Squaremont

By Bill Swank Contrary to common misconception, Clairemont is not named after former U.S. Congressman Clair Burgener. He has a street named for him, but not the entire community. Google "Clairemont" and you will learn that 80,000 of...

Season Greetings To Clairemont Christmas Park By Bill Swank I carried a large, black garbage bag into Fairlane Cleaners on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard and the proprietor, Sarah Na, laughed. She asked, "Is it already that time...

Early every morning, for over 34 years, I jogged (and later walked) the same three mile route through Clairemont, around Marston Junior High School to the south end of the Buena Vista Gardens Apartments...

Boo! It's Halloween. By Bill Swank Pumpkins, goblins, witches, you know the drill.  Let's do, "The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash." I don't like chainsaw, zombie, vampire, extraterrestrial, alien, ghost, werewolf, axe murder, walking dead, serial...

A history lesson on our local school names How many are old enough to remember that Clairemont High School was originally supposed to be James Madison High School? Angry residents demanded the school be named...

By Bill Swank In August 1956, Carole Gribbons McDowell was runner-up in the first Miss Clairemont contest held during the Flowers 'N Fun Fair at the Clairemont Community Center. When interviewed at the time for...

By Bill Swank In 1949, the Kewpies were the worst basketball team in the entire state of Indiana. I was an eight-year-old third grader when my family moved to Columbia City, Indiana. I'd never played basketball...

CLAIREMONT MOTHER CONFESSES, "THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN UNMARRIED BEAUTY."   When 23-year-old Frances Cloyd was crowned Mrs. America in 1949, she confessed, "There is no such thing as an unmarried beauty. It's probably...

By Bill Swank The euphemism "landfill" entered our language in 1916, but its usage was not popularized until the late 1940s. In 1957, the City of San Diego planned to turn Tecolote Canyon into a...

by Bill Swank   The 2016 Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be played next month at Petco Park. Brown robes are traditionally worn by Franciscan Friars. When the 1969 San Diego Padres debuted in beige uniforms...