Balboa Park History 1974

January 1, 1974, San Diego Union, B-12:1. The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater, which has had 325,000 visitors since opening in March, is proving to be one of the nation’s most popular planetariums; W. Michael Sullivan, executive director of the facility, said the attendance figure includes 21,130 students in school science programs and “it doesn’t include 24,000 people who have attended our Science Center”; last year Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and Adler Observatory in Chicago has about 300,000 visitors, Sullivan said.

January 2, 1974, San Diego Union, B-2:3. Special briefings on Comet Kohueteh will added to all Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater shows next week; the theater also announced plans for a comet viewing party open to the public.

January 5, 1974, San Diego Union, B-2. Permanent park buses proposed.

Balboa Park’s shuttle tram service has been a success and city officials yesterday recommended that a permanent intrapark bus service be provided.

Deputy City Manager John Lockwood told councilmen in a report that extending a new San Diego Transit Corp. mini-bus route into the park next spring would be the least expensive way to provide a permanent shuttle service.

In the interim, the city ought to spend $1,500 to purchase the four trams in use since last summer to haul people from parking lots to El Prado, the park’s center, Lockwood said.

The trams have carried nearly 57,000 people since they became operational in July, Lockwood said, shortly after the council banned automobile traffic from El Prado.

If the bus or tram won’t do the job, the city could spend much more money on transportation systems, Lockwood reported, outlining a $7 million subway monorail system for a $2 million sidewalk moving mechanism.

In any event, the city should invest the $1,500 because the bus company won’t have its 33 new mini-buses available until spring, Lockwood said. Since these buses, seating 25 to 30 persons will be utilized in the downtown and immediate areas, a short loop through Balboa Park would fit in perfectly, he said.

This could save the city at least half what the present system cost, about $154 per day.

The trams are currently being used on weekends only after having run daily during the height of the tourist season. Because of the demand, “it is our view that a permanent system should be installed,” Lockwood reported.

A $3.5 million subway system paralleling El Prado is feasible, Lockwood said. A monorail, connecting parking lots at the Zoo, Organ Pavilion and President’s Way could also be provided at an estimated cost of $4.2 million.

January 7, 1974, San Diego Union, D-1:2-5. Now on display at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center are winning entries in its “Magic Sky” drawing contest; winners with their entries from Palisades Pre-School are Tracy Hyde, 4, and Mark Dunlap, 4; first grade divisions winners were Tricia Green, Mason Elementary, and Mark Thomas, Bayside; the children drew whatever they imagined as a “Magic Sky,” the sun, the moon and the planets.

January 8, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Starlight Operetta searches for home; new site in park proposed, by Michael Grant.

Even though there are three amphitheaters in the city, the Starlight Operetta does not have a good place to stage its summer productions, its president told the Balboa Park Committee yesterday.

Bruce F. Farley, president of the San Diego City Light Opera Association, asked the committee if it might consider building a new amphitheater somewhere in the northern section of Balboa Park, possibly in Florida Canyon.

Committee members replied that they probably would not consider such a project, and certainly not in Florida Canyon.

“That would generate a storm of protest,” Dr. Bob O’Brien told Farley.

“The committee has been on record for a long time as favoring the preservation of Florida Canyon,” added Mrs. Delza Martin.

Without taking any official action, the committee suggested Farley ask the San Diego Zoo to let Starlight use the Wegeforth Bowl, its home until two years ago.

A Zoo spokesman said Starlight was asked to leave Wegeforth Bowl because it was creating difficulty with the daily presentation of the Zoo’s shows.

Farley said he queried the Zoological Society last fall about using Wegeforth Bowl for the 1974 Starlight season and received a negative response.

The Zoo spokesman said Farley had been informed that the operetta productions were not compatible with the regularly scheduled seal shows.

Individual committee members said they would sent letter to the Zoological Society urging rapport with Starlight, and committee chairman, Colonel Irving Solomon, said he would raise the subject at the next meeting of the Zoo’s exhibit committee, of which he is a member.

Farley said the Wegeforth Bowl was the only one now in existence where the Starlight could make a profit.

The Greek Bowl at San Diego State University, where Starlight has been produced since it left Wegeforth Bowl, has proven unsatisfactory, Farley said, because it is too deep.

“Moving sets in and out was a logistical nightmare,” he said, and older persons, the backbone of Starlight audiences, did not like the steep aisles. The Greek Bowl’s location also was not attractive to the tourist trade, Farley said.

He described the Ford Bowl, at the southwest corner of Balboa Park, as the ideal location for an outdoor musical if it were not for one thing, a steady stream of jets passing low overhead toward Lindbergh Field.

He said any location in Balboa Park north of the south boundary of the Zoo would be far enough removed from the landing pattern to allow a successful presentation.

January 10, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3:5. About 100 elementary school students escaped the confines of the earth to visit its sister planets yesterday — but never left the soft-cushioned seats of the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater in Balboa Park; the pupils from Encanto, Rancho Santa Fe and Lincoln Juarez schools were the first to preview the theater’s show, “Other Worlds, Other Life.”

January 10, 1974, San Diego Union, D-7:4-5. Unidentified flying objects are explored in a new multi-media show being added to the regular program of the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater in Balboa Park; the added feature, “Other Worlds, Other Life,” will run for five days starting Monday; W. Michael Sullivan, executive director, said background and research on previous UFO sightings are given as well as the proper procedures for reporting suspected USO phenomena.

January 13, 1974, San Diego Union, B-4:1. The Hall of Science has received a $38,272 grant from the City Council to help clear a first year debt for Balboa Park’s new Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater; a late opening date last year caused a $75,000 net deficit for the Hall of Science during 1973, according to planetarium and city officials; the city last year agreed to subsidize the $4.5 million facility with $200,000 for the first year; it is projected that attendance will eventually make the theater completely self-supporting, officials said.

January 13, 1974, San Diego Union, D-1. Retired citizens aid in park activities, by Rita Gillmon (illus.).

January 20, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1, B-2. Natural History, People Planning Makes Museum Center for Fun, by Jeannette Branin (illus.).

January 22, 1974, San Diego Union. Mayor Wilson asks cooperation as paper project begins; program will extend life of city’s three landfill sites (illus.).

January 25, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. Letter, George F. Burger deplores the Park and Recreation Department cutting a small group of trees next to the comfort station out in Morley Field where the new little league baseball fields are planned.

January 26, 1974, San Diego Union,. Children’s gardening class et sponsored by the San Diego Botanical Garden Foundation (illus.).

January 28, 1974, San Diego Union, B-4. The state plans to spray parts of Balboa Park again in May to make sure the destructive Japanese beetles have been destroyed.

January 31, 1974. National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form: California Quadrangle; prepared by James A. Lester, Coordinator, Intergovernmental Relations, City Manager’s Office, San Diego, Calif.

January 31, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. Plan okayed to protect canyons; Council action focuses on 11 periled areas, by Otto Bos.

January 31, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. City Council sets Balboa Park tram fares; a dime should be charged until San Diego Transit Corp. provides a minibus loop through the area this fall.

February 1, 1974, San Diego Union, A-15. Starlight is looking at Balboa Park Bowl as a site for its 1974 summer season of musicals.

February 1, 1974, San Diego Union, C-3:6-7. City staff members were authorized yesterday to seek action on contracts for the completion of projects at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater; by a 3-0 vote, the San Diego Planetarium Authority ordered the staff to notify Spitz Laboratories, Inc., that if contracted work at the theater was not completed immediately, three contracts totaling more than $300,000 could be declared in default.

The contracted work was for a new dome in the theater, a multimedia control system and space transit simulator equipment. Bill Gerhardt, construction director for the city, said. All of the projects should have been completed last year, he said.

The authority’s vote represents the first step in legal proceedings in an attempt to get Spitz to complete its work according to contract specifications, Gerhardt said.

The contractor will be notified today of the authority’s action, he said.

The city staff also was authorized to request the City Council to find the contract in default. if necessary giving the city attorney the power to start legal action against security bonds posted by Spitz Laboratories, Gerhardt said.

In the meantime, the city and the San Diego Hall of Science have withheld more than $100,000 from the contractor until projects are completed.

Gerhardt said Spitz completed work on the theater’s dome, but not within the specifications of the contract. Work on the multimedia project and the simulator equipment is near completion, but behind deadline, he said.

“The trouble is a thing like that is either completed or not completed. Either you can use it or not,” Gerhardt said.

In other news, facility executive director W. Michael Sullivan predicted attendance figures for the first year of operation will be the highest in the nation.

The theater will have attracted more than 400,000 customers by its first anniversary, according to his projections, “making us the No. 1 drawing facility in the country,” Sullivan said.

February 1, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Action on plans to build homes in a portion ot Tecolote Canyon was delayed for at least four months by the City Council yesterday to permit nearby residents a chance to save the area as an open-space park.

February 2, 1974, San Diego Union, B-8:3. The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center in Balboa Park will being a policy of one weekly presentation in Spanish tomorrow at 11 a.m.; Spanish soundtracks for the current features at the theater — “Standing Up Country” and “Capture the Sun” — will be offered each Sunday at 11 a.m., under a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, according to Michael Sullivan, executive director.

February 3, 1974, San Diego Union, B-4. Camellias on display at the 27th annual show of the San Diego County Camellia Society in the Conference Building.

February 3, 1974, San Diego Union, B-4. The San Diego Zoo is operating on the spring schedule and the gates will remain open an hour later daily; gates will close at 5 p.m.

February 10, 1974, San Diego Union, E-1. The people who donate time, money, by Craig MacDonald . . . John D. Spreckels, George W. Marston, Dr. Harry M. Wegeforth, E. W. Scripps, Dr. Edgar L. Hewett, et al (illus.)..

February 14, 1974, San Diego Union, C-21. Five family history research sessions, sponsored by the San Diego Genealogical Society, will begin February 16 in the Puppet Theater.

February 15, 1974, San Diego Union, B-2. The City Council yesterday approved $40,000 in federal revenue-sharing funds for distribution to the city’s six museums.

February 17, 1974, San Diego Union, B-7:3. Free showings of a new documentary film depicting Mars will begin Tuesday, February 19, and continue through February 28 in the lecture hall at Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center; the motion picture “Mars — the Search Begins,” was produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena; the film is to be shown on a limited seating basis on weekdays at 3 and 7:15 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday at noon, 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.; the lecture hall seats 100 persons.

February 17, 1974, San Diego Union, G-8. A Few Men Worked Miracles — San Diego Zoo. Museum of Man, Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center.

Not far from the Museum of Man is the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center, which came into being because of the efforts of a group who wanted to design a planetarium unlike any existing one.

Dr. J. C. Almy Harding, said in an earlier interview, that the start of the project came in the ruins of San Diego’s World War II defense industry.

If it had not been for the post-war recession, TESSIE (Technical and Scientific Societies Council), may not ever have been created.

“Chamber of Commerce president Albert Reader asked Dr. Bernard Gross to form the group to help cope with local economic problems,” Harding recalled.

