William H. Carlson in 1893, newly elected as San Diego’s youngest mayor at age 28. He’s credited with luring the Navy to town, raising money for the jetty at the mouth of San Diego Bay, …
September 10, 2008
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Stories by Robert Mizrachi
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SD's Youngest Mayor
Allen Glick, 1979
Allen Glick, 1979. In the ’70s, Glick had a real estate office in San Diego near Banker’s Hill. Around the same time (according to Wikipedia), Glick “was the front man for the syndicate-controlled Stardust Casino …
August 6, 2008
Fourth of July, 1923
Members of the Goodwin clan, Fourth of July, 1923. That’s Charles holding up his straw hat. He had a clothes-cleaning and dyeing business on 16th Street, downtown. Among his children were two boys...one named Odie, …
July 23, 2008
Peanuts, 1963
In 1963, District 5 county supervisor candidate Al Hogan posed with peanuts. Walnuts, celery, and carnations have all had their high-production years in San Diego County, but peanuts… In 1878, a Captain Porter “made a …
July 9, 2008
Fastest Gun in the West, 1964
Eldon Carl, “Fastest Gun in the West” and a San Diego County sheriff’s deputy. A 1964 Union article noted that “he has three times won the championship contest in quick-draw combat shooting...one of six combat …
June 25, 2008
Spreckels Theatre, c. 1915
Spreckels Theatre, c. 1915. Signage also advertises “Vaudeville Hippodrome.” Clarence Alan McGrew’s 1922 book City of San Diego and San Diego County mentioned, “In 1915 the Hippodrome vaudeville started to appear at the Spreckels Theatre,” …
June 11, 2008
Del Mar Racetrack, 1936
Bing Crosby (left, in the white jacket and straw hat) at the Del Mar Racetrack’s setting of a memorial stone, 1936. (The track opened the following year.) To the right of the hoist chain, the …
May 28, 2008
McGovern, 1972
Senator George McGovern (left of center), 1972. He swung through town that year in his presidential campaign against Richard “Dick” Nixon. A Democrat and WWII combat veteran, McGovern’s election would have amounted to a referendum …
May 14, 2008
Spreckels Theatre, c. 1908
Excavation of the Spreckels Theatre building at 121 Broadway, c. 1908. Sugar millionaire John D. Spreckels is said to have had it constructed to coincide with the Panama Canal’s opening. (San Diego vied to be …
May 7, 2008
Roping Dogs
Dogs’ Beach in Ocean Beach, 1974. The city council got tough on dogs that year. In two weeks’ time, 232 citations were issued to owners, “the toughest crackdown on stray dogs in county history,” according …
April 16, 2008
Cavalryman at the Reins, 1876
Jacob Bergman, 1876. In 1937, the Tribune noted that “friends affectionately called him ‘Dutch’…. [He] held the reins in 1858 on the first westbound Butterfield coach to cross the first western desert span of the …
April 2, 2008
The Too-Late Shift, 1972
Gail Jones at the downtown Woolworth’s store, 1972. Jones and a friend, waitresses at the store’s café, were in the dressing room changing their clothes when management locked up at 6 p.m. and went home …
March 26, 2008
Teen Tamer
Beth Bennett, manager of local Department of Motor Vehicles, 1965. She began working at the DMV in 1946. Bennett left San Diego in 1961, when Governor Pat Brown made her deputy director of the state …
March 19, 2008
Power Fighter, 1966
Protest at UCSD, 1966. That’s Lowell Bergman onstage (with sunglasses). A student of philosopher and social critic Herbert Marcuse, Bergman went on to become a producer on 60 Minutes (where his exposé on the tobacco …
March 12, 2008
Chinchilla Lover, 1972
Virginia Casey with chinchilla pelts at Graf’s Firs, Fashion Valley, 1972. In 1940, the daily paper interviewed a local retired druggist who was raising chinchillas. By 1951, 200 San Diegans reportedly had chinchilla farms. A …
March 5, 2008
Methodist Church, c. 1890
Home of the first Methodist church in San Diego, c. 1890. Located on the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and Broadway, the church was first a wooden structure built in 1870 on land donated by …
February 27, 2008
Disowned Bicycles, 1960
Abandoned bicycles in police possession, 1960. That year, the police began a drive to get owners to license their bikes — to “thwart thefts,” according to our local daily. “Owners of unlicensed bicycles may be …
February 20, 2008
Log-Roller, 1963
Jay Curia and his surfboard trailer, 1963. A 1963 editorial in our local daily stated, “Our tired shanks are a little too flabby to allow us the privilege of taking up surfing.... Now is the …
February 13, 2008
Murder Suspect, 1961
In August of 1961, a homicide detective (left) brought in a suspect to face murder charges after a woman's body was found in the Mission Bay Channel. A newspaper editorial in 1961 noted that the …
January 23, 2008
Before the Chargers Girls, 1961
Before the Charger Girls, the team and fans had Chargettes. Here they are in 1961. According to a posting on glorifythepast.com, in 1970, "A lot of Bolts were caught up in an NFL drug scandal, …
January 16, 2008
You Go-Go, Girl!
