Belmont Park’s New Night Life Raises Philanthropist’s...

Belmont Park’s New Night Life Raises Philanthropist’s Memory

Hello.

May I speak to John D. Spreckels, please? Yes, of course I know he died in 1926 at age 73.

Still, I think he deserves to know what’s become of those 17 seaside acres in Mission Beach where he built such a nifty amusement park.

After all, his family willed the site to the city in the late 1930s to be kept for the general good.

John, you old sugar-newspaper-land-railroad baron, is that you?

I was out at the new Belmont Park on Saturday. The place was hopping late into the night. That hasn’t happened in nearly a generation.

The city may have bumbled into something fun.

A place where teens and young adults can buy a slice of pizza or a chocolate cookie, maybe dance at the Club Red Onion, maybe ride the renovated roller coaster.

Is it the highest and best use for the site? Who knows? That’s yesterday’s question. It’s here now, let’s enjoy it.

It’s not Disneyland, John. There is a certain gaminess.

A college student from Clairemont named Jim Wegeforth told me, “It’s a hangout place, man. The malls don’t want us.”

The crowd is eclectic: fully integrated, football lettermen, upscale teen-agers from Tijuana, arm-in-arm couples, sailors in mid-boot camp, guys on unicycles.

Also, the beach can be weird, John. A fellow came roller-skating through wearing only a lavender G-string.

A radio station was having a dog contest. A golden retriever won the best costume category. I asked if he always dresses like this.

“Only for formal occasions,” a guy named Wayne Borin told me. His nephew, Tommy Taylor, who is 9 and lives in Oceanside, owns the dog.

Owner and dog drifted away. Nobody noticed a dog wearing a pink tutu.

It’s that kind of crowd these days (and nights) at Belmont Park.

You might like it, John. Then again, you’ve been gone a long time.

Blowing in the Wind

There’s meaning here somewhere.

* North County bumper sticker: Isn’t it time to pull over and check the air in your head?

* San Diego attorney David Mulliken will represent San Diego City Councilman Bruce Henderson in his 11th-hour fight against the billion-dollar sewer plan. Pro bono.

Mulliken last year forced the council to reverse its denial of a proposed hazardous-waste incinerator for La Jolla and won a $1.25-million judgment from the city.

Picketing, Politicking, Pontificating

In the trenches.

* A Boston judge has delayed for two months a decision on a lawsuit to keep an aquarium from sending the male dolphin Rainbow to the Naval Ocean Systems Center in San Diego.

Dolphin lovers picketed the courthouse.

One pro-Rainbow sign: “Hell No, He Won’t Go.”

* The recall movement against Councilwoman Linda Bernhardt heated up over the weekend.

Petition passers combed neighborhoods. They claim to have more than a third of the signatures needed to force an election.

Meanwhile, the anti-recall effort, “Together for Linda Bernhardt,” sent out mailers urging people not to sign the petitions, saying the recall is a pro-growth backlash and that an election would cost taxpayers $100,000.

Aurie Kryzuda, Bernhardt’s chief of staff, has taken an unpaid leave of absence to work with the anti-recall group. Petition deadline is Oct. 10.

* Roger Hedgecock’s parting off-camera shot to three questioners (me included) after a feisty interview on television: “Admit it, you guys miss me.”