“One thing that came out of TESSIE was the idea of creating a scientific and technical museum. The name, selected in 1947, was the Hall of Science and Industry,” he said.

Although the scheme died, members of TESSIE formed the nucleus of the world’s fist true space travel simulator. The successful planetarium movement waited until 1956 before catching the public’s attention again.

In 1956, Dr. Glen Havens and Robert J. McPherson proposed to build a science museum for teenagers. Joseph Dryer added a plan for a planetarium.

On March 20, 1957, a public meeting was held in the San Diego Hotel to discuss the museum and planetarium ideas. Several people who attended became directors of the San Diego Hall of Science and Industry, Inc., the governing body of the center and of the city-county Planetarium Authority.

Havens became the first president of the organization on August 7, 1957, and two days later it became a non-profit corporation.

Financing and other problems delayed the group’s plans, allowing two creative men to add their skills to the planetarium projects.

Dr. Edward Creutz, a nuclear physicist and James Crooks, Jr., an electronics engineer, conceived and developed the idea of building the planetarium with the dome tilted downward before the audience.

Crooks is further credited with creating the idea to bring all of the equipment under the control of one computer.

Planetarium authorities today speak of the titled-dome concept as the “Creutz effect,” in honor of the scientist.

However, one of the major obstacles was financing and it was not until the 1970s that the theater-science center became a reality.

In 1971, $3 million of revenue bonds were sold in San Diego to pay for construction and furnishings. An additional $1.5 million was needed for the theater’s equipment and operating expenses.

Much of this money came from Reuben H. Fleet, a distinguished aeronautical pioneer, and his family who donated $400,000, which was matched by the Fleet Foundation.

The theater, with its awesome 76-foot geodesic dome, largest in the United States, and the science center are open from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily.

February 22, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. Letter, D. J. says the bulk of 3.8 acre Mt. Etna Park in Clairemont has been given to baseball (3.3 acres); City says $70,000 is being spent to improve the park, yet the parking lot is almost as big as the park.

February 24 1974, San Diego Union. Letter, William J. Sambieda, La Jolla, lauds facilities (zoo, mime performance in front of art museum, smiling and happy people) in Balboa Park.

February 24, 1974, San Diego Union, E-3. Ephraim W. Morse, the “Father” of Balboa Park, by Craig MacDonald . . . (mostly about the history of Balboa Park, not much about Ephraim W. Morse).

February 28, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-10. The City Council has agreed to study the legal and financial problems of renovating the Ford Building as a historic site and possible future home of the Aerospace Museum.

The building . . . was designated a historical site in 1972 by the city Historical Site Board and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places with the Department of the Interior.

February 28, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. A new search for money to refurbish the Ford Building was begun yesterday by the City Council.

February 28, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. City Parks and Recreation Director Pauline des Granges yesterday announced her retirement after 33 years of service and nine and one-half years as the recreation chief for the city; Ed Mendoza of the city street’s division will take over the post in April.

March 7, 1974, San Diego Union, C-16. The Chicano Cultural Arts Center in Balboa Park may get a face-lifting — maybe even a whole new multi-colored face.

Balboa Park Committee members have approved in concept a plan to sandblast the cylindrical building’s exterior and turn it into a 360-degree mural.

March 7, 1974, San Diego Union, E-1. Museum of Man library attracts world experts, by Jeannette Branin (illus.).

March 8, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, C-19. A color slide program on collecting plants in the highlands of Mexico’s rain forest will be presented at the Tuesday morning meeting of the Alfred D. Robinson branch of the American Begonia Society in the Casa del Prado.

March 10, 1974, San Diego Union, F-1. Seventy-five thousand flowers bloom Friday at the annual Orchid Show sponsored by the San Diego County Orchid Society in the Conference Building, by Clyde V. Smith.

March 11, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-2. EDITORIAL: Restore Ford Building.

The whole building is strongly suited to house the aerospace collection which deserves a better showpiece than its present cluttered, crowded quarters in the Electric Building, a stucco firetrap.

March 11, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3:2-5. The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center celebrated its first birthday yesterday with a party for children; its featured clowns, magic acts, a pantomime show, music and 1,400 free ice cream cones; the center is dedicated to the theory that science education can be fun.

March 12, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-2. Letter: Edna F. Walton backs idea of a mural depicting the heritage and traditions of Mexico in Balboa Park.

March 14, 1974, San Diego Union, B-16:8. A $10,000 “sideshow: at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center will open this weekend; the new exhibit is a 10-minute laser demonstration; executive director Michael Sullivan said $10,000 worth of argon gas laser equipment has been set up to dramatize the versatility of coherent light beams which can carry hundreds of telephone messages, perfectly erase a typewriter error, cut out a tumor, pierce a diamond or melt a tank.

March 14, 1974, San Diego Union, E-1l Fine Arts Gallery spreads its wings; east wing will be previewed by members Friday from 5 to 7 p.m., by Richard Reilly.

March 15, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-3. Another view: Ford Building not adequate for museum.

Editor: In reference to your editorial of March 11, advocating restoration of the Ford Building for use as an aerospace museum, your argument is not new, for it was used in 1959 by the tourist, business, industrial and political leadership of San Diego in an attempt to turn the Ford Building and the entire Palisades into a gigantic convention center; again, a similar argument was used in 1933 and 1947 by civic leaders who wanted to put public buildings in Balboa Park.

The Ford Building is not a “palace” or “one of the most splendid examples of art deco architecture in America.” These words have a familiar ring, for they or their equivalents are trotted out whenever vested interests want to acquire an empty building on public park land.

The St. Louis engineers who produced the 1960 Master Plan for Balboa Park, adopted by the city council as the official plan, examined the Ford Building in some detail; their analysis disagrees with your contention that “the concrete structure is sound.”

The mural, “The March of Transportation” is not intact. The paint can be rubbed off with a damp cloth; it adheres to walls which have huge gaping holes and are in danger of tumbling down. It is not a first-class mural, even by 30’s and WPA standards, for it is, in large part, a catalogue of simplified illustrations of a type that can be found in children’s story books.

The Aerospace Museum is a private enterprise promoting a limited special interest. The attendance figures they keep are not realistic because valid attendance counting systems for passive and active Balboa Park activities do not exist; and the present location of the museum on the main axis of El Prado, its open doors and its free admission attract many visitors merely from motives of idle curiosity.

Park lovers in San Francisco are fighting an attempt to put a Senior Citizens’ Center, gift of a wealthy donor, in Golden Gate Park. A citizens’ advisory committee in Los Angeles has stopped a plan that would have drastically altered the natural character of Griffith Park. An attempt by Columbia University to put a massive gymnasium in Morningside Park in New York City triggered the Columbia University riots of 1968.

Parks mean something to city people who go to them because they like to be near the earth, likes the smells and sounds of nature, and like seeing the open sky. Because the occupants of the buildings in the park do not realize this, they would replace something that is natural, free and democratic with man-made buildings and paved parking lots that do not belong in public parks and that cater to select and exclusive interests.

Strong pressure groups have diverted and will continue to divert Balboa Park land to their own use. Jack Smith, Los Angeles reporter, has written, “the beauty of Elysian Park may be owned to the fact that it has been so long neglected . . . that is has escaped the lust of land developers and the venality of politicians” (Westways, June 1973). If we cannot say the same for Balboa Park, we can at least try to undo some of the damage that has already been done.

A park is supposed to offer harassed city dwellers relief from crowded city streets,, buildings, and the aggravation of commerce and densely populated neighborhoods. It is not the city’s extension, but the city’s complement, where fields, meadows, prairies, green pastures and still waters are meant to fulfill physical and psychological needs that cannot be satisfied by smog, speed, internal combustion engines, and jet exhausts.

March 16, 1974, San Diego Union, B-6. “Flash to the Past,” a musical revue will inaugurate the dinner theater policy at Café del Rey Moro tomorrow at 8:30 p.m.

March 17, 1974, San Diego Union, E-3. Philip L. Gildred speaks of new Fine Arts Gallery east wing; a beautiful gift to city (illus.).

March 17, 1974, San Diego Union, F-27. Japan in the Park, by Ada Perry.

There’s another flower show next weekend and it sounds like a visit to Japan without a passport. Would you like to go to Japan in Balboa Park? Not only that but in the beautiful Casa del Prado building.

No charge for passage, either. The event is the Ikebana festival of Japanese arts and it’s free.

There will be a Japanese garden and tea house, miniature tray landscapes, dolls and 80 flower arrangements from seven schools of Japanese flower arranging.

Music and dancing is promised and there will be a tea table. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, March 23 and 24.

I suspect that I should have used the wording “festival of Ikebana and Japanese arts” but the whole thing sounded like so much fun that I was in a rush to tell about it.

It is sponsored by the San Diego Chapter of Ikebana International and is the sixth annual occasion for the group. Members now number 140 with Mrs. Peter T. Jordan of the San Carlos area, president.

March 18, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. Space theater tells anniversary plans.

The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center brings back its inaugural “Voyage to the Outer Planets” today for a one-week run as part of month-long first anniversary activities.

“Returning by strong public demand,” executive director W. Michael Sullivan said. ” ‘Voyage’ additionally salutes Wednesday’s Earth Day activities as the presentation concludes with an ecological message.”

Employing the domed wrap-around theater’s Space Transit System (STS), “Voyage to the Outer Planets: takes viewers on a simulated trip to the edges of the solar system beginning in the year 2350.

Sullivan said that the presentation places the audience on a futuristic launch pad leading to shuttle craft rendezvous with the Delta V spacecraft for the planetary tour.

The condensed three-year trip includes vistas of the earth from orbit, a stop at one of Jupiter’s moons and a close-up look at Saturn’s rings.

“On coming back to the earth,” he said, “the travelers are reminded of the delicate balance required to preserve the home that tomorrow’s space tourists will return to.”

The 20-minute space offering will be shown through Sunday in conjunction with “Harmony of Nature and Man,” a cinerama motion picture exploring the bounties of the American northwest.

A Roger Tilton Film Co. production, the “Harmony” feature was premiered at Japan’s Osaka world’s fair.

The one-week only bill will be offered for a total of 42 screenings, with weekday performances at 1, 2:30 and 4 p.m.

Saturday showings are at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. and from 1 to 4 p.m. with Sunday offerings hourly from 12 noon to 5 p.m.

Evening showings are given each night of the week at 7:30 and 8:30, Sunday through Thursday, with Friday and Saturday features at 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30 p.m.

March 18, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. Irish celebrate: “Bit of Heaven” in Balboa Park yesterday celebration of St. Patrick’s day in House of Pacific Relations, by Robert P. Laurence (illus.).

March 18, 1974, San Diego Union, B-5. New dinner policy at Café del Rey More — dinner performers lack direction, by Welton Jones.

There’s practically nothing in the way of continuity and the routines vary from acceptable to awful.

March 18, 1974, San Diego Union, B-5. A beginner’s course in sign language is underway at Casa del Prado on Monday and Friday nights.

