140-Mile Mistake Ritz calls the Chinese the railroad’s “unsung heroes,” but new evidence suggests that labor problems were perhaps the major reason why the railroad took so long to be built. The route of the …
January 17, 2022
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Stories by Ken Kuhlken
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Spreckels and the train over Carrizo Gorge, Ike and S.D. Country Club
San Diego's madame Karen Wilkening, Metabolife's Mike Ellis and Mike Blevins
My Own True Story One morning, Hercules had left for work around 6:30 and I was still asleep, there was a knock on the door. I opened the door only about a half an inch. …
December 20, 2021
SDSU frats scrub their image, UCSD profs get home loan perks
Escape from the Chicks and Beer Image “Monday night the actual rush starts, but we can’t give out bids on Monday. That gives everyone a chance to get around and see where they want to …
December 13, 2021
Nathanael West, Jim Thompson, Max Miller
Janet, My Mother, and Me “We went out to Belmont, and Harry couldn’t stop picking winners. We went to the 21 Club for dinner, and we scalped tickets for a Broadway musical in the fourth …
November 20, 2021
Padres player scandals, city council caves to John Moores, farm manager Russ Nixon tells history
The Evil I Do Not Intend Dravecky raised some eyebrows that month when he appeared with Eric Show and Mark Thurmond at a John Birch Society booth at the Del Mar Fair. Back home in …
May 8, 2021
San Diego to Boston hitchhike, drugs in San Carlos, Spring Valley commune
Bound for Boston Ride-sharing: Don't go near a 3x5 card on a bulletin board. Rosie made her appearance. She was accompanied by a suntanned twenty-two-year-old wearing a headband and short pants. His name was Henry. …
January 3, 2021
Reader writers' music picks, San Diego's history of punk, singer bred in TJ's Zona Norte
Soundtrack: Reader writers tell what music they would take to a deserted island The Woes Of A Woman In Love — Barbarella; Notes Give Pathos to Clouds — Laura McNeal; Trouble Man — Dodie Bellamy; …
October 19, 2020
San Diego's punk music, goodbye to Lennon
Soundtrack: Notes gave pathos to clouds My father bought my first piano from the Briscoes in Sumter, South Carolina. We knew the Briscoes from church and because Brother Briscoe, as we called him, was in …
July 5, 2020
Best Reader stories from 1993
In time for the morning glass For a few years back in the '60s, Mike Doyle was the hottest surfer in the world. With an unusual combination of power on big waves and stylistic grace …
January 4, 2020
Holy Week in San Diego: our mish-mash of Christianity
Medical explanation of Christ's crucifixion and other Easter stories The severe scourging, with its intense pain and appreciable blood loss, most probably left Jesus in a preshock state. Moreover, hematidrosis had rendered his skin particularly …
April 15, 2019
Ken Kuhlken and the Reader
How Ken Kuhlken came to the Reader: Not long after my second novel came out, Reader editor Judith Moore phoned me. I didn’t know Judith but was quite familiar with the Reader, because I found …
February 24, 2019
23 Reader writers describe the regime of editor Judith Moore
Busy Fingers Are Happy Fingers — Joe Deegan Mother Reader — Barbarella Build Your Writing Muscles — Ollie Let the Tape Recorder Do the Work — Matthew Lickona Faith — Abe Opincar Make Something Better …
August 16, 2007
"You Don't Do Anger"
Judith came out of nowhere. She called one evening and asked if I'd like to write something for the Reader. I'd read the Reader enough to feel flattered, since the writers I'd encountered in it …
August 16, 2007
Mary Jackson's Faith
Mary Jackson founded a ministry in Barrio Logan. She helps women learn job skills. Mary drives a new Honda Element. “Do you want to hear how I got such a nice car?” she asks. I …
September 8, 2005
A Summer on Desolation Row
"Like a Rolling Stone," the most famous song on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, portrays somebody who thought she was on top contending with her fall to the bottom. It's a fun song but not …
August 11, 2005
Minimalist on a Motorcycle
Michael Emerson, the optician at Hart Optical, rides a big Suzuki. He tells me, “It’s a Cavalcade 1400 cc. Suzuki gave up on them in ’88 and built the last generation in ’89 from parts …
July 14, 2005
Paul and His Dueling Mufflers
Paul Koch spent six years as road manager for the San Diego Chicken. Now that he’s in real estate, you might see his Cadillac around town. “I drive a big car with a big name,” …
May 12, 2005
Where Do Those Poor Kids Go?
Many students take 18 or more units and really do well. If you pin them down, you find that what is demanded of a student at San Diego State is not much.
June 17, 2004
Neighborhood: small towns of San Diego
I see Asian gang cars some nights, in a long caravan down the Mira Mesa Boulevard. They meet at In-N-Out Burger before heading off for illegal street races on Kearny Villa Road or in Sorrento Valley.
December 24, 2003
La Mesa
The doctor says, “You’re a few pounds overweight, your cholesterol’s a bit scary, and your blood pressure…” “Yeah, okay,” I grumble. “So what’s your prescription?” “You could change your diet.” “Not for the better, I …
December 24, 2003
Ginny Silva arrested for drugs at Rosarito Beach Hotel, converted by Mother Teresa's priests.
