Thirty Years Ago Helen Copley, lauded by Newsweek and New West for improving employee relations, has pulled in the reins a bit. Union-Tribune staffers, all 1200 of them, will be paying a dime a day …

Thirty Years Ago COME TO SEE the real men. Come to the Mission Beach Plunge. EILEEN AT Halcyon: When I said you were "homely," I only meant you look good enough to take home. Honest, …

Shady Alleys I once knew a woman who grew marijuana in a small pot next to her kitchen sink. She was going through chemotherapy for breast cancer and smoked cannabis to ease the nausea, vomiting, …

Thirty Years Ago In what could have passed as a dress rehearsal for this summer's Democratic national convention, some 325 voters jammed a Clairemont junior high school to pick a slate of 10 potential delegates …

It was 12 o'clock in the morning and I was lying in my bed, half asleep. The moon was shining so brightly through the blinds that I could see almost everything in my bedroom. All …

Thirty Years Ago San Diego's University Hospital cafeteria is similar to an army mess hall. Costumes point up rank. Nurses are all in white -- either pant suits or dresses -- while female physicians wear …

Thirty Years Ago "Most of the bites are from German shepherds. Next, from poodles. Of course, people start shaking when you mention Dobermans, but there aren't enough around to make a big percentage of bites. …

This patch of earth, longitude 117 degrees west, latitude 33 degrees 2 minutes north, passes away from the sun. The sun's light, leaning in from the west, reaches us through denser and denser layers of …

'It was a very depressing scene," blogs Wasting June's keyboard player Jeff Domitrz about a summer gig at 'Canes (found on the band's myspace.com page). "A friend of mine described it as 'drinking beer at …

Thirty Years Ago County tax assessors assess boats as personal property, unless they are a taxpayer's principal residence, and then the boat owner can file for a homeowner's exemption. If taxes are unbearable, you can …

A wild tangle of curls ran all over my head like jungle vines. I looked in the mirror and realized what I'd been depriving myself of for so long. Since that day, I have become …

Thirty Years Ago Five years ago, with the depot looking more like a white elephant, talk began about what to do with it. The Santa Fe Railroad unveiled plans for twin office towers on the …

Okay. I won't panic. Even though I graduated high school in the top 10 percent of my class and managed to gain acceptance into my preferred college, I still have my problems. My main problem …

Thirty Years Ago "Logan Heights is divided up into territories. Shelltown, which stretches from 43rd and Highland to Wabash and National and from Division to Imperial. After that comes Logan and that goes from the …

Thirty Years Ago FIRST PRIZE -- $25 to: A practical Padre named Serra Persuaded our tribesman to wear a Donation of clothes, Then handed them hoes, And assigned them to tilling the terra. LaVerne Brown …

Little kids are fascinated by animals as soon as they become aware of the world around them. I was no different, but I did have more to go up against than many kids because my …

Thirty Years Ago County tax assessors assess boats as personal property, unless they are a taxpayer's principal residence, and then the boat owner can file for a homeowner's exemption. If taxes are unbearable, you can …

Non-drinker: Brianna Sheets, female, 17, Mt. Carmel High School What are your reasons for not drinking? "Honestly, I don't really have time to go out and party. Being involved with school, tennis, and community service, …

Thirty Years Ago How do 13 parking controllers cover the entire city? "It isn't easy," said Sammons, sitting in his Traffic Department office near 6th and Market Street. Complaints of underenforcement are regularly received from …

Northstar Session's EP Little Lies was released last October and was recorded and produced by John Beard (who has worked with American Idol's Bo Bice and San Diego's blink-182 and Lucy's Fur Coat). Northstar Session …

Non-drinker: Felicia Cheng, female, 17, Mt. Carmel High School What are your reasons for not drinking? "When I first started high school, I made a conscious decision to refrain from drinking and doing drugs." Do …

Thirty Years Ago Fragments of the conversation of P. Ferrari, the Last Dairyman.... "I was born in that house right there, went to school with all these people, dairy farmers, truck farmers -- lots of …

'Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!" From the moment when Jan uttered those words, I was in love with the Bradys, all nine of them (you have to include Alice). I loved nerdy Jan, sweet Cindy, pretty Marsha, …

Thirty Years Ago In the wake of Grape's demise, Mosley returned to San Diego and worked in high schools as a janitor and later joined the Marines.What made you decide to go into the Marines? …

Thirty Years Ago They tell tales in the back rooms and archives and lecture halls of the anthropology world, of one John Peabody Harrington, linguist. Now that a comfortable 15 years have elapsed since his …

During the month of January, gyms are filled with people who swore that this year they would get into shape. Those who vowed to maintain a six-pack crowd the ab machines and pilates classes, those …

Thirty Years Ago Unlike Eastern Seaboard communities who live in fear of a sludge monster arising from the depths, San Diegans can be free from such anxieties thanks to a steep topography and a hand …

Caffeine is my life support. I drink tea and coffee. I drink iced tea like a crazy man because it is my favorite. At Starbucks, I opt for the black iced tea, sweetened. It tastes …

Thirty Years Ago After six years of self-imposed abstinence, the San Diego Union-Tribune has reopened its entertainment pages to X-rated movie ads. In reversing a 1969 decision by former publisher James Copley, the U-T management, …

Did President Bush make the right decision to have the U.S. spend billions of dollars on the war in Iraq while people worldwide suffer from hunger and diseases? Absolutely not! Though Bush had noble intentions …

Twenty-Five Years Ago HEY YOU OUT THERE, let's in memory of John Lennon give peace a chance. BEATLE FANS. Did anybody out there do any home videotaping during December 9 through the 14th? If so, …

Thirty Years Ago The surfer is always changing his mind. Suppose he's at the South Mission jetty, watching a wave with the mass of a tall house approach at 30 mph along the rocks. He …

Along with many vidiots my age, television was the teat that nurtured us all, and I was less weaned than most. I recall "discovering" the Beatles on a Smothers Brothers show from October 1968 (which …

Thirty Years Ago RETIRED CHIEF EXECUTIVE of international banking cartel, bored with yachting and women, will consider assisting with your perplexities. Armondotio...after 10 a.m. -- "CLASSIFIEDS," December 11, 1975 Twenty-Five Years Ago In 1965 Marquis …

Thirty Years Ago The porn movies today are so anti-erotic, vacuous, and monotonous that they can serve better as wide-open playgrounds for radical film theorists and discussions of Art Brut pictorialism, anti-narrative structure, the spontaneous …

Twenty-Five Years Ago Kid was on his way to the beach. Drove his folks' 1970 Mercury from his home in El Cajon to the Grand/Garnet exit in Pacific Beach. It was after eight on a …

Thirty Years Ago WANTED: Women who worked in or led liberation movement, to help me in a liberation movement for myself, as I can't alone. I am hypnosis-controlled, trying to hold reversed. -- CLASSIFIEDS, November …

Jimmy Pettit is a 40-year-old construction project manager. He and his family live near San Diego State University. He owns an MP3 player made by iRiver, along with a waterproof housing and submersible headphones designed …

Thirty Years Ago The first time I saw B.B. (BeBe) was 1967; she was in a white corduroy jockey suit and cap. She reminded me of a 90-pound white rat on speed. Later at an …

Thirty Years Ago "Gerald Warren is a good, fair, amiable newsman. Helen Copley was smart to latch onto him. If there is anything to be wary of now it's that element of small-town mentality as …

Thirty Years Ago I, a beaten, dejected, frustrated cross-country bicycle rider was calling it quits. What had begun as a five-week, 2300-mile solo bicycle trip from Pacific Beach to Milwaukee, Wisconsin was ending after only …

Thirty Years Ago Next to the donkey show, Agua Caliente Race Track is probably Tijuana's most world famous attraction. Purists contend Agua is to Del Mar what marijuana is to hashish, but the play is …

Thirty Years Ago Jane Fonda could in no way duplicate Jon Voight's warmth, nor does she feel the need to. Understandably, she is under pressure. Hayden has spoken to 600 groups since last June. If …

Thank God for Cigarettes and Alcohol I think my PC monitor is giving me headaches, especially when I am using Linux, leading to tiredness and grumpiness and all of the personality traits you all know …

Thirty Years Ago Hillcrest to the airport. "This is one not too many people know about. You go to the far west end of Robinson and turn left on Curlew; it goes down to Reynard …

The Great Unwashed I blog for my friends. After the company I worked for in Dublin closed, everyone scattered, some on extended holidays, others to different jobs at home and abroad. I came home to …

Twenty-Five Years Ago A new instructor in the San Diego State economics department assigned his students Macroeconomic Models and Policy, which costs $22.95 and was written by department professor Yiannis Venieris. What aroused the ire …

Thirty Years Ago Las Hermanas was opened last December. It is owned by two women, who are no longer San Diego residents.... I was left with an unclear idea of the coffeehouse's legal status. Partnership …

Life as an evacuee in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is strange. No routine, no certainty for the future, not much income, bills that still have to be paid...and then all the thoughts about what's …

Thirty Years Ago I want to get back at my parents for force-feeding me Gerber's and making me clean my plate at butter-knife--point. "Eat it all and become strong like Mad Dog Vachon." (Mad Dog …