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The Kerfuffle Over Rehiring Marcuse at UCSD

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The UCSD campus is again tense. In the wake of the anxiety and anger created by the Regents’ decisions last November, the battle concerning the rehiring of Dr. Herbert Marcuse is adding new fuel to the already strained administration-student and university-community relationships.

Contrary to what most people think, at this point it is not the student dissidents that are seeking campus confrontations, but the extreme Right, particularly in San Diego. Thus, Governor Reagan has been consistently quoted in the press as saying that “the time for a confrontation on the campuses is here.” He, his government and his right wing allies have consistently acted to bring that confrontation about in order to be able to implement repressive measures with the goal of stifling the student movement.   [Read more…]

Christian Anti-Communist Crusade: Schwarz on Marcuse

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The Hanalei Hotel in San Diego was the scene for a dinner meeting of the Long Beach based Christian Anti-Communist Crusade on Friday April 18. Fred Schwarz, President of tie Crusade, delivered a speech on “one of the world’s leading destructive revolutionaries,” Herbert Marcuse.

In his invitational letter, Schwarz had promised to cover such topics as the “biological details of the life of Marcuse.” Indeed, it was an enormous let-down when he rehashed the biographical details instead.

Schwarz admitted that he had undertaken the “onerous task”of reading all the books Marcuse has written.   [Read more…]

San Diego Free Press Takes Home Nine SPJ Awards

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As we enter our fourth year here at the San Diego Free Press, there could be no greater gift than to be the platform that allows eight volunteer writers worthy recognition among a Society of Professional Journalists. We are intensely proud to be working with these incredibly talented and passionate people.

The San Diego Free Press itself was also recognized for its role in online journalism.

The awards are as follows:   [Read more…]

General Dynamics, Once a San Diego Mainstay, Now Dearly Departed

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The following article appeared in the 1969 print edition of the San Diego Free Press. It has been transcribed from the microfilm at the San Diego Public Library.

As Frank Pace says in the Foreward to Dynamic America: A History of the General Dynamics Corporation by John Niven. “In 1960, ours is the most powerful of nations, intimately involved in all the earth’s daily business, the major bulwark against communism and so most threatened. From these times to the present, during our growth, from an insular agrarian society to the world’s political and industrial leader, the position of the United States in world politics has determined, almost exclusively, the flow of product research and development from General Dynamics.”   [Read more…]

1972: Early History of the OB Rag – Ocean Beach’s Underground Newspaper

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Staff: The history of the OB Rag will be the subject of a presentation at the next OB Historical Society’s monthly gig. That will be Thursday, June 16th at the P.L. United Methodist Church, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd, 92107. The presentation will be by current OB Rag Editor Frank Gormlie. In light of that, we thought it would be cool and appropriate to publish some more history of the original OB Rag, OB’s underground newspaper of the 1970s. The following recounts the 2nd anniversary of the first OB Rag.

By Fall of 1972, it was the OB Rag’s second birthday – the beginning of its third year, and the community-wide effort to develop alternative institutions was in full swing.

The OB Community School was a year old. A childcare center had arisen among needy parents who were assisted by activists. The OB People’s Food Store had opened in a storefront.

And finally a new grassroots urban planning organization was in the process of forming, which eventually paved the way for a community frontal attack on the developer-driven Precise Plan.

Again, the Rag was on the front lines promoting all of these alternatives, as many of the paper’s staff were involved in these efforts.By now, the paper had taken on more a “professional” look; it was printed on newsprint with 16 pages – for a while it even had justified columns – but usually the text was simply typed out on typewriters. It had more photos and local news, along with poetry and artwork by local residents.   [Read more…]

Remembering Bud Sonka: Big Man. Big Brain. Big Heart.

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Last year at the San Diego Free Press third birthday celebration at Border X Brewery in Barrio Logan, an extensive collection of the first iteration of SDFP, circa 1968, was on display. Bud Sonka had kept these paper copies in an oversize folio box these past decades and brought them out to the surprise and delight of all of us. The term “archivist” could now also be added to Bud’s lifelong accomplishments as an agitator and intellectual. And mahjong player.

Bud passed away last week. We have not had time to pull together the celebration of his life that he deserves because we were out organizing and agitating in response to Donald Trump’s appearance in San Diego. We think Bud would have approved of how we spent our time.   [Read more…]

Hippie Life In Ocean Beach

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Editor’s Note: Frank Gormlie will speak about “Hippies in OB” this Saturday, April 30th at the OB Library, from 2 to 3 pm.

