Francisco Castaneda came to the United States from El Salvador during its civil war of the 1980s. Fleeing the violence, his mother crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in 1982 with Francisco, aged 10, and his …

Swing Dance Performance from the Bal-Swing-Boogie Bugs at the Firehouse Swing Dance 10-year Anniversary Party, December 10, 2008.

Give Us Happy Hours I am writing to make a suggestion. I think most of the restaurants Naomi reviews are too expensive for many of us, while Ed’s restaurants tend to be dives. I suggest …

The arrest last week of Esteban Núñez, the 19-year-old son of ex–Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, in connection with a murder during a late-night rumble near San Diego State, has brought new focus on the former …

La Jolla’s General Atomics, which makes the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle and is working on a new generation of experimental nuclear-power reactors, has entered into a deal with Eastern Kentucky University to make fuel from …

The tarnished legacy of ex–University of California president Bob Dynes — the onetime UCSD chancellor who was forced from UC’s top job following a series of high-profile payroll and administrative scandals — has taken yet …

Los Angeles five-piece Darker My Love takes their name from a song by the punk band TSOL, and one of their two vocalists used to be in the hardcore band the Nerve Agents, but that …

Call them guitar geeks. They are mostly middle-aged white working-class guys who have a thing for guitar heroes past and present. After an evening of guitar pyrotechnics, they will crowd around the bar and pound …

Melissa Vaughan writes hopeful, heartfelt piano ballads reminiscent of Norah Jones by way of Tori Amos. “My songs have a lot of genres all crumpled together,” she says. “I have some jazz, some folk, some …

“Every single gift must have its proper folds,” says Lisa Koide Halverson. “In America, on Christmas, you don’t wrap a present in black — usually red or green. On Easter it’s usually wrapped in pink …

The natural suspicion surrounding any and all of the “alternative” programs at the Reading Gaslamp (né Pacific Gaslamp) is that these must be films that the Landmark chain turned up its nose at. Rejects. Undesirables. …

Thirty Years AgoVictorian melodrama, on the other hand, does not lie high on anybody’s list of significant art. It is not even a current art, one worth attacking in order to raise the quality of …

Our street is aglow with candy cane lights, snow globe Santas, and icicle lights. The chilly nights bring the smell of wood fires in the fireplace. The Kelly family is beginning its holiday traditions. With …

I remember the first time I came in to a little money as a teenager and went to buy Christmas gifts for friends and family. I went to the Fashion Valley mall and remember walking …

Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life. — Sophia Loren To say I was “looking forward” to Thanksgiving would be a gross understatement. I was giddy with anticipation. This would …

People have called me a “hater” because I’m quick to give my opinion on most everything and usually within my stated opinion the word “crap” pops up. If you ask me, “What did you think …

Almost everyone has awakened one morning filled with remorse over the previous evening’s behavior. Perhaps it was the time, drunk as a billy goat, you bepissed the boss at the office Christmas party. That’s what …

The wall of windows looking into Green Valley’s vestibule was frosted around the transparent words: “Believe, Belong, Become...self-control, kindness, faithfulness, goodness, patience, peace, love.” Inside the vestibule stood a painting of what looked like a …

Gentlemen, please remove your hats. For the first time in Sporting Box history, I am pleased to offer congratulations to the A-R-I-Z-O-N-A C-A-R-D-I-N-A-L-S. Funny how that name rolls awkwardly off the tongue, making a strange, …

I will (the mountain or Allah willing) have turned 58 years old by the time this appears, assuming it does at all. Anything I might be ready to carve in stone looks increasingly like folly …

Talk of Broadway surrounds The Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea, an African retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen fable. If the buzz refers to the cast, one of the finest ever assembled at the San …

And then the Great King came forth, and he did spake, saying, “Let There Be Law!” Thirty-seven centuries later, I’m lookin’ him in the eye, raising my glass mug of chai, and saying, “Sir, you …

For a few decades — roughly Carter through Clinton — old-fashioned French restaurants seemed increasingly vieux chapeaux, in view of the lighter, cleaner-flavored “new French” cuisine fermenting during those years. That was also the period …

"Bench to the Bus Stop," by Nature of the Beast, was the most-downloaded mp3 from SDReader.com during November. Below is an interview with members of the group. Ollie: I just gave Nature of the Beast …

Artist: Jesse JohnsonSong: “Spread the Love” (from the CD Cause and Effect)Heard By: Peter Milmoe, New York City I thought he had a great voice. The song had a lot of movement, but it was …

Mission Beach author Lee Silber has a radical idea when it comes to starting up a new business in today’s economy: aspiring business owners might be better off using Jimmy Buffett’s business model over billionaire …

If you bought a ticket through Ticketmaster to see the Wu-Tang Clan last Friday, you were helping Ticketmaster’s bottom line almost as much as you were patronizing the House of Blues. If you bought a …

Bill Drake, who created Boss Radio, the Top 40 format that dominated American radio from 1965 to about 1972, died November 29 of lung cancer. The radio pioneer was 71. Drake’s fast-paced Boss Radio format …

According to drummer Bill Ray, “My friend called and said, ‘Hey, I’m watching this Smithsonian Channel program narrated by Morgan Freeman, and you’re on it!’ I was, like, WTF?” The TV show, Sound Revolution, included …

“Music played on the harp has several unique healing properties,” says Christina Tourin, founder and director of the International Harp Therapy Program. Based in San Diego, the program trains students to provide comfort and healing …

Mattster: Say somebody has a liver transplant and then they die a while later in an accident. Can they take out the transplanted liver and give it to someone else? What would happen if somebody …

Name: Sunshine Granaldi Age: 28 Lives in: Gaslamp Quarter Surfing: Ocean Beach Post-surf food: Pho Ideal surf vacation: Thailand “Surfing almost ruined my wedding. My husband and I got married in La Jolla two years …

Diminutive Rocky Oaks Park is typical of the many small properties that have been purchased or earmarked for future acquisition by the National Park Service in the continuing effort to flesh out the Santa Monica …

Trail biking in a north San Diego canyon seems to be running up against its own popularity. Deer Canyon is part of a new preserve in the City of San Diego’s open-space system, whose management …