2008 San Diego LGBT Community Center's Wall of Honor Posthumous Honoree. Co-founder of the Greater San Diego Business Association.
Businessman and community leader Fred Acheson was 55 when he died of AIDS complications on Feb. 9, 1992.
Son of Alfred Johnsen and Vashta Phoebe Hill
Born in Los Angeles, Acheson graduated from West high School in Phoenix and attended the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs before joining the U.S. Air Force, where he trained as a navigator. After his discharge he returned to college and earned a degree and teaching certificate, then settled in Southern California and taught in elementary schools while living in Los Angeles and Manhattan Beach. Upon deciding to change careers, Acheson raised avocados on a ranch near Ramona for 10 years before moving to San Diego.
An early investor and later a partner in Update, Acheson was involved in the Greater San Diego Business Association (GSDBA), San Diego Zoological Society and Being Alive-San Diego, and helped start the San Diego AIDS Project in 1984. He was also a great country-western dancer and a founding member of the Iron Spurs dance group.
A member of The Center's board of directors when the organization was just forming, Acheson was active in the San Diego LGBT community from the early days of its organizing. He also helped The Center find its first official home as a member of the real estate partnership which included Jess Jessop, Howard Marsa, Gary Rees, Mary Jones and Lois Lippold, that purchased a lot in Golden Hill containing the house where The Center rented space before moving to Fifth and Robinson.
Acheson was co-owner of The Club bar for a time and was sole owner when it evolved into BULC, which he ran for seven years, until it was sold shortly before his death. He also owned the Loading Zone bar for many years, as well as Diablos, a lesbian bar. Prominent in the leather community, Acheson's bars sponsored candidates for the International Mr. Leather contests and held many fundraisers for AIDS organizations since the beginning of the epidemic.
Content in part courtesy of Update
________________________________________
By the 1970s, the LGBTQ community was in a stronger position to advocate for themselves. Not only did Fred Acheson, who was gay, help start the San Diego AIDS Project in 1984, and not only was he involved in the Greater San Diego Business Association and the San Diego Zoological Society, but he was also the owner of the gay and lesbian bars, the Loading Zone, Diablo's and the Club – the last of which had at one time been owned by Lou and Carol Arko. He was also proud of his prominent role in the leather community. This combination could not have been possible or even imaginable 20 years earlier.
In 1979, several gay businessmen, including Ron Umbaugh, owner of the Crypt, Frank Stiriti, owner of the Vulcan Steam & Sauna, and Fred Acheson, owner of several bars, founded the Greater San Diego Business Association.
________________________________________
Fred never married and had no children. He attended Colorado College and UCLA. In between, he was a navigator in the Air Force. He lived out the rest of his life in Los Angeles, then San Diego, CA.
Businessman and community leader Fred Acheson was 55 when he died of AIDS complications on Feb. 9, 1992.
Son of Alfred Johnsen and Vashta Phoebe Hill
Born in Los Angeles, Acheson graduated from West high School in Phoenix and attended the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs before joining the U.S. Air Force, where he trained as a navigator. After his discharge he returned to college and earned a degree and teaching certificate, then settled in Southern California and taught in elementary schools while living in Los Angeles and Manhattan Beach. Upon deciding to change careers, Acheson raised avocados on a ranch near Ramona for 10 years before moving to San Diego.
An early investor and later a partner in Update, Acheson was involved in the Greater San Diego Business Association (GSDBA), San Diego Zoological Society and Being Alive-San Diego, and helped start the San Diego AIDS Project in 1984. He was also a great country-western dancer and a founding member of the Iron Spurs dance group.
A member of The Center's board of directors when the organization was just forming, Acheson was active in the San Diego LGBT community from the early days of its organizing. He also helped The Center find its first official home as a member of the real estate partnership which included Jess Jessop, Howard Marsa, Gary Rees, Mary Jones and Lois Lippold, that purchased a lot in Golden Hill containing the house where The Center rented space before moving to Fifth and Robinson.
Acheson was co-owner of The Club bar for a time and was sole owner when it evolved into BULC, which he ran for seven years, until it was sold shortly before his death. He also owned the Loading Zone bar for many years, as well as Diablos, a lesbian bar. Prominent in the leather community, Acheson's bars sponsored candidates for the International Mr. Leather contests and held many fundraisers for AIDS organizations since the beginning of the epidemic.
Content in part courtesy of Update
________________________________________
By the 1970s, the LGBTQ community was in a stronger position to advocate for themselves. Not only did Fred Acheson, who was gay, help start the San Diego AIDS Project in 1984, and not only was he involved in the Greater San Diego Business Association and the San Diego Zoological Society, but he was also the owner of the gay and lesbian bars, the Loading Zone, Diablo's and the Club – the last of which had at one time been owned by Lou and Carol Arko. He was also proud of his prominent role in the leather community. This combination could not have been possible or even imaginable 20 years earlier.
In 1979, several gay businessmen, including Ron Umbaugh, owner of the Crypt, Frank Stiriti, owner of the Vulcan Steam & Sauna, and Fred Acheson, owner of several bars, founded the Greater San Diego Business Association.
________________________________________
Fred never married and had no children. He attended Colorado College and UCLA. In between, he was a navigator in the Air Force. He lived out the rest of his life in Los Angeles, then San Diego, CA.
