Archive for May, 2010

Employing tactics of Chicago’s gangland, and armed with a machine gun and large caliber automatics, two desperate bandits yesterday noon sent a stream of bullets into the Agua Caliente money car as it crossed the National City dike, killed the two occupants of the machine and escaped with $85,000 in cash and checks. . .

Read about the Heist on the Dike.

Police examine the bullet riddled “money car.”

San Diego’s downtown of the late 1800s was filled with bars.  Perhaps the best known “saloonist” was the colorful Tillman A.  Burnes, who kept a well-stocked menagerie of exotic animals to accompany his liquor selections.   Read more about Till Burnes.

Till Burns (left) at his Acme Saloon

Caught in a terrific tide-rip which swept upon them without warning yesterday afternoon at Ocean Beach, scores of bathers fought for their lives, sixty were rescued by life guards and other bathers, two of them were drowned and their bodies recovered, and at least eleven others are missing. . . Read more about the: Ocean Beach Disaster

For nearly fifty years the San Diego Public Library used bookmobiles to bring library service to greater San Diego. Elementary schools and shopping centers were regular stops for the library-on-wheels. Read more about the Bookmobiles.

The San Diego Public Library began in 1882. San Diego’s “literary resort” was the second floor of a bank building at Fifth and G, where it shared space with a dentist’s office.

Read more about the first Public Library.

The impending appearance of “the Great White Fleet” excited all of Southern California in the spring of 1908. Newspapers eagerly sought the “first” photographs of the fleet. Publisher William Randolph Hearst was more eager than most. Read more about the Hearst Photos Caper.

The Great White Fleet entering Magdalena Bay

One of America’s greatest artists left an impressive legacy in San Diego.

Guardian of the Waters

Donal Hord, best known for his monumental stone figures, created works of sculpture that have endured at sites throughout our region.  Read more: Donal Hord

Mayor Douglas Gunn

The U.S. census of 1890 is the most famous counting in our history. In San Diego, there were special problems . . .

Read more here: 1890 Census

Not even Yankee Stadium or Boston’s Fenway Park can surpass the comforts and conveniences of the Padres’ new home . . . This is a real ballpark, built for the game of baseball, a ballpark in which the city of San Diego can take great pride.  –Jack Murphy, San Diego Union

Read about the fondly remembered Padres stadium in Mission Valley: Westgate Park.

Westgate Park photo courtesy Bill Swank

Here’s a list that will always be a work in progress.  The sites below are the ones I currently find the most useful.

• San Diego Genealogical Society
• San Diego Historical Society (aka “The History Center”)
• San Diego Public Library Digital Library
• Save Our Heritage Organisation
• Online Archive of California
• Kumeyaay Mapping Project
• Balboa Park Online Collaborative
• San Diego Maritime Museum
• San Diego Historical City Directories