Nudists in Balboa Park? Glad You Asked That . . .

As a research librarian at the downtown San Diego library, Evelyn Kooperman answers a lot of trivia questions about names, dates, quotations and other oddball information.

She also reads a lot of books about San Diego County: 350 at last count.

Now she has married her two professional passions into a nifty, 406-page paperback titled “San Diego Trivia” ($12.95, Silver Gate Publications).

It’s got everything you never knew about local history, geography, architecture, sports, music, art, theater, literature, place names, movies, television, plants and animals.

Like:

- Who turned San Diego from a Democratic city to a Republican one?

Land baron Alonzo Horton, who arrived in 1867 and announced that he would hire only Republicans.

- What county supervisor had to either resign or live in his barn?

J.P.M. Rainbow in 1893. When the county line was redrawn, his house was in Riverside, his barn in San Diego. He resigned.

- How many of the 138 prostitutes arrested in the Nov. 10, 1912, raid on the downtown red-light district promised to reform?

Two. The others bought train tickets to Los Angeles. Most of the tickets proved to be round-trip.

- What San Diego mayor took office by climbing a ladder and crawling in a window?

John L. Sehon in 1905. His enemies said he was ineligible because he was a retired Army captain, so he launched a preemptive strike.

- Was there ever a nudist colony in Balboa Park?

Yes, during the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition. But the cops required the women to wear brassieres and G-strings; the men, loincloths.

- What local city was named for a woman’s first husband and then renamed for her second husband?

Santee. Raisin grower George Cowles settled the area in 1877 and called it Cowlestown. His widow later married realtor Milton Santee.

Kooperman, 43, a native San Diegan and graduate of San Diego State University, says she got the idea for a trivia book after KFMB radio asked her two years ago to submit some questions for a contest.

After that came nights and weekends of combing through books and old newspapers. She’s already dreaming of a second edition, after finishing 10 new books on San Diego County.

The pursuit of trivia, she notes, is not a trivial matter.

Looking for a Perfect Fit

North County identity crisis.

The Palomar Pomerado Hospital District in Escondido has changed to the Palomar Pomerado Health System. Presumably patients will be now systematized rather than hospitalized.

In Encinitas, the city government has a contest to find a mascot or logo to symbolize life on the suburban coast.

A suggestion: How about an adjustable-rate mortgage payment superimposed on a BMW repair bill?

Knowing the Score

Political fallout:

- There was a reason you didn’t see any pictures of Gov. George Deukmejian standing beside Mayor Maureen O’Connor, Police Chief Bob Burgreen and Councilwoman Gloria McColl before, during or after their meeting.

Before reluctantly agreeing to the meeting, the Duke put down an ironclad condition: no news photos.

- Before we get giddy on the gassy rhetoric of populism, consider that John Hartley won a City Council seat with fewer votes than any candidate in several decades.

His 7,900 votes represent 1.3% of the city’s registered voters. Explain to me again how district elections ensure that the “voice of the people” will be heard at City Hall.

- The “new politics” has some old political faces.

Tom Shepard, former Hedgecock strategist and criminal co-defendant, was an adviser to both Hartley and Linda Bernhardt.

- There’s no truth to the rumor that Hartley’s first legislative proposal will be to decriminalize the selling of lobsters from the back of flatbed trucks.

During the campaign, McColl branded Hartley as an outlaw because of his three citations in the early 1980s for peddling edible crustaceans without a license. Now, he’s keeping them at arm’s-length.