Stories | Feature Stories
Less Dense, Fewer Homeless, More Sky
Published May 7, 2008
Having lived in San Diego since 1980, one would think that I would have long ago gravitated to residence in the northern portion of the county. It seems, by consensus, to be more generally livable an ...
San Diego's Urban Explorers
Published May 7, 2008
DOWN IN THE DRAINS: It’s on the first sunny day after a string of rainstorms when Robert R. slides his blue SUV to the side of the road somewhere in UTC. In the passenger seat ...
The King of the Casbah
Published April 30, 2008
Art Brut and the Hold Steady both want deli trays. Casbah owner Tim Mays and his manager Andrew review the contract from each band’s management the day before both are set to play a show ...
Four and Twenty Blackbirds Published April 23, 2008
As a child stirring mud and as an adult, sifting flour and blending in shortening, nothing has seemed as intriguing to make and to contemplate ... More Post a comment
They'd Think I Had 'Roid Rage Published April 16, 2008
A friend of mine saw a guy walking two dogs downtown. He had the biggest arms she had ever seen. The guy is Paul-Jean Guillaume: ... More Comments (4)
Go Greased Lightnin' Published April 9, 2008
Paul Patrzalek’s house in La Mesa is impossible to miss: Outside in the front yard sits a 10,000-pound truck with a camper shell that looks ... More Post a comment
How Sam Became the Cooking Guy Published March 26, 2008
Sam Zien is a regular guy. He’s a husband, he’s the father of three teenage boys, and he has two dogs, an orange Labrador and ... More Comments (4)
Couldn't Be Better Published March 19, 2008
“We never had speed down here,” Verne Dodds remarked. I nodded, agreeing with my former JV basketball coach, going back 40 years and more to ... More Post a comment
It's Not Really Ink Published March 12, 2008
I walked into Body Marks Tattoo and Piercing on El Cajon Boulevard, a few blocks from the 805 and right next to a strip club. ... More Comments (4)
After They Shot Juan Published Jan. 30, 2008
Tijuana: Valentine’s Day, 1938. In the most notorious crime in the young city’s history, an all-night search by relatives, friends, and authorities ends at dawn ... More Post a comment
The Native Published Jan. 23, 2008
It was a little over a year and a half ago. I left my old, faithful, beat-up Karmann Ghia stowed in a garage in La ... More Post a comment
Bushwhacked Published Jan. 16, 2008
The Louis Almeida case should be closed. During a seven-year period in the ’80s, he took San Diego art collectors for hundreds of thousands of ... More Post a comment
Cattery Published Jan. 16, 2008
A cloud of fog hangs over the mountains as morning begins at the Friends of Cats shelter in Flinn Springs, a small community just west ... More Post a comment
Up on the Hill Published Nov. 15, 2007
Del Cerro, which is Spanish for “of the hill,” is located just off I-8 at College Avenue. Turn north onto College and there it is, ... More Post a comment
It’s Fairly Easy to Get Bored Around Here Published Oct. 18, 2007
Bonita lies in the Sweetwater Valley, nestled inside three freeways--I-805 to the west, 54 to the north, and 125 to the east. To the south ... More Post a comment
A Marine in Iraq Remembers La Jolla Published Oct. 4, 2007
My neighborhood is a memory. I’ve been gone so long I can’t remember what’s real and what’s invented. It doesn’t matter much, I’m in a ... More Post a comment
City Heights Hell Published Oct. 4, 2007
On July15th, 1991, we moved into this house. After the last of the boxes had been delivered, we went to sleep with the windows open ... More Post a comment
Intuition Led Her to Encinitas Published Oct. 4, 2007
The 100-degree days and the half-hour minimum commute to anywhere was beginning to suck the life out of me. I’ve always said, “Life’s too short ... More Post a comment
Borrego Springs, 92004 Published Oct. 4, 2007
Sure it was 117 degrees a few days ago and we have to drive more than an hour to buy organic vegetables or underwear. We ... More Post a comment
Everyone Plays in Pacific Beach Published Oct. 4, 2007
People here see how it all fits together — earth, sea and sun; spirit touching flesh. Where I grew up, they just hope they can ... More Post a comment
Valley Center Name-Dropping Published Oct. 4, 2007
Eleanor Roosevelt. Betty Crocker. Wyatt Earp. Those are some of the famous names associated with my neighborhood. And then there are the celebrities: Fred Astaire, ... More Post a comment
A Name Change for Santee? Published Oct. 4, 2007
In my neighborhood, each driveway is pretty much a snapshot of the next on Halloween. Snapping fires rise from washtubs turned firepits or new Target-purchased ... More Post a comment
