When he passed away on June 15, 2015, my dad William “Bill” Grimm was grandfather to 136 souls, the last my own little William. He was great grandfather to 69. When you have 17 kids, …

A LITTLE OLD-SCHOOL GLAMOUR “What does he do, this man you seek?…He covets…And how do we begin to covet, Clarice?…We begin by coveting what we see every day.” — Dr. Hannibal Lecter, The Silence of …

In the spirit of this census year, we offer this unofficial, informal, and unscientific census of daily life in San Diego. (No census workers were lynched or faked their own lynchings while gathering the following …

Hey, man. Solar Man here. Well, my ­name’s Derek Ensminger, but my friends call me Solar Man. Look around my office and ­you’ll know why. ­There’s a solar-powered video camera over there, a solar charger …

"I remember my first encounter with a student here. I was wearing a suit, and a student comes up to me at lunch with a crowbar in his hand. Tapping it against his leg, he …

The bowl of fruit salad sits at eye level in front of me. Through the dimpled red glass, I see the slices of bananas and strawberries, chunks of apples, and grapes resting in the sweetness …

To Be Thankful Requires Humility — John Brizzolara This Year, We’re Staying Local — Pamela Hunt-Cloyd Eat What the Politicians Feed You — Don Bauder This Is How It’s Supposed to Be — Barbarella Thanksgiving: …

Marco Mitrowke, loss prevention manager for the local retail clothing chain Everything 5.99, was not what I expected. The job title “loss prevention manager” conjured images of a strapping, muscular young man wearing a T-shirt …

Border Patrol agent Richard Gonzales pushes a button in the shiny white Chevy Tahoe he’s driving. In response, a gate rolls open to allow entry to the no-man’s-land between the secondary fence and the old …

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 follow-up to this revelation is almost never “Oh, that’s right, …

-1 part vodka -1 part tequila -1 part rum -1 part gin-1 part triple sec -1-1/2 parts sweet-and-sour mix -1 splash Coke It’s about efficiency. When I need to catch a buzz, I need to …

On New Year’s Eve, Howard Jackson was in court with Ellen Falcone, his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child. For more than nine years, the last three in Oceanside, the two had shared custody of …

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 to become more like a woman yet is in the …

It’s not yet 9:00 a.m. on September 6, but the late-summer sun is already baking the blacktop of the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot. It’s hot and promises to get hotter. Sweat drips from the foreheads …

Let’s say a man bit your finger so viciously that the flesh was torn away and the bone exposed. Let’s say it happened in a public place in front of dozens of eyewitnesses who prevented …

Organizers of the semiannual Rosarito Ensenada Fun Bicycle Ride recently announced that the September 27 event would be their last. As with Baja tourism in general, participation in the ride has been declining. In April, …

Jacob Blumenfeld delivered what was arguably the most courageous performance by a San Diegan at the recent Beijing Olympics. And he didn’t compete in swimming, track and field, or gymnastics but in the far more …

Tijuana has long attracted people seeking medicine and medical procedures unavailable or unaffordable in their home countries. They've been joined recently by people seeking the means to kill themselves. And some of them are coming …

Spanish slang connoisseur Roxana Fitch grew up in Tijuana, birthplace of some of the most distinctive slang words — or jergas — in the entire Spanish-speaking world. The proximity of Tijuana, and of Mexico's entire …

The City of San Diego’s foundering financial ship has struck another shoal in the form of a lawsuit filed in 2005 by officers of the San Diego Police Department’s canine unit. The dog cops maintained …

Every year, my mother-in-law stays with us for a month or two when the weather in her home state of Connecticut is at its coldest and wildest. During this last visit she decided to go …

For decades, Tijuana’s eastern colonias have sprung from the chaparral faster than the municipal government can provide services to them. The resourceful residents in these neighborhoods have long brought electricity to their shanties by running …

The Spanish word dulzura means sweetness. And public artist Robin Brailsford found the sweet life when she moved to the hamlet of Dulzura, 30 miles east of San Diego along State Route 94. She lives …

Ten years ago, Elissa Davey received her vocation. She was a 50-year-old realtor, mother of two sons, and resident of San Marcos when the call came in the form of a story in the newspaper …

The definition of "easy to get to" changes depending on what side of the border you're on. In the United States, if you had to drive on a rutted dirt road to get to someplace, …

Back in June, a team of San Diego State mechanical engineering students and their professor placed 6th out of 17 universities in the exclusive Challenge X vehicle design competition, cosponsored by General Motors and the …

