Hotel residents: Are they really nonpeople, invisible thousands of men and women fleeing the responsibilities of family and property? That’s the role assigned them by public architects and urban planners who perceived them as a …
Thursday, December 22
Here we are again, kiddies. You’ve screwed away another 12 months making lists of things that never got done, watching twisted talk shows, and reading “Straight from the Hip” hoping Rikki Lake and I can …
Thursday, December 15
CHRIST! “8:45,” says the radio. Still shaving. It’ll be halfway up the Silver Strand already. Don’t rush, don’t rush. You’ll cut yourself. “Can you find my wallet!” I yell. I’m running round hauling trousers on. …
Dear Matthew Alice: Recently, as I lay sipping fine champagne and playing snugglebunnies with my latest female conquest, my visions of carnal delights-to-be were constantly interrupted by one niggling query: Why do champagne bubbles appear …
Matt: For such a hip state, how did California get such a dorky flag? Why is the bear staring at the star? What is he thinking? What is that red thing at the bottom? How …
Ten, 12 years ago I was talking to some small-press jerk, a publisher of pamphlets and broadsides and occasional 40-page books and such, who didn't much care for the Beats. His idea of a Real …
Thursday, December 8
Dear Matthew Alice: Is there such a thing as human pheromones? Some perfume company is selling something they claim makes men and women irresistible to each other because it mimics the human natural attractant chemicals. …
M. Alice: Is there any relationship between our local village of Nestor (east of I. Beach) and Nestorianism, the early Christian heresy? — Jim Edwards, Coronado Nestor a nest of Nestorians? Not likely. There once …
Hey, Matthew: What is it in raw spinach that makes your teeth feel gritty and funny? — Downtown Abe Think spinach makes your teeth feel weird — dig into a dish of rhubarb, friend. Both …
Dear Mr. Alice: Why is it that so many people bite their nails? — Michelle, San Diego It’s been studied scientifically, so there are a few reliable things to say about onychophagia. Unfortunately, “why” is …
Imperial Beach was originally part of an 1846 land grant from the Spanish Crown to the benefit of one Pedro Cabrillo. Queen Victoria was on the throne and Grover Cleveland was president when the first …
Dear Matthew Alice: The question I’ve always been meaning to ask: Why are flannel sheets warmer than cotton sheets? They aren’t just thicker and keep you warmer eventually, they feel warmer to the touch at …
“If you use eminent domain, you’re setting up people who spent life savings to live on the beach. Now, they’re going to be forced out to build a giant hotel for tourists from out of town.”
Thursday, December 1
Don Norman wanted a large latte made with decaffeinated coffee and low-fat milk. He told this to the college student behind the counter at the Grove Caffe, the coffeehouse set among one of the stands …
North County’s Iron Mountain thrusts its conical summit nearly 2700 feet above sea level, well above any low-lying wintertime haze over the coast and suburbs. On many a crystalline December day, the summit offers a …
Two factors helped bring the artistic use of stucco to a halt: modernism, with its emphasis on simple, unbroken planes, and the invention of the stucco “gun,” a machine process for blowing stucco onto walls.
My birth certificate reads "Patrick Daugherty." When I was a child everyone called me Pat. My first love, a big-busted, traveling woman, dubbed me Patrick, gave my full name back to me, but that happened …