- [Announcer] "Ken Kramer's About San Diego" made possible in part by... (uplifting piano music) Walter Andersen Nursery, with two locations, San Diego and Poway.

A local resource offering plants and products for all your gardening and outdoor care needs.

Walter Andersen Nursery, independent and family-owned since 1928.

Caring for a loved one with memory problems can be challenging, Alzheimer's San Diego can help.

Offering support, education, resources, and social activities at no cost and without a diagnosis.

Visit alzsd.org to learn more or donate.

And by viewers like you, thank you.

(calming classical music) (peaceful music) - [Ken] Back in time.

Go back and there is a place that once upon a time was a destination full of the rich and famous.

(lively Latin music) But the thing about history is it's always being made and what's new here is truly making history.

- Getting to know the people of this community has renewed my faith in humanity.

- [Ken] Getting reacquainted with one of our county's most historic spots that's changing before our eyes.

We remember our city's mobile ambassador, who everywhere he drove, he was proud to be from San Diego.

But what he drove and where, you'll see.

(keys rattling) Seth Mallios has the inside story on something you may now never see the same way again.

- This area is not open to the general public, but we're gonna check it out.

(intriguing music) - [Ken] Plus the location of one of these buildings has a history most people would never guess.

Fascinating things you've sent in and more stories too, all of them true about San Diego.

- [Ceremony Host] One, two, and three.

(guests applauding) - [Announcer] "Ken Kramer's About San Diego," the history and people of the area we call home.

Here's Ken Kramer.

- From Oceanside to Escondido, to Logan Heights, to Imperial Beach, and here in the desert East County, it is "About San Diego" and welcome to the show.

We have so many places to go, so many things to see, including a story from the desert about a town that's making some new history.

But first, I want to tell you a story about a man who had an obsession with his Cadillac automobile.

And if you wanna see the object of his obsession, all you have to know is where to look.

Quick visit here to the San Diego Automotive Museum in Balboa Park and inside past the vintage and later model cars, is a very strange piece of San Diego history that is truly one of a kind.

So let's imagine it's 1947.

(upbeat jazz music) In post-war America when it came to cars, the gold standard was Cadillac.

And in San Diego, Mr. Mattar, Louie Mattar bought one, this very one that's at the museum today.

You see, Louie thought of his Cadillac as much more than just a car, to him it was a challenge.

He wondered how far could he drive this car and not stop?

Not for gas, not for food, bathroom, anything nonstop.

(audience applauds) - Good evening and welcome to "That's Incredible".

- [Ken] For years, the story made him a TV celebrity.

He had to build a car that he and his crew could live in for weeks while they were continuously driving and pull a trailer too, with food and tools.

Louie's Cadillac was incredible and fabulous.

- [News Anchor Two] By making the backseat cushions removable, Louie was able to install a number of helpful household conveniences.

- [Louie] This is electric washer machine.

- [Ken] Around the world, Louie Mattar's Fabulous Car it was called, was a media sensation.

But did he really drive it nonstop?

Yes, he did in 1952, from San Diego to New York and back, round trip.

- And in 1954, we made one from Alaska to Mexico City, goodwill tour nonstop.

- [Ken] That's a long time and a lot of miles in this car, never stopping.

How did he do it?

Well, they refueled and took on water for the 50 gallon tank while in motion and you needed water, of course, for the shower.

(calm acoustic music) How's the water, hot or cold?

- [Don] Hot.

- Oh, it's hot, okay.

You feel better now, Don?

- Better.

- [Louie] Good.

(cheery music) - [Ken] And inside you can see today, there's that clothes washer and an iron, an electric stove.

Louie loved to show off all the custom comforts.

- Okay, this is a medicine cabinet and you got electric lights on there and you got 110 volt outlets in case you wanna shave.

You got a beautiful mirror, you can look at yourself.

Hey Louie, how cute you are, I love you.

(Louie laughs) - [Ken] But Louie used to say that the ultimate challenge for his fabulous car was changing a tire while the car was moving down a highway, which he had to do every now and then.

So how could that possibly be done?

Here's the trick.

A walkway was extended out from the car and then a small airplane wheel was lowered to lift the tire.

From then on, it was all tightly choreographed.

