Archive for March, 2011

On a glassy sea under a clear sky, the Greek freighter SS Irini Stefanou steamed south in early February 1965. Carrying a heavy load of Canadian lumber, the former World War II Liberty ship was destined for London, via the Panama Canal. But its passage would end abruptly on the rocks of the San Benito Islands, 300 miles south of San Diego. . .

The story of a strange Shipwreck.

In war surplus biplanes, aviation pioneers T. Claude Ryan and B. Franklin Mahoney made history on March 1, 1925. The launch of their Los Angeles–San Diego Air Line, would be America’s first regularly scheduled, daily airline service. This is the story of America’s First Airline.

T. Claude Ryan in the cockpit of his new airliner. Courtesy San Diego Air & Space Museum.

San Diego Union

In 1909, a dry wave was growing in America. Temperance laws were slowing liquor sales in cities throughout the country. Saloons were a particular target. . .

This is the story of San Diego’s Anti-Saloonists Campaign.

George Horatio Derby

We found ourselves in a large bar and billiard-room . . . Here I saw Lieutenant Derby, of the Topographical Engineers, an elderly gentlemen of emaciated appearance and serious cast of features. . . 

Dr. Harold O. Rugg

“The effort of the American Legion to eliminate all un-American teachings from the schools of the nation has been a real success. . . . ”

In the 1930s, the social science textbooks authored by Dr. Harold Rugg were standard classroom fare in schools throughout the United States. But late in the decade, the books came under remarkable public scrutiny and were attacked as subversive and un-American.

Here’s the story of San Diego’s Textbook Controversy.