Stories | Cover Story
Ex Pros
By Thomas Larson, Published Nov. 4, 2009
If ever there were a San Diego Charger whose postcareer success has matched his years spent on the field, it’s the great Ron Mix. Mix’s glory years came in the 1960s, when the Chargers were in ...
An Execution in the Hills
By Various Authors, Published Oct. 28, 2009
MISSION HILLS An Execution in the HillsBy Scafidi, March 24 “Hello, Zack. What’s up?” “Uh, hi, uh, Fred? It’s me, Zack.” “Yup.” “My cat’s got a gopher cornered over here. Can you come quick? And bring ...
Another Perfect Day
By Various Authors, Published Oct. 21, 2009
BALBOA PARK Another Perfect DayBy downtownphotoguy, June 26Today we were in Presidio Park in the morning and Balboa Park in the afternoon. We were shooting with a variety of lenses and techniques…. It seems everybody in ...
Foul Ball By Matthew Lickona, Published Oct. 14, 2009
It’s six o’clock in the evening on July 21, and the brilliant blue of the late-afternoon sky over San Diego is bleaching at the edges ... More Comment (1)
Please Don't Tell Anyone That Old Surfers End Up Here By Steve Sorensen, Published Oct. 7, 2009
Not long after the New Year, my friend and neighbor here in Zacatitos, Marilyn Z, sent me an email saying that, at 81 years of ... More Comments (14)
Soon There Won't Be a Barrio Logan By Bill Manson, Published Sept. 30, 2009
Barrio Logan?” says Dave. “I tell you, soon there won’t be a Barrio Logan. It’ll be swallowed up by downtown.” Dave and Tennessee and I ... More Comments (17)
San Diego became a beautiful blonde By Siobhan Braun, Published Sept. 23, 2009
I always pictured myself in California. After my boyfriend Aaron received job offers in Oklahoma City, Topeka, and San Diego, we decided we would head ... More Comments (258)
I’m King of This Alley By Alex Finlayson, Published Sept. 16, 2009
Xavier Nuez photographs alleys. His candy-colored images of urban decay have been exhibited internationally, including here at the San Diego Art Institute, and featured on ... More Comments (14)
Pedicab Wars By Bill Manson, Published Sept. 9, 2009
Roll 'em! Straight-to-camera, Guy Harinton yells, “Why can’t I kill one of them little fuckers?!” He’s frothing. Here, at the Embarcadero’s Coronado ferry landing, a ... More Comments (15)
Puppeteers: Eight powerful San Diegans who don't want to tell you what they do By Thomas Larson, Published Sept. 2, 2009
The tenth floor of San Diego city hall is like a submarine in the sky. Behind sealed windows and an electronic-buttoned security door are the ... More Comments (2)
Yay for American Cars By Matthew Lickona, Published Aug. 26, 2009
As I write this, Transformers 2 has just finished taking in over $200 million in five days. One of the main characters in that film ... More Comments (13)
I Was a High School Teacher Dropout By Alex Finlayson, Published Aug. 19, 2009
High school is a lot like the reality show Survivor. Mismatched people are plunked into a one-way-out lawless arena where they form alliances, learn from ... More Comments (14)
Hope for the Hopelessly Drunk By Joe Deegan, Published Aug. 12, 2009
Paul Bacon had long since advanced from detox to stints in jail. It was 2002 and he was incarcerated again, looking at 90 days. One ... More Comments (4)
No Cover Charge By Matthew Lickona, Published Aug. 5, 2009
I am old, I am old. I shall wear my trousers rolled. At 36, I’m a good two years out of the demographic sweet spot, ... More Post a comment
Do You Live Close to Snoop Dogg? By Victor Rice, Published July 29, 2009
In late May 2008, I woke up in my sister’s house in Indianapolis. I was getting ready to leave for the airport, and I saw ... More Comments (36)
Tiffany is Tall By Matthew Lickona, Published July 22, 2009
Tiffany is tall; her chunky red heels — dark red, bordering on purple — make her taller. Red seams run up the back of her ... More Post a comment
They Carry Guns By Rosa Jurjevics, Published July 15, 2009
It’s a beautiful day in Pacific Beach as Nate approaches the bronze pelican statue on the boardwalk. He’s slight and blond, spectacled and clad in ... More Comments (153)
