If you happen to be driving down Seacoast Drive in Imperial Beach, you will probably notice the 1977 VW bus owned by John Haupt. Haupt, owner of the Beach Club Grille, decided he wanted his …

This month, Bimbo Bakeries closed all of its San Diego-area bakery outlet stores: in Kearny Mesa, El Cajon, Escondido, and Chula Vista. By shopping at the discount stores, many folks, particularly those on fixed incomes, …

Matthew Rothenberg would like to put San Diego’s music scene on the map. And the rest of the world’s as well, with a new website called Scene Roller. “It’s a group-driven, grassroots, music-history machine,” said …

Research into Elvis Presley’s first California concerts over the first week of April, 1956, has yielded new material about the San Diego dates, including unpublished photos of the rock icon backstage at the long-gone San …

O.B. alt-rock quartet Pretty Too Bad will release their debut full-length, Balloons, at the Casbah on Friday, April 1. April 2, nu-wavers the Very will launch The Discovery (Aural Gravy) with a release party at …

No doubt under the influence of the extravagantly titled “Supermoon,” March 19 was a day of nonstop partying for your humble Crasher. First, a birthday picnic in Bird Park for my friend Lauren. My roommates …

When he realized I was at Eleven to cover that evening’s show, Mark “Harpo” Delguidice’s face lit up. Although the Myspace for Harpco, his “folk/rock/blues/Americana” band, waxes wise-ass (“We vowed to forge ahead to become …

Thursday 31 Messi, Puyol, Xavi, Furia, Manso — ¡Ole! Barcelona lounge lovers the Pinker Tones roll into Til-Two tonight behind their latest, Modular, a melting pot of world beats (and languages) with an electro-funk attitude. …

Last year, Bay Area–artist Sonny Smith put on a gallery show in which he designed sleeves and labels for 7-inch singles by 100 imaginary bands. Smith, who’s also a singer and songwriter, recorded songs for …

More hippie than hipster, the Kava Lounge in Middletown specializes in natural, organic cocktails and has played a significant role in cultivating San Diego’s electronic, experimental, and world-music scenes. The lounge was among the first …

These days, Creed’s frontman Scott Stapp is a repentant man. “I’m on a quest right now, seeking things of a spiritual nature and really being honest with myself, in an attempt to be a better …

That last October, summer delayed her going, held time enchanted, even while sun slipped southward, kept birches green, blackberries on the vine, one perfect rose to dazzle our bedroom window, drove back the rain, allowed …

San Diego’s Embarcadero, the place of departure and arrival for vessels as small as fishing skiffs and as large as ocean liners, defines the city’s connection to the watery worlds of San Diego Bay and …

It was one of those moments that pop out of the Daugherty space-time continuum on its own. The lead-up was as ordinary as breakfast. San Diego State had just lost their Sweet 16 game, which …

Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which “are” there. — Richard Feynman Friday nights at D.G. …

My husband Patrick is the Dr. Frankenstein of bicycles. He takes a wheel from one, a seat from another, a pedal from a third, and patches together working bikes. He came by these skills early …

Wine bars are proliferating here at the speed of, well, gastropubs. Many of the earlier arrivals (and some new ones, too) offer only a few nibbles (cheeses, cured meats, bruschetta, etc.) as ballast for the …

Russell, Russell. This was your idea. Now I’m here, but you’re not. Russ died last month, you may have read. Pretty young. He was the Reader’s chief proofreader, which means he was a cross between …

“We were asked to sign individual liability waivers after we were loaded in and set up.” Robin Henkel says that prior to a recent gig at a local community college (he’d rather not specify which …

Membership: 500 Rabbi: David Castiglione Born: Brooklyn, NY Formation: Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio Ordained: 18 years San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your sermon? Rabbi David Castiglione: It all depends. It …

If there is a God…he must necessarily be just; for if he were not, he would be the most wicked and imperfect of all beings…. Men commit unjust acts because it is to their advantage …

Actors are the main interest this week — Paul Giamatti, Juliette Binoche, Jake Gyllenhaal, J.K. Simmons — and we offer a farewell to Elizabeth Taylor. Win Win What law of thespian karma could explain the …

Dante Graphic illustrator/filmmaker, theamericandreammovie.com Piranha 3D: A nice throwback to the ’80s, when directors weren’t shy about showing the essentials to a goodtime horror flick: beer, babes, and lots of blood. Alexandre Aja and company …

The Good Son: A.B. Grizzwald sits on a stool in his friend’s Golden Hill garage studio. Though he claims this is where he paints occasionally, everything in the studio — paint, canvases, radio, couch, rug, …

You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it’s all right. — Maya Angelou Forget marriage — my commitment with my man was consummated the day we …

Heymatt: Everybody in my family hates cabbage. And my dad and sister won’t eat broccoli. That got us wondering if taste is genetic. Did I inherit my cabbage hate from my parents? Broccoli’s not my …

Let the sunshine in. Well, partway, anyhow. Two prominent San Diego economists are bullish on local home prices, and because consumer spending relies greatly on home values, they are also optimistic on retail sales. Two …

Last June, I wanted to sell a bicycle. Where else to unload it but on Craigslist, right? A potential buyer emailed me within hours asking for details beyond what I’d posted on the site. After …

Thirty-Five Years AgoIn reference to Matthew Alice’s history of Alonzo Horton: The mainstay of Horton Plaza, the pseudo-classic, algae covered, pigeon fertilized eyesore known as the Fountain, had nothing whatsoever to do with Alonzo Horton. …

Peer To Peer Re “Yes, My Dad Works in Hollywood” (Cover Story, March 24). I loved this story. The writer is a young author, and I do not usually read the Reader, but I felt …