When Ginny Silva began her singing career, Tijuana’s Avenida Revolución was infamous, a raunchy place of strip clubs, where hookers and drug pushers worked in the open and where we young fellows went if we …
January 30, 2003
Fletcher Hills water tank, Carlsbad's Split Pavilion
Consider people who rant on issues about which they believe themselves experts. Everybody holds an opinion on everything -- like a fellow on the radio contending that the National Endowment for the Arts should be …
December 3, 1998
San Diego Country Club - a little history, and some personal stories
My smugness was arrested when a man appeared out of nowhere, wearing an apologetic frown. He said, “Sir, um, jeans aren’t allowed.” The pro shop charged $35 for a pair of shorts.
October 1, 1998
God's love for El Cajon Blvd dirtbag motels
In 1972, Tony Tarantino was a street evangelist. A thin, gentle kid of 20 with bushy reddish hair, he roomed with his older sister up the street from the Spring Valley house where Laura and …
September 17, 1998
La Mesa Boulevard began as a wagon trail
The stretch of the Boulevard people call “the Village” runs from Spring Street up past Fourth. The Village hasn’t changed much since my boyhood, when I could overlook it from my bedroom window.
November 20, 1997
Sex and San Diego State
My kids are considering San Diego State, and I'm interested to see if this fall's Daily Aztec newspaper staff carries on last year's most notable last year's most notable traditions: careless prose and a dependence …
August 21, 1997
Shell-shocked letters from Vietnam to San Diego
Prompted by a second glass of wine, Clifford’s dad said, “The way I treated my son, pushed Cliff into that war, I wouldn’t blame him if he accused me of intentionally wrecking his life.”
February 27, 1997
Ken Kuhlken: Santa didn't give them dope
A half dozen Indians stood pointing hoses from which I could see no water escaping — they looked like a mime troupe parodying a fire brigade. One man threw down his hose and began stomping a circle around himself.
February 20, 1997
See Donald plot murder, see Jane pray
Now, anybody don’t trust me, he ought to say so. He ought to come clean.”“What happens do he say so?” Pill queried. Donald leaned closer to me, “Boy come clean, he go back to the hall. That’s what.”
February 13, 1997
Dear Jane, Please Send LSD
I took a job substitute teaching for the Grossmont high school district and tried writing a novel. My desk was in the dining room, but most of my roommates had day jobs, so the afternoons were quiet enough.
An existential honeymoon in Guaymas
The first night I lay awake listening to jungle noises—night birds, a laughing burro, strange swishes that made me picture Tarzan riding a vine from tree to tree, and the cackles of stoned people.
January 30, 1997
Spiritual disillusionment in Balboa Park
Downtown looked like a fashion show for uniforms. Bob suggested we forget the crusade and follow the swabbies to the Hollywood Burlesque. Cliff asked, “Why bother with the Hollywood when in TJ they show it all off?”
January 23, 1997
Coast to Coast in Kerouac's Time
Over lunch, Tony’s family debated the benefits of Chicago and San Diego. Mrs. Russo, Tony, and his sister preferred Chicago. Mr. Russo claimed he would have stayed out West except for the family’s nagging.
January 16, 1997
A very San Diego story involving Kerouac and Dostoyevsky
“Look what’s changed in the last two months. Eric died. We barely escaped a nuclear war. By June, Kennedy might attack Cuba, and the Russians could retaliate by invading Hollywood. Bonanza could be in Russian.”
January 9, 1997
Utopia and bloodshed in revolutionary Tijuana
A few decades ago, during the era when my friend Henry and I devoted many hours to exploring Tijuana, we found a saloon that I later learned was around the corner and up a block …
September 5, 1996
San Diego State part-time teacher explains how it works
Between preparation, class time, grading, and office hours, only a magician or malingerer could teach and manage a three-unit class in less than 10 hours each week, so four classes each semester easily requires 40 hours.
December 14, 1995
I try to serve as Black Mountain’s principal for a day
Middle school and I go way back. My mother taught eighth-grade English and social studies. I attended PTA meetings before entering kindergarten. On Friday nights, the principal would show up at our house and play …
October 12, 1995
Ted Leitner dismisses Padres replacements as scabs
On day 193 of the major-league baseball strike, we were five rows behind the Padres dugout in the seats my friend Anna had struggled to reserve. Anna lives in Scottsdale. One Saturday, she set out …
Metaphysical Okie: Jim Thompson In San Diego
In 1944, at age 37, Thompson became a Marine. He lasted 12 weeks, plus a few in the infirmary, with rheumatic fever. His family got by on the salary Alberta made as switchboard operator at Solar.
March 30, 1995
The pinch-hitters answer questions on the Padres strike
I asked how they felt about the union. Pete jumped on that one. “Well, they’re calling us scabs. They’re trying to intimidate people into not playing. They’re trying to enhance their position. And we’re trying to enhance our position.”
March 16, 1995