Think about these jobs
Undertaker, circus worker, PSA pilot, cafe cook, USDA inspector, forensic dentist, gourmet chef
Various Authors 8:30 a.m., July 22
Back When
Excerpts from Reader issues past.
Think about these jobs
Undertaker, circus worker, PSA pilot, cafe cook, USDA inspector, forensic dentist, gourmet chef
The Home-going Working with a corpse, he says, doesn’t bother him. But it has never become just another routine. “If it gets that common to you, you should leave it. I treat it as if ...
San Diego characters you should have known
Al Ducheny, Steve Kelly, Larry Himmel, Sam Spital, Stanley Siegel, Ed Miller
Bad blood in Barrio Logan Ducheny is most unpopular with those who run the government-funded agencies, people such as Rachel Ortiz, who directs the Barrio Station youth program; Jess Haro, chairman of the Chicano Federation; ...
San Diegans and the transcendent
Satan chasers, Mormons, Unarius, Black Muslims, Easter stories, and those on the verge of heaven
Satan chasers San Diego has many experts in the field of Satanism who say the county is a hotbed of Satanic activity. The hidden canyons of the back country, Ramona, Santee, Escondido, even Oceanside, are ...
What nearness to Baja brings
Sewage, smugglers, clubs on Avenida Revolucion, torture, snakebite, death near Cabo, the beauty of Canon Tajo
Shocking facts and horrifying history of Tijuana sewage In Tijuana maybe 50 percent of the houses have sewer connections. In those that don’t, the residents use outhouses or primitive septic tanks or they relieve themselves ...
San Diego institutions and their rocky histories
The Butcher Shop, Balboa Theater, SDSU, Convis, USIU, America's Cup, SD-IV Railroad, San Diego Mission
Big beef in Mission Valley The judge warned Buckner and DePhilippis that if they had notions of assaulting and battering one another in the hallway, law enforcement officers were close at hand. Buckner has also ...
What San Diegans do in their off time
Billiards, boxing, guns, creative anachronism, cheerleading, sci fi
You against the table "Your brain says it first; then your body reacts. You have to visualize the shot first. And if you see yourself missing the shot, you say, this doesn’t look right; it ...
The biggest San Diegans, part 2
Pete Wilson, Maureen O'Connor, Bruce Henderson, Peter Navarro, Clinton McKinnon, Mike Aguirre
Pete Wilson was here In 1975 Mayor Wilson called the proposal to build some 14,000 homes in North City West “a big mistake.” He declared that allowing homes to be built in Carmel Valley, just ...
The biggest San Diegans, part 1
Copleys, C. Arnholt Smith, Roger Hedgecock, Kate Sessions, Susan Golding, Sol Price
The rise and fall of the Copley press Shortly after he purchased the two San Diego papers, a dinner was arranged in Copley’s honor at the Hotel del Coronado. He rose to speak, assuring the ...
Best Reader stories of the late 1980s, part 2
Trees of Balboa Park, D.A. Ed Miller, tough USDA inspector at the border, Cuban ex-pats, short people, Oceanside gay murders, our forests of kelp
Color them gone The space theater managers argue that San Diegans need more education in science and technology, but take a look at the size of their gift shop and the types of movies — ...
Best Reader stories of the late 1980s
Reader book issue, Coronado’s Don Zub, tough cop, actor kills mom, vice cop busted, candid dancing instructor. Otay Mesa's death of farming
Season's Browse Duff Brenna's Book of Mamie won the 1988 Associated Writing Programs prize for best novel of the year. Brenna admits reading everything that crosses his path. However, there are classics he returns to ...
True adventures of San Diego, part 2
San Dieguito River, hitching on trucks, waterless in Borrego, escape from Vietnam, Devil's Peak in Baja, accident in Baja, wild horses of Coyote Canyon
Three days along the San Dieguito I knew I’d made a bad mistake. I jumped back, but it was already too late. A yellow, foul-smelling mist rained down on me. It was a direct hit, ...
True adventures of San Diego
Baja snakebite, Jerry Schad, only shipwreck survivor, San Diego River, parolees lost on Palomar Mountain, Navy's bombing range in Chocolate Mountains
Snakebite Bob recalls, “I was getting pretty good mouthfuls of blood for a while, then everything seemed to coagulate.” Less than three minutes had elapsed since the time of the bite. He substituted the waist ...
These people tell you about San Diego
Don Zub, Bob Hannibal, Sandford Goodkin, Garland Peed, Tanya Winter, Jerry Gross
No man is an island (with the possible exception of Don Zub) Most of the main drinking establishments in town have declared themselves off-limits to Zub over the years since he left the Navy. McP’s ...
What's going on behind doors
KPBS, our desert railroad, North Co. health clinics, Balboa Park, divorce court, UCAN
Private lies and public television KPBS viewers are repeatedly told that the station must spend a great deal of money to purchase these nationally produced programs. Although the pledge-night barkers do not provide much detail, ...
San Diego villains, part 2
J. David, Mark Anthony Gator, Olaf Wieghorst scammer, Andrew Cunanan, Walter Keane, and drug runners on Harbor Drive
Captain Money and the golden girl They bought $100,000 foreign sports cars by the dozens. Still unsated they bought a limousine company for personal transportation. They had three jets. They owned several elegant homes. They ...
San Diego villains
Westerfield, Moores, Bugarin, Bompensiero, horse rustler, massage parlor owner
David Westerfield betrays himself PR: When I ask you this question about Danielle, your blood pressure goes crazy. That's 25 seconds from here to here.... And the next question, it does the same thing as ...
Mostly military heroes
Baja emergency, badly wounded in Vietnam, shipwrecked teen, Bataan Death March, Yamamoto's killer, Clairemont's savior
Somewhere Between Death and the Border “I ran over to pick the suitcase up and, yeah, Eddie was laying there, face down in this pool of blood in the sand about a foot across, laying ...
Trade jobs with them?
San Diego occupations worth writing about
Like your road widened, Mister? Roads like Old Highway 80, east of San Diego, were paved with concrete; but after the war, asphalt paving was perfected. Asphalt is cheaper to lay down, which is why ...
What Windansea surfers said about Tom Wolfe
This was 1973, eight years after his visit and story
The following story appeared in the July 19, 1973 Reader. Tom Wolfe died a week ago, May 14, in New York City. Beach People say old surfers never die. They dry up like some sunbaked ...
Local surfing hall of fame
Morey, Preisendorfer, Frye, O'Rourke, Doyle, Noisat, Freeth, Ekstrom, Gordon/Smith
Tom Morey In the beginning Morey and Faivor sold the Boogie Board through ads in surfing magazines, mail order, cash in advance. The money that came in with the first orders enabled them to buy ...
