The girls of summer Right after the Fourth of July, a series of perfect days unrolled across San Diego County beaches. Sun sizzled away the coastal low clouds by no later than eleven, and girls …
July 15, 2023
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Stories by Stephen Meyer
The cute boys are at La Jolla Shores
UCSD med school has 130 scalpels for its 3777 applicants
Don't be surprised if UCSD School of Medicine turns you down Maria Lofftus, manager of the admissions office at the UCSD School of Medicine, had just finished explaining to an irate father why his son's …
July 10, 2023
Scripps Ranch seems so peaceful
San Diego’s secret missile-testing sites While hardly Death Valley, Scripps is hot in August, with any errant ocean breezes conditioned by their journey over industrial parks and tract homes on the intervening mesas. And no …
January 23, 2023
Al Ducheny works outside the Chicano system
Bad blood in Barrio Logan As Alvin Ducheny and I roll through Barrio Logan in his dirty white Mercury Lynx, I ask him. “Why do so many people hate your guts, Al? You’d think you …
January 15, 2023
The troubled history of USIU
William Rust and the early troubles of USIU Eleven years after a financial crisis forced Rust to sell all of USIU’s worldwide campuses except Scripps Ranch, the president insists that there was no mismanagement at …
June 20, 2022
Bitten by rattler deep in Baja mountains
Snakebite Bob recalls, “I was getting pretty good mouthfuls of blood for a while, then everything seemed to coagulate.” Less than three minutes had elapsed since the time of the bite. He substituted the waist …
June 19, 2022
Lawyer Sam Spital has most TV ads
Spital's law: Advertise, settle the suit, go to the bank “There are some [attorneys] who are arrogant and think they're at a higher place in life," observes Spital. “They think they deserve to be more …
June 13, 2022
San Diego dialysis wars
Pumping ire “It’s like starting out in a race that you thought was going to be a hundred yards long, and it turns out to be a marathon,” says Fox. “But we were angry at …
June 11, 2022
Sure, I'll take a violin from San Diego to Poland
The Warsaw connection Suddenly a man about his age stepped from the shadows, introduced himself as Stashik, and took from him the centuries-old Italian violin. At this point, John Ratajkowski might have stepped back an …
June 6, 2022
How cool Elon swimsuits were
Soaked In swimsuits There's something incongruous about a national trend-setting taking place within the Elon building in downtown San Diego. It’s a faded hulk of a place built as a public works project during the …
June 5, 2022
Albert Arffmann grooms La Jolla's streets
Show me a sign Arffmann works into the early-morning hours, cleaning the restaurant and preparing the Pearl for the coming day. “Imagine you were having some friends over for dinner,” he says, "and imagine the …
May 30, 2022
Rudford's blue plate waitresses
Blue plate special "I’ve worked at Rudford’s since 1965. Twelve years altogether — I left three times. I used to get mad at something and I'd go back and quit. Some of the girls have …
May 7, 2022
San Diego boat Gypsy Song lost in Guatemala
Mystery of the Gypsy Song His one overriding desire is to find some shred of evidence that the Gypsy Song did in fact sink. “I just want to put that lady’s mind to rest,” he …
May 1, 2022
Gonzo Richard Meltzer digs into San Diego's Mayor Roger Hedgecock
The Unbearable Rightness of Being Roger Hedgecock “I was at Santa Barbara, a junior in college, and I got appointed as the head of all social programs. And we did Ray Charles, the Doors, we …
January 2, 2022
Buddy of Hemingway, Peron surfaces in Balboa Park, confessions of pot smuggler
Where a job with Time magazine led William Weber Johnson Ernest Hemingway was good company, but his drinking and hard living were difficult to keep up with. Argentinian president Juan Peron was either a tad …
April 4, 2021
Mission Valley – garden-land gave way to shopping centers
The never-ending fix to Hazard Center Drive Hazard Center Drive in Mission Valley East is probably the shortest road incurring the longest completion of any in San Diego. It is approximately three blocks long and …
May 11, 2020
Best Reader stories from 1986
Was James Gibson tortured by Mexican police? When two Mexican police officers and two FBI agents showed up at his beachfront Playas de Tijuana apartment on October 17, James Gibson had reason to suspect that …
December 8, 2019
Best Reader stories from 1985
The spirit of Steve Ponchetti It has forever been the custom of the Diegueño Indians to bury their dead twice: once at death, and then once again a year later. And so it was that …
December 7, 2019
Scripps Ranch – starter homes
Good intentions behind paving of Scripps Trail Claudia Walker's family bought a home on the 10400 block of the street, a quiet, neatly manicured tract in Scripps Ranch near where the northeastern edge of the …
June 17, 2019
Stephen Meyer and the Reader
Stephen Meyer wrote for the Reader from 1984 through 1987. Editor's picks of stories Meyer wrote: You can run but you cannot hide (at least not in Tijuana) When two Mexican police officers and two …
June 9, 2019
San Diego characters you should have known
