The first time I noticed the San Diego Union was while in the first grade. A neighbor had stacks of newspapers in the garage to recycle. The bright colors caught my eye. I started reading the old Sunday comics.
I started getting the San Diego Union in the 9th grade. My friend delivered the newspaper and he wanted to go on vacation. In those days in order to go on vacation you had to find someone to do your job while you were gone. So he trained me to deliver papers and loaned me his bike. Eventually he convinced me to get my own paper route and I did when a route opened up next to his. I found an abandoned bike and bought a heavy duty bike rack for the back and a basket for the front. Sunday papers were huge back then. Sometimes it got up to 300 pages. Back then they proudly put the page count on the front page. Eventually the frame of the bike broke due to the stress. That is when my interactions with my customers became invaluable.
The auto mechanic. I noticed one of my customer’s worked on cars in his driveway and garage. Sometimes he welded stuff. I asked if he could weld my bike frame together. He did and he said the frame may break again but not where he welded it. He was right. The frame broke 2 more times. 2 more times he welded my bike back together.
The architect. One of the customers I made friends with would do woodworking in the garage in his spare time. I watched him and asked him questions when I noticed him working. Eventually I asked if I could buy a custom bookcase from him. Instead he had me buy all the parts and he helped me make it myself. It turned out great and sits in my garage holding my comics. He also introduced me to one of my fav taco shops El Indio. He also introduced me to Jim’s Hickory Wood Bbq. That was my first time eating cinnamon ice cream. Good times.
The navy chief petty officer. One very friendly customer told me about life in the military. One day he took me on a tour of a submarine he worked on. Very impressive. Also kinda cramped. It was my first and only time on the submarine base and in an operational submarine.
Back then a subscription was $7.50/month and I had to go collect it at the end of each month. I got to keep $2 of it and at the peak of my career I had 2 paper routes totaling 150 customers. Christmas was great as many customers were generous. Sundays when it rained was the worst. I wiped out the slick roads many times.
Carriers could earn prizes.
I resigned from the delivery business when I graduated from college. I miss the human interaction. There were many cool customers.
Over the years I still subscribed when I had time to read. I have noticed the paper getting smaller and they lost some of their best writers. The worst loss was when they lost the writer who reviewed fantasy/science fiction/comic books. Over the years many of the staff left with early retirement deals. There isn’t that much local news now and I noticed the same information is being reused the next day. The price has gone up too. I’m paying $39/month. The newspaper is becoming a luxury good. People asked me why I keep buying the newspaper when I can read it for free online. I told them I liked having something substantial to hold in my hand while I read.
I’ve never met my newspaper person. They get out of the car and toss the paper on the porch at 4am. Each month my bill is deducted directly from my account. I wouldn’t like the job now. No human interaction.
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.- Newswoman: If you could’ve found out what “Rosebud” meant, I bet that would’ve explained everything.
– Jerry Thompson: I don’t think so; Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe “Rosebud” was something he couldn’t get, or something he lost.
Great stories about the golden age of newspaper delivery. I was an L.A. Times subscriber when I was younger and Jonathan Gold was one of my idols (the Pulitzer-winning food writer for L.A. Weekly and later the L.A. Times) and his column, which I’d carry around all dog-eared and tattered, was pretty much my bible for eating my way through L.A., as it was for so many. Now online technology has replaced all of that. I too still enjoy a newspaper (or a book) in hand.
Thanks! I read the L.A. Times at times. Jonathan Gold wrote some great stuff. Did you watch City of Gold? I loved it. I prefer reading books to reading on the computer too.
Yes I loved City of Gold. I have to wonder how Jonathan Gold’s coverage would have changed if he were still alive and if/when he would have been pressured away from writing about immigrant communities in favor of trendy, developer-driven hot spots. You could already see some of it in the documentary – like his editor wanting to talk about the changes in Grand Central Market (away from the more ‘ethnic’ mom and pop stalls to the shiny spendy booths that are becoming the norm at so many food halls), and his 101 lists definitely had a shifting demographic over the years.
I feel he would have hated writing about the trendy spots and would eventually quit if he had to write too much of that instead of what he loved. That’s cool you watched City of Gold too.
The paper sure has changed over the years. I’m glad you have such good memories of your customers.
Yes it has been a long time since the golden age.
Great stories about the golden age of newspaper delivery. I was an L.A. Times subscriber when I was younger and Jonathan Gold was one of my idols (the Pulitzer-winning food writer for L.A. Weekly and later the L.A. Times) and his column, which I’d carry around all dog-eared and tattered, was pretty much my bible for eating my way through L.A., as it was for so many. Now online technology has replaced all of that. I too still enjoy a newspaper (or a book) in hand.
Thanks! I read the L.A. Times at times. Jonathan Gold wrote some great stuff. Did you watch City of Gold? I loved it. I prefer reading books to reading on the computer too.
Yes I loved City of Gold. I have to wonder how Jonathan Gold’s coverage would have changed if he were still alive and if/when he would have been pressured away from writing about immigrant communities in favor of trendy, developer-driven hot spots. You could already see some of it in the documentary – like his editor wanting to talk about the changes in Grand Central Market (away from the more ‘ethnic’ mom and pop stalls to the shiny spendy booths that are becoming the norm at so many food halls), and his 101 lists definitely had a shifting demographic over the years.
I feel he would have hated writing about the trendy spots and would eventually quit if he had to write too much of that instead of what he loved. That’s cool you watched City of Gold too.