Clairemont Stories

Leap Day

I heard from a friend of a friend about a leap-year party in Clairemont. I brought a few of my friends who are in their late 20s. I didn’t think there was much of a ...

San Diego Church of Christ, West Congregation

“I want to encourage you to enjoy really close fellowship today — about 15 people to a pew,” said Pastor Mark Wilkinson as the congregation poured through the doors of the small, spare church. The ...

Burger Creativity

"We never got to go to McDonald's. Sometimes we were pretty hungry."

Helen Copley and Vince Miranda

Thirty Years Ago Vince Miranda, king of the Pussycat Theaters, had blown into town and was visiting his new venture, the Backstage. It was past 9:30 p.m., time for the show, and Miranda was watching ...

Lorna And Three Teen-Age Friends, 1965

In June of 1965, the Evening Tribune sent a photographer to 3535 Tomahawk Lane in Clairemont. The angle of the story isn't clear today, but the assignment sheet reads: "Take photo of Lorna [Montgomery, standing, ...

La Jolla Liberal Learns Tolerance from Clairemont Republicans

Editor's note: More than 600 San Diegans submitted stories for the Reader "My Neighborhood" writing contest. Ocean Beach led all communities with over 20 entries. Writers 10 to 87 years old sent pieces from as ...

The Sarcastic Killer

A boy 3-1/2 months old was the youngest homicide victim in San Diego County during the first half of 2007. The oldest was a 75-year-old woman. Both were killed by family members, allegedly, the infant ...

Dirty Harriet

When my friend Mike told me that he was offered a gig to announce for a San Diego roller derby team, I responded, "San Diego has a roller derby team?" I had yet to see ...

Piercing Party

Have you ever seen a party in a movie and wondered why the parties you go to are never as cool? Well, I went to a bash in Clairemont that was as cool as one ...

Horror in Clairemont

There are no good girls gone wrong, just bad girls found out. -- Mae West Jen and I sat on the bench in the entryway to the theater. We rested our backs against a poster ...

Horizon Christian Fellowship, Clairemont

"Come, now is the time to worship," crooned the praise leader to the congregation. Then he turned his call to heaven: "Come, Lord Jesus, come." Then back to the people: "Let the pain and the ...

Clairemont Church of God

"We have a new song today," announced worship director Janet Werdowatz. "It's a new song by Chris Tomlin called, 'Made to Worship.' We were made to worship Him -- that is our first purpose of ...

East Clairemont Southern Baptist Church

Nearly everything about East Clairemont Southern Baptist's church was unabashedly midcentury Modern, from the rust-orange carpet and pew cushions to the rough-face concrete block to the space-age chandeliers to the quarter-circle shape of the place, ...

St. Mark's United Methodist Church, Clairemont

Glass, stained in various shades of smoky watercolor blue -- indigo, teal, cornflower -- covers nearly all of the church's side and back walls. Here and there, slashes of red and orange catch the light, ...

Reformation Evangelical Lutheran Church, Clairemont

"A prayer before worship," read the screen at the front of the tidy church, its oak-and-white simplicity spruced up with poinsettias, garland, wreaths, and Christmas trees outfitted with gold and white ornaments fashioned along Christian ...

Roller Derby Queen

I heard about a party for a company called CH1 Productions. As I drove to the Clairemont location, I assumed it would be in a studio, but it was a house with a RockStar Energy ...

Three Slushees, Two Pools, One Old Lady

A party I went to in Clairemont had trouble written all over it. The host had a live band in a residential area, and he took down the fence separating his house from his neighbor's ...

Missing Chef Found in Clairemont Mall

The last two years, we've seen a game of musical chefs. Now it's progressed to musical restaurants, with a mad swirl of newcomers replacing old- and not-so-old-timers. In a recent change, Cucina Italiana ("Italian kitchen") ...

Hop Heads

When I was invited to an "S & M" party in Clairemont, I didn't know what to expect. I imagined people snapping leather whips and wearing ball gags in their mouths. Approaching the party, I ...

Ho Down

Pimp 'n' Ho parties have been popular for years. Someone asked me if I thought it was because Julia Roberts's character in the movie Pretty Woman glamorized prostitution. I think it's because of the hip-hop ...

San Diego Citadel Corps

"People are depraved and are slaves to sin. God can forgive us of that sin through Jesus' resurrection," said Major Warren Dabis when asked about the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. "We should ...

Surprise Ending

I went to a party last year when local author Jennifer Coburn released her first book, The Wife of Reilly. I was surprised when she had a party for her next book, Reinventing Mona, coming ...

The Sound of Music

I had two parties one night that couldn't have been further apart in the music spectrum. The first was for a heavy metal band, and the second was hosted by a woman who works at ...

Eighth Church of Christ Scientist

"[As Christian Scientist nurses] we do not give medicine, take temperatures, or read people's pulses," said Betty Miller. Miller works at the Lynn House, a Christian Science nursing facility in Encinitas. The Christian Science treatment ...

Delayed Whomp

I spent all last summer without a lick of barbecue crossing my lips. So by late fall, the craving for the taste of smoke reached a crisis. I began a quest for new "Qs" and ...

Eight Million Ways To Drink

I play poker with a group of guys, and one always deals a game called Diablo. I never thought I'd hear the word outside the poker party. But when Marcy called to invite me to ...

Sweet 50?

I always liked that old technique of starting a story with a famous quote or song lyric that fits the subject. When I got the invite to go to a girl's Sweet 16 party, my ...

Top O’ The Muffin

I didn't get invited to a single party on Halloween. Maybe that's because it fell on Sunday and everyone had their parties on Friday and Saturday. I went to about ten different ones and figured ...

Fast Times at Clairemont High

A round the time of my ten-year high school reunion, two movies about reunions came out (Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and Grosse Pointe Blank). I always thought writing about a reunion would be ...

Best of 2003: Best Custom-Built Guitars

Zolla Guitars 8360 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, Suite 104, Clairemont www.members.cox.net/bzolla/index.html 858-576-9655 Bill Zolla has been building custom guitars, necks, and bodies since 1979. Each instrument is built to order according to the buyer's choice of ...

Best of 2003: Best Pizza

Via Italia Clairemont Square 4705-A Clairemont Drive, Clairemont 858-274-9732 There's New York pizza, and there's Chicago pizza, and there's icky chain pizza. What Via Italia offers is something else entirely: Italian pizza. There's only one ...

Best of 2003: Best Jewish Lunch

Sheila's Café & Bakery 4577 Clairemont Drive, Clairemont www.sheilascafe.com 858-270-0251 Sheila creates dishes everybody eats, from Italian to Mexican to ribs to fried chicken to desserts like cheesecake, but in a way that allows observant ...

Best of 2003: Best Jewelry Designer

Mary Hicklin, Virgo Moon 5519 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard #269, Clairemont www.virgomoon.com 619-443-0518 With original pieces like "The Crack Between The Worlds" necklace, and "Jaguar Tassel," Hicklin turns beads, stones, and fossils into art, and each ...

Yes 70 votes

No 84 votes

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