Parallel Between Hedgecock and an Earlier Convicted Mayor

Parallel

It is suggested that ex-Mayor Roger Hedgecock retains a grip on the public despite his criminal conviction and a reputation in some quarters as an unrepentant scoundrel.

If so, it’s all happened before.

San Diego historian Henry Schwartz notes the parallels between Hedgecock and Billy Carlson, the “Boy Mayor” who served at City Hall from 1893 to 1897 and at the McNeil Island federal prison from 1918 to 1920.

Schwartz also sees a physical similarity: the lean face, the prominent Adam’s apple, the glint in the eye. He’s got a chapter on Carlson in his new book “Madam Ida & Other Gaslamp Tales,” which serves as my text.

Like Hedgecock, Carlson was a precocious real estate investor. He bought 600 acres at age 23 in 1887 and called it Ocean Beach.

His vision frequently outpaced his finances. He gathered investors for a railroad from San Diego to Chicago; when the plan collapsed, there were nasty allegations.

He was attacked by the San Diego Union as “half fool, half fraud.” The feud raged for years.

He turned the paper’s animosity to his advantage and was elected mayor at age 29 with golden oratory and a glittery promise to make San Diego one of the world’s great cities. He was popular and easily reelected to a second two-year term.

Then he lost a race for Congress and founded the Consolidated Bank of Los Angeles. He sold lots in Imperial Valley, promising 25% annual appreciation.

After a run, the bank was found to be what we now call a Ponzi scheme. Carlson was sent to prison and boldly asked President Wilson for a pardon.

After his release, he again ventured into real estate, finding no shortage of investors. Later he was reduced to begging futilely for a city job during the Depression.

The latter part of Carlson’s saga, of course, is wholly different than Hedgecock. So is Schwartz’s description of his temperament:

“You couldn’t get his goat, as he never lost his temper. Billy was a hard man to despise.”

Battle Over Wet T-Shirts

Light and heat.

* Homeowners at the Sea Point condominium project in La Costa are hopping mad at the developer and threatening a lawsuit.

An owners’ meeting called for a nearby community center was packed. So packed that the Fire Department shut it down, and the 200 owners had to caravan back to Sea Point to continue their angry discussion.

After several hours a vote was taken about assessing each owner $1,000 to begin the legal fight. But the counting of secret ballots had to be halted midway, to much chagrin.

It was 10 p.m.

That’s when the lights automatically shut off on the tennis court where the meeting was taking place.

* The latest controversy to hit The Flame, the lively Hillcrest bar catering to homosexual women, is over its Wednesday night wet T-shirt contests.

The Lesbian Therapists Assn., which uses the spelling “wimmin” to make a political statement, blasted the wet T-shirt idea in a letter to Bravo, a San Diego gay weekly:

“These contests treat wimmin and their bodies as objects, pieces of meat to be ogled. They come from the worst part of male culture.”

Doug Snyder, manager of The Flame, says the contests are just clean fun on what is otherwise a slow night.

“The bottom line is that sex sells,” he said.

A spokeswomen says the therapists’ association is plotting its next move and not yet ready to go public. Some months ago the same group tried physically to bar men from The Flame.

What Price Circulation?

Words, words, words.

* More proof that reclusive novelist Thomas Pynchon is hiding out locally.

A character in “Vineland” is described as “at large.” A very disreputable character.

* The North County Blade-Citizen has dropped its newsstand price to 10 cents, down from 25 cents. Competitors are unsure if the move is brilliant or foolhardy.