History

Items that are historically significant in some way. They may be recent history or ancient history, pertinent to local history or something on a grander scale…

OB History: The In-Between – a Place Where Young People Could Hang Out

January 20, 2022 by Source

A look back at The In-Between in Ocean Beach, a place on Newport Avenue where young people could hang out or find support.

By Eric DuVall / Point Loma – OB Monthly / Jan. 19, 2022

The 1960s were a time of societal upheaval. Popular social and elected leaders were shot down in broad daylight. The only thing about the the U.S. involvement in another war in the Far East that could be deduced with any clarity was that we did not seem to be winning. (Feel free to insert your favorite Country Joe and the Fish lyric here.)

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San Diego During World War II – Life on the Home Front – OB Historical Society Presents – Thurs., Jan.20

January 19, 2022 by Source

Jan. 20, 2022- San Diego During World War II – Life on the Home Front

On January 20, 2022 at 7 pm, Join the Ocean Beach Historical Society as they present: San Diego During World War II – Life on the Home Front presentation by Linda Canada.

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‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’ : The Last Speech of Martin Luther King – The Full Text

January 14, 2022 by Source

(Originally posted here on Jan 15, 2018)

The day before Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, he gave his final speech, known as ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’ speech. Here’s the full text.

By The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., MEMPHIS, Tenn./ April 3, 1968

Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It’s always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you. And Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world. I’m delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow.

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Navy Project Would Demolish Consolidated Aircraft Historic District

January 10, 2022 by Source

By Amie Hayes / SOHO January-February 2022 Newsletter

The Navy’s Old Town Campus Revitalization project at NAVWAR has the distinction of being the only newly added site to SOHO’s 2021 Most Endangered List. This ill-advised, gargantuan project proposes to build a dense wall of high-rise buildings at 4301 Pacific Highway (known as OTC Site One) and the complete demolition of the Consolidated Aircraft Plant 2 Historic District.

Previously known as Convair, this plant was once a massive manufacturing aircraft production complex that employed thousands of San Diegans during World War II and the Cold War.

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In 1861 Ten Senators Were Expelled From Congress for Supporting Insurrection and Conspiracy

January 10, 2022 by Staff

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Scamming San Diego in 4 Easy Steps

January 7, 2022 by Source

By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner / Jan. 5, 2022

Warning: this commentary is standing on its head and starting with its conclusion:

The aftermath of San Diego’s 2020-21 Redistricting process may prove to be more destructive to good government in San Diego than any monetary loss from past Ponzi schemes and political heists.

The parties of interest in this latest con game colluded to divide and conquer the San Diego public. They were willing to shred and tear at San Diego’s civic and moral fabric for their own economic and political gain.

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WW II Era Article About Housing Projects in the Midway

December 20, 2021 by Source

Here’s the article in a legible format:

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The Saga of the Christmas Trees of Ocean Beach

December 15, 2021 by Source

By Eric DuVall / Point Loma – OB Monthly / Dec. 13, 2021

What do you know about the OB tree? It always leans to the left … right? Well, that would depend on your vantage point. Or what side of the (chain link) fence you’re on.

But all that aside, the Ocean Beach community Christmas tree is greeting its 41st consecutive season this year, and its preposterous, zany and improbable history is certainly something to celebrate.

What’s that you say? A few decades doesn’t qualify as history in your book? Then take heart, for the tradition of a community Christmas tree in Ocean Beach really goes back almost a century.

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A Plaque Isn’t Enough for LGBTQ History in Hillcrest

November 15, 2021 by Source

From SOHO Newsletter – November/December 2021

By Dr. Lillian Faderman, Charles Kaminski and Bruce Coons

LGBTQ+ history, like the history of other underrepresented communities, has been frequently overlooked. That history has not been considered worthy of consideration or important in the development of our nation and our city. This is because historically, “homosexuals” were deemed criminals and deviants to the law, sinners to the church, mentally ill to the medical profession and often rejected by our own families. But in LGBTQ+ spaces we not only found a home and a new family, we also formed a community that made it possible for us to wage our successful fight for the civil rights due to all Americans.