March 19, 1974, Park and Recreation Board Minutes:

  1. Mural – El Centro Cultural de la Raza

MOTION: It was moved by Mr. Muth, seconded by Mr. Jensen and carried that the Board recommends approval of the mural as presented.

MOTION: It was moved by Mr. Brandenburg, seconded by Mr. Butler, that the Board recommends that the City provides assistance for sandblasting the El Centro Cultural de La Raza building; the motion carried.

  1. 1966 Balboa Park Funds

Robert Teaze, of the City Attorney’s office, appeared before the Board to explain the attorney’s opinion on the validity of using funds from the 1966 bond issue for rehabilitation of the Ford Building. He advised a written opinion would be prepared for the City Council. However, he indicated that in the bond proposal there was no indication that any money would be used for remodeling the Ford Building. If the Ford Building has been specified there would be no question. The renovation of the building has been before the voters three times since 1966 and turned down each time. In the past, law suits have been filed as to the legality of using bond funds, and Mr. Teaze cited the Metropolitan Sewer District as to the right of the City to issue revenue bonds for that purpose. He suggested that a test suit should be filed before 1966 bond money is authorized for the renovation of the Ford Building. Mr. Milch stated that in the Master Plan for Balboa Park it provided for the demolition of the Ford Building but that is has subsequently been restored to the Master Plan.

Miss des Granges commented that the Board had approved inclusion of up to $850,000 for the renovation of the Ford Building in the 1973 Bond Proposal and that this amount was to be matched by the Aerospace Museum. After discussion, the following motion was made:

MOTION: It was moved by Mr. Leyton, seconded by Mr. Butler and carried unanimously that the Board recommends the proposed Balboa Park Capital Improvements Program for 1975 be approved ant that the City Council be requested to look to other sources for funding the rehabilitation of the Ford Building.

The Board did feel, however, that the Aerospace Museum should be given an exclusive option on the Ford Building to enable them to raise money for its rehabilitation.

March 19, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-1, B-4. Setting ready for new “jewel” at Fine Arts Gallery; new (east) wing almost ready, by Betty Peach (illus.).

March 19, 1974, San Diego Union, D-1:4. An auxiliary for men and women is being organized at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center to provide some volunteer support for the center; Mrs. Thompson Porter of La Jolla is president of the board of the Satellites, auxiliary to the center; individuals of all ages are being sought for membership in the Satellites, to assist with volunteer programs being initiated at the center; other officers name.

March 23, 1974, San Diego Union, Flowers abloom; walkers, lookers welcome — Wild flower pageant underway in city’s canyons and parks (illus.).

March 27, 1974 (San Diego) Evening Tribune. Letter: Frank Hogya opposes moving U. S. Naval Hospital: “Its present location is ideal. It meets with the needs of the fleet and is centrally located for all hands with good public transportation.”

March 28, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. P. W. Quinlan supports renovation of Ford Building.

Editor: I was about to congratulate you on your recent editorial supporting rehabilitation of the Ford Building in Balboa Park. However, on March 14 I noted the letter by Richard W. Amero and felt compelled to demand equal time in rebuttal.

Anyone who has read the took The Romance of Balboa Park by Florence Christman, second edition, cannot but realized the Ford Building is just as much a part of the park as all the other buildings. The story of Balboa Park is so intricately bound to the history of the lives of the city leaders and to that of the city itself that some people should realize that the park is San Diego.

The Ford Building is structurally sound. Read the Pederewski, Dean and Associates many architectural studies since 1960. “The March of Transportation” mural is nearly intact and can be restored with accuracy. It may not be a first class mural, but it is indeed such in the eyes of the grandchildren of the painter, who recently were allowed entry into the Ford Building to view and take pictures of their grandfather’s treasure.

The Aerospace Museum is not a private enterprise. It’s the third ranking visitor attraction, after the zoo and the space and science building.

The entire palisades area will become a viable part of the park when the Navy hospital property is returned to the park for future use. The starlight theater will reopen and other activities will be activated for our people.

The Ford Building will be rehabilitated with a giant force of public spirit and the donated services of our trade union representatives. The labor of love by the people will show San Diegans what “people power” can do. The savings to the taxpayer will be $2 million plus and San Diego will again make its mark on the map

To quote Florence Christman: “The park has been noted as becoming more and more the social club of the city, a setting where several important events occur on one evening.” And last of all, Balboa Park continues to receive wonderful gifts. The Thursday Club gave ornamental benches and chairs for the Casa del Prado. The Senior Citizens’ Lounge there was furnished by different members and branches of this group, organizations planted trees in the park and gave tables and benches for picnic areas. And another name, that of Reuben H. Fleet was added to the illustrious list of those who have already become part of the park heritage.

Balboa Park was 150 years old on May 26, 1968. In the early days of park development, and for many years afterward, George Marston stood above all others in his protection and concern for the park. Today there are several Marstonian groups dedicated to the protection of the park.

The continued watchfulness of all is needed to protect these priceless acres from any further encroachment.

The Ford Building will remain as well as all other buildings in the park.

“Long live the Ford Building!”

March 27, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. Frank Hogya says “it would be a terrible waste of taxpayers’ money and criminal to destroy the Balboa Naval Hospital, a beautiful and functional complex, and rebuild elsewhere.

March 28, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. Frank W. Wilson urges improvement for Ford Building.

Editor: Richard W. Amero’s letter was well written. However, Amero seems to be one of those persons that looks on horrified that someone might be able to make a living off a museum on public ground.

Naturally the Ford Building is not a palace new because it has sat in disrepair all these years.

I have no connection with the Aerospace Museum except that I have been there several times and boy, is it crowded! I enjoyed all the exhibits and I was disappointed to find out that there were many more exhibits that could not be displayed for lack of space.

Mr. Amero mentions how citizens of other cities are fighting to prevent buildings in their parks. I can’t quite buy that idea. I will agree that wilderness should stay wilderness but there are some buildings that enhance a park.

The Ford Building is there now. What are we to do, close our eyes and hope it disappears? It belongs to the city. The city can’t seem to scrape up enough money to pay her employees. How can she ever get enough money to pay for the demolition and clearing the ground? Unfortunately San Diego is filled with many people who don’t like what happened in the past, denounce the future because “It happened in some other city; therefore, it will happen here,” and live among the deteriorating present because they are afraid to make a move. I say, improve the Ford Building now!

March 28, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Japanese beetle drive told.

Kenneth K. Little, Jr., county agriculture commissioner, said the eradication drive will resume about April 15, with state and county crews putting out 3,300 beetle traps in and around the park.

March 31, 1974, San Diego Union, B-22:3. Six educational courses will be offered by the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center beginning in mid-April; a seven-session class of “Lasers and Holography” will be held on Thursday evening starting April 18; the instructor will be Bruce Wegemann, who said students will learn how to build their own lasers as part of the curriculum.

April 1, 1974, San Diego Union, B-6. EDITORIAL: Beetle Program.

We see no reason for residents around Balboa Park to worry about plans by state and county agriculturists to apply pesticides against the highly destructive Japanese beetle.

April 7, 1974, San Diego Union. Letter: Mrs. Estelle Yager, Chula Vista, claims debris Sunday in the parking area in front of the Balboa Club spoils her Sunday in the park.

April 7, 1974, San Diego Union. Balboa Park: A place for all seasons, by Elaine Smyth . . . San Diego mini-tour.

April 7, 1974, San Diego Union, D-5. To mark 25th year: Junior Theater reunion slated Saturday, May 18, at Casa del Prado.

April 8, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. Letter: Ernest C. Schaffert opposes the move to build a new Naval Hospital in the Murphy Canyon area.

The solution to preserving San Diego’s present semi-sane atmosphere is for the taxpayers to rearrange priorities toward maintaining existing structures, limiting growth, and striving toward self-sufficiency.

April 8, 1974, San Diego Union, 10:3. The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center begins an expanded Easter week schedule today that includes lecture hall showings of a NASA, JPL film about exploring Mars and continuous laser demonstrations in addition to the theater’s usual day-long showings of “Standing Up County” and “Capture the Sun.”

April 9, 1974, San Diego Union, A-15. Starlight will probably return to the Balboa Park Bowl again this summer, eight years after leaving the facility due to noise from low-flying airplanes.

April 9, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3:2. Last year the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center in Balboa Park earned $820,000 in revenue, but its director said yesterday he will need at least four of five more years of financial aid from the city before the theater can get on its feet; “We are considering our first year a successful one,” Michael Sullivan, executive director, told members of the Planetarium Authority.

Sullivan said last year’s revenue was just enough to handle operating expenses at the theater.

“Any subsidies we receive from the city will go toward insurance, electric and gas bills, and the cost of the building,” said Sullivan.

Last year the city issued the space theater $204,000 in funds, but “we used only about $170,000 and the city took the rest back,” said Sullivan. “This year the city has awarded our program $231,000.”

Other business at the Planetarium Authority meeting yesterday included a proposal by William MacFarlane, theater property director, for the construction of a box office in the building..

“All we now have is a cashier’s deck and last Labor Day we were robbed and the bandit took nearly $10,000,” said Sullivan. “We are in hopes the new box office, which will have a drop safe in the floor, will prevent this from happening again.”

The Planetarium Authority unanimously approved the proposal for the $8,000 needed for the construction.

“The money will come out of the capital improvement fund,” said MacFarlane.

April 9, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. The city has purchased a 50-foot Atlas cedar Christmas tree for $1,900, to be planted at the Organ Pavilion.

April 11, 1974, San Diego Union, 21:1. Straws in the wind by Opal Crandall: The gala preview party, “Adventures of Cosmos,” planned as a prelude to the opening of the film, “Cosmos,” at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater, is being postponed from May 24 to June 16, according to Mrs. Judy Hodges chairman; the change was necessitated by rains which held up production of films to be shown at the private party, Mrs. Hodges said; the opening is sponsored by the Junior League, which has taken on the responsibility of openings before all new shows at the Space Theater.

April 13, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, A-3. Assistant City Attorney Robert Teaze has advised against use of some $2.6 million in surplus bond funds for renovating Ford Building as a historical site.

April 14, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Fund issue cited on Ford Building.

The city attorney has advised against using 1966 park bond issue money for restoration of Balboa Park’s Ford Building unless a court determines otherwise.

April 14, 1974, San Diego Union, D-1. New wing of San Diego Fine Arts Gallery to be dedicated at reception on Friday, April 19; its valued workers will be proud participants, by Jeannette Branin (illus.).

April 15, 1974, San Diego Union, B-8:7. The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center in Balboa Park will show two films, “Skies Over Holland” and “Swiss Fortress of Peace” in addition to the current features, “Standing Up Country” and “Capture the Sun,” today through Sunday only; the two new films will be shown a total of 27 times this week as part of the theater’s spring variety schedule.

April 17, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. Fine Arts Gallery takes wing; size, grace shine at new facility in Balboa Park, by Peter H. Brown.

April 18, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. City lauded Pauline des Granges, retiring park chief yesterday; more than 300 San Diegans filled the U. S. Grant Hotel’s Grand Ballroom.

