Lighting up December nights in Balboa Park has a long tradition
The December Nights community celebration returns to Balboa Park on Friday, Dec. 2 and Saturday, Dec. 3. Over the decades, the park has been home to holiday fairs under many...
All Stories
1912 newsboys Thanksgiving meal was a feast
In 1888, the managers of the four daily newspapers here —The Union, Bee, Sun and San Diegan, arranged for a special Thanksgiving dinner for more than 80 young boys who...
‘Casablanca,’ premiered 80 years ago
Following on the heels of the Allied landing in North Africa during World War II, the classic film, "Casablanca," premiered in New York theaters 80 years ago, on Thanksgiving Day,...
Grinching of the Globe began in 1998
In November 1998, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" opened at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park . The Dr. Seuss-based musical was the theater's first-ever holiday offering and has...
55 years ago this week the U.S. population reached a milestone
On Nov. 20, 1967, as the United States Census Bureau's Population Clock ticked past 200 million, the Union's editorial board looked ahead to the challenges facing Americans.The U.S. population officially...
Convair’s flying car took to the air over San Diego 75 years ago
Consolidated Vultee Aircraft (Convair) tested a flying car here 75 years ago.The experimental duel-use ConvAirCar was designed by Theodore Hall. The machine combined a four-enger, rear engine automobile with a...
Final mission of Gemini space program ended Nov. 15, 1966
On this day in 1966, the final mission of the Gemini program, ended successfully when Gemini 12 splashed down safely in the Atlantic after four days in orbit.The Atlas rocket...
1972 charity concert rocked stadium in San Diego
Fifty years ago, KGB's first Charity Ball drew nearly 52,000 people to what was then known as San Diego Stadium for a concert featuring Quicksilver Messenger Service, the J. Geils...
Veteran’s Day originated in a spontaneous celebration of war’s end on November 11, 1918
A spontaneous celebration broke out in San Diego on Nov. 11, 1918 as news spread that the armistice had been signed between the Allies and , ending World War I.Commemorated...
‘This is my last press conference’ Nixon said in 1962
Sixty years ago, after losing his 1962 race for the governorship of California, an embittered Richard Nixon famously told reporters at the Beverly Hilton Hotel that they wouldn't have Nixon...
Abortion clinic bomb plot exposed in San Diego 35 years ago
On Nov. 5, 1987, the Rev. Dorman Owens of Bible Missionary Fellowship in Santee known for his opposition to abortion, was indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to...
Experimental Sea Dart airplane exploded over San Diego Bay in 1954
On this date in 1954, Convair's experimental Sea Dart supersonic seaplane exploded in a fireball over San Diego Bay on it's first test run, killing test pilot Charles "Chuck" Richbourg.Among...
Loved ones ed on Day of the Dead
A lively Day of the Dead was celebrated in Tijuana 50 years ago.From the Evening Tribune, Thursday, Nov. 2, 1972:SPANISH, INDIAN CULTURES BLENDTijuana's Day of Dead filled with lively eventsBy...
In 1902 Halloween games were used to predict who you would marry
In the early years of the 20th century, Halloween rituals involved fewer frights and more romance than today's celebrations. On Halloween young people played old-fashioned games to see who they...
1888 ‘battle of the sexes’ contest fought on horseback in San Diego
On this day in 1888, in an early "battle of the sexes," a woman called Jaguarina defeated Capt. Wiedemann in an epic sword contest on horseback at the old Pacific...
First giraffes arrived at San Diego Zoo by truck in 1938
In October 1938 the first breeding pair of giraffes arrived at the San Diego Zoo from east Africa. Lofty and Patches became national figures when they made the last lap...
60 years ago Cuban Missile Crisis brought US and Russia to brink of nuclear conflict
Sixty years ago, more than 10,000 county-based marines began secretly moving out on President Kennedy's alert to the threat of Russian Missiles in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis of October...
Deadly blazes hit San Diego 15 years ago
The first flames were sighted on a Sunday morning, Oct. 21, 2007, at 9:23 a.m. near Potrero just north of the U.S./Mexico border. Three hours later downed power lines sparked...
Little Leaguers’ advice for Padres: ‘Don’t get upset – have fun’
As the San Diego Padres aim for Tuesday's Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Petco Park, here is some advice offered to the...