What's so funny? By Matthew Lickona, Published July 8, 2009
“This is a joke,” says my three-year-old as she thumps into the kitchen. Patches of red dot her pale cheeks, and I can see nearly ... More Comments (6)
Ok, this is Tuesday, but where is everybody? By Bill Manson, Published July 1, 2009
Let’s say you’re a redhead. Duck, that is. Or a scaup. Or a falcon looking for rabbits. Or a coot, ruddy duck, bufflehead, or — ... More Comment (1)
If We Didn't Advertise We'd Go Broke Treating the Poor By Thomas Larson, Published June 24, 2009
Many of us watched the Chargers’ season-ending run this past winter and, amid the cheers and groans, saw a 30-second TV ad starring LaDainian Tomlinson. ... More Comment (1)
The Restaurant Issue Published June 17, 2009
It’s Hard to Eat With a Paper Bag Over My Head by Naomi Wise I arrived in San Diego nine years ago, a well-spoiled food ... More Post a comment
Please Don't Be a Weirdo By Rosa Jurjevics, Published June 10, 2009
“Single mom seeks same to share my home,” Christine Bevilacqua’s Craigslist ad reads. “$700 includes all utilities, laundry, internet, [satellite] TV, master bedroom and bathroom. ... More Comments (2)
Stay Away From Pinto Canyon By Robert Marcos, Published June 3, 2009
"There’s some petroglyphs over in Pinto Canyon," Frank said as he passed me on the trail. Frank Johnson, a handsome 75-year-old man, with flowing white ... More Comments (16)
You're standing right next to me but you're not there By Bill Manson, Published May 27, 2009
“I couldn’t believe it,” says the veteran San Diego lifeguard. “A kid shouted, ‘Hey, look!’ And I saw two of them with their parents, and ... More Comments (4)
Bless this crew of visionaries, joy-bringers, and nutcakes! By Thomas Lux, Published May 20, 2009
Before visiting San Diego’s Zirk Ubu, the last time I’d gone to the circus, I’d walked out with 50 pounds of elephant dung in a ... More Comments (5)
Who is the Union-Tribune's new owner? By Matt Potter, Published May 13, 2009
Almost 60 years ago, Tom Joubran immigrated to the United States from the town of Nazareth, once part of Palestine, and began a new life ... More Comments (11)
The whole world sleeps on my couch By Rosa Jurjevics, Published May 6, 2009
“Don’t,” says my stepmother. “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.” Her voice is tinny through the speakers of my cell phone. “Why not?” ... More Comments (7)
Searching for San Diego's Sea Turtles and a Job By Nasreen Atassi, Published April 29, 2009
I’ve been gone a long time. When I wake up in the morning and look out my window, the deep topaz sky over Carmel Valley ... More Comments (16)
Our Favorite Drinks and Where We Drink Them Published April 22, 2009
There are times, sometimes in the midst of otherwise polite conversation, when it comes out that I make my living writing for the Reader. The ... More Comments (36)
San Diego's Superhero By Ollie, Published April 15, 2009
A baby wails its first song in an unexceptional San Diego hospital. Doctors notice nothing special or unusual about the child. No clerics have wandered ... More Comments (9)
Church on Sunday? By Matthew Lickona, Published April 8, 2009
He looks like a regular young guy — maybe late 20s or early 30s. Head shaved to mask a receding hairline, a black goatee to ... More Comments (46)
"Mommy, why are they shooting at us again?" By James Iverson, Published April 1, 2009
Life in Tijuana goes on. The buses run, people go to work, kids go to school, traffic still jams the city’s arteries. But something has ... More Comments (28)
My Gender Is Bunny By Ernie Grimm, Published March 25, 2009
I’m sitting on a leather couch in the middle of a darkened black-walled, black-ceilinged room talking to a man who, at taxpayer expense, takes hormones ... More Comments (63)
Borrowed music. Borrowed look. Borrowed fame. By Jay Allen Sanford, Published March 18, 2009
In the 2001 film Rock Star, former rapper and underwear model Mark “Marky Mark” Wahlberg fronts a tribute band that pays sonic homage to his ... More Comments (22)
El Cajon By Bill Manson, Published March 11, 2009
