Historian Bill Swank Recaps Clairemont’s 75th Birthday

Guest Post

Clairemont celebrated its 75th birthday with a “big bash” at the Clairemont Square on Saturday, October 18, 2025.

I spent the entire day at the Clairemont History Booth.

Visitors shared memories of playing in the canyons, riding their bikes to school, and gas stations on every corner of every major intersection.

Now, Clairemont Drive has only one lane. Clairemont High School will be getting a new mascot. Even Clairemont learned it can only sustain so many Starbucks.

The only constant in Clairemont over the past 75 years has been change.

Clairemont offered affordable housing for young families in the 1950s and 1960s. It is estimated that an annual income of $250,000 is required to purchase a home in Clairemont today. Many of the attendees are living in the homes their parents bought. One Bay Park woman is living in the home her grandfather built in the 1930s.

Clairemont History Booth Generates Buzz

The first man who came to the booth only wanted to talk politics. I explained that I am a historian specializing in the past. I was flattered that a retired English professor liked my “Squaremont” column [Bill wrote this column for the Clairemont Times newspaper]. I never forgot two important lessons from junior high English: The future tense and the past perfect.

Everybody seemed to remember DeFalco’s at the Quad [now Clairemont Village] and North Clairemont Square. (This was an older crowd. They still call it the Quad.) How many rode the carousel at the Square? Hung out at the Clairemont Bowl? Took “the 5 bus?”

A man remembered Skip Frye’s mother was his Cub Scout den mother and wrote for The Clairemont Sentinel newspaper. Actually, Mary Frye wrote a charming bi-weekly column, “Getting Personal,” for The Clairemont Press, Clairemont’s first newspaper.

Clairemont Santas

There were many special memories of Gabe Bradford, possibly San Diego’s first real-bearded Santa, who visited with kids for 40 years at the Square. A mother recalled when it was time to tell her daughter that Santa wasn’t real, the young girl didn’t believe her. The line was always long to see Santa, because he took time to talk with the kids. Her daughter knew he was real. I agree. Gabe Bradford was a real Santa.

I wore the red suit for over twenty years at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion during December Nights. There weren’t many children at Clairemont’s 75th birthday party. None would get close to me. Their parents and grandparents all made the same excuse: shyness. 

The Clairemont Times

I wrote the “Squaremont” column in the Clairemont Times for six years until COVID killed the newspaper in 2020. 

We are still recovering from COVID. It greatly affected the socialization skills of young children and may have killed Santa for them.

More Meet and Greets

My first Evening Tribune newspaper boy stopped to greet me. Hadn’t seen (or thought of him) in almost 60 years. He may have been the best paper boy we ever had.

My oldest son was having difficulty reading in the first grade. I was working nights, so I volunteered to help Mrs. Judith Starkey with reading at Toler Elementary School. Two kids from that first-grade class made a point to visit. They loved Mrs. Starkey. She was a great teacher, and they were great kids. They’ll turn 60 next year.

I retired in 1994 as a supervisor after a 31-year career with the San Diego County Probation Department. Three former probation officers were at the party. It was fun reminiscing with them. 

I coached youth baseball, basketball, and soccer in Clairemont when my kids were little. One of the soccer players came by. He asked me to autograph the 75th commemorative Clairemont magazine for him as “Big Play,” because that’s what I called him when he was playing soccer.

Ran into a guy I coached Little League with, the parents of a kid who plays for our American League Post 492 baseball team, a woman who was very involved with PTA, and another woman who is the sister of a friend. I’d only met her once previously. She was impressed that I remembered her name: Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen was the name of my first girlfriend.

A young man remembered when I spoke at a Memorial Day service beside the Mission Bay High School Vietnam War Memorial.

It was gratifying to have so many people I didn’t know share kind comments about my “Squaremont” column.

A woman was excited to tell me about how Clairemont got its name. Later, a man produced his driver license. His middle name was Cowley, and his last name was Burgener. He knew how Clairemont got its name.

It was a warm day full of smiles, laughter, pleasant memories, and the renewal of old friendships and acquaintances.

Two Clairemont Writers Unite

It was also a day to meet friendly new people. A woman named Tanja Kropf wanted her picture with me. She introduced herself as the publisher of  exploreclairemont.com, a new online newspaper. She asked me to write something about the birthday party. So I did.