April 19, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3:5. A blooming orchid brought a Hollywood film crew to San Diego yesterday to shoot a segment for a film that will be shown beginning this summer at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center; the orchid, Brassica longissima, commonly known as a spider orchid, belonging to Mr. and Mrs. A. P. (Jack) Donis of 1411 Torrance Street, plays a part in “Cosmos,” the space theater film that is being shown by Graphic Films of Hollywood.

April 21, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. Balboa Park Science Fair in Federal Building ends today.

April 21, 1974, San Diego Union, F-33. A landscape design study course will be presented by California Garden Clubs, Inc., May 7-9, at Casa del Prado in Balboa Park.

April 23, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-2. Letter: Mr. and Mrs. R. E. Rolfe upset by unfriendly attitude of bowler after a young Navy man took a picture of bowlers.

April 23, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. City and school officials have reached a tentative settlement of a long-standing dispute over ownership of the San Diego High School site that would clear the way for construction of a new school.

Under terms of a pact to be outlined to the city Board of Education today, the school district will acquire a 50-year lease on the Balboa Park property for $10,000 and, at the same time, give up any claim or title to the land.

April 13, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Inflation stirs budget pleas by museums.

The high cost of living hits all San Diegans in the pocketbook, including the city’s museums and other city-supported institutions, city councilmen were told yesterday.

April 24, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, E-4. The San Diego Park and Recreation Department will present an illustrated lecture series, “Pre-Columbian Cultures of Mexico. Central America and South America” beginning April 26 at the Puppet Theater in Balboa Park.

April 24, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, E-4. The Committee of 100 will sponsor a Balboa Park Summer Festival, August 16-18, Anderson Borthwick festival chairman announced today.

April 24, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. The School Board yesterday agreed to a pact with the city that will allow San Diego High School to be rebuilt on its present site and remain there for 50 years.

April 25, 1974, San Diego Union, E-1. At a recent work and luncheon meeting in the home of Mrs. Henry Hedges, members of the Committee of 100 addressed handsome invitations for the official dedication May 10 of the Panama-California Sculpture Court-1915 Exposition at Casa del Prado.

April 30, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, April 30, 1974. Art Arena: Sculptor “revives’ Father Serra, by Jan Jennings (illus.).

The Father Serra sculpture from the old Food and Beverage Building in Balboa Park has been restored by architectural sculptor Criss Mueller. The finished piece will go on view in the new sculpture court of Casa del Prado.

May 1, 1974, San Diego Union, B-8:7. The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center in Balboa Park will open a week-long festival about gardens today; films to be shown are “Garden Isle,” about Hawaii, “My Garden Japan,” “This Garden England,” and “On the Third Day,” which depicts South Africa.

May 2, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, May 2, 1974, Arts seminar slated in park next week . . . “Expanding Audiences and Participation in the Leisure Arts,” a two-day seminar with panel sessions will be held May 8 and 9 in Casa del Prado.

May 2, 1974, San Diego Union, D-13. Gardening classes set . . . Four 2-hour free garden classes, sponsored by the San Diego Botanical Garden Foundation, have been scheduled for the next four Saturdays at the Casa del Prado Garden Center.

May 3, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Complex near park given OK: The city Council yesterday approved a revised plan for a 16-story apartment complex to be build near the northwest corner of Balboa Park.

May 5, 1974, San Diego Union, E-1. Court dedication display planned; “discarded” sculpture saved, restored by students, by Jeannette Branin (illus.).

The sculpture seemed to be up for grabs — hundreds of medallions, statues, pillars and ornaments, made of plaster of Paris on frames of wood and chicken wire.

It was funky junk to dozens of people who scaled the fence at the Chollas Sanitary Landfill to pick over the statuary that once had graced the Food and Beverage Building in Balboa Park.

Casts had bee made of the more important pieces so they could be duplicated in lasting materials and placed on the Casa del Prado, which replaced the Food and Beverage Building after it was demolished.

There seemed to be a general understanding about the ultimate disposition of the pieces at Chollas. City officials understood that they had been dumped there, to be used for landfill. But members of the Committee of 100, which had raised the funds to construct the new building with ornament, expressed dismay that the statuary was being hauled off by souvenir hunters.

One of the more serious collectors of the discards was Dr. Fay Frick of the art department at San Diego State University.

Dr. Frick realized that the sculpture would be of value in her current art department project,” Seminar of Modern Art in San Diego from 1850 to 1950.”

It was to include architecture, sculpture, paintings and ceramics from San Diego buildings during that century. Dr. Frick and her students chose pieces from Chollas to renovate and catalog.

Eleven pieces were painstakingly cleaned with soft brushes and air blasting; frames were made for wall pieces; and larger pieces were appropriately mounted.

At about the same time, an artist from the Walt Disney Studios, Chris Mueller, was brought to the city by the committee to restore a plaster bust of Father Junipero Serra, who had established Mission San Diego de Alcala.

Other artists involved in the renovation project were Lambert Ninteman, Everett Gee Jackson, Charles Faust, Arthur Loring and Vickie Nelson.

From the time that she had founded the Committee of 100 seven years ago, Mrs. Frank F. Evenson has been assisted by her husband, a retired civil engineer, I the full-time tasks of telephoning, organizing and preparing for the successful bond election to construct the Casa del Prado.

Her husband was her constant companion and coworker, and was a proud partner four years ago when Mrs. Evenson was honored by the California Federation of Women’s Clubs at convention in San Francisco, and received an award for outstanding service to her community.

Evenson lived to see Casa del Prado finished and dedicated. After his death June 14 of last year, Mrs. Evenson directed that all moneys given in memory of her husband be used to complete a sculpture court at Casa del Prado.

The court will be named the Panama-California Sculpture Court, recalling the Panama-California Exposition of 1915 when many of the Spanish-Colonial buildings in Balboa Park were erected, including the now replaced Food and Beverage Building. The sculptures renovated by the university art department will be among those displayed.

The court will be dedicated to the memory of Mr. Evenson at 5 p.m., Friday, May 10. The Rev. Msgr. I. Brent Egan, chancellor of the Diocese of San Diego and pastor at Mission San Diego de Alcala, will give the invocation and unveil the bust of Father Serra.

Mrs. Harold B. Williams is chairman of the court dedication event, assisted by Mrs. Charles Cheyney.

Mrs. William E. Betts will fill the courtyard with banks of flowers arranged by the San Diego Floral Association, the San Diego chapter of Ikebana International, San Diego Botanical Garden Foundation and the San Diego Park Department. Guests have been asked to come in costumes of 1915 if they desire.

The Harmony Express Barbershop Quartet from Cypress, winners of the Far Western Championship among members of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America will entertain. The San Diego Youth Symphony String Quartet will play.

The antique car collection of Dr. and Mrs. Roy M. Ledford, Jr. will be on display.

May 8, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. City takes new analytical look at visitors; pays $100,000 for survey of impact of tourists.

The report (by Arthur D. Little, Inc. of San Francisco) recommended that allocation of the city’s transient occupancy tax — collected from guests at hotels and motels — focus on tourists who benefit the city the most and the city contributions to the Convention and Visitors Bureau be matched by industry contributions.

May 10, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-4. City Council approves agreement for rebuilding of San Diego High School.

May 13, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. City ranks 22 in survey of U. S. economy; check of 31 cities includes jobs, income improvement since 1960.

May 14, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-1. The City Council’s Public Facilities and Recreation Commission unanimously adopted a resolution yesterday urging the council to instruct the city attorney to seek an injunction to halt the county’s use of pesticides in Balboa Park against the Japanese beetle.

May 14, 1974 (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-1. Big shift in priorities urged as priority sub-committee of the Balboa Park Committee views Balboa Park projects, by Betty Peach.

Repair and preservation of the Ford Building and construction of two major parking facilities are the first three items on a new list of priorities for projects in Balboa Park.

May 14, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, The City Council’s Public Facilities and Recreation Committee yesterday voted to recommend that the council seek a national cemetery on federal land on the old Camp Elliott site near the Tierrasanta development.

Councilman Jim Ellis suggested the action.

May 14, 1974, San Diego Union, B-2. Council seeks bids: The City Council has put out to bid proposed improvements of the federal building and gymnasium in Balboa Park.

May 15, 1974, San Diego Union, B-13. Citizens should reject ballot bid for funds for school facilities until drastic changes are made in district procedures, philosophy and administrative personnel, by Debbie M. Dale.

May 18, 1974, San Diego Union. Letter: Richard Amero protests over changing the name of Community Concourse to Mayor Charles C. Dail Concourse.

May 19, 1974, San Diego Union, B-6:5. Deputy City Manager John Lockwood has recommended that the City Council seek action to force a contractor to complete his projects at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater; the contracted work is for a new dome in the Balboa Park theater, a multi-media control system and a space transit simulator, projects that were supposed to be completed last year.

May 20, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. Letter: J. M. says Electric Building a fire hazard for 14 years; smoking should not be permitted inside building.

May 21, 1974, Park and Recreation Board, Minutes.

  1. Balboa Park Project Priorities

The Chairman mentioned that he asked for this item to be discussed because of an article that was printed in the newspaper regarding this subject. Mr. Butler stated the projects cited in the paper were part of a longer list of Balboa Park projects discussed by his Committee. Mr. Milch asked Mr. Larry Sisk, a member of the Balboa Park Committee, for his comments. Mr. Sisk stated the Balboa Park Committee recommended priorities for projects after the 1966 Bond Money is spent; included were projects to rehabilitate the Ford Building, rebuild the Electric Building, and removed the Administration Building. Mr. Sisk said the Committee had discussed the priorities with the assumption it is highly unlikely the public will vote a bond issue for such projects. Mr. Milch asked if this priority list was intended to be for the Committee’s use only; Mr. Butler replied that the list was presented to the Board for their information. Mr. Mendoza recommended that the priority list be accepted with thanks and that it be filed until such time as the Board is requested to present additional priorities for the development of Balboa Park.

May 21, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-1. Councilmen dabble in show biz-space style.

The City Council’s Public Facilities and Recreation Committee yesterday voted to recommend approval of a $236,000 city contribution to the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Hall of Science in fiscal year 1975.

May 21, 1974, San Diego Union, X-6. Council approves accord on San Diego High site.

May 22, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. Spraying for Japanese beetle underway; crew conducts 8-day project in Balboa Park

May 22, 1974 (San Diego) Evening Tribune. Letter: Richard Amero says Chris Mueller’ s statement “there isn’t an equal to the Spanish Colonial complex in Balboa Park” does not resound to the credit of San Diego in the outside world.

May 24, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, A-14. “Squatters” get Superior Court okay for high school site; lease arrangements worked out by the Board of Education and City Council approved.

May 24, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-9. The Committee of 100 and the San Diego District California Federation of Junior Women’s Clubs will sponsor the eighth annual luncheon honoring “Balboa Park, Symbol of San Diego,” at noon June 11 in the House of Hospitality.