A platform was affixed... - Okay, screwdriver!

- [Ken] Off comes the hub cap, the flat tire is removed.

- Okay, bring out our tire.

(suspenseful music) Hurry up!

- [Ken] The new one is put on and it's just like that.

- Drop it now.

- Louie Mattar's Fabulous Car keeps rolling on all of its tires.

- Yay, we did it.

- [Ken] This car is a masterpiece of engineering.

With a push of a button, Louie could change the oil en route, another button refilled the radiator.

It took him seven years to build it and a year of planning to arrange for police escorts through cities and across borders.

His fabulous car made international headlines.

And over the decades he showed it off proudly to anybody who would ask.

- I just had it painted 50 years ago.

- The questions were always the same, "Was there a toilet on board?"

Well, yes.

And all those hydraulic and electrical lines, did he do that?

Yes.

Was there really liquor on tap?

No, not while driving.

(reporter speaking Japanese) And one thing more through all the interviews on TV, when he toured with the car, he always boasted that San Diego was his home.

He felt like an ambassador from our city.

So it's fitting that Louie's Cadillac has a permanent home here at the Automotive Museum.

A tribute to his ingenuity and sheer endurance, Louie Mattar's car, something that was and is fabulous about San Diego.

(triumphant orchestral music) Fabulous indeed.

Alright, it's time to see how much you know about San Diego.

Time for a quiz.

We're gonna stay in the same general neighborhood.

If you watch this show, you might know the answer to this one, but let's find out how much you know about San Diego.

(intriguing music) Here's a little Balboa Park quiz, do you know this building?

It was called the Southern California Counties Building, later renamed the San Diego Civic Auditorium.

Even if you're pretty familiar with the park, I bet this one is a mystery and we have to go back a century to see what happened to the San Diego Civic Auditorium.

(sirens blaring) It got wiped out in a fire on Thanksgiving eve of 1925.

Nobody was hurt but the Fire Chief said it was just the purest luck that every building in the park didn't go up in flames.

And it happened, by the way, just an hour before that Civic Auditorium was going to host the Annual Firefighters' Ball.

Some of the firefighters were already dressed in their tuxedos.

But here's the question, what place that we see today ended up being built where that old civic auditorium used to be?

Is it the Municipal Gym, the Comic-Con Museum, the Starlight Bowl, or the Natural History Museum?

Well, the Starlight Bowl dates back to 1935, and our international exposition of that year was a big World's Fair that made San Diego the talk of the nation, if not the world.

- [News Anchor One] From every part of the Americas, north, south, and central, they come.

- [Ken] Back then it was called the Ford Bowl, commissioned by the Ford Motor Company to be a venue for great performances that year at the expo.

- [Expo Anchor] Symphony orchestras, choirs, and choruses, give series of concerts.

And artists present recitals daily on the new electronic organ.

- [Ken] And for decades thereafter, it became famous not only for hosting theater and music performances, but because... (planes soaring) Of that.

But no Starlight Bowl was built in its own unique space years after the Civic Auditorium went up in smoke, so no, it wasn't the Starlight Bowl.

(bell zipping) - Give it back to him!

- The Municipal Gym today?

It was also originally built for that 1935 exposition.

It housed what was called the Palace of Electricity.

In fact, if you know where to look leading up to the door, you can still see the traces of that history.

But know our ill-fated Civic Auditorium was elsewhere, so it wasn't the Municipal Gym.

(spring bounces) And Comic-Con, the museum centered around comics, sci-fi film and the popular arts, that building was once the Hall of Champions, a sports museum and San Diego Athletic Hall of Fame.

And going back still further to the days of that remarkable exposition, it was the Federal Building.

The federal government wanted to be a part of the party in 1935 and Congress passed a bill to pay for it, and then it was constructed in nine weeks.

So it wasn't Comic-Con.

(chime rings) When you see or visit the Natural History Museum on the East Prado of Balboa Park, that over the years now has featured countless incredible displays of everything from ancient fossils to "The Dead Sea Scrolls", recall if you will, what was there about a decade before it was built.

A wood frame and plaster kindling box that was once our civic auditorium, and give yourself a pat on the back for knowing that fact about San Diego.

