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San Diego: Two Expeditions — Enter Father Serra

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Part Two of Seven. Part One can be found here. 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

A land and sea expedition set out from Mexico in 1769. After major navigational difficulties, two ships, the San Antonio and the San Carlos, landed at San Diego on April 11 and April 29, 1769, respectively.

It seems that the incompetent Cabrillo had reported that San Diego was at 34 degrees latitude whereas actually it is at 32 degrees. The result of this bungling was that most of the sailors were sick or dying when they reached San Diego. In fact all the seamen on the “San Carlos” died except for one and the cook. We can see that the plight of sailors in San Diego hasn’t changed much in 200 years.   [Read more…]

When Rain Comes: Charles Hatfield’s Secret Formulas

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By Patricia Maxwell

In today’s world where landing a government contract is a labyrinthian process of being vetted, investigated and scrutinized, one wonders how the San Diego council chose Charles Hatfield, a rainmaker, to fill the nearly empty Morena Reservoir with water. Life was different in 1915, but one thing was similar and that is that it pays to have someone promote you.

Charles had Fred Binney, a man who jumped onto the rainmaking wagon after losing two-thirds of his citrus orchard in Otay to a drought. As early as 1912, Binney had approached the City Council about hiring Hatfield, but was turned down. By 1915, the Council was ready to listen.   [Read more…]

Immigration! Problem & Solutions? A Chicano Historical Perspective

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Immigration or Labor Issue?

by Herman Baca / Reprinted from the Herman Baca UCSD Archives

To date it never ceases to amaze me that in the U.S. after the economy & terrorism issues, that the foremost issue for the great-great-great grandchildren of immigrants is, IMMIGRATION? I can readily understand if Native Americans were stating the above, but the great-great-great grandchildren of immigrants??

Since I first became politically involved with immigration in 1970 (45 years ago) I have witnessed (politically) every administration from President Nixon (Republican) to President Obama (Democrat) proposing the same old solutions… law and military enforcement, guns, barbed wire, false amnesty, never enforced employer sanctions, slave Bracero programs and calls to increase the “Gestapo” Border Patrol to supposedly secure the U.S./Mexico border. Costing U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars; has it worked? I doubt that anyone in their right mind could honestly state (today) that the U.S. is anywhere near in solving the so-called immigration issue.   [Read more…]

San Diego: A City Gone Full Circle, From Imperialism to Neo-imperialism

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From the original San Diego Free Press, circa 1969

In a nutshell, the history of San Diego dates from its discovery as an object of Spanish imperialism to its present-day status as a base for U.S. neo-imperialism. It all started when Juan Rodrigues Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator in the service of Spain landed on Point Loma in 1542. That is, the official San Diego history starts at this point in time. The Indians, of course, had been here some time before that. As Stokely Carmichael says, “You ain’t nothing till some white man comes along and discovers you.”   [Read more…]

The Rainmaker, Charles Hatfield, and the Flood of 1916

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By Patricia Maxwell

Today’s residents of Chula Vista have much in common with citizens of a hundred years ago. Make that a thousand years or more. Southern California has always been an arid land, with cycles of drought, interspersed with wet years every now and again. In December of 1915, San Diego’s city fathers tackled the issue from a completely different angle. They hired a rainmaker!

The impetus for their decision was the unfilled Morena Reservoir in the mountains sixty miles east of San Diego. A rock-filled dam had been completed in 1912, but the reservoir had yet to be filled beyond a third of its capacity. Other reservoirs in the area shared the same problem. None were filled and the city was growing.

The rainmaker, Mr. Charles Hatfield, said “I will fill the Morena Reservoir to overflowing between now and next December 20, 1916, for the sum of $10,000, in default of which I ask no compensation.”   [Read more…]

Raquel Martinez, Female Bullfighter

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Steven Schoenherr / South Bay Compass

She was a petite blond who lived in Imperial Beach and graduated from Mar Vista High in 1967. She was also a bullfighter.

Raquel Martinez was 22 when she left her home at 729 Cypress Avenue in 1971 and faced her first bull in the Tijuana Cortijo. She was determined to become the first woman matador since Patricia McCormick and Bette Ford in the 1950s, and to become as famous as the great Conchita Cintrón in the 1940s.   [Read more…]

When Liquor Flowed in Chula Vista

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Steve Schoenherr / South Bay Compass

On May 1, 1933, you could finally get a drink in Chula Vista. From the day the city was founded in 1911, it was a dry town.

Ordinance No. 11 passed in 1912 prohibited the sale of liquor and no bars were allowed. Of course, during the prohibition era of the 1920s, there were illegal speakeasies along highway 101, the “Road to Hell,” and Tijuana was open night and day for anyone who could get across the border. But when state voters in Nov. 1932 (including Chula Vista voters) approved the repeal of California’s Wright Act, the state’s “Little Volstead” prohibition law, it opened the door for new business enterprises.   [Read more…]

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