STEPHEN ESMEDINAStephen EsmedinaA number of years ago, I was persuaded by a guileful siren with designs on the music biz to share my lowly downtown apartment for “a couple of days” with the great but …
March 5, 2026
Applegate wrote feature stories for the Reader from 1976 through 1990.
He is married to another former Reader writer, Jane Weisman Applegate.
Stories of note:
Dec. 2, 1976: Hillcrest (writing contest winner — Applegate's first story in the Reader)
May, 1978 Did Somebody Call a Cab?
July 13, 1978 Locked Up and Let Loose (TJ vs. San Diego jails)
Aug. 3, 1978 A Bump on the Head Could Kill Chris O'Rourke
May 24, 1979 Travels with My Father (author goes to Baja)
March 12, 1981 A Young Man A Troubled Life (a visit to the reformatory)
Aug. 6, 1981 Fire in the Valley (arson and a boy named Angel)
Dec. 10, 1981 Postcards from Western Civilization (tests of friendship)
March 4, 1982 Nobody Disturbs My Peace (on patrol with Sergeant Anderson)
June 3, 1982 Two by Two (author's wife gives birth to twins)
Dec. 2, 1982 What on Earth Am I Settling For? (reflections on domestic life)
April 14, 1983 Requiem for a Rebel (death on Encinitas train tracks)
Sept. 15, 1983 The Growl of Bulldozers Is the Sound of Money (boom in University City)
Sept. 29, 1983 They Oughta Be in Pictures (kids talent agency)
March 15, 1990 Everybody on Stage for the Forgiveness and Reconciliation Number (the story of Lamb's Players)
April 6, 1990 Plays in Words (interview with Neil Simon)
Articles by Joe Applegate
San Diego Reader writers tell their dream stories never written
San Diego, surfing mecca
Shifting SandsThe boaters are all for the proposed harbor expansion. Many of them surf themselves, or are ex-surfers who switched to boating in their later years — but they say surfing is a "one-on-one" sport, …
August 18, 2025
I don’t like to walk past the Mayfair at night
When friends come to visit, I put them up in my small apartment - on the floor or squeaky couch - and in the daytime we see San Diego’s wide range of free tourist entertainments: …
June 11, 2025
An unlikely rescue on Mount Palomar – the Weekend Read
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 …
April 25, 2025
A bump on the head could kill Chris O' Rourke
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 …
April 23, 2025
Reader writer and writer wife marry in Las Vegas
The Bride Wore Black LinenI can locate our Hour Farthest from God as being on the AstroTurf patio of the Little Chapel of the Bells. Cynthia had been expressing what I considered an eccentric fascination …
February 10, 2024
Bodysurfer zealots – from Tia Juana River mouth to Oceanside championship
Bodysurfers from Oceanside to the IB Pier A little further up the coast from Cartwright and Bye is the hermetic Boomer Beach crowd of La Jolla, with guys like "Dolphin" Don Riley, "Freeway" Dave Freeman, …
July 3, 2023
Florence Chadwick wants to lose 50 pounds
Florence Chadwick in and out of the water Many years earlier, on her return to San Diego from a trip abroad, Chadwick had been greeted by city officials with considerably more pomp - a jubilant …
July 1, 2023
From the Pt. Loma Women's Club to the Spirit on Buenos
He brought punk rock to San Diego The patrons heading into the Spirit club shortly before nine on a recent Saturday night might have thought it peculiar that a large, paint-splattered wooden stepladder would be …
June 26, 2023