(relaxing piano music) All right, a question.

Have you ever been driving on Interstate-8, and you look off to the south as you're passing San Diego State and there is this big landmark.

It can actually be seen for many, many miles.

Have you ever wondered what's up there?

How did it come to be?

Well, Seth Mallios is the University's Historian and a contributor to this program, and he has the keys to the answer.

- It's been a San Diego landmark for nearly a century now.

But have you ever wanted to know the inside story?

(keys jingling) Hardy Memorial Tower is the most fascinating building at San Diego State and it's been that way since it was constructed in 1931.

More than 119 feet tall, it's named for Dr. Edward Hardy, who was College President for 25 years, beginning in 1910.

But what very few people know, is what's up there that you can't see.

There was a reason this tower was built, and if you're curious, let's go.

Even the building at its ground floor is pretty interesting.

These are the original chandeliers from 1931, the original painted beams on the ceiling and the doorway to where our ascent begins.

This area is not open to the general public, but we're gonna check it out.

11 stories high, we've got some climbing to do.

Used to be students, at least the more ambitious ones, did come up here though.

The sites are unchanged but on Christmas day of 1946 and ever since, there has been a signature sound.

Listen, do you hear that?

We're not even halfway there yet but look who's here.

(carillon chiming) This is San Diego State's resident carillonor, Dr. Terry O'Donnell.

- Hi, Seth.

- Senator and Mrs. Ed Fletcher donated a symphonic carillon to serve as a war memorial and ever since, it has chimed over the campus and nearby neighborhoods.

Terry is Professor Emeritus of Music and Theater, and master performer of this incredible instrument.

For decades, countless people have heard him but hardly anyone ever sees him while he's tucked away in this alcove.

Nobody knows our carillon better or has been playing it longer than Terry.

- The Men's Music Fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, had a campus tradition of climbing up to the top of the tower for like homecoming and commencement, and playing the antiquated amplified chimes that we had at the top of the tower.

And I did it and then everybody stopped doing it and I kept doing it so... - The carillon has been added to over the years.

Now there are hundreds of chimes, each one individually struck.

Upper minor bells, deep low chimes.

There are many automatic carillon programs that play, but Terry still comes to the tower and plays them live, even though folks outside might not know he's up here.

Terry's the best.

Do you have any good climbing music?

- Something based on the fight song.

- Fantastic, back to the tower.

(carillon chiming) Still halfway to go up the dizzying circular stairs.

And at this point on our walk, the stairwell shifts from the metal railing to chain link.

At this spot in the tower, we start to see some fascinating graffiti.

It spans time, but what you see is last names and then a three or four digit number, and then often fraternity or sorority letters.

All along the walls and continuing as we go up Hardy Tower through the years, the same coated numbers and symbols.

And then a wooden plank leading to a door.

I cross over it slowly, carefully open the door and look, baby owls!

A little bonus we didn't expect to discover, they seem to have found their perfect place.

Continuing on up and up, I can't help but think about the successive generations of students who made this adventurous climb, who marked these walls for the ages.

And then come to something.

Remember I said there was a reason this tower was built?

And so here we are at the central purpose of Hardy Memorial Tower and it is this 5,000 gallon drum that provided water for the campus.

Remember in the thirties, San Diego State is not connected to the waterline.

80 years ago if there was a fire, this tank and its stored water might just save the campus.

It's empty today.

And again, look closely and we see last names, dates, and three digit numbers, that seems to be the key to understanding this coated graffiti.

It turns out after some digging in the archives, these are ID numbers of SDSU student community service officers, so that mystery is solved.

The reason the tower was built is now clear.

Just one thing left to do, we go to the very top.

We are almost there.

(carillon ringing) Made it.

And look at this, a priceless view over the urban landscape that has changed so much since it was built in 1931.

(pensive orchestral music) What a climb but well worth it, to get the inside story on Hardy Memorial Tower.

Something so iconic and historic about San Diego.

(uplifting piano music) - There's some reason why so many of us are drawn to the desert.

Maybe it's the vastness, the openness, or the sense that it's a place of great potential.

Well, we got an invitation to attend a grand opening, a reopening actually, of a place that has so much history in the desert.

