How to survive Yosemite in July
Amy Beddows 5:26 p.m., June 18
Pacific Beach Stories
Soup, gloop, fish, crêpe at the PB farmer's market
Cruising down Garnet, heading for the #30 bus at Mission and Felspar, when I find myself crossing Bayard. It’s closed off to traffic. Huh. Oh, yeah, it’s Tuesday. Must be the farmers’ market. Lots of ...
In P.B. the hotter you are the easier it is not to care
Fifteen intimate strangers
Author Maggie Young’s tell-all of her promiscuous days of booze and oblivion in the frenzied, lonely beach town of Pacific Beach.
Sidewalk café serves up noise
Al fresco no bueno, say opponents of the sidewalk-café ordinance
Opponents of councilman Kevin Faulconer’s sidewalk-café ordinance say outdoor diners will create even more noise on the streets.
Soulless P.B.
The building formerly known as Canes and then SoundWave is coming back as a club, but with less emphasis on big-name concerts.
Kate O. Sessions Memorial Park
Explore the wild side of this much-loved neighborhood park with beautiful views and a wide array of native and exotic plants.
No Starbucks Geisha coffee in La Jolla
Wait for that $7 cup
While at the Starbucks in Pacific Beach this week, I overheard some of the employees saying that the La Jolla Starbucks was selling the new, $7-per-cup "Geisha" coffee. The new brew getting a lot of ...
Dizzy's sculpts its new space
Jazz nightspot Dizzy’s found a new home in the showroom at San Diego Jet Ski Rentals in P.B.
The Spirit of Family Dinnertime
Restaurants that feel like home.
Places where food is created with care, where the service is warm and welcoming, and where you can relax and reconnect with family and friends.
Thrusters' Basil Hendricks
The bar manager at Thrusters Lounge Matthew Compton claims that the Basil Hendricks is a “perfect summer cocktail.” “It’s not something,” he says, “I could see someone drinking in the middle of winter in the ...
They Blow Right by the Law
Those @#$^&* kite surfers!
Lots of kite surfers nowadays at Tourmaline Surfing Park in Pacific Beach. Is there a law against it?
Bugged by U-T Litterbugs
Am I the only one who can see them? All over my neighborhood are plastic bags filled with newspaper advertising. The circulars are everywhere. I live in Pacific Beach and first noticed them in December. ...
That Meat Melts!
“My grandmother’s Armenian. She puts lots of fruit and nuts into dishes.”
Whew. Walking, walking... North up Mission Boulevard. I’m in P.B. Looking for breakfast, dammit. Okay, so it’s lunchtime. Need a place that doesn’t cut off at 11:00 a.m. I come up on this guy in ...
Go Fish. But…where?
Chris Manning normally went surfboard fishing in the early morning with the other regulars — Roy and Vicky, Steve, Russell, and the other Roy. But with the ocean as flat as a lake and the ...
The Ugly Trailer Park Across the Water
In order to visit a beach community, one must wear ugly sunglasses, so I snatch my chrome Elvis reproduction shades that I purchased in Las Vegas last summer and hit the door. From the 8 ...
Tattoo Boo!
Say the name Lisa Fasulo in a San Diego tattoo shop and you may get blank stares from shop owners, employees, and hangers-around. Mention the Learning Channel’s one-hour reality-style television program about Fasulo’s tattoo school, ...
Hands Across the Sand for Clean Energy
Last year at this time, the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had created an environmental disaster. The June 26, 2010, Hands Across the Sand demonstration was a response to the spill: ...
Have Your Guitar Out of the Case and Tuned Before It's Your Turn
South ParkWednesday, February 168:45 p.m. The sign painted on the building reads Delicious Food, Great Beer, Philanthropy, but I won’t notice this until I leave. For now, I dart from my car into South Park ...
California Cannabis Coalition Seeks to Eliminate Ordinances
A small group of medicinal marijuana supporters made their way to Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach on May 7 for the 11 a.m. start of a march in support of their cause. "This is a ...
Pacific Beach: Foot Traffic, Retail, Up in Smoke
"They were successful in banning alcohol at the beach, and they are now going into the business district to come after the businesses,” says Eric Lingenfelder, part owner of the Tavern at the Beach sports ...
Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church
Pastor: Alan Deuel Age: 63 Born: San Diego Formation: Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey; San Francisco Theological Seminary, Pasadena Years Ordained: 35 years San Diego Reader: Can you think of a time when you ...
Garnet Chic
"The tequila is almost gone, and we were already told to be quiet,” Alex said as she mixed margaritas for me and my unofficial photographer/full-time enabler Brett. It was only 10:20 p.m. when we arrived ...
Pacific Beach Christmas-Car Story
Larry Poppins will not tell you his true name at first. First, it’s “Peter picked a peck of…” He claims to live in Pacific Beach, has long hair, is maybe in his 40s, and walks ...
Handicapped Sidewalk Ramps Revamped in Pacific Beach
From late 2006 through mid 2007, most of the curbs at Pacific Beach intersections were jackhammered in order for concrete handicapped ramps to be poured. Now, in the southwest quadrant of P.B., one cannot help ...
Lost Belongings
At about 9:30 a.m. on Friday, August 13, at the Grand Avenue lifeguard tower, a homeless man named Sonny was distraught. He claimed that lifeguards had stolen his belongings off the beach. The lifeguards told ...
Wolf'd
"B, u, bb, le. G–u–m spells bubble gum/It’s the only kind of chewing gum/The guy who made it must have really been a bum…” Beth, the gal behind the ice cream counter, will sing this ...