2008 San Diego LGBT Community Center's Wall of Honor Posthumous Honoree. Co-founder of the Greater San Diego Business Association.
Businessman and community leader Fred Acheson was 55 when he died of AIDS complications on Feb. 9, 1992.
Son of Alfred Johnsen and Vashta Phoebe Hill
Born in Los Angeles, Acheson graduated from West high School in Phoenix and attended the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs before joining the U.S. Air Force, where he trained as a navigator. After his discharge he returned to college and earned a degree and teaching certificate, then settled in Southern California and taught in elementary schools while living in Los Angeles and Manhattan Beach. Upon deciding to change careers, Acheson raised avocados on a ranch near Ramona for 10 years before moving to San Diego.
An early investor and later a partner in Update, Acheson was involved in the Greater San Diego Business Association (GSDBA), San Diego Zoological Society and Being Alive-San Diego, and helped start the San Diego AIDS Project in 1984. He was also a great country-western dancer and a founding member of the Iron Spurs dance group.
A member of The Center's board of directors when the organization was just forming, Acheson was active in the San Diego LGBT community from the early days of its organizing. He also helped The Center find its first official home as a member of the real estate partnership which included Jess Jessop, Howard Marsa, Gary Rees, Mary Jones and Lois Lippold, that purchased a lot in Golden Hill containing the house where The Center rented space before moving to Fifth and Robinson.
Acheson was co-owner of The Club bar for a time and was sole owner when it evolved into BULC, which he ran for seven years, until it was sold shortly before his death. He also owned the Loading Zone bar for many years, as well as Diablos, a lesbian bar. Prominent in the leather community, Acheson's bars sponsored candidates for the International Mr. Leather contests and held many fundraisers for AIDS organizations since the beginning of the epidemic.
Content in part courtesy of Update
________________________________________
By the 1970s, the LGBTQ community was in a stronger position to advocate for themselves. Not only did Fred Acheson, who was gay, help start the San Diego AIDS Project in 1984, and not only was he involved in the Greater San Diego Business Association and the San Diego Zoological Society, but he was also the owner of the gay and lesbian bars, the Loading Zone, Diablo's and the Club – the last of which had at one time been owned by Lou and Carol Arko. He was also proud of his prominent role in the leather community. This combination could not have been possible or even imaginable 20 years earlier.
In 1979, several gay businessmen, including Ron Umbaugh, owner of the Crypt, Frank Stiriti, owner of the Vulcan Steam & Sauna, and Fred Acheson, owner of several bars, founded the Greater San Diego Business Association.
________________________________________
Fred never married and had no children. He attended Colorado College and UCLA. In between, he was a navigator in the Air Force. He lived out the rest of his life in Los Angeles, then San Diego, CA.
Businessman and community leader Fred Acheson was 55 when he died of AIDS complications on Feb. 9, 1992.
Son of Alfred Johnsen and Vashta Phoebe Hill
Born in Los Angeles, Acheson graduated from West high School in Phoenix and attended the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs before joining the U.S. Air Force, where he trained as a navigator. After his discharge he returned to college and earned a degree and teaching certificate, then settled in Southern California and taught in elementary schools while living in Los Angeles and Manhattan Beach. Upon deciding to change careers, Acheson raised avocados on a ranch near Ramona for 10 years before moving to San Diego.
An early investor and later a partner in Update, Acheson was involved in the Greater San Diego Business Association (GSDBA), San Diego Zoological Society and Being Alive-San Diego, and helped start the San Diego AIDS Project in 1984. He was also a great country-western dancer and a founding member of the Iron Spurs dance group.
A member of The Center's board of directors when the organization was just forming, Acheson was active in the San Diego LGBT community from the early days of its organizing. He also helped The Center find its first official home as a member of the real estate partnership which included Jess Jessop, Howard Marsa, Gary Rees, Mary Jones and Lois Lippold, that purchased a lot in Golden Hill containing the house where The Center rented space before moving to Fifth and Robinson.
Acheson was co-owner of The Club bar for a time and was sole owner when it evolved into BULC, which he ran for seven years, until it was sold shortly before his death. He also owned the Loading Zone bar for many years, as well as Diablos, a lesbian bar. Prominent in the leather community, Acheson's bars sponsored candidates for the International Mr. Leather contests and held many fundraisers for AIDS organizations since the beginning of the epidemic.
Content in part courtesy of Update
________________________________________
By the 1970s, the LGBTQ community was in a stronger position to advocate for themselves. Not only did Fred Acheson, who was gay, help start the San Diego AIDS Project in 1984, and not only was he involved in the Greater San Diego Business Association and the San Diego Zoological Society, but he was also the owner of the gay and lesbian bars, the Loading Zone, Diablo's and the Club – the last of which had at one time been owned by Lou and Carol Arko. He was also proud of his prominent role in the leather community. This combination could not have been possible or even imaginable 20 years earlier.
In 1979, several gay businessmen, including Ron Umbaugh, owner of the Crypt, Frank Stiriti, owner of the Vulcan Steam & Sauna, and Fred Acheson, owner of several bars, founded the Greater San Diego Business Association.
________________________________________
Fred never married and had no children. He attended Colorado College and UCLA. In between, he was a navigator in the Air Force. He lived out the rest of his life in Los Angeles, then San Diego, CA.