Tamzon Feeney outside the Box Office nightclub, 1965. According to our local daily, she and "a band of teenagers have attempted what may be the city's first statue veiling. The 17-foot fiberglass-and-steel statue of a …
January 9, 2008
Mt. Olivet Cemetery, 1963
Four years ago, usgennet.org issued a report on the cemetery located in Nestor off Saturn Boulevard, near Coronado Avenue. The report indicated that the 20 found gravestones were "unmarked," "broken," "toppled," "disintegrating," "buried," and "vandalized."The …
January 2, 2008
Guns Dumped At Sea, 1968
Mayor Frank Curran (left) and detective William Gore display guns to be dumped at sea, 1968. The mayor had instituted a voluntary gun turn-in program modeled after San Francisco's. SDPD chief O.J. Roed, meanwhile, stated …
December 27, 2007
Low-Rider, 1959
Phil Bateman holds a yardstick up to his bumper to show off the clearance of his low-rider, 1959. The previous year, San Diego hosted its first Custom and Hot Rod Show in Balboa Park. About …
December 20, 2007
World Surfing Championship, 1966
Corky Carroll at the 1966 World Surfing Championship contest in O.B. (Australia's Nat Young won.) In recognition of the contest, the mayor proclaimed it "World Surfing Week," and the city council forked over $1495 for …
December 13, 2007
Lucky Waller Park, 1974
Shnops and Sheriff Don Amos at Lucky Waller Park in National City, 1974. San Diego County sheriffs have employed dogs for 40 years. The San Diego Police Department's K-9 unit -- the largest in the …
December 6, 2007
Martial Arts Class, 1971
Local martial arts class, 1971. Karate schools multiplied in the 1970s, but in the mid '60s the discipline began getting attention from our local daily. In 1965, it was noted that 11 martial artists wore …
November 29, 2007
Actress Lita Milan, In A Phone Booth, 1958
Actress Lita Milan, in a phone booth on Harbor Drive and Market Street, 1958. An aide to Dominican general Rafael Trujillo Jr. seems to be offering counsel. Our local paper learned that Milan fled the …
November 21, 2007
Crewman And Dog, 1958
Crewman and dog of Rafael Trujillo Jr. (son of the Dominican Republic dictator), 1958. When his yacht docked in San Diego, news-gatherers and about 5000 people swarmed the waterfront. Most-desired glimpses included the "dapper," "handsome," …
November 15, 2007
350-Foot Yacht Angelita, 1958
In 1958, looky-loos tried to catch a glimpse of anyone aboard the 350-foot yacht Angelita, owned by Dominican general Rafael Trujillo Jr. (whose given first name was Ramfis). The 29-year-old and his crew docked in …
November 8, 2007
Cop Demonstrates Unsafe Riding, 1966
A cycle cop demonstrates unsafe riding in a parking lot, 1966. Same year, a columnist at our local daily observed that, "If you have a California license to drive a car, you are eligible to …
November 1, 2007
Administration Of Rubella Vaccine, 1970
In the years 1963 and '64, an outbreak of the disease affected 12 million people in the U.S. When the virus caught up with expectant mothers, 11,000 fetuses died; 20,000 babies were born with permanent …
October 25, 2007
La Jolla Cove, December of 1969
Our local daily used a helicopter to photograph the waves pounding our shores. "No one rode [the waves because they were so big]," says surfer/shaper Steve Scatolini, who was in his early teens. "I heard …
October 18, 2007
Food Authority George Mardikian, 1958
Local Rotary Club member Mrs. Homer Peabody talks steak thickness with food authority George Mardikian (1958). As a teen, Armenian-born Mardikian escaped from a Turkish prison camp and made his way to the U.S. He …
October 11, 2007
Balboa Park Carousel, 1957
The ride arrived in the West from New York in 1910. The operator of Coronado's seasonal Tent City bought it from an L.A. owner soon after. Some say the carousel was moved between the Tent …
October 4, 2007
San Diego High, 1958
From the Evening-Tribune photo assignment sheet: "Get a shot or two of a policeman chatting informally with four or five students -- girls and boys, or all boys, whichever is easiest...idea is that cops and …
September 27, 2007
Lorna And Three Teen-Age Friends, 1965
In June of 1965, the Evening Tribune sent a photographer to 3535 Tomahawk Lane in Clairemont. The angle of the story isn't clear today, but the assignment sheet reads: "Take photo of Lorna [Montgomery, standing, …
September 20, 2007
Excavation Of 5000-Year-Old Man, 1968
Ten years earlier, plans got under way to develop the 780-acre Sorrento Valley Industrial Park -- "one of the greatest industrial parks in the nation," according to developers quoted in the local daily. As development …
September 13, 2007
Tavern Owners Bartenders School, 1971
Carole Manning at Tavern Owners Bartenders School on Union Street, 1971. In May of '71, the state supreme court decided it was unconstitutional to prevent women from holding a job as bartender. "Percy Husong claims …
September 6, 2007
Mother of 15 Girls and 8 Boys, 1960
Mrs. Jerome Garcia and some of her children in their Logan Heights home, March 1960. "She was glad her latest child was a boy," according to our local daily. "She is the mother of 15 …
August 30, 2007
Car Trouble On SR 163, 1958
It only looked like car trouble on SR 163, near the Laurel Street bridge, in July of 1958. A newspaper reporter was dispatched to the site to pretend her car conked out. "Sixty cars passed …
August 23, 2007