WHEN I WAS A PRETEEN, I LOVED GOING TO MOVIES, sitting in the flickering dark of the old Medford theater in the late 1940s, usually with one of my brothers — we had paid 12 …
March 5, 2025
American novelist and poet and brother of novelist Paul Theroux and Peter Theroux, a translator of Arabic literary work. Alexander Theroux, who considered his time in San Diego a "joyless" experience, wrote for the Reader from 1995 through 1997.
Articles by Alexander Theroux
Father of the Theroux brothers – Alexander, Peter, Paul
Fled my father in La Jolla
La Jolla 1962 Dressed in long trousers and boat shoes and a white Lacoste tennis shirt, I accompanied Toby across Vista del Mar and Neptune Place to the Pump House and down concrete steps to …
August 19, 2023
Cats, small dogs, and toddlers don’t last long in Borrego
Ten Reasons Why You’d Have to Be Crazy to Live in Borrego Springs To paraphrase what Gertrude Stein once said of Oakland, there is no there there — no people (population: about 3000), no movie …
June 18, 2023
Chuck Berry, Nat King Cole, Elvis, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Paula Abdul, Paul Anka
[Editor’s note: This is a condensed version of an article by Alexander Theroux that originally ran in the Reader on July 20, 1995, titled The Grammar of Rock ‘n Roll.] Rock ‘n’ roll music, any …
March 29, 2023
Coinshooters at Pacific Beach are just part of it
San Diego's intrepid metal finders The faint sound through the earphones is like the buzz of a mosquito on the other side of the room when you're trying to sleep. It nags at your attention, …
February 11, 2023
Alexander Theroux describes his remarkable father
Decent life led by ordinary man He loved Lincoln, above all, and was word-perfect as to every facet of the assassins’ lives, especially Booth’s. Of special interest to him was the Battle of Bunker Hill, …
November 12, 2022
A cold eye on San Diego architects 20 years ago
Orchids and Onions — 20 years later The ’95 jury opened by dubbing 1976 Orchid-winner Rancho Bernardo “the ultimate suburb.” Nicoloff and Collins concurred, calling it “one of the few really successful and well-planned new …
August 27, 2022
I was kennelboy at Coronado Veterinary Hospital
Among the creatures I put the dog on the table. I felt inexplicably ill at ease with just the dog, myself, and Dr. Smith there; it was a rare moment shared by just the two …
May 2, 2022
Doubleday follows Luis Urrea to Tijuana, priggish Richard Henry Dana visits the presidio
A Living Cloud The next morning, I am greeted by my media escort, Penny. This is a fascinating new feature of my life — escorts. They pick you up, drive you around, provide snacks, meals, …
January 10, 2022