1969 interview with Angela Lansbury reveals one missed dream
Award-winning actress Angela Lansbury died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. Today — Oct. 16 — would have been her 97th birthday.From her very first screen role as Nancy...
Free trash collection approved in San Diego in 1919
Voters this fall will decide on changes to the century-old “People's Ordinance” that makes trash pickup free for for single-family homes.Free garbage collection was first proposed to end a controversy...
1987 March on Washington brought attention to AIDS crisis
Sitting in a wheelchair and holding a sign that read, "I have AIDS, please hug me. I can't make you sick," Jonathan Strong, a San Diego gay activist suffering from...
Country Star Loretta Lynn candid in 1976 interview
Country star Loretta Lynn, who died Tuesday, spoke candidly about life on the road and, "The Pill," in her 1976 Union interview.From the San Diego Union, Monday, July 26, 1976:A...
San Diego State broke ground on its current campus in October 1929
On Oct. 7, 1929 groundbreaking ceremonies held for the first buildings of a new San Diego State campus on a mesa overlooking the east end of Mission Valley. The 1929...
Parkway Plaza opened in 1972
Parkway Plaza opened in October 1972 as the first air-conditioned, enclosed shopping mall in San Diego County.It was a $30 million retail development on 80 acres in El Cajon. Its...
‘Cheers’ 40th anniversary
Forty years ago, the first episode of "Cheers," a comedy series set in a Boston bar owned by ex-baseball player Sam Malone (San Diego-born Ted Danson), debuted on NBC Channel...
San Diego’s first night football games took place in 1930
The first night football games in San Diego took place in 1930 at the old Navy field downtown. On Thursday, Sept. 25, 1930, the San Diego State Aztecs smashed the...
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show came to San Diego in 1902
In 1902 William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody and his Wild West Show came to San Diego for what was billed as his “First, Last and Only Visit." On the morning...
First in nation paid family leave bill signed in California 20 years ago
Twenty years ago Gov. Gray Davis signed a law making California the first state to offer workers paid family leave. The program uses a payroll tax to provide partial pay...
1922 gold mine disaster was deadliest in California
Forty-seven miners died in the the worst mining disaster in the history of California 100 years ago.On August 27, 1922 a fire broke out in the Argonaut gold mine near...
San Diego’s first junior high schools opened 100 years ago
One hundred years ago, Memorial and Roosevelt Junior High — the first junior high schools in San Diego — opened on Sept. 18, 1922. La Jolla Junior-Senior High, designed by...
Birch Aquarium at Scripps opened in 1992
Thirty years ago, the Birch Aquarium at Scripps opened to the public on a La Jolla bluff overlooking the Pacific, replacing the Scripps Aquarium-Museum, which operated for four decades near...
Tropical storm Kathleen hit San Diego in 1976
Forty-six years ago this week, tropical storm Kathleen roared through Southern California and Arizona. Kathleen was was the first tropical cyclone to hit the San Diego area since 1939.Hurricane Kathleen...
September 11, 2001 Extra: America under attack
From The San Diego Union-Tribune Extra edition, Tuesday, September 11, 2001:San Diego airport, office buildings closed - military bases on high alertBy James Steinberg, Staff WriterAll flights were grounded at...
Paul Williams opened El Cajon’s performing arts center 45 years ago
Singer-songwriter Paul Williams christened the new East County Performing Arts Center in downtown El Cajon on Sept. 8, 1977. The Tribune's Jack Williams praised the singer and the venue, but...
1982 Us Festival no Woodstock
Forty years ago this week Steve Wozniak's US Festival drew 400,000 over Labor Day weekend tp Glen Helen Regional Park north of San Bernardino for a three-day music festival.From The...
9 Black students in Arkansas at center of school equity battle in 1957
This year marks the 65th anniversary of the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School.On Sept. 4, 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus used rifle-toting Arkansas National Guardsmen to prevent nine...
Mysterious blast destroyed National City macaroni factory 110 years ago
At 10:10 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 1, 1912, an explosion shattered windows and tossed people from their beds in National City. The detonation was heard as far away as City...
The San Diego Zoo went on the auction block in 1932
On Aug. 30, 1932 San Diego Assessor James Hervey Johnson, who had concluded that the San Diego Zoo owed the county more than $6,000 in back taxes, held a public...
