July 31, 2026

I LOVED my Potato Gun!  My Dad was a Machinist's Mate in the Navy and built me a high-velocity Spud Gun

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My reaction to the SDSU photo sent to me by Linda Thomas this week was pretty much the same as the turkey in the Thanksgiving Day cartoon.  This year's incoming class will graduate in 2030.  It all evens out.  I was a TA at Kearny for the 64-65 school year and they had me in the office sorting attendance cards.  ""Check it out," I called to one of the secretaries, "this girl was born in 1950."  All the high school students I ever met were born in the 1940s.

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A dining room sign made up of my faculty photos from Hale Junior High in the 1970s.  Sad (but oh, so comfy) -- the dress code decline.

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Alice (that would be me) has stepped fully through the looking glass.  I asked ChatGTP to colorize this photo I scanned from the 1960 Centaur.  Not too bad. I'm pretty sure the software is out there to have a classmate from the '60s emerge from the school and walk down the stairs.  I'm not ready for that yet.  Click HERE if you'd like to see this image enlarged.

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Remember when the Clyde Beatty Circus came to town in 1949 and pitched their tents at the intersection of Frontier Drive and Enterprise Streets?  A lot of native San Diegans couldn't tell you where that is.  Bob Richardson shares an additional advertisement from the San Diego Union for that event.  That's his sister Margaret in the red sweater.  I imagine the Richardsons may have walked to the circus from their Aztec Villa abode in Frontier Housing.  Click HERE to view the page.

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ChatGTP and I decided to spiff up the Snapshots from the '50s photos sent in some years ago by Ken Burton '72.  Click HERE to revisit the site and learn the names of his fellow gang members. 

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65 YEARS AGO

Evening Tribune • August 5, 1961

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60 YEARS AGO
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Evening Tribune • August 2, 1966 -- Pat Gray was twirling the baton at 4?  I would have liked to have seen that.  My sister still has a bump on her nose from not catching the baton during the May Time Band Review.

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Evening Tribune • August 4, 1966

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San Diego Union • August 4, 1966 -- I've always loved the name Victory Heramb Lareau. I can't remember if she told me she was born at the time of some WWII victory.  I have it in my head that she was forced to live on the boardwalk for much of her adult life, although that 1743 address might have put her in the middle of the Mission Bay Flood Control Channel.

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55 YEARS AGO
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Evening Tribune • August 3, 1971

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Evening Tribune • August 4, 1971 -- I did not know Judith, but I think I worked with her sister Ellen Scott Hahn on a reunion. Sad, sad, sad -- even so many years later.

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Evening Tribune • August 5, 1971 -- Are you out there Mike?  Didn't I meet you and your lovely wife Linda Roberts Ponsford at China Inn some years ago?

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Evening Tribune • August 6, 1971 -- Well, that's ONE way to spell Colina.

July 24, 2026

 

I'm not sure if this is BEFORE the Trojan Horse trick, or after they gain access to the castle.

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Remember going to the Comanche Bowl with the family and seeing Dad pick up the 7-10 split, sit back down with a towel around his neck, take a swig out of his Manhattan, a drag out of a still-lit cigarette, and get back out on the lanes?  Remember what Comanche Bowl became?  Click HERE and recollect.

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I ran this map from the 1968-1969 Crawford handbook through ChatGTP.  It came out gorgeous -- and wrong.  Click HERE to see both versions and search for the errors.

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I did it AGAIN!  I thought it might be time to revisit the Cars We Drove To School page and Carlos "Big Kahuna" practically DARED me to spiff up his photo.  Click HERE to check out the car show.

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50 YEARS AGO

San Diego Union • July 25, 1976 -- Looks like the Big Kahuna and Gidget got hitched.

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In for a penny, in for a pound • I'm pretty sure Carlos graced the local air waves.  Here's the first paragraph of his Wikipedia entry: "Carlos Amezcua is an American journalist best known for his sixteen years as the original co-anchor for the KTLA Morning News, with Barbara Beck as his co-anchor, Mark Kriski handling weather and Sam Rubin reporting on the entertainment industry."

