"This gym, NeoSpa, opened in 1988. It was started by a Russian group that came to Tijuana. They came up with the name and made the original investment. They also opened a disco and a …

My phone rang. "Hi, this is Josh from Girls Gone Wild , and I've got..." "Girls Gone Wild?" I asked. "Yes, sir," his crackly, immature voice croaked over my receiver. "Josh, is it?" "Yes, sir. …

Visiting Frost: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Robert Frost, edited by Sheila Coghill and Thom Tammaro. University of Iowa Press, 2005; 180 pages; $39.95 hardcover; $17.95 paper FROM THE DUST JACKET: A …

"'Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers,'" said Pastor Doug Baker. Baker quoted America's first Supreme Court justice, John Jay. Baker's quote was in response to the nomination process of chief justice nominee …

There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman? -- Woody Allen 'Don't make eye contact," I whispered as we walked in the door. But my …

King of Tribes is a troupe of urban San Diego DJs who spin the sounds of hip-hop and reggae. They include Dash Eye, Rashi, Kofi, Unite, and MC Tefsa and can regularly be found at …

Tens of millions of years in the making, Devil's Punchbowl is without a doubt Los Angeles County's most spectacular geological showplace. Looking into this chasm, you immediately sense the enormity of the forces that produced …

Oh, the things a child brings home from school. My son, a third-grader, came home yesterday begging for "royal meat" on his birthday. He insisted that sirloin meant Sir Loin, that it had been knighted …

Nine Inch Nails manager Jim Guirenot wants it made clear that the band's aborted Cox Arena show on September 16 had nothing to do with drug use on the part of drummer Jerome Dillon. The …

When Business Lady found the location of the first date on their first national tour -- a former urinal cake factory called the Bill Hicks Resurrection Laboratory in Houston, Texas -- they had a feeling …

"It's time for us to embrace the suck," 91X DJ Marco Collins told San Diegans last week upon his return to local airwaves. Collins worked at 91X in the '80s, when it became the first …

Promoter David Raynes, who recently brought live bands back to the Royal Palace in El Cajon, died September 19. "They found him Monday morning in bed," says Eric Dogol of Society's Victim. "He's been sick …

"Before, it was this really old dingy dive bar, but now it's classy and funky," says Bethany Main, an SDSU senior majoring in interior design. She got the job of remodeling the Morena Club from …

"It is not my fault that the sound man didn't even show up until after 11 p.m.," says Candye Kane in an e-mail to fans titled "Tio Leos Controversy," referencing a September 9 show. Phat …

'I get there about a half hour before the show starts. Normally, a cavy [guinea pig] show is a one-day thing. If I'm flying in, I'll arrive the day before. Someone picks you up, takes …

The City of San Diego doesn't know its assets from a hole in the ground, and neither does the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System, we learned last week. So what else is new? Sloppy …

Up there in the pantheon of California's 1990s financial swindlers is Donald Marquis Bickerstaff. Bickerstaff was charged in 1997 with a Ponzi scheme involving 75 investors, the majority women, in San Diego and Marin counties. …

Off to the races Former San Diego school superintendent Alan Bersin, currently GOP governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's secretary for education, is busy raising campaign cash for L.A. city attorney Rocky Delgadillo , who's running in next …

'The success rate of dogs making the find is very low nationwide. One of the reasons for this is that people are not where we are looking for them," says Jan Frazee, president of Southwest …

“We had two or three strollers lined up against a wall with infants sleeping in them.”

“It’s a motorcycle gang. But they’re good people. They do lots of charity rides.”

Movies reviewed this week: A History of Violence and Flightplan

I was invited to a midweek luncheon for realtors in Chula Vista. The woman who invited me, Lu Pizarro, insisted I wear cowboy attire, as it was a Western-themed party. I threw on a Western-style …

California cuisine as it's often cooked in San Diego can be a big bore, with featureless combinations and all-too-familiar fusiony flavorings. I was bored last week (last month, last year) -- but I wasn't bored …

Twenty-Five Years Ago A new instructor in the San Diego State economics department assigned his students Macroeconomic Models and Policy, which costs $22.95 and was written by department professor Yiannis Venieris. What aroused the ire …

They Are Always Watching Me I noticed my four-year-old with her thumb in her mouth. I said, "Aren't you a little old to be sucking your thumb?" She replied, "I not sucking my thumb. I …