Do you know when the first newspaper in San Diego was published? The man in the photo is John Judson Ames (1821-1861), who came to California under the influence of the Gold Rush in 1849. The first issue of La Estrella de Los Angeles (The Star of Los Angeles) appeared May 17, 1851, and it became the pioneer newspaper of the Southwest; Ames's San Diego Herald came out on May 29, just twelve days later. The Herald was at first a four-page four-column paper, published every Thursday. The paper contained a fair amount of local news and was well formatted and printed. The principle Ames set for the newspaper was "Independent, but not Neutral." A newspaper is the best record of a city; it retains the stories and changes of a city. John Judson Ames was a picturesque and interesting figure in the early American settlement of the Southwest.

• Portrait of San Diego Newspaper Pioneer