South Park Eden Published Oct. 4, 2007
Behind my back garden, my ex-boyfriend with the golden eyes perches like a buzzard in the house my brother-in-law built for him. I avoid my ... More Post a comment
A North Park Valentine's Day Published Sept. 27, 2007
It is 8:14 a.m. and the sun is already shining strongly through the blinds like a peeping Tom, only more annoying. Last night I tossed ... More Post a comment
Kensington, My Family's Village Published Sept. 27, 2007
It was 1971. My husband, Bill, and I were in our mid-20s and had a six-month-old baby girl named Amy. We were just a couple ... More Post a comment
Flatulent Stuffed Animals in Ocean Beach Published Sept. 27, 2007
I've been an Ocean Beach girl for eight years. All this time, I've lived the way most people in O.B. do. I've lifted my mood ... More Post a comment
La Mesa's Anything-but-Normal Avenue Published Sept. 27, 2007
Normal Avenue in La Mesa doesn't have much in common with Normal Street in San Diego. That didn't stop the Hillcrest plumber that 1 called ... More Post a comment
A Feeling of Hope in Rancho Bernardo Published Sept. 27, 2007
How do I even begin to tell you about the incredible turnaround my neighborhood has taken? I will start here. Hi, my name is Mychal ... More Post a comment
The Virgin of Mission Beach Published Sept. 27, 2007
I get these crazy dreams about her, the kind where I know I'm dreaming, so I can do whatever the hell I want. Sometimes I ... More Post a comment
Coronado Saved Me Published Sept. 27, 2007
When I was 28, and a man much too old for me had again broken my heart, I spent most of my free time in ... More Post a comment
Love Thy East Village Neighbor Published Sept. 27, 2007
My wife Beth and I moved from the quiet suburbs to an old, remodeled warehouse loft in downtown's East Village five years ago. We loved ... More Post a comment
Gilded Shams: The Great American Fraud (Part Three) Published Sept. 20, 2007
You wonder if Alfred Huntington Isham knew his last name harbored a confession of guilt. Maybe he did. But given his dim view of human ... More Post a comment
Gilded Shams: The Fountain of Youth (Part Two) Published Sept. 13, 2007
Depending on who tells the story, when Captain Charles Fitzallen sailed from Cardiff, Wales, aboard the Challenger in 1887, he had a bald spot either ... More Post a comment
Gilded Shams: Observatory on San Miguel Mountain (Part One) Published Sept. 6, 2007
They named a crater on Mars for Richard Anthony Proctor. The British astronomer (1837–1888) not only popularized his subject, he enjoyed making controversial claims: that ... More Post a comment
Laugh as Much as You Breathe Published Aug. 30, 2007
The females in my family are bastions of advice. Regardless of the subject, they assert their superior knowledge and follow up with at least three ... More Post a comment
One Weird Gig Published Aug. 2, 2007
The “bookstore” was a front room that had a few shelves of triple-X-rated magazines. A shaggy clerk charged me $2 admission (traded for eight machine ... More Post a comment
Library Love Published July 26, 2007
December 2006 Sitting in the Learning Resource Center at San Diego City College. I am among at least 100 empty chairs, many of them comfortable ... More Post a comment
Their Own Little World: Mission Beach Published July 12, 2007
In Mission Beach, every foot of space counts. Five surf shops, four bars, a handful of restaurants, a resort hotel, a Turkish-style coffee lounge, and ... More Post a comment
A Great Place to Stop, Settle, and Hide Out Published June 14, 2007
With its rolling hills, undisturbed land, grazing cattle, and old men in overalls, Flinn Springs seems worlds away from downtown San Diego. Yet it’s only ... More Post a comment
Their Own Paradise Published May 3, 2007
Paradise Hills lies in a small corner of southeastern San Diego, butting right up against National City and State Route 54. It's a low-lying neighborhood, ... More Post a comment
Contentment-by-the-sea Published March 15, 2007
Not one but two signs on San Elijo Avenue inform visitors — and locals — that they’ve arrived in Cardiff. The first and more prominent ... More Post a comment
New and Old: North Park Upgrades Published Nov. 22, 2006
While North Park's boundary lines are debated, its hub is the intersection of University Avenue and 30th Street, which is where its story begins. Just ... More Post a comment
Bird Talk Published Aug. 3, 2000
hen she walks along Pacific Beach in the warm evenings of summer, Renee Lowe turns heads. The 38-year-old has long brown hair and the good ... More Post a comment