San Diego's least-remembered great man – U.S. Grant Jr. On a Sunday in September of 1929, 15 members of San Diego’s elite gathered to carry the coffin of an old friend. Among the pallbearers were …
August 26, 2023
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Stories by Douglas Whyknott
General Grant's heirs made mark on San Diego
The Fletchers leave a cautionary tale about alcohol
What happened? A pioneer family's tragedy There was nothing to do but walk back to the house. Eric and his wife walked 10 yards, 20 yards, 30. The sky was still pink in the west. …
August 21, 2023
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
Where did San Diego's fishing go?
Flipper victorious In 1960 San Diego was the most active tuna port in the world. The fleet consisted of about 135 boats. At any given time, 30 or 40 were tied up at the Embarcadero, …
March 5, 2023
San Diego's ostrich ranchers
Long-necked bonanza We had reached our first destination, about two miles due west of the San Diego Wild Animal Park, the semirural home of a pediatric dentist who’s been raising ostriches as a sideline for …
August 22, 2022
San Diego's bees and ostriches
The cumulative hiss of thousands of wings Mikolich moves bees to the Imperial Valley, for melon pollination, onion seed pollination, and alfalfa seed pollination. Hives there are usually set under “shades,” shelters that protect them …
April 2, 2022
Army-Navy Academy, wine experts behind doors, castrated man's life
An unhampered look at Carlsbad's Army Navy Academy "Unlike the upper-school cadets, these boys will break down and cry, a lot. They don’t want other boys to see ’em cry, ’cause it’s not macho. But …
August 29, 2021
Mira Mesa man captured first giant panda in 1936
I Need Time to Recuperate A snowstorm trapped the porter on the other side of a pass, and he couldn’t get back for three days. Quentin had matches and lit a fire. He had a …
August 2, 2021
Carlsbad flower fields, Mission Bay, Coronado bridge
God’s Dirt “It’s not for the faint-hearted. It’s pretty high-risk because they’re very, very, very, very perishable. When the flowers are bloomed, you have to pick ’em. And you have to sell ’em. Otherwise you …
August 1, 2021
San Diego's highway landscaping, how to beat avocado thieves
Ground Cover One of the Brazilian peppers, a 20-foot umbrella of lacy foliage, blocks an exit sign for Genesee Avenue. “Look at that sign. Kind of hard to see what it says, isn’t it? You’ve …
July 18, 2021
Inside the California Current, what killed San Diego's tuna, Coronado lifeguarding is like chess
Rich Sea Stew: Sampling the California CurrentOne fisherman was doing quite well. His name was Pedro, and he worked as a crew member. Pedro had a rod holster and used shrimp flies, and he was …
February 22, 2021
Oceanside Museum, Balboa Theater, bright eye of MOPA, scandal of MOCA
Pioneer in Oceanside “In San Diego, the most important piece of architecture is, of course, the Mission San Luis Rey. But I feel strongly that this [the Oceanside museum] is the next most important piece.” …
January 23, 2021
Best Reader stories from 1997
Childhood's End: Dr. Spock at 94 53-year-old Morgan, Dr. Spock’s second wife, has been relentless and inventive in her search for ways to keep her husband youthful and healthy. For his 75th birthday, for example, …
January 18, 2020
Best Reader stories from 1996
Mafia in San Diego before World War II (first in series of six stories) “The raids, all made with search warrants, started soon after noon and were not completed until early evening. All of the …
January 12, 2020
Douglas Whyknott and the Reader
Douglas Whyknott, who wrote for the Reader from 1995 throiugh 1998, is an 11th-generation Cape Codder. He played blues and jazz piano and formed the Whynott Boogie Trio after studying blues piano with Sammy Price, …
July 28, 2019
It's hard to learn about dolphin training at SeaWorld.
When Hoffman tells us it’s time to get into our wet suits I think —Did she also tell me I’d be getting into a wet suit? When I mention this, her response is, well, neutral.
February 26, 1998
A night with the astronomer monks of Palomar Mountain
A phone call came in from Rick’s wife—she wanted to say goodnight. “My beautiful wife,” he said when he hung up, smiling. He had a job in astronomy, yes, but he’d sacrificed the goodnight kiss.
December 11, 1997
Behind scenes at San Diego's Museum of Photographic Arts
1. The Vault If a photograph dies and goes to heaven, it might end up here in the breathable vault at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. The prospect for immortality is good, …
October 16, 1997
San Diego beekeepers know all the flowering plants
There are about 30,000 beehives in San Diego County, and just now, Alan Mikolich and I are standing amid 140 of them. Mikolich is a commercial beekeeper, one of the dozen or so in San …
May 15, 1997
Dolphins kill San Diego's tuna industry
Many of the older generation think that the dolphin activists “ruined a beautiful industry.” Some think it was a big mistake not to publicly and legally challenge Sam LaBudde and the Earth Island Institute.
May 23, 1996
Scripps scientists see cause for alarm in California Current
The blue whales and the soaring plankton bloom, along with the tapering off of water temperatures in the past four months, seemed to call into question the idea that life in the California Current might be diminishing.
November 16, 1995