Bad blood in Barrio Logan Ducheny is most unpopular with those who run the government-funded agencies, people such as Rachel Ortiz, who directs the Barrio Station youth program; Jess Haro, chairman of the Chicano Federation; …
July 21, 2018
Pal of Hemingway, Peron, Cardenas, and B. Trevan ends up in San Diego
Ernest Hemingway was good company, but his drinking and hard living were difficult to keep up with. Argentinian president Juan Peron was either a tad insincere, or he didn’t dare challenge the will of his …
January 8, 1987
You can run but you cannot hide (at least not in Tijuana)
When two Mexican police officers and two FBI agents showed up at his beachfront Playas de Tijuana apartment on October 17, James Gibson had reason to suspect that his attempt to start a new life …
December 4, 1986
The Butcher Shop — Las Vegas glitz and mafia aura
Roberto DePhilippis, the owner of the Butcher Shop Steak House, got very angry one night last spring. In fact he had been seething since November of 1985, when his landlord, the Plaza International Hotel in …
November 13, 1986
SDSU athletic director suffers ignominy
At 11:00 a.m. on July 24, 1985, a day one local writer called “Black and Blue Wednesday,” San Diego State University athletic director Mary Alice Hill abruptly fired two staff members and severed the contract …
September 25, 1986
Mystery of the Gypsy Song
It's the fourth of July at 6:30 a.m., and we’re driving down the twenty-seven-mile highway between Tapachula and Puerto Madero. the southernmost port on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Ken Franke, a retired Coast Guard captain and …
August 21, 1986
San Diego Padres vs. the Union and the Tribune
"Sports writers have tremendous penis envy" says San Diego Padres catcher Terry Kennedy. “They're envious of our position, and they’re envious of our salaries. Every time they write about us, they rip us.” Kennedy, though …
July 3, 1986
Al Ducheny fights the old guard — Chunky Sanchez, Rachel Ortiz, Jess Haro
As Alvin Ducheny and I roll through Barrio Logan in his dirty white Mercury Lynx, I ask him. “Why do so many people hate your guts, Al? You’d think you were a Communist or something.” …
June 12, 1986
Willam Rust and the early troubles of USIU
"We announce a building, and most campuses are announcing four or five, and that’s expansion?' exclaims William C. Rust. The president of United States International University was understandably touchy at the suggestion that the Scripps …
April 24, 1986
How Walter and Alex Gutierrez duped everyone
Read part one of this two-part story. On February 21, 1985, assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Hayes was invited by Michael and Peggy duPont to attend a meeting at the office of their attorney, James Lorenz. …
January 30, 1986
Point Loma's Michael and Peggy duPont scammed and accused of scam
In September of 1979, Michael duPont met two extraordinary men named Walter and Alex Gutierrez. DuPont, whose great-great-grandfather was the founder of the E.I. duPont chemical company in Wilmington, Delaware, felt destiny breathing down his …
January 23, 1986
The long trial of Charger Hall of Famer Ron Mix
Those who know Mix find it hard to believe he is capable of wrongdoing; one attorney says, “He’s known for paying attention to the little guy. I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about him.”
October 31, 1985
Don't be surprised if UCSD School of Medicine turns you down.
"The pre-med nerd sits in the front row in his classes and asks questions all the time to display his knowledge;' explains Hu. "Usually he already knows the answer. He takes furious notes and carries a tape recorder."
May 9, 1985
La Jolla's storied Gagosian mansion
The Gagosian mansion is a multimillion-dollar monument to the egos of wealthy and flamboyant men. It is also bad luck.
March 28, 1985
John Howard has had his eye on Dr. Allan Abbott’s land speed record for bike riding
Phone call. Long distance. Late one night in September. “John,” said a female voice John Howard recognized as that of his ex-wife in Houston. “I’ve been having these dreams, John.” “Dreams?” “Bad dreams. Dreams that …
November 15, 1984
Why we even have the San Diego Historical Society
On the morning of December 15, 1878 jailer George Nickel at the San Diego County Jail on Third Street inserted a key into the cell door of Jose Laguna, a.k.a. Ramon. Through the barred window …
October 4, 1984
San Diego probation officers stretch themselves
Three-thirty Friday afternoon. Gloria, a twenty-three-year-old drug addict convicted on two counts of grand theft, appears unexpectedly to see deputy probation officer Sherri Necochea at the East County Regional Center in El Cajon. One of …
August 30, 1984
Peter Grant produces San Diego’s only local comedy TV show
In 1980 psychologist Peter Grant owned a $750,000 home on Mt. Soledad. He had a thriving practice in La Jolla that brought him more than $200,000 a year. He regularly drew 200 to 300 people …
July 19, 1984
Valley — where bad kids in Escondido are sent
When he was fourteen years old, Robert Bertheola had an unusual sense of humor. One day he went into a bank in Los Angeles and placed a piece of paper before the teller that read, …
June 14, 1984