By JW August
Eric DuVall could be called the Bard of OB. But it’s not just the locals who may think that.
A blue ribbon panel of professionals from press clubs across America awarded DuVall the “Body of Work” award for a series of stories for his column, “A Page from History,” which he writes for The Point Loma – OB Monthly. The Monthly is owned by the MediaNews Group, which also owns the San Diego Union-Tribune. His work is also published in the Beach & Bay Press, Point Loma Magazine and publications, including here at the Rag.
He is a prolific, careful, thoughtful, writer who paints pictures with his words and evokes humor in his storytelling about the historical and cultural identity of Ocean Beach and Point Loma.
He was honored along with some of the region’s best communicators at the 52nd annual San Diego Press Club Awards held in Kearny Mesa at The Encore Event Center, formerly the historic XETV 6 studios. San Diego’s Press Club has one of the largest memberships in the country and receives entries from all across the San Diego media landscape.
The Save Our Heritage Organization Foundation (SOHO) also honored DuVall this past September with its “Cultural Keeper Award,” calling him “one of the community’s most engaging advocates for local history.” The organization credits him with providing the public the knowledge “and affection for the architectural and cultural heritage of Ocean Beach and Point Loma” through his storytelling, “lectures, community organizing, and advocacy.”
DuVall’s other roles include president of the Ocean Beach Historical Society and board member of the La Playa Trail Association.
DuVall’s exposure to history and journalism is part of his DNA. [See 2022 Rag interview with DuVall here.]
His mother Lucille DuVall was a historian, writing about San Diego history makers like William Kettner. As a teenager, Eric was a paperboy– for the Peninsula News and now has come full circle, with his work now appearing in the publication’s online platform.
DuVall graduated from Point Loma High in 1972 and got his journalism degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. While in school he was the editor of a bi-weekly publication, the Outpost. He says he is a better editor than writer.
Like many other journalists, he bounced around before landing in journalism. He was the night clerk and then manager at the Beach Cottages for 10 years, attended grad school at San Diego State University and worked weekends at KPBS FM.
He has written on a wide range of subjects. Below are provided links to the stories that won him the Best of Show award.
One story is about “OB’s Little Library,” in which he tells readers about its beginnings in 1916 sitting between a “chop suey joint and the jail” and later its long-planned expansion. Other topics include a 1915 road race in Point Loma, the birth of the OB Pier and the bathyscaphe Trieste, the first manned submersible to reach the deepest known part of the earth’s oceans in the Mariana Trench.
Thanks JW! a well deserved tribute to one of the best writers on the Peninsula.