San Diego Yesterday

On Wednesday evening at 6:30, I’ll be at the Clairemont Library for pictures and discussion about San Diego Yesterday. The library is at 2920 Burgener Blvd.

Mark you calendars for Wednesday night, Oct. 9, at 6:30 p.m.  I’ll be at the Clairemont Library for a talk and discussion about San Diego Yesterday. Lots of great stories and historical photographs to share. The library is at 2920 Burgener Blvd., San Diego.

Now available in bookstores and Amazon.com.

In Special Collections at the Public Library we come across lots of excellent photographs of early San Diego. Many are unfamiliar. How about the “Pipe Hospital” at 306 C Street in 1915?  Or the Grossmont Center Shopping Center when it was just a large excavation? And here’s a nice shot of the submarine S-33 in San Diego harbor.

Sartor & Spears, 306 C Street, in 1915.

The site of Grossmont Center in 1960.

USN submarine S-33, ca. 1940s.

The story of Wyatt Earp continues to fascinate.  The best book I’ve seen on Earp’s years in our city is Garner Palenske’s Wyatt Earp in San Diego.  On Sunday afternoon, Sept. 15, Garner will be discussing his book at the William Heath Davis House in the heart of the Gaslamp.  Here’s some details:

THE DATE IS SET- SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2013, 3:00-4:00 PM. FREE
LECTURE/BOOK SIGNING “WYATT EARP IN SAN DIEGO”, GASLAMP QUARTER
HISTORICAL MUSEUM, AT THE WILLIAM HEATH DAVIS HOUSE, 410 ISLAND AVE.
SAN DIEGO, CA 92101.

THE EVENT WILL INCLUDE:

• DETAILS ABOUT WYATT’S TIME IN SAN DIEGO
• NEW RESEARCH YET TO BE PUBLISHED
• WYATT’S LOST MINING CLAIMS AT HARQUA HALA, AZ.

Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation

Did the Spanish explorer Francisco de Ulloa meet his demise near San Diego in 1540? Did he leave behind a fortune in gold and silver, buried somewhere near San Luis Rey?

Last Friday I did an interview on the mystery with Edward Sifuentes, who writes for the North County edition of the UT.  Here’s the uncut video: http://bcove.me/8p1x65zj  No preface or introduction, I’m afraid. Just a chat with a reporter with the camera running.

This Saturday morning I’ll be giving a talk on the treasure mystery at the Oceanside Public Library, at 11:00.

He has been called the greatest benefactor in San Ysidro history–a mining engineer turned rancher who donated land for churches and schools, and funded the community’s first public library. Dimly remembered today as the namesake of streets and schools, Frank B. Beyer is less known as the “gambler from the owner’s side of the table,”a man with a colorful career below the border, who spent his last years giving back his wealth to his adopted community.

The story Frank “Booze” Beyer and Tijuana.

The big move to the new Central Library is underway. Here’s some footage of the action and some brief interviews.

This month, a century ago, the students at San Diego High decided to end their school year early. Here’s the story of The Student Strike.

Nearly the entire student body skipped class to march. Courtesy Special Collections, UCSD.

Save the date.  On Sunday, June 16 I’ll be at the Santa Ysabel Store to talk and show San Diego Yesterday.

Available at Amazon and San Diego bookstores.

San Diego today is a vibrant and bustling coastal city, but it wasn’t always so. The city’s transformation from a rough-hewn border town and frontier port to a vital military center was marked by growing pains and political clashes. Civic highs and criminal lows have defined San Diego’s rise through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries into a preeminent Sun Belt city. Historian Richard W. Crawford recalls the significant events and one-of-a-kind characters like benefactor Frank “Booze” Beyer, baseball hero Albert Spalding and novelist Scott O’Dell. Join Crawford for a collection that recounts how San Diego yesterday laid the foundation for the city’s bright future.

The book is  available at Amazon and in bookstores starting today.