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Kudos to San Diego Unified for Naming New Mission Valley Elementary School After Kumeyaay Village

November 12, 2021 by Frank Gormlie

Kudos are certainly due to the San Diego Unified School District and its leadership for naming a new elementary school opening in 2022 in Mission Valley after the Kumeyaay village that was located in the vicinity long before the arrival of the Spanish.

The new school will be named Nipaquay Elementary (Nipaquay is pronounced ni-puh-kwai) and will open within the Civita development. Construction is 75 percent complete for the school that will have 500 students and 23 classrooms.

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Local Sites Make San Diego’s ‘Most Endangered List’ for 2021

November 4, 2021 by Source

Several local sites have just made the “Most Endangered List” for 2021. Each year Save Our Heritage Organization issues the list. This year, the Navy’s redevelopment project at NAVWAR threatens “the heart of historic San Diego” in Old Town – so that’s on the list.

So is the Marine Corps Recruitment Depot in Point Loma. And Presidio Park is still on it.

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New Addition to Old Town State Park Honors the First People Kumeyaay

November 3, 2021 by Source

From SOHO Newsletter

In 2006, SOHO Executive Director Bruce Coons wrote an impassioned, history-rich appeal to San Diegans to write and speak out against Caltrans’s plan to sell its surplus Old Town office property—a 2.5-acre site at the corner of Juan and Taylor Streets that it had already promised the Old Town Planning Group that it would go to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. For thousands of years this land had been a Kumeyaay settlement along the San Diego River.

SOHO contacted local politicians to work to acquire the property to expand the park and interpret this “lost” corner to honor Kumeyaay heritage and culture and the connection to the river.

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Video: Ernie McCray in His Own Words

October 19, 2021 by Ernie McCray

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The Famous ‘Shack’ of OB Founder, Charlie Collier

October 18, 2021 by Source

By Eric DuVall / Pt. Loma-OB Monthly / Oct. 18, 2021

Welcome to Collier’s Shack, friends and neighbors! Our guests are always encouraged to relax, put their feet up, recharge their batteries and enjoy our fresh air, balmy breezes and unparalleled views from our promontory high above the crashing surf of the mighty Pacific.

Doesn’t that sound great? It is certainly intended to. Come on, take a stroll in the garden or along the cliffs. Hop in the pool if you have a mind to. Our hospitality here is second to none, and the food isn’t bad either.

You’ve never heard of Collier’s Shack? That’s not surprising, as the shack has been gone from Ocean Beach for nearly 50 years.

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Occupy Wall Street Came to San Diego 10 Years Ago – Share Your Memories and Thoughts

October 6, 2021 by Frank Gormlie

It was ten years ago this week that Occupy Wall Street came to San Diego. Many San Diegans – and OBceans – were involved in the movement over the months, and the OB Rag gave extended, in-depth coverage.

So, this is an open thread where you, dear reader, can share any memories and / or thoughts of the Occupy movement.

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Mexicans Refuse to Forget the Tlatelolco Massacre During the October 1968 Olympics in Mexico City

October 5, 2021 by Source

In late 1968, Mexico was getting ready to host the Olympics. But social tensions were also simmering.

The 1968 attack on rallying protesters remains a potent symbol

By Leigh Thelmadatter / Mexico News Daily / October 2, 2021

They say that Mexicans have long memories. I am reminded of this idea at this time of year because that’s when the historic center, only a couple of kilometers from my apartment, becomes something of a fortress.

Today is October 2. For us foreigners, this is just another day, but for Mexicans, at least in Mexico City, it is emotional; this is the anniversary of the Tlatelolco Massacre. In 1968, Mexico was getting ready to host the Olympics.

