ON SEPT. 22, 1899 GARDEN GROVE RESIDENT George Hodgkinson wrote a letter to a friend in Missouri about his recent trip to San Diego. Here is a portion: “Came back by the way of Old Mission. A drive through the city passing through Mission Valley to the oldest of the California missions built by Francisco fathers in the year 1769. We saw the old Mission Bells and the Old Indian grave digger. I could not find out how old he was but he looks way past 100. We saw him in his garden by his little old shack. We saw their ancient grave yard. You must remember that these old clay buildings is pretty well crumbled down with old age and beating storms.” The entire letter is reproduced in the January issue of the Pacific Beach Historical Society newsletter. If you’d like a copy contact me at one of the numbers at the end of this column “WHERE DO YOU STAY?” “What?” “Where do you STAY?” “Do you mean where do I LIVE?” I called Ralph’s a while back and ended up in the Twilight Zone. I wanted to tell them about the shopping cart that had been abandoned in my alley. I used to do this a lot, but it seems these days that the stores don’t really care. And now I had run into either a language barrier or a minor stroke on my part. I gave them the address again, which isn’t all that easy when the cart is in the alley, and bade them a good day. The cart is still there, by the way. RED ROSES are in – yellow poppies are out. That’s how I view the 2011 license plate stickers. I’m taking a childlike pleasure toward the end of each year in anticipating what color the new tags will be. Don’t ruin it for me if you already know what next year’s will be. If you’re still sporting blue tags you might want to park in your driveway – backward. REGGIE DUBLIN is back – or maybe he never left. My morning newspapers (knock on wood) have been waiting for me at the old, early time. WOULD A PORSCHE LIE? The $60,000 Porsche Cayman ahead of me had a tail light out, so I eased up alongside the driver. I had to honk to get his attention. “Your left brake light is out,” I said. “That’s what it was just telling me,” he replied. “I didn’t know whether to believe it.” LICENSE PLATE FRAME on an SUV: “Honk if a kid flies out.” —John Fry may be reached at 272-6655 or [email protected]