Mechanical Watchdog
The SDPD enforcement hardware getting the most attention this Fourth of July weekend is the mobile observation tower on the sand in Pacific Beach. "It looks like one of the robot crawlers in Star Wars," ...
Controversy on Deck
“Is there any more comments?” asked Pacific Beach Town Council president Rose Galliher at the monthly meeting on June 16. Community members had just commented on the motion read by Scott Chipman, “That the Pacific ...
License Creep
For the past seven months, members of the Pacific Beach Planning Group have studied alcohol-related issues in Pacific Beach. On June 14, they presented their findings during a “special meeting.” Scott Chipman, chairman of the ...
Fat Boy and the Yogi
On June 10 at approximately 4 p.m., Clubber Lang was spotted waddling across the green atop the cliffs at Law Street with his owner, local yoga instructor Steve Hubbard. Clubber is a two-year-old, 150-pound pot-bellied ...
Bring Your Own Concerns
The Pacific Beach Planning Group is throwing a party on Monday, June 14, at the Pacific Beach Middle School Auditorium. The theme of the party is alcohol, and attendees are asked to bring their own ...
The Right to Party Left Intact
“The city put the wrong signs up…’no alcohol at Kate Sessions Park’…that’s illegal,” said a concerned Pacific Beach resident on the afternoon of June 7. “Park and Rec were anticipating a ban — that is ...
Members Only
I attended the Friends of Kate Sessions meeting at the Soledad Club on May 18 after receiving an email invitation. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m., but the gates were locked and ...
She Wouldn't Listen to Me
Three police vehicles arrived at the scene of an accident where a burgundy Chevy Blazer and a black Volkswagen Cabrio collided near the intersection of Fanuel and Garnet Streets in Pacific Beach, at approximately 8 ...
Story of a Pole
Back in October, a frequenter of the Starbucks on Linda Vista Road and Napa Street wrote to Donna Frye, city council representative for that area. He inquired about the disused 20-foot pole standing across the ...
What Does Everybody Here Want?
Approximately 200 San Diego residents participated in the Worldwide Medical Marijuana March Saturday, May 1. The march started at Crystal Pier and moved south down the boardwalk to the rollercoaster in Mission Beach. Demonstrators passed ...
Wobbling
A drunken, grey-haired man wearing a red jacket wobbled through the parking lot outside of the CVS pharmacy at 1652 Garnet Street in Pacific Beach Thursday evening. A police car with two officers arrived on ...
The Shore Club's Deck
Chaos befell the April 21st Pacific Beach Town Council meeting when 35-year Pacific Beach resident Scott Chipman raised the issue of the Shore Club alcohol license/deck expansion, an issue Chipman felt was a land use ...
Get Money This Way, City
On June 4, 2008, James Olson appeared before the San Diego City Council to discuss the lack of citations issued to pet owners who bring their dogs to Pacific and Mission Beach boardwalks during restricted ...
Need More Cops
On April 15, at approximately 8:40 p.m., an SDPD van and patrol car arrived at the CVS pharmacy located on Garnet Avenue. As I approached the three officers standing in the parking lot outside the ...
Wake Up, Speak Up
The sole action item on the April 7 agenda of the park committee responsible for the governance of Kate Sessions Park was a proposed change to the park’s current 12-hour alcohol ban to a 24-hour ...
Dragon's Drool
On the evening of March 24, a group of 30 people enjoyed the antics of two flame-juggling acrobats on the sand adjacent to the Pacific Beach boardwalk. The flame-throwers, John and Anton, met eight months ...
Big Bird in Danger
The sound of laughter and then screaming erupted from a table at a PB boardwalk café on the afternoon of February 19. By the sizable crowd surrounding the table, one would have thought Angelina and ...
Prepped to Pump
In the cul-de-sac where Mission Boulevard meets Pacific Beach Drive, at about 4:30 p.m. on February 9, a City of San Diego Street Division truck blocked cars from entering the parking lot between the Best ...
Jaywalk to Moondoggies
On Thursday, February 4, I saw at least seven people receive jaywalking tickets before 11 p.m. in front of PB Bar and Grill and Moondoggies on Garnet Avenue. As I waited in line to get ...
Moon Over My Taco
Pacific Beach is more mysterious at night. Silent runners materialize like ghosts along the boardwalk, murmuring couples huddle in shadows, the odd drunken brown-bagger holds up a lamppost, groups burst out of eateries like the ...
Would Kate Turn in Her Grave?
A proposed change from Kate Sessions Park’s 12-hour alcohol ban to a 24-hour alcohol ban was on the Santa Clara/Pacific Beach Recreation Council’s agenda on Tuesday, January 19. Some of the reasons given for the ...
Dirty, Suspicious
I passed three police cars stopped in the 1100 block of Felspar Street on the afternoon of January 5. I parked my car and as I walked toward them, two of the cars drove away. ...
No Room at the Pier
The day after Christmas, I took a friend to the beach in P.B. Near Crystal Pier, I was talking about the cottages built there in the ’30s. I noticed a bunch of people with walkie-talkies ...
Red Christmas
On Christmas day, from the boardwalk in PB, I saw set up on the beach a one-man camp punctuated by an American flag that snapped in the wind. Sitting beneath a tattered umbrella was a ...
Hey, Cowboy
Move over, Matthew McConaughey, and make room for 60-year-old Jamie Trivisonno, whom I discovered on my way to the gym on Monday afternoon, December 21. Shirtless and with a cigar in his mouth, Trivisonno danced ...
Claim Jumper
On Friday, December 18, my girlfriend and I went out for dinner to Nick's at the Beach on the corner of Mission Boulevard and Thomas Avenue. When we arrived, there weren’t any parking spaces available ...
