This Month in History is a feature in PB Monthly highlighting local happenings from yesteryear. John Fry is a writer, publisher, historian plus co-founder and president of the Pacific Beach Historical Society. He also is the author of “Images of America: Pacific Beach” and “Pacific Beach Through Time.” He can be reached at [email protected].
125 years ago – August 1899
A large number of visitors descended on Pacific Beach for a week-long YMCA conference, staying at the hotel as well as the college buildings.
On Thursday evening a musical entertainment and on Saturday evening the Riverside people, of whom there are a large number at the college, volunteered an entertainment for the benefit of the church here. It was well attended and heartily enjoyed, and many thanks are due the Riverside delegation.
Orders were telegraphed to the college for lunch to be prepared for 15 or more guests on Friday, but the Santa Fe train being two hours late, the guests did not arrive until the evening train.
100 years ago – August 1924
With the price of hogs in Chicago soaring past the 12-cent mark, City Manager Fred Rhodes estimates a net profit of $60,000 this year on hogs alone. At the city hog ranch he is feeding 2,000 porkers from municipally-collected garbage.
Rhodes intends to begin the grading of the Rose Canyon route in the near future. By the time the work is finished he estimates he can pay for it with the profits from the municipal hog farm, provided the council is willing. He estimates the expenditure at about $100,000. Within two years, if the hog market continues active, he thinks he will be able to pave the entire distance, which is about four miles.
75 years ago – August 1949
Tom Lucas, the sole survivor of the Laguna Indian Tribe, won a 25-year battle for 320 acres of land south and west of Sunrise Highway in the Laguna Mountains.
Lucas, who lived with his wife and children at 3840 Sequoia Street in Pacific Beach, first tried to get title to land on the death of his mother in 1924. Lucas plans to continue to graze his cattle on the land and hopes eventually to build a recreational camp on the property, estimated in the title to be worth $3,200.
50 years ago – August 1974
Well, here’s a switch. “Plentiful gas leaves dealers sullen,” read the headline in the Aug. 2 Evening Tribune.
Louis Otero, operator of the Mobil Station at 1011 Grand Ave. in Pacific Beach is among those who dropped gas prices this week.
“Normally I take 28,000 gallons of gas a month, but the company told me I would have to take two extra loads — 17,400 gallons — of gas in July,” he said in an interview.
Otero reduced the price of gas by four cents — to 52 cents a gallon for regular and 56 cents for premium — to increase his business. He also extended his hours of operation and will probably have to open on Sundays.
25 years ago – August 1999
Property owners along a stretch of the Mission Beach boardwalk will be losing patios, walls and other home additions that face the ocean, the California Coastal Commission decided.
The unanimous vote clears the way for a $150,000 San Diego project to widen a 750-foot stretch of the boardwalk from Ventura Place to Santa Barbara Place. The project is part of a larger plan to widen the northern 1.6 miles of the popular strip.
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