And its new owners are hoping, it also is a place of great potential.

Little desert town, just a two lane road.

You look at the old buildings and maybe think, "Wow, the best days here must have been a long time ago."

But then listen... (lively Latin music) It's coming from over here at the Hot Springs Hotel.

There's a celebration with music, and hundreds of people and a podium.

- Today we're here to celebrate a moment in time.

- [Ken] Jeff Osborne is one of the new owners of the town.

I mean the town, the main street, the lake, the revitalized and strikingly elegant hotel with its mineral pools.

(lively Latin music) And everybody has come here because for the first time in a long time, it feels like after so many lonely decades in this largely forgotten place, there's something new.

Something to celebrate.

- The beginning of a revival of this beautiful town, Jacumba Hot Springs.

(audience applauding) - [Ken] Jacumba Hot Springs, 71 miles east of San Diego, population 540 and determined that its best days are still to come.

- So, let's celebrate today.

(audience cheers) - [Ken] Okay, a little background.

- Jacumba was once a gathering point for the Kumeyaay and was used for healing, trading, living, and connection.

- [Ken] A settlement grew around the natural hot springs here with water flowing up from the earth, at a pretty much constant 102 degrees.

In the 1920s and 30s, Jacumba was a tourist destination and getaway for the rich and famous of Hollywood.

5,000 people lived here, that's more than the population of Del Mar.

On its main street, there were seven gas stations, residential apartments, lodging for weary motorists and a grand hotel and bathhouse with water piped in directly from the town's famous artesian well.

(wind chimes ringing) But it all unraveled as Interstate 8 passed by to the north.

Places like Palm Springs drew crowds away, the Bathhouse was destroyed by fire.

And the Old Luxury Hotel, the centerpiece of the town burned to the ground in 1983.

(car passing) Over the years since, dreamers and entrepreneurs have imagined what Jacumba might become.

They had plans to clean up, revitalize.

- Well, get me a shovel, let's go.

- We'll start, redo 'em.

But it never changed much.

Remoteness and the desert seemed to win out in the end.

But these new owners see things differently.

Melissa Strukel says that very quality of being out here on the edge of everything, makes this place magical.

- We are on the edge of a country, the edge of a county, the edge of the Sonoran Desert, and the edge of a mountain range.

- [Ceremony Host] One, two, and three.

(audience cheering) - [Ken] For owners, Jeff Osborne, Melissa Strukel, and Corbin Winters, the future of Jacumba Hot Springs involves upgrading and modernizing.

The hotel in its mineral pools are now busy and happy, and the proud social center of the town, the once reedy and overgrown lake is cleared, and clean, and inviting.

But what's old here is not being dismissed, it's being embraced.

At nighttime, these ruins are a place for candlelit music concerts under the desert stars.

This community has become their home, these people are their neighbors.

- And I am so grateful to be able to raise my son here.

(audience applauding) - [Ken] They seem committed, deeply so.

- I will spend the rest of my life devoted to this town and its restoration carefully and intentionally.

- For Jacumba Hot Springs with all that it once was, its history, all that it's been through the decades.

This really does feel like a moment in time and a time for celebrating.

(cheerful music) (uplifting music) (peaceful music) We love to hear from you and particularly when you send in photos, and film that you may remember from the old days in San Diego.

And every week we set aside some time to take a look at pictures and bits of memorabilia, and just random things that are fun that you have to share with us.

Scan them and email, we'll tell you how at the end of the show.

But right now, let's take a look at things you have sent in "About San Diego".

(cheery music) (canister opening) Remember our story about our friend P. Hicks, who finds old, unidentified discarded film and photos nobody's looked at for years, and now they're being thrown away and he saves them, digitizes them?

But he starts us off here with a couple of things he found and you know what this is?

It's from the 1950s before Mission Valley was all developed, it's horseback riding through Mission Valley.

(relaxing vintage jazz music) And this is 1940s La Jolla Cove, that's all that's known, an eight millimeter black and white movie shot by someone.

(relaxing vintage jazz music) Here's what the Pacific Beach Crystal Pier looked like in about 1938.

Adrian Durso sent some family photos from that year, her mom and her uncle at a cottage on the pier.

