Wave Gangsters Socially, Van Artsdalen became a marked man. His reputation as a brawler traveled beyond the predominantly white population of La Jolla to tougher neighborhoods. Butch had already proved himself among the few black …
November 14, 2021
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Stories by Hawkins Mitchell
Mike Doyle, Rusty Preisendorfer, Skip Frye, Chris O'Rourke
Country fans at the Renegade, fireworks fanatics, the troubles of apartment ownership
San Diegans at the Renegade explain country music The Renegade does not hide behind that generic tyranny of the latest urban middle-class version of good taste. The tavern is in-your-face like Willie Nelson with his …
September 5, 2021
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
African American and in San Diego
Raised not to hope too hard Sherley Anne Williams was delighted when the New York Times listed her novel on its recommended reading list. The book had gone into a third printing, and her publisher …
January 20, 2020
San Diegans at the Renegade explain country music
4:00 p.m. Saturday evening: “Honky Tonk Heroes”Where did it go?Good Lord only knows.Seems like it was just the other day.(Waylon Jennings, 1973)People come here not just to drink but to dance and play a little …
July 10, 1997
The tough nun from San Diego's Our Lady of the Angels
A nun helped to change my life. She was cool and aloof. Like the Catholic Church of the time, she was tough and she brooked no question to her authority. Times have changed. The Catholic …
June 12, 1997
Wounded veteran Jerry Stadtmiller meets nurse at Vietnam Memorial who worked on his face
He was young and he was in Vietnam, and he took two sniper bullets in the head. The miracle was that he survived. However, his face was disfigured. He was blind, with much of his …
May 29, 1997
Gay bars in Hillcrest after midnight
9:41 p.m. Where are their faces? Friday night, and dozens of headless musclemen on video, strutting at some outdoor gay-pride event. Near-naked, their bronzed muscles stretched by steroids and molded by Nautilus machines, a cross …
May 15, 1997
San Diego surf glossary — based on Trevor Cralle's Surfin’ary
A. AAAAHOOO! The first term found in a book on “surfspeak." is reported as the sound made by a surfer when up and riding a wave, when watching another surfer catch a hot ride, or …
January 23, 1997
San Diego African-Americans to try imagine a different reality
"I wanted to be a model. If I was white, I'm sure, what with the connections white folks have, things would have gone easier, and they would have introduced me to people and helped me on my way."
August 29, 1996
Will California kill LaTwon Weaver?
SAN QUENTIN, THE MAIN BUILDING, RISES FULL INTO VIEW. This maximum-security prison is in fact a scatter of buildings, a fortressed village built upon rock for the purpose of keeping a few men in and …
January 11, 1996
Five San Diego black brothers reflect on race
I happened to be born colored, like York. By 1950, with Marcus, we had become Negro. Today we are African Americans. However, when the snapshot was taken with Shawn and Andre, we were all known as black.
December 7, 1995
Growing Up Negro in San Diego
I saw a black man sprawled in the gutter on Imperial Avenue, clutching an empty bottle of cheap Thunderbird. I felt bad for him. “He’s not in your family, is he?" my mother asked.
February 16, 1995