San Diego subcultures
Moonies, Asian refugees, boxing aspirants, craftsmen, Chabad Jews, future ballet dancers
Various Authors 8:30 a.m., Oct. 20
Rick Geist
Articles by Rick Geist
Ode to a mouse
"I'm just an O.B. guy."
Early on a foggy morning in the mid 1950s, Jim “Mouse” Robb stopped by the Ocean Beach lifeguard station. The men on duty were his friends. Until the year before, he had worked beside them ...
The story I wanted to write... but didn't
Sandy and a girlfriend had gone into a liquor store, robbed the clerk, They locked the clerk in a walk-in cooler. Sandy started feeling bad about the guy. She went back and let him out.
One More Jump
Sea urchin blackouts are gone at Point Loma
Each urchin is worth about 75 cents to the divers, and by the time it reaches a sushi bar in San Diego, the five pads of sex organ from a single urchin are worth 15 to 20 dollars.
The Smell of the Hardwood, the Feel of the Grain
Frost Hardwood does its lumber number
Al Frost was a shrewd businessman. By specializing in hardwoods with their myriad uses, the company has avoided the up and down cycles of the construction and softwood lumber businesses.
The Men on Engine 12
Fire, danger, and death come with the job
Firefighters in this city have a 100% injury rate. That means everyone gets hurt sometime. Their profession is more dangerous than coal mining, which is more dangerous than being a cop. Maybe this is part of the appeal.
Along the tracks
The San Diego-San Ysidro trolley, late at night
On the San Diego Trolley, the decision to buy a ticket or not is up to you. It's called the honor system. When I first heard about the trolley in 1981, the implications of honor ...
Nightmare of the New Hope
San Diego boat went down with all hands. Except one.
For an instant, Benny heard them again, those last shouts. He saw the sea leaping. He’d survived. Benny sat on the straight-backed chair under the single light at his desk. The shotgun stared at him, ...