1922 streetcar standoff pitted San Diego vs. wealthiest citizen
One hundred years ago this week, a dispute between the San Diego Electric Railway and the City of San Diego over street paving came to a head in the so-called...
1883 eruption of Krakatoa was front page news
This week in 1883, Krakatoa, a volcano on an uninhabited island between Sumatra and Java, violently erupted. Volcanic dust spewed into the atmosphere. Huge tsunami waves swept across the region....
The Spreckels Theatre opened 110 years ago
On Aug. 23, 1912, the Spreckels Theatre opened on what is now Broadway in downtown San Diego. A stage production of George Broadhurst's "Bought and Paid For," was imported from...
Westerfield verdict anniversary
Twenty years ago David Westerfield was convicted of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam whose family lived two doors away in Sabre Springs.Danielle disappeared from her bedroom sometime during...
A seawater desalination plant opened in Chula Vista 55 years ago
A seawater desalination plant opened in Chula Vista in August of 1967. The Clair Engle Desalting Plant was an experimental test facility built by the Department of Interior capable of...
Dreamers lined up for DACA 10 years ago
Ten years ago this week, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program began taking applications. DACA allowed certain undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children to apply...
Veterans honored on Navajo Code Talkers Day
National Navajo Code Talkers Day is today, Aug. 14. President Ronald Reagan established the holiday in 1982 to honor the contributions of Native Americans in the United States armed forces.The...
‘Star Trek’s’ Nichelle Nichols talked about her groundbreaking role
Actress Nichelle Nichols, best known as Lt. Uhura on "Star Trek," died on July 30, 2022. In 1968 she spoke to The Union's Don Freeman about her ground-breaking career.The original...
‘Ice Station Zebra’ filmed on location in San Diego in 1967
Fifty-five years ago an MGM crew began a week of shooting for "Ice Station Zebra" on the shores of Point Loma, Aug. 8-11, 1967.The San Diego location represented Holy Loch...
Veterans met in 1992 to mark 50th anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal
In 1992 Guadalcanal veterans who gathered in the Solomon Islands to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the initial American attack on Guadalcanal in World War II were ed by Union-Tribune...
The Los Banos pool and public baths opened in San Diego 125 years ago
In August of 1897 a large red-tiled bath house called Los Baños opened near the foot of D Street (now Broadway). It was erected by Graham E. Babcock, the son...
In 1952 UFOs over Washington D.C. made headlines
In the summer of 1952 a series of unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings were reported in Washington, D.C. On July 19 and 20 and again on July 27 radar scopes...
Thomas Ah Quin ed San Diego’s police force in 1917
In late July of 1917, San Diego Police Chief James Patrick appointed Thomas Ah Quin as a Special Officer of the San Diego Police, making Quin the first Chinese police...
Then and now: Planning the first Comic-Con in 1970
San Diego Comic-Con 2022 the wraps up Sunday, July 24. The popular "confab for science fiction and comics buffs" has endured for over 50 years. Here's a look back at...
Encinitas’ Golden Lotus temple toppled in 1942
Eighty years ago the Golden Lotus Temple of All Religions, built on a coastal promontory at Encinitas, began sliding into the sea on July 21, 1942 . No one was...
San Diego gobbled up swath of South County 65 years ago
In 1957, voters in the 21 square-mile area of South Bay approved annexation to the city of San Diego. The area includes the communities of Nestor, Palm City, Otay, and...
1992 All-Star Game at San Diego Jack Murphy was a hit
Thirty years ago San Diego hosted the 63rd Major League All-Star Game, a 13-6 A.L. win. San Diego native Ted Williams threw out the ceremonial first pitch. From The San...
Wayward turtle returned to sea
Twenty-five years ago, a sea turtle nicknamed "Wrong Way Corrigan" was released off the coast after nine months of rehabilitation at Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute on Mission Bay. The 170-pound,...
San Diego’s Over-The-Line tournament a sign of summer
This year the 69th annual OMBAC World Championship Over-The-Line-Tournament is scheduled across two weekends, July 9-10, and 16-17 on Fiesta Island. "Summer Madness" is what the late San Diego Union's...
La Jolla Playhouse launched 75 years ago
Seventy-five years ago, film stars Gregory Peck, Mel Ferrer and Dorothy McGuire launched an audacious summer stock company in an old La Jolla High School auditorium. Today the La Jolla...
