1961: Holiday Heists and Hijinx

A look back at Lemon Grove, 50 years ago this week.

Prowler Pilfers Pub's Profits: Those footprints on the roof weren't Rudolph's. Early Christmas morning a solo bandit dropped through the skylight of Michael's Pub, 7828 Broadway, broke into the "crack-proof" safe and swiped $5,000—the past three days' receipts. The crook also took the safe's two 50-pound doors as a bonus gift.

Pub proprietor William Goldy said the doors were removed to disguise whether the safe had been opened by lock combination or tools.  

Deputies said the theft could have been "an inside job."  

Pub manager Jack Kruse said the burglar must have been "King Kong" to lift the doors, the loot, extra silverware and tools through the skylight, off the roof into the back alley and into the getaway car.  Tire tracks traveled east on Lester Avenue, then were lost in general traffic. 

Michael's was a two-time loser. On Labor Day, 1960, the same safe was opened by combination and $10,000 stolen. Goldy changed the combination twice, but without a burglar alarm or a big, mean dog, the pub was prey to pilferage probably from those "in the know." 

Insurance on the 1961 break-in covered only a fifth of the loss.  Staff set up for Christmas Day dinners as usual, albeit with less yuletide merriment.

Pepperoni Pizzas Pilfered: What was it about the Christmas of 1961? Crimes were committed all over town. Pernicano's Pizza on Broadway was robbed of four pepperoni pizzas valued at $6. Later that day an anonymous Good Samaritan left a $6 tip after ordering a glass of Coca-Cola.

Thug Slugs Plucky Housewife: Martha Lukass, La Corta Street, scratched and kicked a "heavy-set burglar" as she struggled to save $2,400 worth of jewelry. The big bum blew with the baubles and deputies urged residents to watch for a "large, dark-haired man with facial scratches, who might be limping from kicks to the knee."  

Plucky Martha sustained bruises and a "loss of faith in my fellow man."

Pilferer Peruses Periodicals:  The would-be thief who threw a rock through the plate-glass door of Kerrigan's Liquor, 2855 Imperial Ave., paused to peruse Playboy and Field and Stream. He fled empty-handed when passersby spotted him through the wreckage.  

Punks Pitch Potatoes at Porsche: Teens tossed potatoes from the overpass over state Route 94 onto Robert Johns's 1957 Porsche, cracking the windshield in half.  

Johns gave chase but the boys climbed the freeway fence near Dexter Drive and vanished.  

"If they'd thrown small potatoes, nothing would have happened," said Johns.  "But they threw those big ones from Idaho."

The Happy Hour Pickpocket: Convair worker James Taylor entered the Corral Inn on Broadway on Christmas Eve with a $160 wad and bonhomie toward all mankind. He offered free drinks to all present. When the wad was down to $140, he retired to the restroom where someone pushed up against him, picked his pocket and fled.  

Deputies circulated a description of the thief, noting the similarity to several other thefts in area bars.

Boy Shoots Bank: An 11-year-old packing a BB gun he got for Christmas stood in the doorway of Western Auto, 7771 Broadway, and fired into the plate-glass window of Southland Savings & Loan, opposite at 7770 Broadway.  Unfortunately, the gun had been purchased from Western Auto. The boy confessed and charges were pending. No word on parental reaction to their ill-fated purchase.

Wooden Nickel Fined:  At midnight on the day after Christmas, patrons made merry with song, dance and beer at the Wooden Nickel, 8290 Broadway. Trouble brewed when seven minors playing in the dance band also drank beer.  

Sheriff's deputies responded to a call from a pay phone and found the under-21s quaffing Pabst Blue Ribbon supplied by Wooden Nickel owner Francis Macceca even as they played "Puttin' on the Ritz."  

Macceca got a "severe lecture" and "dancing was suspended for five days." Patrons could still buy beer and the musicians kept their jobs—but "Stompin' at the Ritz" was verboten.  

No Girls Allowed: Keith Moore, 9, Colfax Avenue, won the playhouse offered as a Christmas raffle prize by local merchants. The fourth grader at Monterey Heights School said it would become a clubhouse for the "guys in the neighborhood."  

"It's the first thing we've ever won," said Keith's mom, wife of a local Mobilgas station operator. "It's the best Christmas shopping trip we ever made."

Christmas Eve Inferno: Boyd and Mary McDaniels and their three daughters returned from looking at Christmas decorations to find their Central Avenue home nearly destroyed. Firefighters and a bucket brigade of neighbors managed to save part of the redwood structure and furnishings, but the Christmas tree, gifts, clothing and some furniture were lost and the keys on the piano had melted.  

The home and contents were only partially insured. The McDaniels spent Christmas Day with family on Palm Street.  

"The fire department was wonderful and neighbors immediately came to our assistance," said McDaniels, a drywall contractor.

Van Deerlin Declares:  Popular TV, radio and newspaper reporter Lionel Van Deerlin, 47, declared his candidacy for the U.S. Congress in the 37th District comprised of Lemon Grove, Spring Valley, La Mesa and the southern half of San Diego.  

"This is a lunch bucket district," said Van Deerlin.  "Working families are concerned about the loss of the airframe industry.  I want to free the district from the feast or famine of government contracts."  

The WW II veteran went on to serve the area in Congress from 1963 to 1981. He died in 2008.

Grovian Gets Gillespie OK:  The County Board of Supervisors granted Jim Spears, a local Ford dealer, a nine-month option on a 50-year lease of five acres at Gillespie Field.

Spears' company, Crosswinds Enterprises, sought to build an airport motel, restaurant, swimming pool and cocktail lounge. The option gave him time to sell stock in the venture.  

He had to pay the county $25 a month while building at least 24 motel units. Under the lease he would pay the county $312 monthly or a percentage of the gross, whichever was greater. He could also option another four acres for an airplane hangar and office buildings. The federal government granted San Diego County ownership of Gillespie Field in 1971. But what of Spears and the Crosswinds venture? Dear Readers, any into?

Greenspot Park OK'd:  Prominent Lemon Grovian Dorothy "Dolly" Nottingham was appointed head of the Greenspot Park Committee earlier in 1961. This first president of the Lemon Grove Historical Society and author of its by-laws spent the year persuading townsfolk of the wisdom of building the park on Washington Street on land donated by Lemon Grove pioneers, Walter and Edith Denlinger, whose ranch once spanned the land along Washington from Alton Drive to Golden Avenue.

In a Christmas-came-early win, Nottingham obtained enthusiastic support from local businesses, schools, clubs and residents, and the county. She thrives today on High Street and her park project today is Lemon Grove Park, the biggest one in town and also home to the Lemon Grove Senior Center.