Xavier Nuez photographs alleys. His candy-colored images of urban decay have been exhibited internationally, including here at the San Diego Art Institute, and featured on NPR. Ruin is his gig. “History,” Nuez says. “Rust, bent …

Hay-On-Wye, a small village in Wales, is an unlikely bibliophile’s paradise. Nestled along the river Wye just across the Welsh border from Herefordshire, England, Hay-On-Wye boasts nearly 40 secondhand bookstores. There are no Borders or …

According to police radio, San Diego police were dispatched to Polk Street and Marlborough Avenue at about 2:40 p.m. on Wednesday, September 16, in connection with a fight involving about 20 people. A police dispatcher …

"We don't want our young children to become addicted to alcohol; addiction to alcohol makes a person crazy," said an elderly female during the Tuesday, September 15, Carlsbad city council meeting. The statement came minutes …

Tijuana’s Caesar's Restaurant on Avenida Revolución, reputed to be the spot where Caesar salad was invented, has closed its doors after more than 80 years in business. The Tijuana daily Frontera reported that the restaurant …

"There will be no more predatory towing in the streets of San Diego," said district attorney Bonnie Dumanis at a news conference on August 21, 2006. Clark Waters shakes his head. He has now fired …

A man armed with a knife on the 3500 block of Ashford Street was reported via police radio on Sunday evening, September 13. A dispatcher said that a caller had contacted police because a man …

Members of North County bands Wanted Dead and Irieside have come together to form Sound System. Wanted Dead is a hardcore street-punk band known for their wild stage presence, anti-authority anthems, and raucous fans. Irieside …

“Swagger Street” by Mag Flux was the most-downloaded MP3 from SDReader.com during August. Below is an interview with Mag Flux’s M.Y.O. You mention in your song “Swagger Street” showing your listeners “how we do it …

With summer’s heat subsiding throughout San Diego’s backcountry region, now’s the time to think about fat-tire-biking adventures on the back roads of the Cleveland National Forest. One great option is a looping ride of 25 …

Wayne Riggs served as a Navy chaplain from 1957 to 1988. Two years later, he put his collar back on and took over at Plymouth Church. The sleek collection of buildings fronting University Avenue was …

This started out as a hula-hoop column. The primordial hula hoop was a dorky fad of the 1950s. I wondered if the beast still lived, and if so, who feeds it? Onto the internet and …

Do this on a Friday or Saturday night — almost any night, really. Impress your date, your friends, kids, mom or dad, freak out your dog; it will only cost what you want it to, …

“Russ?” “Yup.” “It’s me. I’m in El Cajon.” I’m calling on my first-ever cell phone. Hate the end of freedom. But now I need this thing. “That Dubai restaurant you were crazy about? It’s closed! …

Alchemy doesn’t turn lead into gold, but its kitchen does turn good ingredients into palate-pleasers. Open seven months and well populated since Day One, it was bound to be a hit, given all the starving …

The world’s experts on all topics are huddling in Washington, D.C. One chap proclaims that he is the world’s ranking expert on goldfish. Inquires a layman, “Okay, how do you tell a male goldfish from …

Michael Bolton is following me. In perfect cadence, he belts “When a Man Loves a Woman,” down the boardwalk. Okay, so maybe he’s inside this 60-year-old’s iPod, rigged to the back of his bike cruiser …

My girlfriend told a coworker who was going out of town for two weeks that she’d watch her dog for her. As we were walking the woman’s yellow Lab through downtown streets, we noticed a …

In the nineteenth century, men lost their fear of God and acquired a fear of microbes. — Author Unknown Swine flu is tearing my family apart. Okay, maybe not the flu itself so much as …

I’m 38 years old now, and my mother has been after me to get a mammogram for three years. So, me being me, I started calling around and ended up speaking with Anita LaBreque, director …

Heymatt: Chollas Lake in College Grove has a radio tower that played a big role in WW2, or was the first radio tower of its kind in the U.S., or something fabulous. It’s still operational, …

Twenty-three years ago, the British music paper NME (New Musical Express) released C86 on cassette, featuring 22 songs by 22 new bands. Soon, music critics started using the term “C86” to describe other bands that …

What did the critics at Pitchfork.com hear when they vetted Why There Are Mountains, the debut album from New York’s Cymbals Eat Guitars? They heard the rumbling, screeching, and howling of an electric guitar (front …

The East West Quintet may be Brooklyn-based, but three of the band’s five members are from San Diego and migrated east, hence the band name. “My parents are both members of the San Diego Symphony,” …

She’d send, she proclaimed, “a message from above.” On Thursday, January 27, 1921, evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson stood in the cockpit of a Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny.” Wearing a leather coat and cap, tinted goggles across …

I’m standing in front of a real human body at Body Worlds and The Brain — Our Three Pound Gem, currently on exhibition at the San Diego Natural History Museum. It’s a real human body, …

What I Say, What I Do Am I the only person who noticed the ironic hypocrisy in pedicab driver Guy Harinton’s xenophobic rants “Pedicab Wars,” (Cover Story, September 10)? He decries non-American college students who …

Thirty Years AgoFAMILY OF PSA air crash victim (Sept. ’78) would appreciate hearing from other such families. WAVE JUNKIE: A dozen years of surfing and swimming experience and a desire to meet you. I am …

“It’s just sitting there empty,” says local reggae radio personality Makeda “Dread” Cheatom of the 1800-capacity Tijuana venue named Iguanas. “We’re coming in to reclaim it.” Iguana’s will have its first headlining show in over …

The East West Quintet’s name says a lot, geographically speaking. If you pick up the jazz-rock combo’s ambitious second album (this year’s Vast), you will see a shout-out to their East Coast base on closing …

“We’re putting two and a half million dollars into the building,” says Ernie Hahn, general manager of the Sports Arena for the past 13 years. “It’s been a year since AEG Live became a majority-owner …

San Diego police responded to a shooting at the Courtyard Marriott, located at 595 Hotel Circle South, on Saturday, September 12. At about 11:45 p.m., a police officer at the scene asked the dispatcher to …