May 29, 1974, San Diego Union, D-2:3. Tours of the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center are now being offered to school children between 9:30 a.m. and noon; Satellites, volunteers who aid the theater and center, will guide the tours until mid-June and will resume again in September.

June 2, 1974, San Diego Union, B-12:5. The City Council has authorized legal action to force a contractor to complete three projects at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater; the council declared Spitz Laboratories, Inc., of San Diego, to be in default of its contracts, which include a projection-screen dome structure, a multi-media control system and a space transit simulator; the projects were supposed to be completed last year.

June 6, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Museum funding study set: The city and county plan a study to provide a new basis for aid to Balboa Park’s museums next year.

June 6, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3:3. The National Endowment for the Arts tomorrow will announce a grant of $8,212 to the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center in Balboa Park; the grant was earmarked to finance the preparation of Spanish-language versions of planetarium show soundtracks and the translation of printed media; a spokesman for the space theater noted that current shows, “Standing Up Country” and “Capture the Sun,” already are being presented in Spanish at 11 a.m. Sundays.

June 6, 1974, San Diego Union, Committee of 100 to meet Tuesday; Dr. Brage Golding, president of San Diego State University, will speak.

June 7, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, C-18. Architect’s Perspective — Human scale, form, interest keys to open space, by John R. Mock.

The reality of external beauty and its appreciation, as recognized by the layman, isn’t necessarily that of the architecture itself, and most likely he doesn’t really know exactly why he likes a certain achievement of architecture, nor is he ever required to know why. For instance, the beauties of the land within Balboa Park more often are responsible for cries of “save the lovely Spanish revival architecture” than the architecture itself. The fact that the quaint and interesting Japanese Garden and Tea House, constructed for the San Diego Exposition within the park, almost had to be removed by force to make way for the Children’s Zoo, provides the idea that some people do not necessarily feel that sidewalk planters are the only successfully conceived solutions to planting of open spaces,

June 8, 1974, San Diego Union, B-4. Maritime Museum has become the 10th member of the Inter-Museum Council.

June 9, 1974, San Diego Union, G-8. Balboa Park can be a do-it-yourself “happening,” by Karen Kenyon.

Balboa Park is alive with spring, with people, and with new discoveries.

June 12, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, A-31. Mrs. Frank Evenson moved backed into a familiar role as president of the Committee of 100 at the annual meeting yesterday and promptly promised a fight to replace the Electric Building.

June 13, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-1. Fund pinch grips museums; county asked for more cash.

June 13, 1974, San Diego Union, E-20:4-6. A new show, “Cosmos – The Universe of Loren Eiseley,” will open Monday, June 17, at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater in Balboa Park; six months in the making the production is viewed by officers of the year-old institution as a major advance toward the kind of scientific fare originally planned for the theater; narrated with writer Eiseley’s poetic view of natural phenomena, the show deals with the universe and man’s place in it, ranging from the galactic to the sub-microscopic.

June 13, 1974, San Diego Union, F-20. SDSU President Brage Golding recalled history of San State, Balboa Park Tuesday in talk at the Committee of 100’s annual luncheon.

June 14, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. New fee mulled for park funds: A new building permit fee, estimated to raise more than $1 million a year to develop park facilities in both established and fast-growing areas of the city, was given initial approval by the City Council yesterday.

June 14, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Construction of a new rose-lined garden in Balboa Park at a cost of $175,000 was approved by the City Council yesterday.

The Parker Foundation, which donated $93,000 toward development of the garden at the Park Boulevard site, was told the development will be called the Inez Parker Memorial Garden.

June 17, 1974, B-2. Councilman Jim Ellis yesterday said he is seeking county support for a joint powers agreement to help acquire Cowles Mountain in East San Diego as a regional park.

June 21,1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-6. City Council approves hike in golf fees at Torrey Pines and Balboa Park municipal golf courses; city residents and owners of property in the city will be allowed to use the courses at present fees.

June 24, 1974, San Diego Union, A-4. Two policemen and a fire unit were attacked by rock-throwing youths in Southeast San Diego yesterday after a melee broke out when two officers attempted to arrest a woman in a park for possession of marijuana.

July 2, 1974, San Diego Union, B-8. Urban planners Kevin Lynch of Boston, Mass. and Donald Appleyard of Berkeley, told the City Council Thursday San Diego’s natural charm is in danger; will make suggestions this fall on how San Diego’s quality of life and be preserved and upgraded.

July 9, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, A-4. Way sought to trim planetarium subsidy, by Robin Maydeck.

Park and Recreation personnel have already been moved to Balboa Park in an administrative move, Financial Management Director Larry Haden said yesterday.

During a special meeting of the governing body yesterday, City Property Director William MacFarland told members the time has come to study more flexible methods of funding science and theatrical programs than the city budgeting process.

July 9, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollar tag places on City Hall office space effort, by Otto J. Bos.

July 9, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-11. Three hundred thousand expected at Summer Festival: Mayor Wilson will officiate at opening ceremonies of the Balboa Park Summer Festival scheduled for August 16-18.

The event, sponsored by the Committee of 100, a nonprofit organization of local citizens interested in preserving Balboa Park, is expected to draw 300,000 persons, a committee spokeswoman said.

Total expenditures, provided through donations from local businesses, organizations and private citizens, are estimated at $125,000.

Festival events will include an opening day parade, concerts, films, art exhibits, musical shows, dancing and fireworks, she said.

Museums and attractions in the park will be open during evening hours and those charging admission will offer 20 percent discount tickets, according to the spokeswoman.

All other festival events will be free to the public, she added.

The festival, which planners hope to make an annual event, opens at 3 p.m., Friday, August 16 and closes at 11 p.m., Sunday, August 18.

July 9, 1974, San Diego Union, C-7. Free public dancing to recordings from the Big Band era has been started Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Organ Pavilion.

July 10, 1974, B-2. Park Shuttle losing up to $130 a day in spite of a new 10-cent ridership fee, city Parks and Recreation Director Ed Mendoza said yesterday.

July 12, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-3. The Committee of 100 yesterday sought city $14,230 financial backing of an August festival in Balboa Park and assurance that the Prado promenade will not be substantially altered; $110,000 being raised from private sources.

July 12, 1974, San Diego Union, C-8. Park Lawn Set: The City Council has authorized a $55,000 project to provide 6.5 acres of turf and lawn at Morley Field.

July 13, 1974, San Diego Union. R. D. Boswell doesn’t like getting a ticket for illegal parking in Balboa Park.

July 16, 1974, San Diego Union, A-7. Performing groups of all types are being sought by the Committee of 100 for a three-day festival in the park next month.

July 18, 1974, San Diego Union, B-r. The Park and Recreation Board has recommended to the City Council that a cultural arts commission be established.

July 21, 1974, San Diego Union, G-7. Festival success encourages plan for third park theater in canyon behind the Cassius Carter Center Stage, by Welton Jones.

In short, there’s no way to accommodate two-thirds of the people who want to attend the Shakespeare festival.

July 23, 1974, San Diego Union. Letter, Joe Atide has never seen anywhere a better maintained city park than Balboa Park.

July 23, 1974, San Diego Union. Letter, R. R. Longmire says there are plenty of parking spaces in Balboa Park if people would only use them.

July 24, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, AA-1. Several entertainment shows planned for the Balboa Park Summer Festival, to be held August 16-19 in conjunction with America’s Finest City Week, will have to be canceled if the festival committee doesn’t receive financial backing from the city, according to Joseph M. Clapsaddle, the committee’s vice chairman.

July 25, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, A-4. Mary Marston offers park site to city; 4.5 acre plot valued at $1.5 million.

July 26, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. Marston Home: Estate Offered to City.

July 27, 1974, San Diego Union, A-t. The Rev. Mr. A James Hefferman of the First Baptist Church will conduct the 8:30 a.m. service at the Organ Pavilion tomorrow under auspices of the Downtown Inter-Church Council.

July 28, 1974, San Diego Union, B-7. An Arabian horse performance will be presented behind the Organ Pavilion Tuesday morning for the San Diego City School’s summer classroom without walls series.

July 28, 1974, San Diego Union. Joe Ataide thinks Balboa Park is more gorgeous than any other park she has seen “in all my travels.”

July 28, 1974, San Diego Union. R. R. Longmire complains about people parking on walks and grass in Balboa Park.

July 28, 1974, San Diego Union, D-1 Summer Festival to be “spectacular”; official opening event of “America’s Finest City Week.”

Continuous entertainment from noon to 5 p.m. on August 17 and 18 will be offered from four performance areas: the Plaza de Balboa, the Plaza de Panama, and at two locations on Sixth Avenue south of Laurel Street.

Anderson Borthwick, festival committee chairman, said that a fireworks display each of the three evenings at 9 will be followed by the showing of motion picture classics on a gigantic outdoor screen.

July 29, 1974, San Diego Union, B-2. Chicago, Santana right on, by Robert P. Laurence.

The 35,000-or-so happy people who gathered at Balboa Stadium yesterday were transported to

Chicago on the waves of the powerful, sometimes lilting, sometimes punching sounds of the jazz-

rock group that bears its name.

July 30, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, D-1. Gift offer “The Natural Thing to Do”; Miss Marston’s legacy: park-within-a-park, by Robin Maydeck.

The council voted 7-0 to refer her offer to the city manager for study and will formally consider the matter upon completion of the study.

July 30, 1974, San Diego Union, B-4. A proposal to move the San Diego Aerospace Museum from Balboa Park to the B-Street Pier is being opposed by the International Hall of Fame, which shares space in the park facility with the museum.

August, 1974, DOOR, San Diego Zoo Story, by Dave Helvarg.

If New York City’s Central Park Zoo is the San Quentin of animal captivity then surely the San Diego Zoo must be rated as an animal Allenwood, a comfortable confinement for white-collar coyotes and newsworthy Gnus.

Established in 1916, the San Diego Zoo is owned [sic] by the Zoological Society of San Diego, a private non-profit corporation chartered by the city. As one of the few “free enterprise” zoos in the country, it has been able to function and grow without the budgetary restrictions imposed on free admission, tax-supported zoos in other areas. It is located on 128 acres (28 acres of which are parking lot) in the northern half of Balboa Park.

August 6, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-6. Bus company to provide service to Starlight plays.

August 6, 1974 (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-6. The City-County concert band will perform tomorrow at 8 p.m. in the Organ Pavilion.

August 6, 1974, San Diego Union, A-8. The Balboa Park Committee approved plans by the Old Globe Theater to build a third playhouse on its present site yesterday by a 9-2 vote.

August 6, 1974, San Diego Union. Letter, Mrs. Luther B Martin wants the City to continue tram rides in Balboa Park.

August 7, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-3. EDITORIAL: Space for Aerospace

We think the Ford Building proposal deserves another chance for voter approval.

It should be presented to the voters standing alone on the ballot, preferably without any competition from more controversial city bond proposals at the same election.

August 7, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, E-1. Chicano Park bridges past and future; bisected barrio seeks unity.

August 8, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, D-1. Chicano Park needs planning, power; “the pillars are our trees” (illus.).

