Stucco worked well for the Mayas, built much of Rome, and covers San Diego Two factors helped bring the artistic use of stucco to a halt: modernism, with its emphasis on simple, unbroken planes, and …
December 26, 2022
Prolific writer for Sunset magazine, Jensen has authored books on San Diego and California. He wrote stories on local architecture for the Reader in the mid-1990s.
Articles by Peter Jensen
San Diego’s architects finally understanding an ancient material
San Diego's good stucco, Cliff May designed 50 ranch houses here
Stucco Reigns Cunningham’s opinions on stucco range from passion — over buildings like the San Diego Museum of Fine Art in Balboa Park, “all the old theaters,” and Requa’s A.H. Sweet House at 435 West …
February 14, 2022
1939 Australian Sixteen pops up in San Diego, falconry on Fiesta Island
The Simple Magic of Being Pushed Forward By Wind Norm was still alive. From photographs Annie had sent, he identified the skiff as his own creation by the unique placement of ribs just aft of …
February 13, 2022
Moon flowers, a romantic Ocean Beach garden, the Monterey cypress
The Lesson the Moonflower Teaches He showed her that everything he’d planted had grown: the cosmos, the tomatoes, the chamomile, the mint, the marigolds, the nasturtiums, the baby’s breath, the basil, the oregano, the anise, …
June 6, 2021
Who still hitchhikes, the California Zephyr, the climb up El Cajon Mountain
There’s Only One Hitch At first I didn’t take him for a hitchhiker, even though he was standing at the on-ramp at Via de la Valle. He had a preoccupied look, as if being without …
March 8, 2021
Best Reader stories from 1995
I've got Perry Mason on board! In early 1960, the man who created Perry Mason was introduced to an Imperial Beach resident named Francisco Muñoz. Erle Stanley Gardner had many friends, and he particularly liked …
January 11, 2020
Best Reader stories from 1994
A little bit east of Eden When I was living in Los Angeles years ago, a door-to-door solicitor pitching San Diego vacations and tours showed me a brochure of local attractions. Included on the list …
January 5, 2020
Peter Jensen and the Reader
A prolific writer for Sunset magazine, Jensen has authored books on San Diego and California. He wrote stories on local architecture for the Reader in the mid-1990s. Pat Welsh, the Julia Child of Gardening At …
May 25, 2019
Pat Welsh, the Julia Child of Gardening
At lunch she is joined by her husband, Louis Welsh, whose parents, Frances and John Lloyd Wright (son of Frank Lloyd Wright), both now deceased, lived next door. Pat and Lou eat in the garden if it’s sunny.
August 17, 1995