fiend, except for us. Every day we deal with weirdos and sketchers comin’ up that we can't stand.” (August 3, 1989)

Richard Reeves and George Mitrovich. "You know how long it takes to read 1200 pages?"

• George Mitrovich's friends on reading — Gary Hart, Ben Bradlee, Richard Reeves, Gloria Steinem, George Plimpton

• "My library, which is more than a couple of thousand volumes, has been accumulated over a 35-year period. It’s the most diverse personal library that I’ve ever seen, and that includes the libraries of friends." (April 25, 1996)

"Life magazine called me yesterday about Amy; they wanted her to write something, and I turned around and pitched another book to them, another author. Entertainment Weekly, same thing. They called on Robert Ferrigno; I pitched Franchesca Forrer."

Photo by Dave Allen

• Sandra Dijkstra, literary agent, tells of her success with Amy Tan

• "I think that I have a sort of natural editorial tropism; it’s sort of innate in me. I have a sort of irrepressible publicist in me. I help my authors get the word out." (April 26, 1990)

Abreu, Stevie Wonder, Andy Lakey. "I still talk to Stevie. I chat with him all the time."

• La Jolla artist Andy Lakey in the words of friends and famous

• Andy Lakey: 'I was born in '59. My mother and I moved to the United States in 1963. We're from France. My mother was an artist — and her mother, and her mother's mother." (April 25, 1991)

Mani Mir was a gifted writer invited to come from Berkeley to San Diego by Judith Moore. He wrote feature stories in the late 1980s and 1990s for the Reader.