August 9, 1974, San Diego Union. Letter, Hank Roloff, thinks Marston mansion should be designated the “official residence” of the mayor.

August 11, 1974, San Diego Union, E-1:2-6. Beginning Sunday, August 18, San Diego will celebrate “Laser Week,” with a special exhibit at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater in Balboa Park; exhibits at the theater from August 19 to August 24 will demonstrate laser music, art created with beams, and laser uses in detecting iceberg movements, in measurement, safety, earthquake detection and newspaper printing; in his UCSD laboratory, overlooking the La Jolla surf and Scripps pier, Dr. John Asmus is studying the use of the laser beam in preserving art treasures; article by Robert P. Laurence.

August 12, 1974, San Diego Union, B-4:5-8. Reuben H. Fleet Theater and Science Center in Balboa Park will exhibit a variety of lasers and displays related to lasers August 18-24; the exhibit will be the public highlight of the “Laser-for-the-Good-of-Mankind Week” in San Diego as proclaimed by Mayor Wilson.

August 13, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-1. EDITORIAL: One possible use.

A suggestion has been made that the Marston family home, which eventually will become property of the City of San Diego could be used as a residence for the mayor.

August 14, 1974, San Diego Union, B-6 (Wednesday). Finest City Week: Mayor to lead grand opening parade Friday.

A 1939 Mercedes Benz bearing Mayor Wilson in period costume will lead off the grand opening parade for America’s Finest City Week starting at 3 p.m. Friday in Balboa Park.

The parade, following a 2:30 p.m. fly-in of antique planes over the park, will initiate San Diego’s

largest and longest celebration of itself, an annual event since 1972 when Mayor Wilson proclaimed America’s Finest City Week here after the Republican National Convention was transferred to Miami Beach.

The week, to be officially observed this year August 16-25, features special events highlighting the people, places and attractions that make San Diego “America’s Finest City,” Mayor Wilson said.

Friday’s opening parade will consist of 55 individual divisions, starting at Sixth Avenue and Juniper Street. The route will be north on Sixth to Upas, Balboa Park Drive north to El Prado and east on El Prado to Park Boulevard.

The parade also opens the Balboa Park Summer Festival, a celebration being sponsored by San Diego’s Committee of 100 to coordinate with America’s Finest City Week.

Bea Evenson, founder of the Committee of 100, will be hostess at an opening ceremony for the observances at 4:30 p.m. in the Plaza de Balboa.

Other opening day festivities will include a 5 p.m. reception at the Casa del Prado, a folk and pop music concert at Morley Field from 5-9 p.m., a fireworks display in Balboa Park at 9 p.m., an outdoor showing of “Some Like It Hot” at 9:15 p.m. at Sixth Avenue and Balboa Park Drive and dancing to the big band sounds of the 1940s as played by the Don Reed Band. Dancing will begin at 9:30 p.m. in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, Balboa Park.

Among other highlights of America’s Finest City Week and the Summer Festival in Balboa Park will be performances by organist Virgil Fox, the Southeast Community Theater, the San Diego Youth Ballet, the Sun Harbor Chorus, fold dance groups and sports enthusiasts.

August 15, 1974, San Diego Union, B-11:3-5. Finest City Week: Park Parade Tomorrow

Curly the Clown, followed by Mayor Wilson in a 1935 Mercedes-Benz, will lead the grand opening parade at 3 p.m. tomorrow for “America’s Finest City Week: and the Balboa Park Summer Festival.

It will be preceded by an antique plane fly-over the park starting at 2:30 p.m. when about 10 aircraft will appear in the skies, courtesy of the San Diego Chapter of the Antique Airplanes Association. The craft will include a 1932 biplane, the Waco, and a Stinson Detroiter.

The parade, starting at Sixth Avenue and Juniper Street and progressing though the park, will have more than 70 units. Included will be bands, antique motor vehicles, beauty queens, unicycles and dignitaries.

Also in the parade with be an orangutan from the Zoo named Karen; “the big purple bird”; San Diego; Winnie the Pooh; a rubber boat; an antique fire truck, Roscoe (Pappy) Hazard’s calliope; Indian Magique Theater performers and a group demonstrating the martial arts.

Included in the representation of bands, drum and bugle corps and baton division will be the La Mesa Flashettes, the Golden Statesmen, Ozzie’s Boys Band and the Boy Scouts’ Band.

Miss Charger, Miss Fairest of the Fair, Miss Teenage San Diego and Miss Cabrillo Festival are among the beauty queens who will take part.

Television personality Ernie Myers will be the grand marshal. He will ride a white horse.

The concluding unit will be a “War Against Litter” float.

The parade route will be north on Sixth Avenue to Upas Street, east to Balboa Park Drive, south to El Prado and east on El Prado to Park Boulevard.

It will conclude at the Plaza de Balboa, where ceremonies at 4:30 p.m. will begin days of special events and exhibitions throughout San Diego observing America’s Finest City Week. The observance coincides with the Balboa Park Summer Festival, another series of events being staged in the park.

Besides the parade, tomorrow’s activities will feature a fireworks display in the park at 9 p.m. by pyrotechnic expert Jim Peluso, an outdoor showing of “April Fools,” with Jack Lemmon at 9:15 p.m. at Sixth Avenue and Balboa Park Drive, and “Dancing Under the Stars” to the Don Reed Band, starting at 9:30 p.m. in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.

August 16 – 25, American’s Finest City Week.

August 16, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1:4-5. Park Parade To Begin “Finest City” Festival

A parade through Balboa Park at 3 p.m. today, featuring 10 bands, drill teams, flower floats, clowns, horseless carriages, live animals, antique fire engines and unicyclists, will begin the celebration of the city’s third annual “America’s Finest City” week. Mayor Wilson will be the honorary parade marshal of the event, preceded by antique airplane demonstrations over the park at 2:30 p.m. The parade route, starting at Sixth Avenue and Juniper Street, will be north on Sixth to Upas Street, Balboa Drive north to El Prado and east on El Prado to Park Boulevard. The parade also marks the beginning of the three-day Balboa Park Summer Festival, which will include concerts, exhibitions and special events throughout the park. There will be a fireworks display at 9 p.m., an outdoor showing of “Some Like It Hot” on the park lawn at 9:15 and dancing to the big band sounds of the 1940s in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion at 9:30.

August 17, 1974, San Diego Union, A-3. Photographs of parade opening America’s Finest City Week and Balboa Park Summer Festival.

August 17, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, A-6. Service set at pavilion in Balboa: The last in a series of eight summer services sponsored by the Downtown Inter-Church Council will be held tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. at the Balboa Park Organ Pavilion.

August 17, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, A-6. San Diego-area Hungarians will observe the feast of St. Stephen with a program tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. at the House of Pacific Relations.

August 17, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, C-1. Old wheels join salute to San Diego; part of a parade yesterday kicking off American’s Finest City Week in Balboa Park; 5,000 see parade (illus.).

August 17, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1:1. Annual Parade: Gala Week Starts On Right Foot, by Carol Olten (illus.).

San Diego opened its third annual “America’s Finest City Week” yesterday with a splash of color to rival the blue of its skies, the green of its parks and the multi-hued flowers of its gardens.

Crowds jammed the grand opening parade route that began at Sixth Avenue and Juniper Street and proceeded through Balboa Park to the Plaza de Balboa where opening ceremonies were held under a brilliant sun.

“What makes this America’s Finest City is not buildings or what we fine here,” said Mayor Wilson in beginning the festivities. “It is the San Diegans who live here.”

“It’s your city,” he told the people who gathered in the fountain area outside the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater. It’s your festival. So enjoy yourselves.”

The parade watchers got a super start on the activities, which run through August 25 with special events scheduled throughout the city (particularly in Balboa Park which is observing a Summer Festival). They chomped ice cream bars and popcorn, cheering as Curly the Clown, symbol of “America’s Finest City Week,” approached the reviewing stand, leading the parade in a red, white and blue costume.

Grand Marshal Ernie Myers came next — not riding a white horse as planned, but driving a vintage red Porsche. (Parade officials were unable to find Myers a suitable horse.)

There was much applause as the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps, resplendent in uniforms, approached the Plaza area.

Mayor Wilson, riding in a 1935 Mercedes Benz, smiled and waved to the onlookers. The mayor was “holding up well,” a spokesman from his office said, after a 7 a.m. breakfast meeting and a slight jet lag after getting back from Washington, D. C. the night before.

A contingent of antique cars, carrying councilmen and other dignitaries followed the mayor. The cars were furnished by the Classic Thunderbird Club of San Diego with the tail-fin series of Cadillacs well represented. Councilman Bob Martinet, promoting the motorized bathtub race at 11 a.m. Sunday in Mission Bay Park, appeared in this unit too, along with the bathtub Toot.

Other parade sights:

The Pilipino American Boxing Team of San Diego demonstrating jujitsu, Zoo assistant Karen Dalton atop a convertible cuddling the Zoo’s baby orangutan, Karen, who looked a little frightened of the festivities; the Pioneer Hook and Ladder’s fire engine belching out a hoarse siren; Ozzie’s Band, all strutting spiffy in red; the San Diego County Optimists’ Band, belting “California Here We Come”; Christopher R, one of San Diego’s Avant Garde theater people, strutting in a clown suit in front of Roscoe (Pappy) Hazard’s calliope; a Shamu, the killer whale float, led by a penguin; Miss Chargers riding aboard a huge San Diego Chargers football helmet; and a “War Against Litter” float that concluded the parade, dwarfed by three of the city’s big street sweepers mopping up the route.

“It was a nice parade, rather like the gathering for a community barbecue,” said Fine Arts Gallery director Henry Gardiner, who was among those there to watch.

“Wasn’t it fun?” Curly exclaimed, adjourning to the Casa del Prado courtyards for the open reception which followed.

A fireworks display and dancing under the stars in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion were other activities last night.

August 17, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1:4. “Finest City” Events Listed.

A tea party featuring 100 cream pies to be disposed of a la Mack Sennett, a Virgil Fox organ concert and an outdoor showing of the movie “Lord Jim” are among the events for “America’s Finest City Week” celebration today.

The tea party will begin at 3 p.m. at Quince Street and Balboa Park Drive. The organist will present a special program entitled “21st Century Fox” at 7:30 this evening in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. “Lord Jim” will be shown at 9 p.m. at Sixth Avenue and Laurel Street.

Among other events scheduled today are a Senior Citizens’ Frolic at the Plaza de Balboa and a Bright Sides musical revue in the Organ Pavilion (both at 11 a.m.), a puppet show by Marie Hitchcock at 1:30 p.m. in the Organ Pavilion, a rock music concert at 1:30 p.m. in Balboa Park Bowl and a square dance round-up at 7:30 this evening in the Balboa Park Club.

August 17, 1974, San Diego Union, B-5:4-6. Finest City Week rites slated at Organ Pavilion.