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All The King’s Men in San Diego

October 4, 2021 by Source

By Mat Wahlstrom

By now most of you know about “the video“. (If you don’t, see the link to a capture of it that includes the subtitles so you can watch it without sound. Trust me, you’ll want to hit mute.)

Created for the amusement of those attending the $445-a-head “ToddTalk” fundraiser for the Downtown Partnership on September 22 but only made public by accident last week, it is a perfect distillation of the collegial corruption and smug entitlement exercised by the Establishment.

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Join OB Historical Society – The Lost and Found Balboa Park Gardens of Kate Sessions – Thurs. Sept. 16

September 16, 2021 by Source

Thurs. Sept. 16- The Lost and Found Balboa Park Gardens of Kate Sessions

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1960 Winter Olympics Site Changes Racist, Sexist Name

September 15, 2021 by Frank Gormlie

Once in a while, a news story about a change comes along that resonates, and here is one that does. I personally have been championing this specific change for some 20 years now. And it has finally happened.

The site of the 1960 Winter Olympics near Lake Tahoe is having its name changed. Its owners have decided that the old name that rhythms with “fall” is offensive to Indigenous women. The new name is Palisades Tahoe. Historically, it’s also been called Olympic Valley.

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Will Horrors of This Century Surpass Those of the Last?

September 15, 2021 by Source

By David Helvarg / The Hill / September 14, 2021

As a journalist covering wars, disasters and the environment, I’ve come to realize the existential threats we now face are not just bad people and governments committing mass murder; it is the ongoing elimination of the natural systems that sustain life on earth. The UN defines genocide as actions intended, “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

But what if your actions are intended only to maintain the profitability of what until recently, was the largest industrial combine in human history?

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Ed Asner – American Socialist

August 31, 2021 by Source

By John Nichols / The Nation / August 31, 2021

“When we can discuss socialism rationally. It will be as if a heavy curtain has been lifted from man’s eyes.” Those were not the words of Karl Marx or Eugene Victor Debs, though either of those radical thinkers might well have uttered them.

Those were the words of Ed Asner, the actor who became a household name in the role of gruff but lovable Lou Grant, the boss at a TV station, in the 1970s TV comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He then carried the character over, with a new job as a Los Angeles newspaper editor, to one of the most socially conscious programs in the history of television, the eponymous Lou Grant of the late 1970s and early ’80s.

When he died Sunday, at age 91,

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Democracy, the OB Town Council, and Grassroots Activism – 11 Years Ago

August 26, 2021 by Frank Gormlie

The following was originally published on August 26, 2010, exactly 11 years ago to the day. It was another time and another moment, but it’s still interesting, I think. Many of my friends on the OBTC are not aware of this ancient history – and I bear no grudges.

OB Town Council ballot annou Aug 2010

Here above is the official OB Town Council Elections announcement, released August 20, 2010. Notice my name, Frank Gormlie, listed as an official candidate.Last night at their packed public meeting, I pleaded with the Ocean Beach Town Council to allow me to remain a candidate on their ballot for the annual Board election which has just begun.

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OB Historical Society: ‘Postcards from the Past’ – Zoom Teleconference, Thurs., Aug.19

August 18, 2021 by Source

Go inside for link to Zoom teleconference

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7 Key Takeaways From First Day of Testimony at Hearing on January 6 Insurrection

July 28, 2021 by Source

Four officers spoke of the physical and psychological wounds they sustained during the Capitol riot — a day some thought they wouldn’t survive.

By Sara Boboltz / HuffPost / July 27, 2021

Tuesday marked the first meeting of the House select committee charged with investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, with hours of emotional testimony about the mob of angry Donald Trump supporters who stormed the building and terrorized its occupants.

Four law enforcement officers delivered prepared remarks before the panel and answered questions: U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, and Metropolitan Police officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges.

Each was on the front lines of the attack and spoke of injuries they sustained both mentally and physically. Each also showed varying degrees of emotion on the stand ? whether they were clearly holding back tears or reaching for a tissue.

