Old Town Stories

Carved, rolled, filled: custom candlemaking

Decorative candles can be carved or of the gel variety.

Archaeological study of finds at Whaley House, Nate Harrison’s home

SDSU student studies 19th-century meds

Based on a study of the bottles found during the archaeological excavation of an Old Town home built in 1857, prescription drugs accounted for much of the medications used by the Whaley family. The Whaley ...

Gem of the Ocean docks in Old Town

“What good is freedom if you can’t do nothing with it?”

Coronado is haunted

Across the bay, tales of the paranormal at the Hotel Del and Loews resort.

“You see that too, right?” Lacey held her wine glass at half-mast, staring at the steps leading from the Hotel Del Coronado to the Pacific Ocean. We were outdoors at Babcock & Story, the Del’s ...

Ghost stories and slurpy food in Old Town

The ghost comes and sits in Chanel’s husband’s chair. “I heard the chair creak. Then I looked, from ten feet away, right here by the curtain, and I saw it, the empty chair, bounce back ...

Great-white chomp

Ed Bedford gets a burger at the Alamo Mexican Cafe and then hits Churchill Cigar Lounge before last call.

Head for the Hills

Presidio Hill, the “Plymouth Rock of the West” is also the “cradle of golf in San Diego.”

Under Ghostly Bells in Old Town

“It is the true American food — a mix of African, Native American, French, Spanish, German...”

"Come sit here!" Southern hospitality hits San Diego. Darlene and Steven have just about finished their food, but as soon as they see me come into the courtyard, they toss out the invite. “We always ...

A World Away from Old Town

“We’re breaking even, which is a miracle in winter.”

"The usual,” she says. Kellie’s ahead of me in line. We’re standing between a bank of Canadian coffee dispensers and a Parisian street. Okay, a pretty darned convincing Parisian scene — on the wall. “I ...

O’Hungry Boy

“Cupboard’s bare, buddy. We have to stretch it till Friday.”

"Malagueña salerosa…” Krizanto sings his heart out. I chomp into my $5 dinner: ribs, carrots, broccoli, blob of mash, white-bread bun, and butter. Take a slurp of my $1 beer. Yeah, one Washington. In Old ...

Rats! at the Old Town Transit Center

It may not be a scene out of Willard or an ordinary day at India’s Karni Mata Temple, but the rats are bold and plentiful at the Old Town Transit Center. Built in the early ...

Interview with I-5 Muralist Outside of Old Town

A few days ago I spent some time with the artist that will be painting four large murals on the walls below the I-5 bridge outside of Old Town. To be called the Gateway Mural, ...

Angry Taco, Happy Hour at Rockin' Baja in Old Town

"You happy?” I ask Heidi. “I’m happy,” she says. “For another 30 minutes, anyway.” Erk. Thirty minutes? We’re talking happy hour. Heidi’s in charge of the bar. I look at my watch. Gadzooks, she’s right. ...

Do Not Go Gentle Into That New Town, Part One

San Diego may be unique in American history as the only city that changed locations. In 1871, the county seat moved three-and-a-half miles south, from Old to New Town. The change, literally, tore the city ...

25Forty Bistro and Bakery Is an Island of Modernity

Pissaladière? I know. Sounds dodgy. But trust me, this $3 “snack” is sensational. It’s like a pizza, with a filling that looks like tomato, tastes tomato-ish, but ain’t got a single tomato in it. Or ...

Hot Time in Old Town's Cosmopolitan Restaurant and Hotel

I deliberately ignored the most recent previous incarnation of Old Town State Historic Park and everything in it. Oh, I did succumb to curiosity at one point, enough to have a margarita and a few ...

Control Freak

Calling your trilogy of plays The Norman Conquests makes it sound like a medieval tryptich or Bayeux Tapestry illustrating the events of 1066: William the Conqueror storming across Hastings, lance lowered, the banner of destiny ...

No Dragons

Cygnet Theatre is fast becoming Sondheim Central. Their Little Night Music captivated audiences, they are stage reading/singing Passion on April 12 and 13, and their current Sweeney Todd threatens to blow out the doors at ...

Happy Hour with Aguilar

The shiver. Down my spine. Can’t help feeling it every time I walk into Old Town. Honest. Something happens when you saunter up that dusty path from the trolley-bus depot, around the wooden fences, and ...

An Execution in the Hills

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 ...

