Annual Wisteria Party: A ‘Who’s Who in OB’
It was a virtual “who’s who” at this weekend’s Annual Wisteria Garden Party held by the OB Historical Society. Great food and desserts, a live auction, and drawing of raffle tickets satiated the gathering. Plus the old time tunes of “Billie Lee and the Swamp Critters” were great, and “Dreamin Mimi” our favorite O.B. clown made 20 Year Anniversary Celebration extra special. The event was hosted by Susan and Pat James who live in the infamous Titlow family garden house on Niagara. (For more photos, go to the end of the article.)
The Old Dover Is Gone as Construction Nears for Sunset Plaza
Yup, the old Dover building is now gone – near the intersection of Voltaire and Sunset Cliffs Blvd.
The former plumbing place had been boarded up for years and its demolition is part of World Oil’s plan to construct their Sunset Plaza on the site. Of course, the original Dover Plumbing business is still in OB.
Mission Beach Celebrates One Hundred Years
By Peter Rowe / U-T San Diego
MISSION BEACH — Elaine Harris Robbins was born in 1923 inside her parents’ home, a duplex marooned on a sandbar. Neighbors were scarce. So were roads, indoor plumbing and electricity. The girl loved this lonely place, but not the muddy beach outside her front door.
“It was awful,” said Robbins, now 90 and living in Houston. “I mean, compared to what it is now.”
The comparison is startling. Officially christened Mission Beach 100 years ago, this sandbar wedged between the Pacific and Mission Bay is now one of San Diego’s most densely populated neighborhoods. Robbins, the first girl born in the community and the oldest living native, addressed more than a hundred people gathered just south of Belmont Park Saturday, there to launch the community’s centennial celebration.
As she spoke, her old neighborhood was hosting its usual weekend of surfers and swimmers, volleyball players and roller coaster fans, tourists and residents like Phillip Prather, the 88-year-old centennial committee’s historian. (For the balance of article, go here.)
Knife Attack on Host by Party Crashers in Mission Beach
MISSION BEACH, Calif. — A Mission Beach man was stabbed early Sunday by one of two men who crashed a get together outside his house.
The victim and a few of his friends were hanging out around 3:45 a.m. on the private patio of his residence on Ocean Front Walk, just north of Belmont Park, when two men in their early 20s walked in and asked to join them, San Diego police Officer Dan Lasher said.
As the resident was asking the uninvited guests to leave, one offered a handshake, Lasher said. However, the suspect used the usually friendly gesture to pull the man close and stab him four times in his wrist, shoulder and back, according to the officer.
The assailant and his companion then walked away on Ocean Front Walk, Lasher said. The victim was taken to a hospital to be treated for his injuries, which Lasher said were not life-threatening. Police described the attacker as white and in his 20s. He was wearing a baseball cap and a gold jacket. Fox5
Car Plunges Into Mission Bay
A vehicle plummeted over a bridge and into Mission Bay Sunday morning, March 23, trapping a man upside down under water for several minutes before rescuers were able to pull him out. The accident happened around 11:07 a.m. in the 1200 block of East Mission Bay Drive near Fiesta Island Drive. People who saw or heard the accident rushed to the scene, some even jumping into the water.
Sharp rocks and murky water made it difficult for them to reach the victim. He was underwater for several minutes before the good Samaritans were able to free him from the front seat and pull him out the back door. One of the rescuers said:
“I grabbed his belt, and we pulled him up the embankment so we could get him flat on his back,” Kahillane said.
Rescue crews arrived and transported the victim, described as a 31-year-old man, to the UCSD Medical Center. His condition has not been released. No other passengers were inside the car. Lifeguards first received reports of a strong diesel fuel smell in the area. It is unclear what caused the driver to lose control. The San Diego Police Department Traffic Division in investigating. 7SanDiego
That Time SeaWorld Tried to Slash Its Rent by 70 Percent
By Lisa Halverstadt / Voice of San Diego / Mar 20, 2014
A decade ago, SeaWorld asked for something most renters can only dream of: A roughly 70 percent reduction in its annual payout to the city. The marine park, which paid the city about $7.4 million to lease 190 acres in Mission Bay in 2003, argued the following year that it should fork over just $2.1 million despite growing profits.
City leaders weren’t having it.
They assembled a cadre of attorneys and consultants to argue the city deserved far more, an effort that experts on both sides agreed cost taxpayers more than $100,000.
A panel of three independent arbitrators largely ruled on the city’s side, deciding that SeaWorld should pay at least $7.6 million annually. The park’s rent payments have ended up exceeding that figure every year since, because the city gets a cut of various SeaWorld revenue streams. (For the balance of the article, go here.)
Daily Transcript Continues Mainstream Media History of Not Knowing Where Ocean Beach Is
Recently San Diego’s Daily Transcript, the town’s main journal on business and property transactions, ran a headline and article describing a sale of apartments in Ocean Beach. “Apartment in Ocean Beach on Sapphire Sold”.
The obvious problem here, of course, is that the sale was of property on Sapphire Street in Pacific Beach. And in doing so, the daily continues a mainstream media trend of not knowing exactly where the community of Ocean Beach is.
… More photos from the Annual Wisteria shindig (all photos by Frank Gormlie):
That’s Susan James at the head of the middle row of tables.
“Billie Lee and the Swamp Critters”
Deb Greene getting a hug from Mini the Clown. Joan Jenkins on left looks on, while Kathy and Ray Blavatt are in the background.
Gretchen Newsom, President of the OB Town Council.
Katie Elsbree with red hat in foreground. Katie owns the Elsbree House, a bed and breakfast in OB. Susan – the head of the Point Loma Democratic Club is to the upper left of photo. That’s Jane Gawronski standing with sunglasses at head of the table.
Pat James, head of the OB Historical Society.
The back yard – that’s Ray Blavatt in brown sitting right below tree.
A crazy scene in the backyard.
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