A cemetery would be started above Old Town the following year, but it was too far away for people in New Town. Old Town was a Catholic community, and Protestants were streaming into New Town and forming churches.

When I asked Luis Valdez, the playwright and filmmaker, about his creative process, he said his work is often influenced by the Mexican muralists of the 1920s -- Siquieros, Orozco, Tamayo. "The murals of these …

For years, Mel Shapiro, a retired accountant who spends much of his time as a watchdog of the goings-on at San Diego's city hall, suspected that the city council was not being straight about what …

Some interesting San Diego business connections are coming to light as a result of the controversy over who paid for those TV spots against school-board member Frances Zimmerman. A venture-capital fund called Sorrento Associates -- …

As temperatures cool in the desert east of San Diego, campers and hikers are again fanning out over the spacious 1000 square miles of territory in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. If it's solitude you're looking …

“What you have are all the Asians hanging out with each other in the cafeteria and with each other after school. We are thought of as the Asian clique, not Koreans or Filipinos or Vietnamese or Chinese.”

“It’s funny, too. The people I really wanted to meet were writers. I had some notion of meeting Flannery O’Connor, you know, or even now, I imagine meeting Cormac McCarthy. Writers were my heroes.”

Hey, Matt: At the corner of Ash Street and Fourth Avenue there is a strange-looking, Gothic-style building. I've never seen anyone go in or out. Over the front door it states "SDG&E." What goes on …

Mr. Alice: In beautiful Clairemont, behind the DMV on Chateau Drive, there's a strange-looking triangular building at the corner of Verley Court. It's encircled by a fence and has security screen doors at either end. …

Dear Matthew Alice: On my drive home, I pass by a house that's in a weird spot. It's a yellow house that sits between Camino del Rio South and Interstate 8, just east of where …

Dear Matthew Alice: Off I-8, above Adobe Falls in Del Cerro, there is a house with an assortment of white rocks that spell out the name "Oliver." This landmark has been visible from the freeway …

Hey, Matt: At Sandrock Road and Aero Drive, on the Montgomery Field light aircraft parking lot there stands a gigantic yellow biplane with a four-blade prop. It's big enough to carry maybe 15 passengers and …

Perky, energetic, and alert, Julie Hotz-Siville doesn't look as if her health is in danger. Her cheerful demeanor betrays no sign of worry or fatigue. It's hard to believe that at 45 she has already …

When word broke two weeks ago that a group of local fat cats was paying for more than half a million dollars' worth of TV ads against San Diego Unified School District boardmember Frances O'Neill …

Dick Rider, the taxpayer-activist who went to court back in 1997 in a failed bid to throw out the now-controversial Chargers stadium deal, is out with a cutting critique of the San Diego Taxpayers Association's …

Wait for a late fall or winter storm to clear the air, then try this viewful trek to Sierra Peak, a rounded promontory anchoring the north end of the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange and …

Like two predatory birds performing a mating ritual high above the mountains, twisting and looping around one another before they lock together and fall hundreds of feet, still spinning, until they break apart moments before …

How did this curious hybrid of jazz, blues, hillbilly, and Vaudeville come to pass?

In the time of Junipero Serra, Adobe Falls, at the east end of Mission Valley, was a year-round source of water for the padres and Indians at the Mission San Diego. Until the 1920s, it …

As San Diego police sergeant Boyd Long stopped on the Coronado bridge to check a stalled car, he immediately noticed something was amiss. The stranded motorist stepped away rather than beckon for assistance. "Then it …

Contributions to the campaign of county supervisor Ron Roberts, a San Diego mayoral hopeful, from county data-processing contractors keep rolling in. According to disclosures made public last week, employees of Science Applications International who gave …

Every 29 or 30 days -- weather permitting -- the natural rhythms of the sun and moon, plus the glassy exteriors of San Diego's tallest buildings, deliver a visual feast to those who are in …

The politicians of San Diego have a well-earned reputation for laundering campaign contributions. In the past six years, no less than five major funding scandals have erupted, resulting in a series of five- and six-figure …

“Liberalism went from being populist to being corporate, from being Jeffersonian to being New Deal. And it had its greatest successes, and it also had its greatest defeat, as a result of that change."

Mark Bucon’s plan is to spear fish at a spot along the Northern Baja coast known only to him and a few other guys. Five minutes before we arrive, he unties a black bandanna from …

My spine was being wracked sideways, then back, my neck whipping brutally into sudden, unnatural movements that brought sharp pain. The screams of the others were hoarse, incomprehensible gibberish.

The first thing you notice about Bob Guthrie's appearance is his hands. They're huge -- the hands of a man who's worked hard using them. His physique is unusually hard and lean for a 59-year-old …

On concluding its December 6, 1999, session, San Diego City Council honored a community volunteer, but few people knew Janice Kay Loesel or how she died. Councilman Juan Vargas described her as a tireless member …

Hollywood is promising a forthcoming movie about a famous scam artist who currently lives in San Diego, and now they can add a new twist to the story. Barry Minkow, who did a seven-year stretch …

MA of Reader: I was just looking at a hummingbird feeder outside my window, and I began to wonder if the sugar mixture would eventually begin to ferment. If so, how long would it take? …

Dear Matthew: Over the years I've walked most of San Diego's beaches and noticed the lifeguard stations have numbers on them. I've seen them as high as the 20s and 30s. On Mission Beach, just …

Dear Matthew Alice: We grew a lot of corn this year, and some of it got this gross-looking gray and white crud on the ears, so we picked all those and put them out to …

The languid pace of life on Santa Catalina Island reflects its aloofness from the increasingly frantic business of living on the Southern California mainland. A weekend visit there is truly relaxing, whether you choose to …