August 21, 2026

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Was there a Pat Brillo's in Crawford Country?  I used to stop at the one downtown when I was at the Central Library.

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Well, no -- I DON'T remember the Algiers Restaurant, but I now know what replaced it -- a bunch of things.  The Campus Chuck Wagon stands out.  Click HERE and see what I spent all week putting together.

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I've reworked and, in some cases colorized, the photos on the web page I once did for my late gal-pal Nancy Watson Wingo. Click HERE to see what else fell out of her wallet -- AND the now-historic photos her father took.

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I thought I'd scanned the important pages of my 1959 Thomas Brothers map book, but apparently not.  What are the chances Mr PB would leave out Pacific Beach?  Click HERE to see the rest of San Diego County.

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60 YEARS AGO
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Evening Tribune • August 22, 1966 -- A rugby-playing doctor?  I think George Clooney played him on TV.

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Evening Tribune • August 24, 1966 -- Remember Hillside Hospital on El Cajon Blvd, on the "hillside" next to the Ed Center, or Alice Birney Elementary if you prefer. 

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50 YEARS AGO

Evening Tribune • August 21, 1976

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Evening Tribune • August 25, 1976

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80 YEARS AGO

God I was cute -- and A. I. made me cuter!

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August 15, 2026

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Look what I found!!  Turns out I DID graduate -- and in the middle of June, not like today's lightweight May graduates. Let's let that middle name -- which I share with Bill Clinton, by the way -- remain just between you and me.

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Boy, San Diego State hasn't changed a bit, if you can believe this week's photo in the UT about the beginning of the school year.  Wait -- they're starting school in the middle of August now? I'm pretty sure there's a forest of high-rise buildings just outside the view of this picture.

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Thank you Channel 10.  As good a reason as any to take another look at our Campus Drive-In page.  Turn off your headlights and click HERE.

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Five Colts from the Class of 1970, one from ’71 and a visitor were in the stands for the exciting 11-inning walk-off Padre win on Wednesday, August 12, 2026.  From left, Wayne Zucker, Craig Juleen, non-Colt Stuart Yasgur (who claims to be related to the Woodstock farmer), Rob Seidman, Butch Hiller '71, Gary Gallerstein and Bernie Feldman.  Click HERE if you wanna get up close and personal with this Old Testament Dream Team.  (Nice comment about the Old Testament! But there are two exceptions: Rob Seidman's dad was Jewish but Rob attends church (not synagogue) religiously. And Craig Juleen is not Jewish at all, despite the "Ju" in his name! -- Wayne)

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Lucille Wendling was my 5th grade teacher at Darnall Elementary in 1962.  We have stayed in touch and I was lucky to receive an invitation to her 105th birthday on January 22nd from her daughter Laura.  This is a picture of Laura, Lucille and myself --Debbie Picon Lessard ’70  Click HERE to revisit the Lucille Wendling page.

Wait a minute!! So if someone had a crush on their 5th grade teacher and dreamed that someday -- when they were old enough -- they might marry? And the object of his affection is available and still gorgeous?  The dream is alive!! (asking for a friend)

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George Sorensen needs to switch to a decaf.  His latest book will talk about the hikes he's taken over the years, most recently in Tasmania.  He may or may not have gotten the idea when he paid good money on eBay for his old Cub Scout flag.  I'm tired already, but you can click HERE to learn more.

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News this week of Mary Pomplun's passing broke my heart.  I treasure the memory of her fixing dinner for us at her little apartment on Adams and Arizona.  Mary studied in France while at San Diego State, spoke French as a Pan Am flight attendant, and apparently brewed a lovely Pinot Noir at the winery she owned with husband Steve Russell near Solvang.  Mary also spent a lot of time in France, where the photo below was taken. Click HERE to learn more on the Class of '62 Obituary Page.

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Pat Ulberg Kurth ’64, passed away from complications of Parkinson’s Disease on June 23, 2026.  She spent her last 30 years in Redding, California, enjoying Lake Shasta and the outdoors.  She is survived by her daughter, Annie Kurth, and step-sister Michelle Ward Williams ’71
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August 7, 2026

 

This is for the Archbishop of San Francisco, A '74 Colt, who may or may not still be getting my Fry Day emails. (All is explained below)

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Sad, sad, sad -- although she was still out walking at age 98.  Her Colt sons are Dan Mitrovich '71 and Velo Mitrovich '73.

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This matchbook cover showed up on Facebook.  Click HERE to revisit the Andy's Saloon Page.

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Jim Daigh tried to interest Rudford's in this photo early on and was rudely rebuffed.  If memory serves, the new owners saw the photo on our web page, I put them in touch with Jim, and the giant reproduction takes up the whole west wall of the restaurant.  Click HERE to check it out.

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Turns out Michael Ponsford remained in the Air Force for many years, but he WASN’T married to the lovely Linda Roberts.  That would be his brother David Ponsford.  Linda reminds me she and David been married for 52 years — and it was Pernicano’s (not China Inn) where last our paths crossed.  Other than that, my reporting was “Spot On” as they say in England.

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Bob Richardson, whenever there's a Colt obituary, has been able to send the appropriate page from a Centaur, from which I snip a photo of the departed.  I've decided to start saving the pages and put them in a spot where you can see them as well.  Click HERE for enlargements of the two pages above.

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65 YEARS AGO

Evening Tribune • August 11, 1961

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Evening Tribune • August 12, 1961 -- Once again, my invitation was lost in the mail. Oh, girls only?  I would have liked to have been a fly on THAT wall.

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60 YEARS AGO
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Evening Tribune • August 9, 1966

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Evening Tribune • August 12, 1966

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55 YEARS AGO
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Evening Tribune • August 10, 1971

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Evening Tribune • August 12, 1971

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Evening Tribune • August 13, 1971

Salvatore Cordileone '74 was made Archbishop of San Francisco in 2012. Is there a "Shoes of the Fisherman" theme threaded in here?

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My Classmate Tom Chadwick passed away May 6th in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  I’ve placed a more detailed remembrance on the Class of ’62 Obituary Page.

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.