One man's search for Christianity's core.

Wednesday morning, April 8, as I was strolling down Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach, I noticed that one of O.B.'s most controversial stores had been vandalized. Wings Beachwear, located in the Strand Theatre building at …

Last Saturday night, April 4, a knife-wielding teenager trying to rob a video-rental store in Tijuana’s Buena Vista neighborhood looked familiar to the store’s owner. And for good reason: the same young man had returned …

Councilmember Carl DeMaio believes the city needs to focus on reducing waste at city hall before it begins charging residents for waste removal at their homes. The statement comes in response to an April 7 …

Hey, Matt: Some time ago I was checking out San Diego on Google Earth. On Coronado Island, at what I am told is the Special Forces training facility, there exists a large building that has …

Hubby Patrick despises Easter grass. “It’s like the plague!” he complained over our nightcap. “It gets everywhere and clogs up the vacuum. Who created this stuff? This year, no Easter grass will enter the Kelly …

Thirty Years AgoA Sunday afternoon last month on the Ocean Beach pier. The fellow in the yellow short-sleeve shirt and sunglasses was carrying three small boxes wrapped in white paper and ribbons. Mike Hall had …

Wild Weekend, one of the San Diego buzz bands at South by Southwest, broke up just days after returning from the Austin music fest. “It was my decision,” says Wild Weekend singer-guitarist Maren Parusel, 26. …

Slightly Stoopid is one of San Diego’s biggest-drawing bands. They sold out the Open Air Theatre last summer, and a date to play with Snoop Dogg at Cricket Amphitheatre will be announced this month. But …

When MTV2 started airing episodes of VBS.tv — Vice magazine’s video documentary series — it did more than introduce fans of From G’s to Gents and Cribs to North Korean tourism, Mexican death tabloids, and …

Scott Mercado didn’t know what to expect for Manuok’s first European Tour. Not long into it, the band — consisting of Mercado, Andrew Trecha, Geoff Hill, Jeff Grasmick, and Erik Berg — was pleasantly surprised. …

“Whiskey Down,” by Dannicus Live, was the most-downloaded MP3 from SDReader.com during March. Below is an interview with Daniel. What in particular inspired “Whiskey Down”? The song was written by a former bandmember, Tim Cartwright. …

On March 23, stocks were headed for a fabulous 7 percent gain. The Obama administration had just come out with a program in which private investors could buy toxic bank assets by putting up almost …

The service was scheduled to start at 6 p.m. At a quarter to six, the doors of the domed white church were still locked, but there was movement, and lots of it, in the next …

Back with Pattie Pinkerton, UCSD women’s crew head coach. She did student time at San Diego State in the ’70s, rowed in the USA National Championships from 1975 to ’84, was a competitor at the …

Not all Fridays — let’s face it — are fun, games, leisure, and license. Some suck. Not unlike a very recent one, a several-day visit to what I will call Palomino Hospital in the horse …

Call your play Rabbit Hole, and you conjure images of a tardy white hare shouting “I’m late!” with a ticking clock tucked under one arm. Given David Lindsay-Abaire’s other works — Kimberly Akimbo, about a …

History’s in the air. Talk about hidden jewels. Turns out that here in National City they have the only original transcontinental railroad terminus in the United States still standing. Since 1882, the depot has been …

In the strict scientific sense, we all feed on death — even vegetarians. — Mr. Spock, Star Trek My friend Hanis has a tattoo of a pig on his left forearm — a simple outline …

They say your home is your castle. So it is with Jim’s place, which is shaped like a castle. He’s known as the P.B. Millionaire. The St. Patrick’s Day party he hosted was downtown at …

With gentle grades most of the way, the San Juan Trail is tailor-made for a leisurely saunter from the Main Divide of the Santa Ana Mountains to the lower foothills. Due to an elevation change …

On New Year’s Eve, Howard Jackson was in court with Ellen Falcone, his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child. For more than nine years, the last three in Oceanside, the two had shared custody of …

LETTERS Home Improvement I am commenting on your article on the current violence in Tijuana and Mexico (“Mommy, Why Are They Shooting at Us Again?” Cover Story, April 2). Such comments by the Baja governor …

The first time I heard the Donkeys’ “Excelsior Lady,” I thought they were singing, “sexy lady.” Fortunately, I was wrong. But almost everything about the Donkeys — from the Crosby Stills and Nash harmonies to …

Even though they’re from Colombia and do not sing a word of English, Aterciopelados (which translates as “the Velvety Ones”) are straight out of the rock-and-roll playbook of the America of the late 1960s. With …

Wendy Bailey is an old-fashioned pop songstress with a big splashy sound akin to, say, Carole King or Sheryl Crow. “Most of my songs are short, sweet, and full of jangly pop hooks,” says Bailey. …