Joseph Jessop had also considered New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, after studying weather reports.. But some acreage in what is now Scripps Ranch had proved irresistible to him, even sight unseen.

Dillard is one of those writers whose work I so admire that I dread interviewing them. I always think, before I dial up the telephone numbers, “I should leave them alone to do what they do so well.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune has launched what its top brass is calling a "major initiative" to boost circulation at the paper, which serves America's sixth-largest city but barely makes the top-20 list nationally in terms …

For 38 years you knew where to look for Henrich Boll, Celine, Jack Kerouac, Jane and Paul Bowles, William Burroughs, and Gertrude Stein. Sometimes Jim Thompson and Stendahl would be there, or you could catch …

Word around San Diego's city hall has it that the city council will almost certainly pick the so-called ballpark site for a new central library. Why? According to sources both in and out of local …

It's barely a month after more than a foot of late-season snow fell on the 6000-foot-high Laguna Mountains. The forest atop these rarefied heights is responding in a sluggish way to the melted snow and …

Wow! It’s serious hammer time out there somewhere relatively near us. I don’t feel overly anxious, nervous, pumped, or fearful. I should say not yet, at least. I'm sure it’ll be one hell-of-a rush when …

Matthew Alice: Considering the popularity and premium prices paid for Atlantic (Maine) lobster, one wonders why they can't be grown commercially on the Pacific Coast. I would guess that about every two years someone must …

Dear Matthew Alice: Can you tell me what the sand under the seats on the San Diego Trolley is for? -- Tracy, the Net Yes, I can. * * * Sorry, Tracy. Just an annoying …

To: Matmail: Our cat, Harley, always reacts to the presence of another cat. Why doesn't he react to his own reflection in a mirror? Your clarification of this question may save my marriage. -- dt …

Dear Matthew Alice: What came first, the tortilla chip or the potato chip? -- kiyotei, Kiyotei's Den I think we have to go with the tortilla chip, based more on logic than direct evidence. Corn …