The Hell’s Angel takes me aside. It’s 10:00, Saturday night. A bunch of them stand around outside their headquarters by a row of angle-parked Harleys, ... More Comments (5)
Waste time. Save money. Ride the bus! By Ollie, Published March 4, 2009
Here’s what you need to know before I begin this story. (A) I’d spent the week prior to all this camping out at an arts ... More Comments (7)
How much can you say in 7 letters? By Josh Board, Published Feb. 25, 2009
In some countries, you aren’t allowed to personalize the license plates on your vehicle. Other countries changed that rule when they saw the revenue it ... More Comments (67)
Bertha Bugarin Heads to Jail By Thomas Larson, Published Feb. 18, 2009
In October 2007, Michael Varga, a police officer assigned to the Chula Vista Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit, began interviewing women about the abortions they ... More Comments (5)
Please Let Me Sell Them Pest Control and Not Screw It Up By Cami Adair, Published Feb. 11, 2009
Sometimes I feel as if we’re the bugs, a colony of cockroaches, and Suite C is our secret lair. Every morning, I exit the freeway ... More Comments (11)
They’ve Taken the Dive Out of Dive Bars By Rosa Jurjevics, Published Feb. 4, 2009
“No matter what happens,” Chris Heaney declares with a grin, “no matter if the economy’s good or bad, you’ve got to drink.” He stands behind ... More Comments (13)
Hi. I used to live here. Can I come in? By John Brizzolara, Published Jan. 28, 2009
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, Freud pointed out. He would never have said the same thing about a house. Certainly Carl Jung would ... More Comments (3)
Deadly Mosquitoes Breed in Our Urban Drool By Geoff Bouvier, Published Jan. 21, 2009
A few days after an autumn picnic near Los Peñasquitos Lagoon, a local grade-schooler comes down with the flu. Fever, chills, headache, and he can’t ... More Comments (2)
Where Can I Get Some Peace and Quiet? By Ollie, Published Jan. 14, 2009
My cell phone was apparently assembled at gunpoint by drunk Yugoslavians in the year 1984. The only way for it to receive any sort of ... More Comments (11)
Bouncers: 97% Nothing, 3% Hell and Terror By Michael Hemmingson, Published Jan. 7, 2009
No Slashed Tires “It’s nothing like Road House, there’s no Patrick Swayzes,” says Ted Washington, who divides his time as a bouncer between Winstons in ... More Comments (9)
Why Local Radio Is No Longer Local By Thomas Larson, Published Dec. 30, 2008
If San Diego has a voice, it may be the plummy bass of Chris Cantore. Until December 2007, the Brooklyn native was an audible fixture ... More Comments (35)
Gangbangers to College Students By Barbara Davenport, Published Dec. 23, 2008
On a winter night in 2002, Christopher Yanov, the founder and sole staff member of Reality Changers, sat with a handful of eighth graders and ... More Post a comment
Would You Pay $750 for a Bike with No Brakes? By Rosa Jurjevics, Published Dec. 17, 2008
The bike is brown. It’s light in my hands; I can lift it over my head, which I do, just to try it, and it’s ... More Comments (6)
Go Directly to Jail...and Die By Thomas Larson, Published Dec. 10, 2008
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 ... More Comments (9)
It's Getting Ugly Downtown By Geoff Bouvier, Published Dec. 3, 2008
One Who’s Out and Wants In A man walks into the lobby of a downtown sales office on Sixth Avenue and G Street on a ... More Comments (19)
The Incredible Craig Venter By Matt Potter, Published Nov. 25, 2008
Atop one of the last open bluffs in La Jolla, on the campus of UCSD, a tattered homemade swing hangs from a giant old eucalyptus ... More Comment (1)
Shopping at Weedmart By Joseph O'Brien, Published Nov. 19, 2008
Colleen Daley lives on a sunburnt patch of overzoned Chula Vista real estate. She is besieged by the odiferous crosscurrents of wafting grease and the ... More Comments (5)
Hi, Connie. We’re ready for you. By Elizabeth Marro, Published Nov. 12, 2008
Human Lab Rats I am stranded inside an MRI machine. My arms are pinned to my sides; my head is immobilized; my nose lies seven ... More Post a comment
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