The Reader has started this series of its best stories from the past 52 years — 2600 cover stories and some remarkable interior features — to help make up for the loss of its physical …
November 26, 2025
Brown, a novelist and professor at UC Berkeley, was recruited by Judith Moore to write for the Reader.
Articles by Cecil Brown
San Diego's Black Orchids
San Diegans on getting revenge
Revenge I used to work on a morning show for Magic 102, a former classic rock station here in San Diego. I usually got to work before the other DJs, and I’d spend a few …
August 14, 2022
Early blacks in San Diego, African-Americans on whites, 60s black power activists
None Darker Than Me “Another fact concerning the woman that occasioned surprise yesterday was the appearance at the undertaking parlors where her dead body lies of H. Milne, a colored blacksmith who lives on K …
January 18, 2021
San Diego's Black Orchids
The Nickelodeon Cinema, I Street, Chula Vista. Ten o’clock Friday night. "Hello,” I say to three Chicana girls as we come away from the ticket “Are you going to see Mi Vida Loca? They nod. …
January 12, 1995
How to find a good black barbershop in San Diego
Many methods have been developed, including straightening the hair with harsh chemicals, such as lye, or pressing it with a hot iron. But the most effective is to comb it out and clip it with scissors.
April 14, 1994