San Diego Yesterday

Mayor John L. Sehon

Captain John L. Sehon returned yesterday from his vacation, taken to avoid service of subpoena . . . with such a record of avoiding the processes of the law some may question his sincerity when a few weeks ago he took the oath of office to uphold the law. –San Diego Union, May 1, 1905.

The story of The Renegade Republican.

The premier of  “The First Padres” by filmmaker Chris Boyd is coming to KPBS television on October 8 at 9:00.  Check the website for more details  http://thefirstpadres.com/ and view the trailer here.  This is a wonderful documentary on the history of our team.  Be sure to tune in.

San Diego Union, Aug. 22, 1960

The drag street riot on El Cajon Boulevard is symptomatic of the disrespect for authority so pronounced in some areas of our society. Those who riot or endanger the public safety to enforce their demands on government and law-abiding citizens cannot be tolerated . . . San Diego must not be intimidated.  –Editorial, San Diego Union, August 23, 1960.

It began as a mass demonstration on El Cajon Blvd. near Cherokee Ave. Young car racing enthusiasts gathered to protest the lack of a legal drag strip in San Diego. When the protest turned into street racing, the police moved in with tear gas and batons. Over one hundred people were arrested in the bedlam that followed, known thereafter as “The El Cajon Boulevard Riot.”

Reading Room of the Wangenheim Collection.

In my day job at the San Diego Public Library, I supervise the Wangenheim Rare Book on the third floor at the Central Library. (Here’s the library web pages that describe this great collection: http://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/locations/wangenheim.shtml) We try to keep this special place open daily in the afternoons. But we rely on docents to make this happen and right now we need some new volunteers.

Docents are vital to Wangenheim Room operations. Docents welcome visitors, conduct tours, and answer questions about exhibits in the Room. To be a docent, you must interact well with people, be able to remember text of tour script, present in friendly manner and feel comfortable working in a quiet setting. An appreciation and understanding of historical artifacts is desirable. You also must commit to working 1 day a week for 3 hours a day for at least 6 months. For more information, contact me, Rick Crawford, at (619) 236-5852.

Here’s your latest chance for a fun evening of hearing and talking about your local history. On Tuesday evening, July 10, I’ll give a book talk and signing for The Way We Were in San Diego.  It starts at 6:30 at the beautiful Pacific Beach/Taylor branch of the San Diego Public Library, 4275 Cass St., San Diego.  Interesting tales and photographs of San Diego history.  Here’s a map to the library: http://mapq.st/MZN975

You can find more info on my book at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1609494415  Click Like on the page if you do!

Now on sale

Now on sale

For those of you I’ve missed so far . . . On Tuesday evening, June 19, I’ll be giving a book talk and signing for The Way We Were in San Diego.  It starts at 6:30 at the Clairemont branch library, 2920 Burgener Blvd.  Interesting tales and photographs of San Diego history and maybe a good discussion, as well.

The dairy industry was once big business in San Diego. In the 1950s, dairy products were the third largest agricultural product in the county. One in fifteen San Diegans were connected in some way to dairying, according to one estimate. Mission Valley, today’s center of shopping malls and condominiums, was filled with dairy farms.

It began in the 1880s . . . the Dairies of Mission Valley.

Before freeways, sports stadiums, and shopping malls. Special Collections, San Diego Public Library

The City of San Diego today took steps to force the San Diego Electric Railway company to continue railway service on Adams Ave. “War to the limit” on the illegal and unlawful methods of the street car company, which on Saturday night started to tear up its tracks in defiance of the law, was declared at the city hall.  —-San Diego Sun, August 28, 1922.

It was cars versus streetcars in The Battle of Adams Avenue.

A streetcar from the San Diego Electric Railway

The library at San Diego State University has unveiled an invaluable tool for researching local history: a digitized database of the San Diego Union and Evening Tribune. This product by NewsBank Inc. is keyword searchable and provides pdf images of the original newspaper copy.

For decades local researchers have relied on the microfiche index to the Union produced by city librarians years ago. As important as this index as always been, it was never completed by the Public Library and was limited by the infamous “gap”—the years between 1904 and 1930 that were left un-indexed. The NewsBank database bridges that gap and also covers the historic Tribune, a separate newspaper until its merger with the Union in 1992. The digitizing is not yet complete and some years are not available.

I would encourage anyone looking for historical information in San Diego newspapers to make a trip to the SDSU library. Parking is a minor hassle but there are several lots on the campus perimeter that cost $1 per hour. The best way to go is on the San Diego Trolley, which takes you close to the library from a station in the center of campus.

San Diego Union, June 27, 1926

San Diego, San Pedro and Santa Barbara have become the focal point of the rum runners operating on the Pacific coast . . . It is believed that the bulk of the rum fleet will arrive in southern California waters, literally flooding this part of the state with booze of all descriptions. –San Diego Union, May 12, 1925.

The “noble experiment” of Prohibition, which outlawed most manufacture, sales, and transportation of intoxicating liquor, began in 1920 with the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment.  An assortment of unintended consequences accompanied Prohibition, including a stunning rise in organized crime, such as the lucrative  “rum running” trade from America’s “Wet” neighbors—Canada and Mexico.

The story of The Rum Runners.