A worship service at 8:45 a.m. tomorrow in Balboa Park Spreckels Organ Pavilion will help observe America’s Finest City Week. A Salvation Army service will be held at 1:30 p.m.

The program is the final in a series of eight summer services held in the park for visitors.

August 18, 1974, Source?, B-1. Ship “sails,” pies fly at city events (illus.).

The Star of India’s sails were unfurled to full set as part of America’s Finest City Week celebration yesterday.

And at the other end of the scale — the zany side — some faces wound up as targets for fresh banana cream pies in a Mack Sennett-type pie-throwing contest in Balboa Park yesterday.

Balboa Park events attracted crowds but one event went virtually unnoticed.

It was the first annual Invitational Wheelchair Track and Field Meet that took place in Balboa Stadium

The America’s Finest City Week observance continues through next Sunday.

Some of the other events scheduled today include a fishing derby at Shelter Island Pier today and tomorrow; the ecumenical worship service at the organ pavilion at 8:20 a.m.; the garden and flower show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Casa del Prado; and a Starlight Opera preview of “Camelot” at 1 p.m. in the Balboa Park Bowl..

August 18, 1974, San Diego Union, B-6. “Sunday in Park” honors women, by Rita Gillmon (illus.).

Woman’s Day will be celebrated with a “Sunday in the Park” Sunday, August 25, sponsored by the San Diego Chapter of the National Organization for Women.

August 18, 1974, San Diego Union. Letter, Mrs. Marion Y. Baker who is disappointed in the benches at the Organ Pavilion.

August 19, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. Letter, Edward J. Moore disapproves of turning the Marston mansion into a residence for the mayor.

August 20, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3:5-7. Imagine having a four-dimensional, “moving” portrait of your mother-in-law in the living room; the picture would be on a pedestal, illuminated; depending on where you were in the room, you would see her profile, full face or back of her head; and every time you walked by, Mom would throw you a kiss; the inventors call the movement the fourth dimension; some of the first four-D holograms ever taken are on exhibit at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center as park of “Laser Week.”

August 21, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-4. Third park theater urged; private funds proposed.

August 21, 1974, Sentinel, B-1. Multi-hued Starlight benefit, by Rosemary Johnston: Bold-colored prints in chiffon and jersey heralded the arrival of “Pucci in the Park” last week as patrons of the Starlight Women’s Auxiliary gathered to view the Italian designers’ fall premiere.

August 21, 1974, San Diego Union, A-13. The San Diego Park and Recreation Board voted unanimously yesterday to postpone until its regular October session on the Globe Theater’s request for approval of its third theater site.

August 21, 1974, San Diego Union. Letter, Richard Amero says San Diego’s “finest city” title is chauvinistic and that the Committee of 100 is a special interest lobby committed to the preservation of obsolete buildings with fake plaster palace fronts.

August 26, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. W. E. Howell, Santee, says pies were wasted at a pie-throwing contest , the grass was littered, and that five flags belonging to the United Nations House were stolen from Cabrillo Bridge during a recent weekend.

August 26, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Multitude of activities close “Finest City Week.”

Balboa Park was overflowing yesterday with people and pets during the last day of America’s Finest City Week.

The House of Italy celebrated its first anniversary in the afternoon. A program on the lawn near the House of Pacific Relations included dancers in native costume, singers, comedy and music.

The 20 international cottages in the park held open house and served refreshments to visitors.

The lawn around the Federal Building was crowded with dog fanciers and their pets waiting for a turn in the ring at the Silver Bay Kennel Club dog show.

Afghan hounds, Irish settlers, pubs, bassets and many other breeds lined up under the critical eyes of the judges or lounged in the shade, waiting for a combing or a mid-afternoon snack.

At the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, the San Diego Chapter of the National Organization for Women held an observance of Women’s Equality Day.

The NOW program included feminist poetry readings and music, a slide show on “Sexism in Advertising” and booths manned by several women’s groups.

August 26, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, D-1. Hundreds attended feminist event yesterday; “We’re equal in mind, body.”

August 27, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. Edward S. Barr writes concert by Virgil Fox at Organ Pavilion, sponsored by Balboa Park Summer Festival Committee, was a real crowd-pleaser.

August 27, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. Kay Kobin deplores “blasphemous” art on city-owned building in Pepper Tree Park (Chicano Cultural Center).

August 28, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, August 28, 1974, A-4. Council voted court path last night to stop park bug spraying, by William Osborne.

August 28, 1974, San Diego Union, A-16. City’s tourism rising, but less money spent officials of the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau reported yesterday.

August 28, 1974, San Diego Union. Mrs. Marion Y. Baker says benches at organ pavilion are “uncomfortable.”

August 30, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-1. Neil Morgan: Balboa Park has been looking like a travel poster, and the weekend action there is a real-life travel film.

August 30, 1974, San Diego Union, B-5. The City Council yesterday unanimously approved a five-year lease with Campus Life, a religious youth organization to operate and renovate a lodge on Point Loma’s new Sunset Cliffs Park; the lease states Campus Life will not conduct recruitment activities on the property.

September ?, 1974, Source ?. The Natural History Museum has proposed raising admission fees to its Balboa Park facility from 50 cents to 75 cents; increase expected to stave off a deficit of $22,000.

September 3, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, A-12. Thirty five arrested outside Balboa Stadium rock concert.

Thirty-five persons, including 17 adults and 10 juveniles, were arrested yesterday as a result of several incidents during a rock concert attended by 4,000 fans at Balboa Stadium.

Police said all of the arrests were made outside the stadium on complaints including failure to disperse, disturbance of the peace and narcotics violations.

They said most of the arrests were made during two attempts by non-ticket holders to crash the north gate at the stadium, where Kool and the Gang and five other rock groups started a concert at 10 a.m.

No injuries were reported in any of the incidents, which police said occurred over a period of several hours.

September 5, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-1. “Temporary Paradise” faces threat, Kevin Lynch and Donald Appleyard study of city finds.

September 5, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Parks Action Delayed: A City Council committee was unable to agree yesterday on what open space to buy with $2.9 million available from last June’s voter-approved state park bond issue.

September 8, 1974, San Diego Union, E-2:1-2. Etceteras: The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater’s current show, “Cosmos,” is setting records for that 350-seat facility, with over 140,000 visitors since the show’s mid-June opening.

September 5, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Curbs on canyon development urged; Kevin Lynch and Donald Appleyard, consultants, warn city could look like Los Angeles.

September 8, 1974, Mural celebration and dedication of Toltecas in Aztlan today (Sunday).

September 11, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. The Board of Trustees of the La Jolla Town Council late last night voted to oppose the dedication of Soledad park for a road to link La Jolla Scenic Drive South to La Jolla Scenic Drive North.

September 11, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. “Black Family,” a sculpture of five figures — looms over Mountain View Park — a project of San Diego artist Rossie Wade and C. J. Johnson, a builder in Southeast San Diego who furnished the bricks and mortar for its base (illus.).

September 11, 1974, San Diego Union, B-5. Costs a problem: Ford Building use for Museum urged.

Councilman Lee Hubbard yesterday suggested the Aerospace Museum be given another two months to devise a plan to relocate in Balboa Park’s Ford Building.

If the organization is unable to come up with a feasible plan for moving into the old facility by then, however, other groups should be solicited to make their home there, Hubbard told members of the City Council.

Negotiations have been going on for a number of years for the museum to expand to the Ford Building. However, no way has been found for the museum to move “without a major expenditure of public funds which the electorate has refused to authorize thus far,” Hubbard said.

If the museum sponsors cannot find a feasible moving plan in 60 days, then City Manager Kimball Moore should determine if other groups might make a home there “at minimal cost to the taxpayers,” Hubbard said.

Deterioration of the building, constructed in 1935, would then be halted and it again could be utilized for a community purpose, he added.

September 13, 1974, B-1. City earmarks nearly $3 million to purchase three canyons and a mountain for open space.

September 15, 1974, San Diego Union. Photograph of site of 2.5 acres east of Park Boulevard that are being made ready for a new public rose garden; about 3,000 rose bushes including 200 varieties are now in nursery containers.

September 15, 1974, San Diego Union. Buses to replace park tram system: Balboa Park’s tram shuttle service, now losing about $100 a day, will be shut down in coming months when a new mini-bus service is initiated by the San Diego Transit Corp.

September 15, 1974, San Diego Union, F-1. A Botanical Wonderland in Balboa Park, by Clyde V. Smith.

Plans for (new) gardens (in Balboa Park) prompted the Natural History Museum to organize a tour of the nursery this weekend, originally planned as a single-day event, but the advance response was so large that the tour was expanded to Saturday as well as Friday to accommodate all of those who wished to participate. The guided tour was led by Helen Witham, associate curator of botany at the museum.

September 15, 1974, San Diego Union, F-3. Café del Rey Moro is refurbished (illus of former Gold Room remodeled as a cocktail lounge)

Balboa Park’s Café del Roy Moro (House of the Moorish King) completed Phase 1 of a two-part refurbishing plan this week with the final installation of new equipment and furnishings.

More than $40,000 has been invested in the restaurant by the lessees of the House of Hospitality Association, which in turn leases from the City of San Diego.

The building is a San Diego landmark and was built as part of the Panama Exposition [sic].

Most of the buildings built for the Panama Exposition [sic] were patterned after famous buildings in Spain or Mexico and the House of Hospitality building was no exception. Because it contains heraldic decorations over archways and entrances, including Coats of Arms of various countries then belonging to the Pan American Union, Café del Rey Moro has a Spanish theme throughout including the import of actual Moorish artifacts.

In the dining room, soon to be delegated as the “Sale de Oro” area (the Gold Room), a long dividing wall was removed to open the room toward the outside garden terraces. The Solarium, an area of roughly 1,000 square feet overlooks the terrace near this area and behind it, the main dining room can be seen through replacement carved arches, in a total area of 1,224 square feet.

The arches were refinished in a dark tone, with all walls repainted an off-white to fully contrast with interior trims. In addition, new shelving around the ceiling was added to contain imports with accenting colors of gold, burnt orange and natural woods throughout.

September 18, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Tecolote Park Proposal, Assessment Plan Hinges on Ruling: Superior Court Judge Robert O. Stanforth yesterday continued a temporary restraining order that bars the city from establishing an assessment district for Tecolote Canyon natural park.

September 18, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Parks Face Deficit for 1976 Budget: Inflation is expected to cause a deficit of more than $1.5 million in the city park and recreation board’s budget for the next fiscal year, David R. Roberts, park superintendent, told the Park and Recreation Board yesterday.

September 22, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Port Commissioners have delayed action on a $2.4 million park in northeast Coronado until receiving a report from the port staff.

September 29, 1974, San Diego Union, F-1. San Diego area has its own landscape style, by Stephen Tollefson.

Basically, the problem is one of appropriateness. Nostalgia for eastern landscapes or fantasies of tropical splendor make us do things with landscaping that do not really belong here. The fact that so many plants grow here makes us forget that many of these plants — perhaps most of them — do not fit here and do not give the most satisfying effects possible.

