Hillcrest Stories | San Diego Reader

Boys Are Petty

Gamer Girl at Nerdcore night says, “We all grew up on Nintendo and Star Wars.”

Serious Food Here

“It’s been a rough one. I work 12 hours, seven days. My parents — and they’re in the restaurant business — said I was crazy doing this."

It’s about 9:00 at night. Wednesday. I hear a ripple of people clapping. I look in through the door of this café I’ve never noticed before. Place is filled. Can hear the thudded Ps of ...

North Park Volunteer Patrol Will Target Rowdiness Outside Bars

At a March 13 meeting at the Lafayette Hotel, the North Park Community Association sponsored a meeting at which the Stonewall Citizens' Patrol presented their plans to expand into the North Park area. The volunteer ...

Martinis Above Fourth

American humorist James Thurber once said, “One martini is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough.” While most of us instinctively know this to be true, there’s no better place to ...

Hillcrest Business Association Proposes Rainbow Flag on 65-Foot Flagpole

On Tuesday, February 7, members of San Diego’s LGBT community gathered to celebrate the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to strike down the ban on gay marriage. Despite the rain, approximately 150 people bearing ...

City Council Seeks to Build Normal Street Linear Park in Hillcrest

At its January 10 meeting, the San Diego City Council unanimously agreed to send a grant application to the State of California for a proposed Normal Street Linear Park. The $4.7 million project would create ...

From a Bean

I can understand why people think I don’t like kids. I don’t have any children of my own (nor do I want any), and I’m often the first to pipe up in a crowded area ...

Caltrans Deems Georgia Street Bridge Deficient

The San Diego City Council on November 1 approved an amended agreement with Simon Wong Engineering for services on the Georgia Street Bridge renovation. This will add an additional payment of $493,000, boosting the firm's ...

Obey. Consume. Repeat.

The satiric message of a popular Shepard Fairey mural is being obscured by, of all things, upscale retail. The giant eye stares forever into a blank wall. One might assume the developer is opposed or ...

Construction Begins on Florida Street HousingWorks Apartments

For many years there were rotting bungalows along Florida Street, between University Avenue and Robinson Avenue. The San Diego Housing Authority gave a loan of $4,900,000 over two years ago to Florida Street Housing Associates, ...

Dreams of a Tropical Lagoon

On any regular Monday, most restaurants in San Diego are closed — on July 4, well, forget about it. That evening, Sam and I planned to see a movie in Hillcrest and wanted to get ...

Hello, So Long, Au Revoir

I’d spent most of a hot muggy afternoon at the dentist’s office, getting inspected and x-rayed and filling out a long, nosy form that began with “Are you alive? Y/N.” The obvious thing to do ...

Slow Down at Caffe Vergnano 1882

"Everything here is imported,” Kaitlyn says. “Everything?” I ask. “Everything, except for Ferrila and me.” Ferrila, the other barista, gives a little wave from the strangest espresso machine you ever did see. It’s like a ...

Joy Ride

You just can’t trust people. Beneath every bit of apparent altruism, of friendliness and good intentions, under the layers of pretense we spend a lifetime collecting and carefully positioning...we are, each of us, in every ...

Big Flavors at Bayu's Ethiopian

Picking an Ethiopian restaurant presents a draconian choice: you can head for one of the cramped little places in City Heights (Asmara and Red Sea) for authenticity or choose more spacious places (Muzita or the ...

Toofy

I finally understand why some people feel the need to make up a story to explain an obvious injury. A cast on your leg, a scar across your arm... a chipped tooth. I'm no stranger ...

Chomp and Chat at Côté Sud Bistro

Cote Sud appears to have closed for good. Please see Ed Bedford's update of Monday, May 9. For posterity's sake, here is the review: "You sit next to Eva,” says Carla. “Then we won’t bump ...

Consider the Condo

Almost a decade ago, when I worked in a high-rise office building downtown, some coworkers and I stood at a corner window and counted the mega-sized cranes that dotted the scenery. “One, two, three, four,” ...

Will Hillcrest Get Its Garage?

For years residents of Uptown lobbied the City to reform the Uptown Partnership, the agency responsible for administering the community parking district in Hillcrest, Mission Hills, and Banker's Hill. They criticized the agency for ineffectiveness, ...

This Little Piggy — Tre Porcellini

The very week that I received the elaborate press kit from Tre Porcellini (which means “three little pigs”), Barbarella mentioned the restaurant favorably in her column. Knowing her and David’s fine palates, I looked at ...

Miniaturized Antica

As mad fans of Trattoria Antica in La Mesa, my friend the Lynnester and I were thrilled to hear that its exuberant Sicilian chef Francesco Basile had opened a new place in Hillcrest. (Here, his ...

What's Normal at Amarin Thai?

" Remember, green curry. Don’t come home without it!” Carla’s words ring in my ear. She’s been on a curry binge ever since I hit the Indian food truck six weeks ago. Says it helps ...

Is SANDAG Reprogramming Hillcrest Seniors?

On Wednesday, December 15, representatives from SANDAG (San Diego Association of Governments) held an informational meeting on the Mid-City Rapid bus project at Cathedral Towers, a senior living facility near the corner of Park Boulevard ...

Ohr Shalom Synagogue

Membership: 350 families Rabbi: Scott Meltzer Age: 41 Born: Akron, Ohio Formation: Harvard University, Mass.; Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem, L.A., N.Y. Years Ordained: 14 San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your sermon? ...

A Six-Minute Fix for San Diego's Mid-City MTS

Richard Rachel steps out of the front lobby of the Egyptian residential mid-rise where he owns a condominium and walks ten feet to the bus stop at Park Boulevard and University Avenue. Buses stop at ...

