WELL, I’LL BE DARNED! All these years I’ve been wearing Members Only jackets because they’re warm and comfortable – and because it bugs the heck out of Johnnie “What Not To Wear” Wilding. This past Saturday at Good Time Charlie’s, the waitresses were all over me. Unbeknownst to me, Members Only is back — and I was tres chic. Always remember, even a broken clock is right twice a day. EMILY PACKER passed away last month. She lived on the corner when I bought my house next door in 1972. I’m guessing she was in her late 80s. It seems like only yesterday, having saved a goodly stash to remodel her kitchen, she made the mistake of going to the San Diego Auto Show. Well, maybe it wasn’t a mistake, but she came home in a shiny, new red Alfa-Romeo. Artistic Licenses: I’ve seen “OMB GRL” before, but this time she was pulling out of an alley in — Old Mission Beach. “RMMMBLB” adorned a black and yellow Mini Cooper that looked like, well, a bumblebee. “BKEAST” was on a car with Connecticut plates — about as far Back East as you can get. 25 Years Ago: Thanksgiving Buffet at the Salmon House was $9.95; Vacation Village’s Don the Beachcomber $9.25; and the Catamaran $7.95 — but you got a free cruise on the Bahia Belle. 50 Years Ago: De Anza Harbor, Inc., announced plans to add 122 trailer sites, Mrs. Lila C. Witcher announced. The corporation already has 400 trailers and will ultimately have 1,000, Mrs. Witcher said. 75 Years Ago: “A Thanksgiving dinner was given Tuesday night for the cadets of the Army and Navy academy at Pacific Beach,” noted the Beach Paragraphs columnist in the Nov. 30, 1933 Evening Tribune. “Following dinner members of the Masque and Wig gave a mystery comedy, ‘As the Clock Strikes,’ directed by Mrs. William Currier Atkinson.” Thanksgiving Dinner at the Hotel del Coronado was $1.50; Casa de Mañana (then a resort hotel) $1.50; Pine Valley Inn $1; and, finally, the Leighton Dairy Lunch and Buffet 35 cents. 100 Years Ago: I never heard of the Mission Inn “at Mission Park,” but it burned to the ground in the early morning hours of Nov. 23, 1908. The flames were so intense that people in downtown San Diego thought all of Pacific Beach was on fire. Turns out the Mission Inn began as the 22-room clubhouse at the old racetrack, where Mossy Ford is today. If you want to read the whole story, I’ve included it in the November Pacific Beach Historical Society newsletter. Contact me at the number or email address below. John Fry may be reached at 272-6655 or [email protected].