Backward Glances

From valiant pioneers eating seaweed, to donkey baseball games, to amorous movie stars, stories from San Diego’s coastal North County sparkle with intriguing characters.“Backward Glances” is a collection of 50 local history columns, first published in The North County Times. In the 1880s towns in this area resembled Gary Cooper’s Old West in “High Noon.” By the ‘20s the closeness to Hollywood meant stars like Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks, had luxurious second homes here. By the late ‘30s Del Mar’s race track peopled the area with contrasts--kids who’d struggled though the Depression, wearing shoes only in winter, performed service jobs for such glamorous visitors as Prince Aly Khan and Betty Grable.