Hillcrest DMV Parking Lot Open After Hours

During an October 5 San Diego City Council meeting, councilman Todd Gloria announced that an agreement had been made that will result in Hillcrest having more parking spots. “The Department of Motor Vehicles parking lot ...

Martin Calderon, Scrap Metal Sculptor of Hillcrest

I was walking around Hillcrest recently and wondered what's with the lifelike metal animal sculptures in front of houses on the 3700 block of First Avenue. I found out through the Hillcrest Town Council that ...

Field Rations at Letty's Bean Shack

"See the field?” says this guy waiting for the Number 3 bus. “Your place is just past it. Looks like the Little House on the Prairie.” A field? In Hillcrest? Carla and I have been ...

Hillcrest the Motion Picture

Sunday, August 8, 1:30 p.m.The 26th annual CityFest sees a bustling Fifth Avenue blocked off to vehicle traffic from University to Brookes with 250-plus vendors, 150,000-plus attendees, and lines extending out the door of every ...

Makes Me Want to Cry

“Hey-hey, ho-ho, all the phobia has got to go!” Was the chant from hundreds of gay, lesbian, transgender, and straight supporters of same-sex marriage during a massive march in Hillcrest on Wednesday evening, August 4. ...

University Christian Church

Membership: 400 individuals Pastor: Tim Tiffany Age: 64 Born: Kansas City, Kansas Formation: University of California Los Angeles; Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana Years Ordained: 30 years San Diego Reader: Can you think of a ...

Coffee Culture

Java Joe’s last official promotion at the Café Libertalia on Fifth Avenue in Hillcrest was Bushwalla’s performance on Saturday, July 17. For the past year, Joe Flammini had an arrangement with Libertalia owners Donna Orlando ...

More Free Parking

Following a catered dinner at the Joyce Beers Community Center, the June 8 Hillcrest Town Council Meeting got under way. A panel of three voiced their opinions and answered questions pertaining to the issue of ...

Hey, Partner, What’s the Deal?

In May 2009, councilmembers Kevin Faulconer and Todd Gloria sent a letter to Carol Schultz, executive director of Uptown Partnership, the agency responsible for increasing the parking supply, enhancing pedestrian use, and easing traffic flow ...

One-Man Show

From the front of the room, Stephen Whitburn, candidate for District 4 county supervisor, introduced himself to the 30 residents sitting inside the Joyce Beers Community Center in Hillcrest during a May 11 county supervisor ...

Easy Does It

This restaurant is closed. Still no alcohol license, still no menu on the website, but I finally gave in — whether it was ready or not, I had to try the Big Easy. The chef/co-owner ...

The "D" Word

“We thought about calling it 'soapbox derby night,' but [then] we thought 'open-mic night' might be more politically correct,” said director of City Planning and Community Investment Bill Anderson. This first open-mic meeting, held April ...

Here's the Deal: Ruby Room

Formerly the San Diego Sports Bar, Ruby Room is tucked off of the clubby Hillcrest strip behind the newish Ruby Kitchen. Weekend parking can be difficult. “When we bought the place about a year and ...

We All Fight the Wall

U.S./Mexico border problems and their effect on the Tijuana Estuary was the focus of the March 19 Sierra Club’s meeting in Hillcrest. According to a Sierra Club press release, laws protecting the environment, archaeological sites, ...

We Don’t Want to Modernize

The Hillcrest Town Council held a meeting on March 9 at the Joyce Beers Community Center, with 45 community members in attendance. Councilmember Roy Dahl outlined the council’s Development Committee’s design principles as they pertain ...

Time's Up, Uptown

"Overhead and operating expenses consume almost all the yearly income of your organization," wrote Banker's Hill denizen Leo Wilson in a February 19 email to Carol Schultz, the executive director of Uptown Partnership, the group ...

A Matter of Pride

The San Diego LGBT Pride board of directors hosted a town hall meeting on Monday, February 22, at their community center in Hillcrest. Representatives spoke of the direction in which the organization is headed and ...

Policing Pot Shops

The recommendations from San Diego's 11-person medical marijuana task force are in and will be considered at the Land Use and Housing Committee's March 24 meeting. Until then, task force members continue to meet with ...

A Taste of the Tropics

Planning a trip to India years ago, I set my sights on the south of the country (Kerala and Tamil Nadhu). Why? To eat. I’d heard that the southern food was really spicy and really ...

Late-Night Oxycontin

The Rite Aid pharmacy located at 535 Robinson in Hillcrest was robbed early on December 15 by a man with a knife demanding narcotics. San Diego police responded to the pharmacy after a robbery was ...

Babbo Grande's Place

This restaurant is closed. Serge and Danielle. Always liked them. They were Uptown’s crêpe royalty. They had this uptown crêperie called Deli France. So, today I’ve come back. Boy. Be so mad if they’re gone. ...

Another Perfect Day

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 ...

The Mashtis: Itai Faierman

They call themselves the Mashtis: Itai Faierman is back with a new band after a four-year hiatus. Before he took off, Faierman spent a lot of time on the local singer-songwriter stages, combining his intricate ...

Pedicab Wars

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 foreign-student pedicab driver has just ridden off with a load ...

Critical Crash

August 28, Friday evening, at approximately 8:20 p.m. two Critical Mass bicyclists collided near the corner of University Avenue and Centre Street. One cyclist was said to be bleeding from his ear. They reportedly were ...

Hard Times

San Diego police responded to a call on Sunday night, August 16, at about 11:50 p.m. near University Avenue and Park Boulevard in Hillcrest. A man called police and said his sister was jumping in ...

Four for Fighting

Several people were involved in a fight shortly after 11 p.m. on Sunday evening, July 26, near the Hillcrest Medical Center north of Washington Street. According to a resident who had just gone to bed, ...