And from sometime in the 19-teens Parting the Palms is a pretty road leading to Spring Valley and another one through El Cajon, her grand uncle took them more than a century ago.

What's going on here?

These are houses being moved out of what was once the Frontier Housing Project in San Diego.

A whole community that doesn't exist anymore.

Frontier is a fascinating story, kind of a mini city, where a lot of conveyor aircraft workers lived on streets that aren't around at all anymore, like Gonzaga, Loyola, Dartmouth, all gone.

From Geraldine Cobb, 1940s picture of her sister in front of their home in Frontier, where they lived when she was in kindergarten and part of first grade.

Eventually the houses, a lot of them you can see in this CBS 8 San Diego film, taken November 30th, 1954 were picked up whole and moved to Tijuana.

And where Frontier once was, came to be called the San Diego Sports Arena.

1963, the San Diego Chargers had a good year.

- [Chargers Announcer] Tobin Rote, fakes and then he throws a look in pass to the marvelous Lance Alworth.

And that's all she wrote.

- [Ken] Michael Hogan says his sister was one of the original Chargettes, back before the Charger Girls.

Meantime over at Westgate Park where the Padres played, his dad here was the Manager of the Park and he worked the snow cone concession stand.

(birds cooing) Birds!

(birds cooing) Kathy Park, brother Mark and sister Venetta.

1969 or 70 in the Dove House at Sea World.

From Michael Crawford, taken some time in the late 40s, his brother Ron, has made a bird friend at the zoo.

And finally Wes and Aaron Owen of San Diego had a bird for many years, a parakeet.

Well, an English budgie to be precise.

As a baby, Jerry had an avian virus, lost some feathers.

But over his life, he developed our remarkable talent for picking up and repeating sounds, words, phrases.

- It's nice to see you.

- [Ken] Did you get that?

I'm not kidding, that's Jerry the bird saying, "It's nice to see you."

- It's nice to see you.

- [Ken] Very polite was Jerry, most of the time.

- Oh, kiss me baby.

- [Ken] Again?

- [Jerry] Kiss me baby.

- He had a mind of his own.

- [Jerry] I have nothing to say.

- And somewhere along the way, listen carefully, because Jerry overheard and started saying this... - "About San Diego".

- You heard it, right, Jerry would every once in a while give a shout out to... - "About San Diego".

- [Ken] So thank you to Wes, and Aaron, and Jerry for something most unusual.

- "About San Diego".

- That's right.

And that's it for this time and this episode of "About San Diego".

But a couple of personal notes if I may, before we close.

Because I get to work with some wonderful people who have been recognized as such, you know Dr. Seth Mallios for the many times we've interviewed him, benefited from his historical expertise, and more recently for the segments he himself does on this show.

Seth has been honored by San Diego State with a distinguished University Service Award.

Congratulations to Seth.

And also to Suzanne Bartol, this show's Co-Producer, Videographer, and Editor who has been honored by the Pacific Southwest Chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences for her 25 years of contribution to San Diego Television.

Well deserved both, and I'm lucky to be working with you.

If you wanna see these stories again or other shows about San Diego, maybe send some things in for us all to take a look at, or pick up a mug or a T-shirt to show that you're a fan of the show, we really appreciate it.

Until next time, and as always, I'm Ken Kramer.

Thank you for watching and for caring "About San Diego".

Bye-bye.

(uplifting jazz music) (uplifting jazz music continues) Maybe it's the openness, the way it makes us feel about the desert air.

I'm not sure... (Kens comically spits) - [Director] Gosh, these flies.

(peaceful music) - [Narrator] Support for this program, comes from the KPBS Explore Local Content Fund, supporting new ideas and programs for San Diego.

"Ken Kramer's About San Diego", made possible in part by... Walter Anderson Nursery with two locations, San Diego and Poway, a local resource offering plants and products for all your gardening and outdoor care needs.

Walter Anderson Nursery, independent and family owned since 1928.

Caring for a loved one with memory problems can be challenging.

Alzheimer's San Diego can help.

Offering support, education, resources, and social activities at no cost and without a diagnosis.

Visit alzsd.org to learn more or donate.

And by viewers like you, thank you.

(peaceful piano music)