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65 YEARS AGO

Evening Tribune • July 29, 1961 -- My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail.

July 17, 2026

I've shared this Far Side cartoon before, but -- lately -- here in the Old Folks' Home I've been reflecting on the affliction known as a Learning Disability. 

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Mr Fancy Pants Wayne Zucker is apparently a member of Red Robin Royalty and just wanted to rub this in my face.  I'd probably be sated after five Steak Fries. I'd be in big trouble if they offered bottomless Deviled Eggs or See's Peanut Clusters.

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Speaking of Fancy Pants, I was very popular in Pacific Beach, as you can see in this certificate awarded to me my on my birthday at a Pacific Beach Town Council Meeting.  This was a few years AFTER I was voted Honorary Mayor.  I guess the winds shifted.

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Mike Stamm died June 24th in Costa Rica.  A member of the Class of 1970, Mike was an American backstroke swimmer and world record holder who represented the U.S. at the 1972 Munich Olympics where he won a gold and two silver medals. His Wikipedia entry is fascinating.

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This girl was in the 1970 Centaur twice.  Oh. wait -- it's Belinda AND Melinda Solberg, and they were right on top of Mike Stamm (if you know what I mean). You can thank me when you see me, Mike.

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When all else fails, let 'em peruse the menu of Oscar's, the Mel's Diner of my high school years.  I'm now thinking the drive-in, at Menlo and El Cajon, (downwind from Hoover High) might not have existed all that long.  I wonder if the Ankle-Biters -- Colts graduating in the '70s -- even know what I'm talking about.  Click HERE to take a look at the ad for the HOT DEEP DISH PIE that burned my lip so bad I looked like Mr. Jackson after the Student-Faculty Basketball Game.

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65 YEARS AGO

San Diego Union • July 22, 1961 -- My classmate Terry Walker's mother was a dance instructor, which put Terry in great demand at every Sock Hop and Prom.  I have to think it also helped make him a star in Track and Field.

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60 YEARS AGO

Evening Tribune • July 22, 1966 -- I'm not sure I taught with the folks pictured, but I remember Charlie Clapper and played poker with "Slats" Laracy.

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Evening Tribune • July 23, 1966

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55 YEARS AGO

San Diego Union • July 18, 1971

July 10, 2026

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My Don Jose's Restaurant page reappeared on the internet.  I snagged the old faded photo of Don Jose and spiffed it up with ChatGTP.  Click HERE to revisit the page and maybe try to recreate "Ruth's Salsa."

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Genie Fiorella took this photo of Cheryl Walker and Jo Ann Mellington at Euclid Elementary’s 6th Grade graduation in 1958.  I colorized it and kinda like the results. Cheryl's brother Terry graduated with me in '62 and -- yes -- Jo Ann's father was the custodian at Crawford.

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My pal Barbara Holewinski Leonard passed away July 1st in Henderson, Nevada. Her sister Pat shares a wonderful bio, which I've placed on the Class of '62 Obituary Page

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65 YEARS AGO

San Diego Union • July 15, 1961

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60 YEARS AGO

Evening Tribune • July 15, 1966

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55 YEARS AGO

Evening Tribune • July 12, 1971

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San Diego Union • July 14, 1971

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50 YEARS AGO

San Diego Union • July 11, 1976

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San Diego Union • July 15, 1976 -- I knew ALL of these people, except Elisa.  Tom Goodman put me on the Facilities Utilization Committee in charge of closing schools; Ralph Patrick was just a NICE man; my mother was a secretary for "Mr" Stegeman.  Dick Jackson was principal when I taught at Hale, but BEFORE that he was my math teacher at Crawford, where he came in one day with a Fat Lip given to him by Dick Clem in the Student-Faculty Basketball Game.  He made a big production of whipping out a Referral Notice for Dick before he cracked a smile.  Well, he TRIED to crack a smile. His lip wasn't exactly cooperating.