Robots first Martian chroniclers
Twenty-five years ago, the American Pathfinder mission landed on Mars on the Fourth of July. Two days later the little robotic rover Sojourner rolled down a ramp from the lander...
Julian celebrated a banner Fourth of July in 1872
The young mining town of Julian threw a memorable Independence Day bash in 1872. Back then, San Diegans could catch Bill Tweed's Julian-to-San Diego stagecoach for the 12-hour trip three...
San Diego’s 1957 Children’s Zoo encouraged animal encounters
Sixty-five years ago, after three years of planning and construction, the San Diego Children's Zoo designed by Charles Faust opened on the site of the old Japanese Tea Garden at...
Reagan signed California law easing access to abortion 55 years ago
In June of 1967, Gov. Ronald Reagan signed into law a bill that legalized abortion in California. The law allowed abortions before the 20th week of pregnancy in cases of...
Carlsbad voted to become a city 70 years ago
In June of 1952 residents in the beach community of Carlsbad voted to become a city and approved a slate of officials that included council Manuel M. Castorena, Raymond...
San Diego State’s first graduation
On June 21, 1900, the San Diego Normal School (now San Diego State University) held its first commencement ceremonies. Twenty-six students graduated.Here are the names of the first class to...
Bring on the socks and neckties…long live Father’s Day!
June 19 is Father's Day. The holiday falls annually on the third Sunday in June. The first Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910 in Spokane, Washington.In 1924, President...
Wrestling with Watergate’s legacy
Today marks 50 years since five men were arrested in Washington, D.C.'s Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. The political scandal that followed led to President Nixon's resignation in August...
The Rolling Stones concert in San Diego 50 years ago was a riot
On June 13, 1972, 15 people were injured and 60 arrested in a three-hour melee that raged outside the Sports Arena as police clashed with fans trying to get into...
‘Tear down this wall’
Thirty-five years ago in Berlin, President Ronald Reagan urged Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to remove the wall that had divided the city since 1961 and become a symbol of...
Battle of Midway: 80th anniversary
During WWII — just six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor — Japanese warplanes attacked the Midway Atoll, a tiny group of islands about 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu...
Point Loma’s Portuguese chapel was built in 1922 to hold the Crown of the Holy Spirit
For a century the Portuguese community in San Diego has celebrated the Festa do Divino Espírito Santo, or Feast of the Holy Spirit, with a procession ending at the tiny...
Teachers in the San Diego Unified School District went on strike 45 years ago
In June of 1977 thousands of San Diego teachers walked off their jobs in the city's first major teachers association strike. The four-day strike idled city schools June 6-9.In the...
Salk Institute site dedicated in 1962
On June 2, 1962, groundbreaking and dedication ceremonies were held for the $14-million Salk Institute for Biological Studies on Torrey Pines Mesa. Construction was completed in 1965. The institute's stunning...
War dead honored on Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a time to all U.S. men and women killed or missing in action in war. Here is how Memorial Day was observed in San Diego 70...
The Golden Gate Bridge opened 85 years ago
On opening day, May 27, 1937, more than 200,000 people walked across San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge opened to vehicles the next day.Then a symbol of the power...
Swimsuit coverups required in 1931
In June of 1931 residents of La Jolla petitioned the city council to repeal a city ordinance prohibiting the wearing of bathing suits in streets and public places.The 1917 ordinance...
Tony Gwynn stadium dedicated 25 years ago
Twenty-five years ago, San Diego State University formally dedicated Tony Gwynn Stadium, a 3,000-seat baseball facility named for the Aztec standout and seven-time National League batting champion.Then-San Diego Padres owner...
60 years ago Astronaut Scott Carpenter became the 4th American in space
Sixty years ago Scott Carpenter became the fourth American astronaut in space and the second to make an orbital spaceflight. Carpenter orbited the Earth three times in Aurora 7 in...
Fire, flooding forced Dolphin crew to abandon sub 20 years ago
Twenty years ago, on the night of May 21, 2002, a leaking gasket caused the submarine Dolphin to flood in heavy seas and about 100 miles southwest of San Diego....
Union reporter witnessed start of Lindbergh’s epic flight
On May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh departed from Roosevelt Field, Long Island New York in a San Diego-built monoplane named Spirt of St. Louis for the first successful solo transatlantic...
Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps established 80 years ago
Eighty years ago President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on May 15, 1942.On May 27 — the day the first applications for...
The San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park opened 50 years ago
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park opened near Escondido as the San Diego Wild Animal Park 50 years ago this week.From the Evening Tribune, Wednesday, May 10, 1972:ZOO'S OPEN-SPACE FACILITY...
39 arrested in Vietnam War protest in Del Mar in 1972
Fifty years ago in Del Mar 39 people were arrested and four injured after demonstrators set fire to a pile of timbers on the train tracks to protest the transport...
First ‘Top Gun’ movie premiered in San Diego 36 years ago
"Top Gun: Maverick" premiered in San Diego this week, almost 36 years after the first "Top Gun" movie opened at Mann's Cinema 21 in Mission Valley.From The Tribune, Friday, May...
1987: Amnesty applications begin slowly
Thirty-five years ago the federal government's amnesty program began with a light turnout at immigrant centers in San Diego and Imperial counties. Ultimately, about 2.7 million people achieved legal residency...
1992 acquittals in the beating of Rodney King sparked outrage
Thirty years ago this week, Los Angeles erupted in anger after a jury cleared four white police officers accused of beating black motorist Rodney King of all but one charge.San...
In 1975 refugees begin arriving at Camp Pendleton as Saigon fell
On April 29, 1975 — as U.S. helicopters evacuated military and civilian personnel from besieged Saigon — the first of an estimated 50,000 Southeast Asian refugees began arriving at Camp...
Chicano Park born from protest in 1970
In April 1970, residents of Barrio Logan occupied land beneath the Coronado Bridge to stop construction of a California Highway Patrol station and to keep the parcel as a neighborhood...
Chernobyl back in news 36 years after nuclear disaster
On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear disaster in history occurred after a botched safety test at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine in what was then the Soviet...
The first Earth Day was observed April 22, 1970
Local San Diego students ed others across the nation in a "war against pollution" on the first Earth Day in 1970.From the Evening Tribune, Wednesday, April 22, 1970:'EARTH DAY' OBSERVEDLocal...
75 years ago disaster struck Texas City
Texas City, Texas, on Galveston Bay was the scene of the nation's deadliest industrial accident 75 years ago this month. On April 16, 1947 a French ship carrying ammonium nitrate...
Crusading Tijuana editor ambushed
From The San Diego Union-Tribune, Friday, Nov. 28, 1997:Wounds serious - bodyguard, one assailant slainBy Sandra Dibble and Gregory GrossThe embattled editor of a muckraking Tijuana weekly newspaper was seriously...
Ellen Ochoa’s first space flight made history
On April 17, 1993, NASA astronaut Ellen Ochoa — who grew up in La Mesa and graduated from San Diego State University — and the the crew of the space...
The Titanic struck an iceberg 110 years ago
In 1912, the British luxury liner Titanic collided with an iceberg on her maiden voyage from England to New York City and sank in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland. The...
30 years ago the carrier Midway retired from active service
Thirty years ago, on April 11, 1992, the carrier Midway was decommissioned at North Island Naval Air Station. It opened as the USS Midway Museum in San Diego in June...
La Jolla Light launched 100 years ago
One hundred years ago, the La Jolla Light was launched as a new weekly paper by Al Fairbrother and his wife, Neil, on April 7, 1922. The price for a...
The Fox network debuted 35 years ago
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch's Fox Broadcasting Co. made its prime-time TV debut 35 years ago today. On April 5, 1987 the new television network aired two comedies, "Married with Children"...
Saloons and bawdy houses populated San Diego 135 years ago
On this date in 1887 a reporter for The San Diego Union wrote an expose on San Diego's vice that catalogued some 50 licensed saloons, 35 bawdy houses, three opium...
Calling Mr. Lyon and other April Fools
The late Herbert G. Klein, the former Nixon White House communications director who enjoyed a long and illustrious career as a newspaper journalist, editor and consultant once clamed he plagued...
‘Skippy’ Smith made history here in 1942
Eighty years ago in San Diego Howard "Skippy" Smith founded what was believed to be the nation's first Black-owned and managed war production factory. Smith's Pacific Parachute Co. was dedicated...