Fires make David Hogan nervous. It's not because he's afraid his Pine Valley house will burn down. It's because after every fire in Southern California, politicians start clamoring for reduction of the "fuel" that covers …

On September 28, the Salvation Army closed the doors to its Door of Hope Children's Learning Center day care in Kearny Mesa. The center had been in operation since 1983 and had cared for children …

The Ocean Beach Starbucks on Newport Avenue, just west of Bacon Street, opened on September 11. Not September 11, 2007, but the September 11, in 2001. Doubtless, many in Ocean Beach don't consider that fact …

No fewer than 50 framed diplomas and certificates hang on the wall in the office of José Ríos Hernández, the capitán del puerto, or harbormaster, of the port of Ensenada. A cherrywood desk the size …

There's been a lot of talk, and legislation, surrounding saltwater fish farming lately. A bill working its way through Congress would create a permit process for farming fish from 3 to 250 miles off the …

Busy Fingers Are Happy Fingers — Joe Deegan Mother Reader — Barbarella Build Your Writing Muscles — Ollie Let the Tape Recorder Do the Work — Matthew Lickona Faith — Abe Opincar Make Something Better …

The Tijuana neighborhood of Adolfo Ruiz Cortines sits north of the river about five miles east of the San Ysidro crossing. The east-west thoroughfare Avenida Defensores de Baja California bisects the lower-middle-class neighborhood. Campaign signs …

Her first order to me, sent by fax, was to buy and read Joan Didion's Slouching towards Bethlehem. I was 23 and recently graduated from Thomas Aquinas College, a Catholic liberal arts school where the …

On a weekday, the west end of Barona Mesa Road in San Diego Country Estates is as bucolic a spot to live as any in San Diego County. An eclectic array of $600,000 homes on …

The University of California San Diego promulgates a list of nine "Principles of Community" to its faculty, staff, and students. The second principle states, "We affirm each individual's right to dignity and strive to maintain …

Your mental picture of Tijuana's Avenida Revolución probably looks like this: hordes of American tourists wearing shorts, T-shirts, and fanny packs tromp up and down the sloping street. Some wait in line to don sombreros, …

Abel and Zulma Muñoz stand at the north end of Playas de Tijuana, where the international border fence meets the Pacific Ocean. The area was once an international park, the pet project of First Lady …

Short southbound and long northbound waits are not always the norm at la frontera internacional. During the weekday evening rush hour, the southbound wait at San Ysidro is often more than an hour. This nightly …

A year ago, Tijuana's daily papers, Frontera and El Mexicano, reported that Internet cafés were proliferating throughout Northern Baja in response to growing demand for Internet access. The stories predicted that the number of Internet …

The Colegio de Bachilleres high school sits about five miles east of downtown Tijuana on the Vía Rápida, the highway that straddles the Tijuana River channel. The campus looks like public high schools in San …

May 17, 2006, San Diego Police homicide detective Robert Donaldson was thumbing through cold-case files looking for something that might warrant reopening an investigation: a bit of physical evidence, blood maybe, that modern forensics could …

Let's say you're a single mom in your mid-30s. You've recently taken your 2-year-old son and 12-year-old dog and moved away from your husband. The divorce is ugly, and your job search is tough. You'd …

Luz María Félix Figueroa, president of the Tijuana branch of Baja California's juvenile detention agency, shakes her head. She's been asked whether she agrees with the American trend of trying as adults minors who commit …

Ask a nonresident of Imperial Beach to name a restaurant or bar in San Diego County's southernmost beach town. If he can name anything at all, it likely will be Ye Olde Plank Inn. The …

Fashion model and F Street bookstore heiress Aleksandra Vasic, a high school freshman from San Diego County, set off a bit of media frenzy in England during September's London Fashion Week. At 14 years old, …

Given the financial straits the City of San Diego has been in of late, you'd think officials would make it a priority to collect every dime that the City's owed. But a look at the …

On September 19, the unincorporated community of Campo threw a once-in-a-century party. It featured a parade, cavalry reenactors, former buffalo soldiers stationed in Campo pre-World War II, and home-baked goodies. But it wasn't the attractions …

During the past year, about 30 transgender Tijuanenses, many of them prostitutes, left Tijuana and crossed illegally into the United States. Bypassing San Diego, they settled in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Now some of …

Every election season, my father sinks a wire-framed campaign sign into the strip of grass between his sidewalk and the street. Every election season, an unseen enemy steals it. Dad replaces the sign. The enemy …