Cover Stories
"We figure we can get some exposure by picketing the national headquarters of Alcoholics Anonymous. It should cause a stir. Not that we’d want to interrupt the progress any of those people are making in …
It is a bright, sunny Saturday afternoon in April and a small crowd has gathered in the Mira Mesa shopping center mall, the hub of a community that is as far from the consciousness of …
In the afternoon I sometimes see her riding a bicycle down the alley behind my house. If the weather is warm she wears loose-fitting brown slacks and a blouse, but I have seen her on …
We’re sitting at the bar rail in the officers’ club at Twentynine Palms. It’s crowded with desert-tanned Marines in camouflage utilities and combat boots. Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It’’ is playing on …
On this evening in the summer of 1953, Lionel Van Deerlin was late again. The newsman sat at his desk in the Channel 6 office on Park Boulevard and frantically finished marking on sheets of …
Nick Vitalich, Jr. scans the oyster-colored sky for rain. All he wants is a bit more time. Behind him is a pinewood crate attached to a cable and winch, which dangles about four feet off …
She was different. It would be difficult to define that any more precisely. She wasn’t dressed in any of the latest fashions, but she was dressed well. Her hair was pulled up into a bun …
No dwelling escapes coincidence. There's a thick-walled apartment building in Hillcrest, one with just enough character in its tiles to make the rest of it look better for being rundown, where I lived for a …
If you’re looking around the San Diego area for a camper shell for a pickup truck, it’s hard to avoid going to El Cajon. El Cajon has the greatest concentration of camper shell dealers in …
Don’t ask how I got into this situation. I’m driving an old VW bus, owned by a man who calls himself C.R. Gregory — the C.R. standing for “Credit Risk.’’ “The nicest thing about driving …
Sparks of light fly from the cluster of diamonds on Bill Drexler’s right hand whenever he jabs the air with his index finger. He does this frequently. “Taxation is theft" — jab! “You have a …
Scene: A Friday afternoon business luncheon. Helen Copley, publisher of the San Diego Union and the Evening Tribune , is speaking to 150 members of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce. Time for questions. A …
Enter now the spirit world of the South American Indian. Barbara Watson, assistant professor of women’s studies at San Diego State University, is telling me a myth of Bolivia’s Tacana people, a story of powerful …
Gene Nooner's story is really very simple. He has been abused. During the past decade, Nooner was required to undergo thirty-five shock treatments he later discovered were probably unnecessary, became addicted to drugs prescribed by …
It is a long skull by anthropological standards, in fact almost elliptical, and it has an unusually heavy jaw. The teeth are yellowed with age, and were somehow ground down during their owner’s lifetime, probably …
Former San Diego City Councilman Bob Martinet owns a home that would fulfill the fantasies of many urban dweller. Nestled at the end of a cul de sac in Pacific Beach, the two-story house features …