To commemorate Father's Day, this issue contains a collection of reflections from Reader writers about their fathers:The Last Tag Sale — Jeanne SchintoAn Air of Exoticism — Duncan ShepherdKinder Than I Would Think Possible — …
June 20, 2026
Bill Manson writes cover stories and features for the San Diego Reader.
Some samples of his early writing:
July 25, 1996:Song for the Uprooted (mariachi music in TJ's Zona Norte)
March 19, 1998: Larry's Best Gal (interview with Larry Lawrence aide Norma Nicolls)
March 16, 1995: Coyote, Tarantula, Silence, Sea (the four corners of San Diego County)
Sept. 24, 1998: Cunanan's Last Laugh (computer game based on gay serial killer)
March 25, 1999: Kidnapped! (Georgina Crespo's abduction from Coronado Cays)
Articles by Bill Manson
The Reader's Father's Day extravaganza
Coronado Cays woman kidnapped at Tijuana office
“I’m sorry, sir, I can’t give any information.” Speaking from his Coronado Cays home, Miguel Crespo sounds tired and shaken. His wife, Georgina, was kidnapped over a month ago.“All the family are concerned about this,” …
June 3, 2026
Peacefulness of Balboa Park's Spanish Village broken
The sign on the gate tells you all about it. Annual plot fees, $10. Six months’ water charge, $6 per plot. Safe chemicals to use: beer for snails, wood shavings, mint-water soap, garlic-onion soap for …
May 1, 2026
Cambodians braved so much to get to San Diego
In the dark Sopheap Cheam, ten, puts his foot through a body. A rotting, maggot-filled stomach, up to his calf. He yanks it out with a shudder. Grabs at the nearest leaves and starts frantically …
April 8, 2026
V for Beaver
“Bike bells,” reads the sign in the trees. “Borrow a bell and return it at the end of your ride. Remember to warn horses and hikers as you approach.” Blue metal balls hang off the …
November 14, 2025
A brief visit to Queen Califia's Magic Circle
Oh man. Such a plenitude of art, such a dearth of people! I have come through a gate into a black-and-white-tiled garden of madly colored sculptures. This is “Queen Califia’s Magical Circle.” It’s in Kit …
September 24, 2025
Robert Barry deconstructs the urban landscape at Gallery 21
Is photography art? Here’s my theory: The painter starts with a blank canvas and daubs his version of reality onto it. The photographer starts off capturing reality ready-made, and then subtracts from it in a way …
September 24, 2025
Real San Diego 1950s stories
Taken by a SharkState game wardens began hunting the beast by trailing cattle blood in the water, from their patrol boat, between Bird Rock and the Scripps Pier. They found no shark of the magnitude …
September 1, 2025
Players on a train
We’re at the end of the line, here at National City’s 24th Street station, where giant hopes came and went for San Diego, back in the late 1800s. This was where they were expecting the grand …
July 17, 2025