Here are seven key takeaways from the hearing.

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The Ocean Beach Pier – Past, Present, and Future

July 27, 2021 by Source

By Geoff Page

The Ocean Beach Pier was the main subject of the Point Loma – Ocean Beach Democratic Club meeting Sunday, July 25. The club invited local OB historian and author Kathy Blavatt, mayor Gloria’s representative Kohta Zaiser, and this writer to provide information on the pier – past, present, and future.

When the discussion moved on to the pier, Kathy Blavatt was up first, providing history on, and pictures of, the pier and OB. Blavatt was a contributor to Ocean Beach, a history book by the Ocean Beach Historical Society, and wrote Ocean Beach Where Land And Water Meet. Blavatt’s account covered the waterfront of OB including the older buildings that were once there, the saltwater pool, and Wonderland Amusement Park. It is ironic that Wonderland was mentioned.

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50 Years Ago, Voting Age Lowered to 18 Due to Youth Protests

July 6, 2021 by Source

From today’s San Diego Union-Tribune

In July 1971, the 26th Amendment to the Constitution became law. The amendment, which had passed through Congress and been ratified by the states, lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

An estimated 11 million young Americans between 18 and 21 became eligible under the new age limit.

The youth vote had a noticeable effect in San Diego.

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OB Historical Society Presents: Point Loma’s 1891 Lower Lighthouse – Thursday, June 17

June 17, 2021 by Source

Please join Ocean Beach Historical Society and Lighthouse volunteer and San Diego Historian Karen Scanlon, for a lavishly illustrated discussion of San Diego’s Operational Lighthouse, and the Six Lights that have watched over San Diego Bay over the years.

JOIN ZOOM MEETING, THURS. June 17, 2021 at 7 PM

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Portuguese Festa: Even in a Pandemic They Kept the ‘Spirit’ Alive

May 24, 2021 by Source

By Colleen O’Connor

Want to escape all the downbeat news and losses from the COVID-19 surges and chaos of this past year?

Then cheer on San Diego’s Portuguese community for sticking with a 700-year old tradition that commemorates Portugal’s Queen St. Isable, who (during a famine) promised the Holy Spirit to give her crown to the Church, “if sent a miracle, so my people will be relieved of their hunger.”

That miracle arrived, via ships sailing into the harbor, loaded with wheat and corn.

Thus, began the celebrated Festa do Espírito Santo (Feast of the Holy Spirit), with thanks and prayers to the Holy Spirit for interceding in times of danger or calamity.

The chaotic, COVID-19 ravaged years of 2020 and 2021, certainly count as one of those “times.”

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OB’s Pat and Susan James Celebrated by SOHO for Preserving Wisteria Cottage and Garden Party Tradition – Thursday, May 27

May 21, 2021 by Staff

Susan and Pat James of Ocean Beach are being celebrated this year by SOHO (Save Our Heritage Organization) for maintaining the tradition of the Wisteria Cottage and Garden Party. It’s SOHO’s 38th annual People In Preservation Awards with an online award presentation. Pat and Susan will be celebrated during the online ceremony on Thursday, May 27, at 4pm, during National Preservation Month.

Here’s SOHO’s description:

On Niagara Avenue in Ocean Beach, you will find a charming turn-of-the-20th-century cottage that plays host each spring to abundant blooms of colorful purple wisteria vines.

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OB Historical Society Presentation on Early San Diego Historian and Point Loman Winifred Davidson – Zoom Teleconference Thursday, May 20

May 19, 2021 by Source

Please join the Ocean Beach Historical Society in their presentation “Anyone Talked History, Today?” about early San Diego historian Winifred Davidson. The Zoom teleconference will be Thursday May 20, 2021 at 7 pm.

Early San Diego historian Winifred Davidson is described as the woman who discovered San Diego’s Lost History. Davidson was a poet, a musician, an educator, a journalist, one of one of San Diego’s first preservationists, and a longtime resident of Point Loma.

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