Ken Falls Hard

Ken Carpenter doesn’t look like a dramatic lead. Soft-spoken, bespectacled, a slight humble stoop in the shoulders, the 57-year-old’s a successful insurance salesman in Lincoln, Nebraska. He’s been with one woman for the past 40 ...

To the Point

After years of being closed to cars, Presidio Park's Inspiration Point access road began getting necessary repairs back in the spring. Work is projected to finish up this October. The road's two new retaining walls ...

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 ...

Smoking Trolley

At approximately 9.15 a.m. on Saturday, June 27, as an M.T.S. Blue Line trolley en route to Old Town arrived at the Civic Centre stop, commuters onboard were forced to evacuate the train as smoke ...

Let’s Toast to Banning Booze

During District 2 councilmember Kevin Faulconer’s state of the district speech on April 27, he listed his accomplishments during the past three years. One of his proudest accomplishments so far has been banning alcohol from ...

Old Town Celebrates Battalion Day

The sixth annual Mormon Battalion Day celebration took place in Old Town on Saturday, January 31, commemorating the 161st anniversary of the arrival of the first American military sent to San Diego. The battalion set ...

Picket Lines in Old Town

Picket lines paraded through Old Town San Diego in protest on Saturday, January 31. Approximately 30 workers beat drums, repeated chants shouted through a leader’s bull horn, and marched in and outside of the grounds ...

Young Playwrights

The Playwrights Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting literacy, creativity, and communication skills through drama-based activities, in conjunction with the Cygnet Theatre Company, held its 24th season of Plays by Young Writers, January 15-25, ...

Rain, Rain, Come and Stay

Clouds loomed over Old Town on Thursday, January 16th as residents said goodbye to the sun. “It’s about time,” one resident said. “We could sure use the rain!” According to the San Diego County Water ...

Booze Ban Driving Homeless Inland?

Two opposing views regarding the ban on brew at San Diego's beaches inadvertently surfaced during the June 25th meeting of the Ocean Beach town council. When Officer David Surwilo, community liaison for the police department's ...

Pressing Need

You decide to take the trolley to Tijuana. The day goes well, and you're ready to start homeward. Before boarding the Blue Line, a cup of coffee at the McDonald's Trolley Station in San Ysidro ...

Hushed House

I have always wanted to turn the eyes of local theater artists outward: have them look at examples of their craft in San Diego at large. Eric Lotze, the award-winning lighting designer for Cygnet, Moxie, ...

Vitrified Clay Products Corp., 1923

At the corner of Rosecrans and Pacific Highway, 1923. In 1911, three factories fired brick in San Diego; they produced 13 million bricks and grossed $100,000 in revenue. To order this photo please contact the ...

Around Town New Year's Day

O n the first day of the year, the roads are empty and most televisions are tuned to the Rose Parade -- some for the flowers, others in anticipation of the Rose Bowl (USC against ...

We're on Vacation, Here to Play. Don't Let Facts Get in Our Way.

I had taken eight or nine guided tours of San Diego in two weeks when a friend asked if I was tired of sightseeing. I had to say no. Being out on buses and boats ...

The Shoes and Gloves Come Off

My friend Sally threw a birthday party for her sister Julie at the Old Town Saloon. When I arrived, Julie was showing off a ring that she received as a gift. I didn't know Julie ...

Back When

Thirty Years Ago The first time I saw B.B. (BeBe) was 1967; she was in a white corduroy jockey suit and cap. She reminded me of a 90-pound white rat on speed. Later at an ...

Underground With the Celebrity Dead

Whether you're goth or you just dig celebrity graves (that's "dig" as in "enjoy"), you might be interested to know of these famous former neighbors entombed at a gravesite near you. BOBBY DRISCOLL (1937-1968) starred ...

Swamp Ghost

“The whole place is only 300 square feet, so that limits us. But we make it work.”

This is weird. Last year I was sitting right here in this ancient Wild West shack in Old Town, in the selfsame squiggly wrought-iron seat, drooling over English tea and crumpets, waiting on dusk for ...

Will Bazaar del Mundo Become Squibob Square?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And if you yourself are broke, only fix things that are draining you financially -- not things that are filling your coffers. It seems basic. But the State ...

Best of 2003: Best Faux California Mission

Serra Museum 2727 Presidio Drive, Old Town www.sandiegohistory.org/mainpages/locate4.htm 619-297-3258 How is it that even locals confuse the stately Serra Museum overlooking Old Town with an 18th-century California mission? Well, for one thing, it really does ...

Yes 64 votes

No 40 votes

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