OB as the Haight-Ashbury of San Diego

In my many writings about Ocean Beach history – some of which I share below – I’ve always noted that in the late 1960s, OB became the Haight-Ashbury of San Diego. By 1967 – a year after the OB Pier had officially opened – it was already evident that Ocean Beach was morphing into the San Diego equivalent of that fabled and iconic San Francisco neighborhood synonymous with “hippie-ism”. If you were a hippie or a hippie-wannabe during this time somewhere in San Diego, you ended up in OB.   [Read more…]

The Day Ocean Beach Became an Armed Police State

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Editor’s Note: The following was originally published February 22, 2009, and just about every year we repost it to remind the different generations of today’s OBceans of some of the rich history that makes up the fabric of Ocean Beach, whether one likes it or not. Here’s the history lesson, with only the number of years edited.

On February 22, 1974 — 42 years ago — all hell broke loose in Ocean Beach. And for many of the ’70s generation, this day will always live on in their memory as a day of infamy – the day the world came crashing down on our little seaside community.

It was the day that Pete Mahone, a politicized ex-convict and member of OB’s anti-Vietnam war community, tried to commit suicide by cop. It was also the breaking point in police-community relations, relations that had been simmering for years.   [Read more…]

Fray Serra o Capitan Frémont

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Part Six of Six*, with translation. Source: History of San Diego by William E Smythe. All quotes are from this book.

Transcribed by John Lawrence / From the original San Diego Free Press, circa 1969.

Las festividades del se gundo centenario de California se iniciaron en la ciudad de San Diego con toda la pompa y alboroto disponibles. El proposito de dichas festividades se supone que es el de con memorar la fundacion de California en San Diego. Aquel historico evento fue efectuado por Fray Junípero en 1769.   [Read more…]

Paradise Relost

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Part Five of Seven. Source: History of San Diego by William E Smythe. All quotes are from this book.

By John Lawrence / From the original San Diego Free Press, circa 1969.

After the first Indian uprising in 1775, the Spanish priests and soldiers rebuilt the mission and settled down to long decades of virtually unchallenged power. For approximately the next 75 years, San Diego was under Mission rule. The Spanish imperialists seemed to have found the solution to the “Indian problem” as we would say today.

The missionaries were so intent on “saving” the Indians that they would stop at nothing to further this goal. We quote Smythe: “Neither is there any doubt of the earnestness of the missionaries in bringing souls to Christ. They were so deeply in earnest that they did not hesitate to employ the military arm as a means of forcible conversion. There is reason to believe that whole villages were sometimes surrounded and their inhabitants driven to missions.”   [Read more…]

Reds Liberate Mission

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Part Four of Seven. Source: History of San Diego by William E. Smythe. All quotes are from this book.

By John Lawrence / From the original San Diego Free Press, circa 1969.

During the years 1770- 1775 the San Diego Mission, newly transplanted from Old Town to its present location in Mission Valley, managed to survive. The priests even managed to convert a few Indians.

Of course the techniques of conversion were not always the most “Christian.” Whereas Christ fed the multitudes and advocated no-strings-attached giving to the needy, the Spanish priests modified that scheme as the following quote from Smythe shows: “Those who had accepted the new faith had been clothed and fed, while those who rejected the faith had been let alone.” Nice guys, the priests: bribery was for them an acceptable method of religious inducement.

After 5 Years of this treatment, the Indians had had enough. They decided to revolt against the Spanish settlement which had imposed itself on their homeland. The first Indian uprising was on November 4, 1775, a date that should be celebrated by the people of San Diego as it marked the initiation of the people’s struggle for liberation which is still being waged today, 200 years later.   [Read more…]

Military In Control From the Start

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Part Three of Seven. Source: History of San Diego by William E. Smythe. All quotes are from this book.

By John Lawrence / From the original San Diego Free Press, circa 1969

After the Spanish settlement had been established in 1769, there followed a period of digging in—trying to make a go of it and becoming self-sufficient.

There is no question that, behind the religious front, it was the military that was firmly in command. We quote Smythe: “With the dedication of the Presidio and the Mission, the first institutions had been established in what is now the State of California. These institutions were typical of Spanish civilization (sic)—the soldier and the priest working side by side, but always with the sword above the Cross in point of authority. It was essentially a military government, and the commandant was empowered to deal out justice, civil and criminal.”   [Read more…]

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