According to a survey of 4600 teenagers (aged 12–17) conducted recently by Mediamark Research Inc., 89 percent of teens say they have been in dating relationships, 57 percent regularly date, and 33 percent have a …

Name: Gretchen Kauffman Age: 25 Occupation: Technical designer for Reef Been Surfing: Five years Pre-Surf Music: Slightly Stoopid Gretchen, an O.B. resident, has just experienced her first bit of sexism on the beach. “This guy …

How Low Can You Go? Just took a gander at this week’s offering. All that I can say is egads! Leading off with an article about obtaining pentobarbital in TJ to off yourself (“Suicide Tourism,” …

Just how ideologically polarized is San Diego’s state legislative delegation? Pretty much, judging from a recently released scorecard of how legislators voted on a series of critical bills. But some are more absolute than others. …

Late summer has been a busy fund-raising time for opponents and advocates of Proposition 8, the measure on November’s ballot to ban gay marriage in California. And, in what has become a regular theme of …

One of La Jolla’s most august and well-heeled institutions is throwing a fund-raising party inspired by the classic 1970s porno movie, Debbie Does Dallas. A flyer for the September 6 bash, “Debbie Does Disco,” put …

Thirty Years AgoMoving through the shadows along Fourth Avenue is a man who appears to be another holdover from last night’s revelry. But as he draws nearer, the yellow light from the Cabrillo Theater reveals …

The kids rolled and patted. Celia sautéed onions and ground beef. I watched and learned. We were having an Argentinean day in our home. Hot empanadas were to be served for dinner. My friend Celia …

Last week I wrote about a ‘50s party. This week, we move forward a decade into the Summer of Love. I wore a crazy orange shirt with flowers all over it that I bought in …

If it’s true that men are such beasts, this must account for the fact that most women are animal lovers. — Doris Day According to a recent article in the Boston Globe, over 80 percent …

I busted my damn foot. I was in ninja school; we were practicing that throw-the-egg-full-of-explosive-powder-down-and-disappear thing when the new guy in the purple sweats disappeared in the wrong direction and stomped my foot. “WAAAAA!” I …

Surf, sand, and picturesque bluffs. Salty breezes and the ever-present licorice scent of wild fennel. The rhythmic bumping of your bike tires over the pavement of an old four-lane highway, abandoned save for the occasional …

“Hurting people loved here,” read the tall, black letters on the sign outside North Park Baptist Church. “I think that’s started getting us in contact with people we don’t normally get contact with,” said senior …

Unlike some nattering nabobs of negativism in the local press, I thought our San Diego State Aztecs played with skill and enterprise against those beasts from upstate San Luis Obispo. Hell, if the game ended …

Many people will tell you, when the subject comes up, that one’s dreams are uninteresting to others. I do not find that to be the case, but what I do find is that most people …

Shakespeare’s range was enormous. He could charm with Twelfth Night, enchant with Winter’s Tale, go deep with Hamlet and Lear. But what if only one play of his survived? And what if that play were …

E.J. Wilson sings it like he really means it. “No one can take your happiness, long as you/ Do what you gotta do.” That’s exactly what he’s doing. What he has to do. Busking. We’re …

Girls just wanna have fun, and aging-boomer foodie girls especially wanna have fun at the table (as other options become scarcer). Tabule offers that kind of culinary gambol. (Not gamble — I didn’t taste anything …

Is the proposal to build a 40-foot-high, 100-acre concrete deck over the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal so far-fetched from an engineering and economic viewpoint that it is really a hoax? Is the envisioned project, which …

It seemed as if everyone who worked at our local hospital knew Jake. A self-proclaimed “recovered hater of doctors,” he became a fixture, volunteering in the emergency room. The wisecracking 86-year-old’s wrinkled face, slumped shoulders, …

Rolling Stone once wrote that Alejandro Escovedo is his own genre. I agree, with this caveat: Personal as it may be, Escovedo’s music sounds familiar. Not familiar in the way of the plagiarist, mind you, …

Someday, someone will write a musical history of the first decade of the 21st Century and come up with definitive answers to these questions: What was with all that grandiose indie pop? The 17-member bands …

“One of the most important predators in the kelp forest is the California sheephead, a fish that changes sex during its lifetime,” says marine ecologist Edward Parnell. All California sheephead begin life as females and …

Mary Lynn Price, Underwater Videographer One of the aspects of underwater imaging that most appeals to me is the rhythm and motion of the underwater world — it’s like music. Two DVDs that have really …

I took my girlfriend to see the Creepy Creeps at the Casbah. She had never seen these local legends, and they were playing with two other local bands I like — the mostly female Glossines …

By now, huge portions of San Diego’s literate and book-buying public know that Chuck Valverde, owner of Wahrenbrock’s Book House on Broadway, downtown, died on Saturday, August 23, from respiratory illness and complications at the …

Have passions cooled? Can we discuss calmly? Without dispute The Dark Knight was the big story of the cinematic summer, which is the same as saying the big money of the summer, $500 million domestic …

Artist:Plane Without a Pilot Song: “What I Would Do” (from the CD It’s about Time) Heard By: Tony Diprima, Mission Bay The first thing I heard was a “pang” cymbal, which bummed me out. It’s …

“We are the creators of the personal paparazzi phenomenon,” says Reggie Waller, president of Private Paparazzi, which he calls “the first company to offer an authentic paparazzi experience.… They’ll never know you aren’t famous.” The …

“Poppy music is coming back again. When everybody [originally in blink-182] is out of work long enough, we may see them get back together,” says an insider who has dealt with the band before. When …

Comedic singer-songwriter Happy Ron – aka Ronald Hill – recently attended a weeklong “How Music Really Works” seminar/retreat in Canada. “On one of the last days,” says Hill, “I had the opportunity to perform my …

Robin Henkel: “I remember that I [fell] asleep onstage one time. Before a show with Big Rig Deluxe, I’d eaten a huge Mexican meal and was sitting in this comfy chair playing steel guitar. It …

Before Willie Nelson plays Harrah’s Rincon Casino on Sunday, September 7, he requires the venue to post a $5000 deposit with the William Morris Agency and another $10,000 “shall be presented to the Artist’s representative, …

Mr. Alice, Sir: I’ve never seen you or anybody else for that matter take on this situation. Maybe the answer is too obvious, but I don’t understand how. I like frequenting upscale bars and mingling …

Recipe by Martin Gonzalez, executive chef, Acqua Al 2. I really like to cook — at home or at a friend’s house. Even when I’m invited to a barbecue, I manage to take over the …

LIBERTY: SCENES FROM SAN DIEGO’S SHORE-LEAVE HISTORY DANA TOURS SAN DIEGO “A sailor’s liberty is for a day,” writes Richard Henry Dana in Two Years Before the Mast, “yet while it lasts it is perfect,” …

Solana Beach, summer 2002. A job interview. “So you like to post on the Internet a lot,” said the human resources person. “Yeah,” I said. “How do you know?” “Did some online investigating.” The term …

In 1980, the City of San Marcos made a pledge: for every 1000 residents they would have five acres of parkland. Over the past 28 years, the population of San Marcos has swelled to more …