By imposing some of the limitations upon ourselves that have not been supplied by the climate, we might work towards developing a truly appropriate landscape style for San Diego.

October, 1974, San Diego Magazine. Letter: Globe Festival Theater in Balboa Park? No way!

Congratulations to Lowell Davies and Craig Noel for their dedicated pursuit of a new Globe Festival Theater, as reported by Roberta Ridgely in your June issue. There is, however, one major flaw in their thinking and that is in their view that Balboa Park can accommodate such a theater.

No way! Balboa Park on theater evenings is already loaded to capacity in the vicinity of El Prado. Adding another 800-seats in addition to the recently added 1,000 plus in Casa del Prado would result in a bedlam of congestion.

Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 (C-3) is on record as favoring the Festival Theater concept — as part of a revitalized Center City. This is exactly the kind of cultural activity that would bring a valuable asset downtown and definitely impractical in the park. The theater in Center City would be complemented nicely by the many facilities there for pre- and post-theater dining and drinks. Such facilities are limited in the park.

C-3 feels that Balboa Park’s remaining open spaces should not be reduced for buildings that are not tied to a park concept. Though the park has been designated a cultural park, it is physically unable to sustain the addition of another theater. The original park trust, declared by the legislature of 1870, specified a “free and public park . . . and for no other purpose.” With the increasing popularity of the park, it is even more important that we not take any more slices out of the open area. The little undeveloped canyons, one of which is proposed for a new theater, are delightful oases. It is truly exciting to stroll off the beaten path and discover them. Replacement of that lush canyon behind the sculpture garden by a sterile building is a poor trade.

Build the Festival Theater by all means. We do need and look forward to having it, but as a vital accessory to the Center City, and not as a contributor to the further degradation of Balboa Park.

James I. Coatsworth,

President,

Citizens Coordinate for Century 3.

October 4, 1974, San Diego Union, B-4:6. The San Diego Hall of Science, governing body of Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center, has elected four new trustees: They are Dr. Charles R. Schroeder, San Diego Zoo director emeritus and a affiliate of Zooplan Associates; Mayo Obregon, founder of Trans-Var de Cortes Airlines; Thomas W. Nourse, president of Interface Concepts, Inc., and David Alpert of San Diego Leidesdorf & Company, certified public accountants.

October 9, 1974, San Diego Union, B-8:6. Tours of the backstage wonders of the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater will be offered for the first time Saturday through October 19; theater director W. Michael Sullivan said tour participants will see projection rooms, the huge Omnimax 70 millimeter motion picture projector that runs 330 feet of film a minute, the digital computer brain of the theater system, the Space Transit Simulator and other technical innovations.

October 17, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. Ernest Chew, San Diego zoo horticulturist, counts 1,200 plant species; Zoo trees, plants grow into $38 million garden, by Gina Lubrano (illus.) . . . To qualify as a botanical garden 60 percent of the trees, shrubs and plants “should have identification labels which tell the botanical name of the plant, the common name, family to which it belongs and its habitat.”

October 20, 1974, San Diego Union, G-2. The Growth of (the Museum of Natural History), by Jeannette Branin (illus.).

October 23, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. The Old Globe Theater’s request for approval of its third theater site was referred yesterday to the Balboa Park Committee by the San Diego Park and Recreation Board.

October 25, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. A project to upgrade portions of Balboa Park, including the initial development of Florida Canyon, yesterday was given a boost by the City Council. The council approved resolutions for inviting bids on contracts for the estimated $265,000 project.

October 25, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. The City Council yesterday unanimously accepted Mary G. Marston’s residence in a life estate agreement.

October 26, 1974, Source ?. Balboa Park’s Committee of 100 has received a $20,000 gift toward refurbishing the Electric Building, but does not know what to do about its present tenant — the San Diego Aerospace Museum.

The committee estimates the total cost of the project as between $3 million and $4 million.

October 27, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Study cites traffic congestion: The report said existing parking is “just adequate to handle ongoing facilities and programs” and that no provisions for additional parking facilities in the affected areas are included in the capital improvements program for the next six years.

October 31, 1974, San Diego Union, B-14:1-2. Four study programs are being offered by the San Diego Hall of Science and the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center starting next week; a course in “Introductory Celestial Navigation,” directed by William D. Bridge will be held Wednesday evenings from November 6 through December 11.

November 2, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Dance Fiesta opens in park: Workshops and clinics for dancers will be featured today and tomorrow at the 24th annual Fiesta de la Cuadrilla in Balboa Park, sponsored by the Square Dance Association of San Diego.

November 3, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. A four-plane, missing man formation will fly over this afternoon’s 20th annual Massing of the Colors in the Organ Pavilion.

November 5, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. San Diego Transit will begin mini-bus service December 1 for Balboa Park, replacing the tram operation.

November 6, 1974, San Diego Union, B-2. A plan to turn the Ford Building into an aerospace museum in connection with the nation’s bicentennial celebration has been recommended by the Public Facilities and Recreation Committee.

November 8, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Council Awards Grant: The City Council granted $21,000 in hotel-motel room tax funds to the Chicano cultural group, Toltecas en Aztlan, Inc. The money is designated for operation of the group’s Chicano Cultural Center building in Balboa Park.

The $21,000 grant — a $1,000 increase from last year’s budget — drew a negative vote from Councilman Lee Hubbard. Toltecas spokesman said the group needed 10 times the amount to pay its staff, now composed of unpaid volunteers.

November 14, 1974, San Diego Union, B-10:6. A re-creation of the first Christmas Eve in the Holy Land will be featured in a new multi-media production opening December 3 in Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater, titled “The Star of Bethlehem” the production includes a representation of the heavens exactly as they appeared to the wise men and shepherds beyond the skyline of the Biblical city; the program also will include “To Be Alive,” an 18-minute, multiple-image motion picture that won an Academy Award for short subjects in 1966.

November 21, 1974, C-22. Ocean Beach funds: allocation urged for Collier Park: The city Park and Recreation Board has recommended to the City Council that $40,000 originally intended for improved of Ocean Beach Park be allocated to Collier Park West improvement.

November 22, 1974, San Diego Union, B-15. Theater canyon site is undesirable, by Celine Olson.

Let us locate the wonderful festival theater in Center City where all can cheer the choice and make its success a community project.

November 22, 1974, San Diego Union. Third-theater addition to Old Globe two-theater complex benefits City, by Craig Noel.

November 23, 1974, San Diego Union. Letter, Joyce Beers, president, League of Women Voters, San Diego, opposes giving developers a reduction in fees charged by City if they build private recreation facilities, such as tennis courts, for the exclusive use of the development’s residents.

November 27, 1974, San Diego Union, D-3:4. The premiere of the movie “Star of Bethlehem,” sponsored by the board of trustees of the San Diego Hall of Science and the Satellites, will be presented from 5:30 to 8 p.m., Sunday, December 8, at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater; the film will be the Space Theater’s holiday presentation; the Coronado High School Madrigal Ensemble will sing carols around the Christmas tree at the theater.

November 30, 1974, San Diego Union, B-2. Growth Impact: City Reviews Rancho Bernardo Area Development, by Otto J. Bos.

December, 1974. Applause. Old Globe Theater: The Old Globe Theater complex consisting of the Old Globe Theater auditorium with a seating capacity of 420 and the Cassius Carter Stage with a seating capacity of 245 cannot accommodate the rapidly growing demand for quality theater under present limited facilities.

December 2, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. Christmas center opened at park yesterday; tree lighted (illus.).

December 2, 1974, San Diego Union. Letter, Mrs. Virginia Burrell, does not want Old Globe to take another lovely canyon from Balboa Park.

December 2, 1974, San Diego Union. Letter, W. M. Ishmael, El Cajon, says if Old Globe Theater is not convenient for the patrons to park their cars, “then by all means we should move it to meet the needs of the people.”

December 4, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-2. Letter, Melvin Shapiro says City should not grant a special permit to allow the construction of a 12-story condominium on 8th Avenue facing Balboa Park; building will leave a large part of the park engulfed by shadows.

December 9, 1974, San Diego Union. The Ford Building has been formally designated by the City Council for use as an aerospace center.

December 11, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-1. The Board of Supervisors has approved purchase with the city of 1,330 acres of Cowles Mountain at a $1 million discount.

December 11, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune, B-4. City considers Fleet Theater takeover: A six-month city review of the financial difficulties of the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center is nearing completion, with a city takeover of the facility one of the options being considered.

December 11, 1974, San Diego Union, B-8:1. Paced with a request for the largest subsidy ever, the city is studying new ways to operate Balboa Park’s Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater, city officials said yesterday; Deputy City Mgr. Ray Blair reported that this staff is reviewing possible modifications to the present agreement between the city and the planetarium operator to improve budget controls or to set up a new lease agreement to improve operations.

December 11, 1974, San Diego Union, B-8. Deputy City Manager John Johnson has proposed to the Council the creation of a San Diego Cultural Arts Committee serving as a community “outreach” arm of the Park and Recreation Board.

December 12, 1974, (San Diego) Evening Tribune. City Manager Kimball Moore proposed a new formula for funding cultural institutions by the city and county to the City Council yesterday — the city would pay 75 percent of the institutions’ subsidies and the country 25 percent.

December 13, 1974, San Diego Union, D-2:6. Mrs. Judy Hodges has been named chairman of the preview showing of the film, “Man Belongs to the Earth,” sponsored by the Satellites, auxiliary to the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater, January 18; the showing will be held for the members of the Hall of Science and Satellites; a cocktail reception will be held before the film; the show will open to the public January 18.

December 15, 1974, San Diego Union, B-19. City Manager Kimball Moore has reported that the county has agreed to increase its share of subsidies for the city’s money-short cultural institution

December 20, 1974, San Diego Union, B-1. The City Council has hired the architectural firm of Delawie, Macy and Henderson to provide the preliminary design for converting Balboa Park’s El Prado area to a landscaped mall.

The city sealed off El Prado to through traffic last year.

December 20, 1974, San Diego Union, B-12. Zoro Gardens, the sunken area between the Reuben H. Fleet Space Center and the Aerospace Museum where informal outdoor theater performances became a weekend feature last summer, will probably continue being used for the same purpose.

December 22, 1974, San Diego Union. Letter, Emmett H. Eigner, Lemon Grove, castigates young people for not showing respect during the playing of the National Anthem at the Organ Pavilion.

December 22, 1974, San Diego Union, B-13. Torrey Pines to be closed to picnickers after December 31.

December 25, 1974, San Diego Union, B-3. Changes in Balboa Park’s Master Plan, including possible relocation of some activities, have been suggested by a committee of the city’s Park and Recreation Board.

Ed Mendoza, city parks and recreation director, said proposed revisions to the 1961 plan are being considered by the board’s Facility Committee largely because of the traffic and parking problems encountered within the 1,400-acre park.

December 26, 1974, San Diego Union, B-5. The City Council’s Public Facilities and Recreation Committee has recommended that Balboa Park museums stay open one night a week next summer as an experiment to see if working people will take advantage of the extra hours.

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