Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Showboating

Last week’s announcement that publisher David Copley is looking for someone to buy the Union-Tribune marks the end of an era for San Diego, which has labored under the yoke of the Copley newspapers for 80 years. Until a buyer is confirmed, the destiny of the city remains in the balance, but some loyal U-T readers will no doubt miss the regular Copley sightings that appeared in the U-T. Year by year, the stories describe David Copley’s increasingly grandiose obsession with partying, car collecting, and mansion building. An excerpted history:

Sponsored
Sponsored

February 12, 1984: “David Copley drove up with Susan Farrell in a 1936 Cadillac convertible roadster that belonged to the late Jim Copley.”

November 3, 1985: “The luggage that came with David Copley’s sleek new Aston Martin sports car carries the Aston Martin nameplate. And he took the handsome luggage along on a recent visit to Springfield, Ill. The bellboy who brought the suitcases to Copley’s room in the posh new Ramada Renaissance greeted him with a respectful, ‘Your luggage, Mr. Martin.’ To which Copley countered, graciously: ‘You can call me Aston.’ ”

January 1, 1987: “David Copley wished friends ‘a peaceful, laid-back, stressless’ season on invitations to his holiday party at his home, ‘Foxhole,’ in La Jolla.… Sophisticated jazz players performed on a balcony overlooking the pool, and a totally high-tech mood was generated in the garage, which was transformed, with mirrored walls and other mod decor, into an inviting dance setting.”

December 19, 1988: “The holiday at home was a warming of David Copley’s new pied-a-surf, a glass fronted, cardinal lacquered, marble and steel, art-filled Mission Beach showplace that combines wide-open views with highly stylized privacy.… Guests traipsed up and down the curved glass stairwell, ogling everything and trading assessments — overwhelmingly positive.”

April 29, 1999: “Helen Copley and her son, David Copley, president and chief executive officer of The Copley Press, invited newspaper executives from around the country to an art deco dinner-dance that surpassed even the elaborate visions of Metropolis director Fritz Lang. The German filmmaker’s futuristic fantasy guided Nevin Kleege and his Advantech Event Management team in transforming a cavernous hangar into a dazzling party venue — a stunning study in black, white, chrome and gray. Gigantic sets copied from the film and built by the San Diego Opera Scenic Studio — the massive facade of a cathedral, a factory’s complex machinery — dominated an anteroom that opened into a vast, black-on-black nightclub raked by darting, swirling, dancing lights. (Jack Burnett, one of the production managers, said the party’s spectacular effects required ‘more lights than they had at the Grammy Awards.’).… Pierre Charmasson, another key member of the Kleege team, pointed out that it took more than a square acre of carpet to cover the hangar floor, and that many of the dinner guests were seated in 70 custom-built, tufted, semicircular booths upholstered in matte-black vinyl.”

December 7, 1999: “His mother’s La Jolla estate is called Foxhill. So when David Copley bought himself a small house 24 years ago, he named it — with a grin — Foxhole. He did a few things: added a second floor, then a pool pavilion, then a new wing, then a second wing as the lots next door became available. Friday, David invited more than 200 guests to experience what he has now made of Foxhole: a 17,000-square-foot mansion.”

July 15, 2007: “Happy Days, the 50-meter yacht David Copley has named for the boat that his grandfather, Col. Ira Copley, owned in 1927, was declared winner of the 17th annual ShowBoats International Award as the year’s Best Full-Displacement Motor Yacht of its size. Copley and a few of his friends were here for the presentation of the award at the Monte Carlo Sporting Club.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Last plane out of Seoul, 1950

Memories of a daring escape at the start of a war
Next Article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount

Last week’s announcement that publisher David Copley is looking for someone to buy the Union-Tribune marks the end of an era for San Diego, which has labored under the yoke of the Copley newspapers for 80 years. Until a buyer is confirmed, the destiny of the city remains in the balance, but some loyal U-T readers will no doubt miss the regular Copley sightings that appeared in the U-T. Year by year, the stories describe David Copley’s increasingly grandiose obsession with partying, car collecting, and mansion building. An excerpted history:

Sponsored
Sponsored

February 12, 1984: “David Copley drove up with Susan Farrell in a 1936 Cadillac convertible roadster that belonged to the late Jim Copley.”

November 3, 1985: “The luggage that came with David Copley’s sleek new Aston Martin sports car carries the Aston Martin nameplate. And he took the handsome luggage along on a recent visit to Springfield, Ill. The bellboy who brought the suitcases to Copley’s room in the posh new Ramada Renaissance greeted him with a respectful, ‘Your luggage, Mr. Martin.’ To which Copley countered, graciously: ‘You can call me Aston.’ ”

January 1, 1987: “David Copley wished friends ‘a peaceful, laid-back, stressless’ season on invitations to his holiday party at his home, ‘Foxhole,’ in La Jolla.… Sophisticated jazz players performed on a balcony overlooking the pool, and a totally high-tech mood was generated in the garage, which was transformed, with mirrored walls and other mod decor, into an inviting dance setting.”

December 19, 1988: “The holiday at home was a warming of David Copley’s new pied-a-surf, a glass fronted, cardinal lacquered, marble and steel, art-filled Mission Beach showplace that combines wide-open views with highly stylized privacy.… Guests traipsed up and down the curved glass stairwell, ogling everything and trading assessments — overwhelmingly positive.”

April 29, 1999: “Helen Copley and her son, David Copley, president and chief executive officer of The Copley Press, invited newspaper executives from around the country to an art deco dinner-dance that surpassed even the elaborate visions of Metropolis director Fritz Lang. The German filmmaker’s futuristic fantasy guided Nevin Kleege and his Advantech Event Management team in transforming a cavernous hangar into a dazzling party venue — a stunning study in black, white, chrome and gray. Gigantic sets copied from the film and built by the San Diego Opera Scenic Studio — the massive facade of a cathedral, a factory’s complex machinery — dominated an anteroom that opened into a vast, black-on-black nightclub raked by darting, swirling, dancing lights. (Jack Burnett, one of the production managers, said the party’s spectacular effects required ‘more lights than they had at the Grammy Awards.’).… Pierre Charmasson, another key member of the Kleege team, pointed out that it took more than a square acre of carpet to cover the hangar floor, and that many of the dinner guests were seated in 70 custom-built, tufted, semicircular booths upholstered in matte-black vinyl.”

December 7, 1999: “His mother’s La Jolla estate is called Foxhill. So when David Copley bought himself a small house 24 years ago, he named it — with a grin — Foxhole. He did a few things: added a second floor, then a pool pavilion, then a new wing, then a second wing as the lots next door became available. Friday, David invited more than 200 guests to experience what he has now made of Foxhole: a 17,000-square-foot mansion.”

July 15, 2007: “Happy Days, the 50-meter yacht David Copley has named for the boat that his grandfather, Col. Ira Copley, owned in 1927, was declared winner of the 17th annual ShowBoats International Award as the year’s Best Full-Displacement Motor Yacht of its size. Copley and a few of his friends were here for the presentation of the award at the Monte Carlo Sporting Club.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Raging Cider & Mead celebrates nine years

Company wants to bring America back to its apple-tree roots
Next Article

Woodpeckers are stocking away acorns, Amorous tarantulas

Stunning sycamores, Mars rising
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader