San Diego Yesterday

The Young Communists

Richard — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:22:16 +0000

“You can’t parade. Our orders are to prevent it.” In a moment there was a seething, screaming mass around the policemen. Staves and sticks began to fly.
–San Diego Sun, May 31, 1933

Eighty years ago this month, conservative San Diegans got a little riled by The Young Communists.

The riot in Pantoja Park.

New book coming soon . . .

Richard — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:20:59 +0000

Releasing on May 28: San Diego Yesterday, a compilation of 38 pieces I once wrote for the Union-Trib. Here’s a sneak peek at the cover, and a description from the publisher: http://historypresswest.org/2013/05/02/new-from-american-chronicles-san-diego-yesterday/

The book is now available for pre-order at Amazon.

The Big Freeze

Richard — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 20:45:55 +0000

San Diego Evening Tribune, June 6, 1913.

The city awoke this morning in a climate apparently transplanted. Shivers ran where shivers had not run before and the weather bureau was bombarded from early morn with telephone calls to know the reason why. Lightly constructed “Southern California” houses shrank with the cold and fairly trembled with the quivering of their occupants. –San Diego Evening Tribune, January 6, 1913.

The story of the 1913 Big Freeze.

Favorite San Diego history books

Richard — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 00:59:07 +0000

Back in May 1991, San Diego Union reporter Roger Showley wrote a nice piece on local history books, which included a valuable list of favorite titles nominated by local historians (list attached here: Favorite Books).

That was 22 years ago. How about we update that list? This doesn’t have to be limited to professional historians. Let’s hear from students and history buffs, too.

What I’d like to know is simply:

a. What are your favorite San Diego history books (perhaps your top five?)

and

b. Why do you like these books?

You can leave a comment below or send me an email at r-crawford@cox.net. I’ll give you all a couple of weeks then I’ll post the results on this site.

The Tijuana Sky Ride

Richard — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 00:58:19 +0000

In 1960, Long Beach entrepreneur Allen Parkinson (inventor of Sleep-Eze) had a clever idea to speed people across the international border at San Ysidro. Partnering with Tijuana businessmen, Parkinson would build a mile-long aerial tramway to whisk passengers across the line in a Disneyland-style skyride. Regrettably, the scheme fizzled, but not before architect Frank L. Hope produced this fascinating rendering.

Special Collections, San Diego Public Library.

Padres history on DVD

Richard — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 19:31:50 +0000

Chris Boyd’s superb documentary on “The First Padres” is now available on DVD. Check it out on this link: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thefirstpadres. Chris includes great archival footage of the Lane Field days and interviews with players and local historians. The film premiered on KPBS back on October 8. It’s well-worth owning.

New book coming

Richard — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 23:47:03 +0000

Come July or thereabouts, I should have a new San Diego history title on the book shelves. Tentatively titled, San Diego Yesterday (same as the blog name) this will be another collection of articles from the Union-Tribune column I wrote from 2008 to 2011. The History Press from Charleston, South Carolina is the publisher. There are 38 chapters; here’s a brief sampling of the contents:

On the Border

San Diego Union, Aug. 22, 1960

The Hole in the Fence

Frank “Booze Beyer” and Tijuana

The Heist on the Dike

The Revolutionaries

Disorderly Conduct

A Ruined Woman

Death of the Butterfly Dancer

The Royal Coach Affair

The Bribe

Dragsters on the Boulevard

Fear and Intolerance

The Student Strike

The Young Communists

The Silver Shirts

A Textbook Controversy

The Last Temptation of the Book Censors

A great read for Christmas . . .

Richard — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 23:58:29 +0000

Amazon is waiting!

Admit it. You all hated history in high school but now you know better. History really can be fun. Or, you still hate history but you gotta find an inexpensive book for gift giving. That’ll work too.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1609494415

The End of Prohibition in San Diego

Richard — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:16:24 +0000

The “Great Thirst” of Prohibition ended in April 1933 with the repeal of the 18th Amendment. Here’s how drinkers celebrated the arrival of retail beer in San Diego:

San Diego Union, April 8, 1933.

Damming Mission Gorge

Richard — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 22:36:04 +0000

Mission Gorge in the 1920s.

One of the biggest hassles we had was trying to keep some of these idiots from building a dam in Mission Gorge . . . A lot of land would have been flooded—Santee, Lakeside, and about a third of El Cajon Valley would have been a shallow lake.
—Fred A. Heilbron, San Diego city councilman

When San Diege seem intent on Damming Mission Gorge.