DVD Rentals: Frank Sinatra, from Tony Rome with love
Scott Marks 4:19 p.m., June 19
Blog Winners for 2009
December
April in Winter
Before April became my ex-wife, she worked at a hair salon in Pacific Beach. As Thanksgiving approached, the owner of the salon was suddenly overcome with feelings of civic philanthropy and decided it would be a splendid idea to sponsor a less fortunate family for Christmas, not to mention the ...
The Quest for Tequila & Dented Fenders
Third-Place Winner of the December 2009 Neighborhood Blog Contest!
November
In memory of
When I woke up this morning I had an idea of how I would spend the anniversary of my father's death. I imagined it to be the kind of day straight out of a movie, as if I should have a voice over narrating the events. I imagined Don Lafontaine’s ...
Bizzare Tales of the Deep East in Omnivision
Jamul and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch
Second-Place Winner of the November 2009 Neighborhood Blog Contest!
Shattered Glass
Last night became a date to remember in the annals of San Diego homelessness. That said, I did not witness the incident. The information came from others, mainly across the street, on the west side of 9th. I was talking on the phone when I heard breaking glass. I told ...
October
The Scenes of the Crimes
Several immortal memories remain from my long residency in University City. They are crimes, and they stand out in my mind like landmarks, among them a double murder, a car bomb, an arson, and a divorce. An unfriendly, unfortunate divorce. For me that was the biggest crime of all. I ...
September
Tamales, Tacos, Flies
When we moved down here five years ago, there were tamale carts on every corner, tamale carts in every parking lot, tamale carts at the park, and tamale carts on the playing fields. Every market had its tamale cart beside the entrance, even the local barber shop had a cart. ...
Normal Heights Through the Blue and White
Occasionally, when having Difficutlties at my Lackluster but otherwise Uninteresting job I may (on occasion) become Grouchy
Third-Place Winner of the September 2009 Neighborhood Blog Contest!
August
The Appointment
Wednesday 5:58 p.m. “Yes, I can do 11:15. How much will it cost?” I blurt into my iphone with a shaky voice. “ One hundred and twenty five dollars” the receptionist replies. I agree and throw the phone on my futon. I head to the kitchen and pour beam on ...
Confessions of a Cutter
Grandma glared at my bloody forearm and shouted, "Sam, come in here!" It was close to midnight, a late hour for my 80-year-old grandpa, but he came running down the hall. He gaped when he saw the trail of blood on the carpet. While Grandma called 9-1-1, he held my ...
The Single Life: Random Adventures in Awesome
Hell to the No
What happened to the days when people used to call you to chat on the phone? Our technologically advanced world is slowly making the dating scene a place of passive safety where men and women become boys and girls. We date without our senses. We text without hearing, we date ...
July
Tijuana, My Kind of Town
There is a little girl who lives on my block and she is always happy. Her age is about three or four but she looks small for her years. I'd say childhood obesity is not so much a problem around my neighborhood as is childhood malnutrition. Her dark skin is ...
Tip Your Waitress
I put sour cream in my coffee because I didn’t have any milk. I searched through my refrigerator for anything that could possibly be utilized as a splash of creamer. Salad dressing, mayonnaise, soy sauce, anything. Finally the sour cream called my name. Arguably I told myself, sour cream is ...
The search
There I sat, 2 and a half months ago, holding six thousand dollars in cash. I had just watched my 1969 Chevrolet C10 Pickup loaded up on a flatbed towtruck for the first leg of its journey to Australia. Out in the garage was everything I had dreamed about for ...
June
You Can't Drink The Early Bird Special
Its hard find a good place to drink in Chula Vista. I don't know what scheme the city planners enacted to kill the night life, but it worked. Finding a nice bar in Chula Vista is harder than finding a golf course in San Ysidro. There are plenty of places ...
At Home At Vista Ranch...
"One minute, a ruler is seated on their throne...the next minute, they are thrown out on their seat!" --Redd Foxx The part of Vista I call home is a former motel called Vista Ranch. Located on Escondido Avenue, this 1950's-era motor lodge offers a nice place for a single fellow ...
NEIGHBORLY NOISES
Two weeks after I’d moved in, one of my new neighbors, Gris Glums, asked how I liked living here. “Noise bother you yet?” I said it hadn’t, probably because I was pounding nails for pictures, dropping silverware on kitchen tiles, dragging furniture over hardwood floors. And tuning my piano had ...
May
Lesbians Without Tacos
Mona was pretty, but more cute than anything else, in an odd way that you wanted to put your finger on but couldn’t. I was a freshman in college, or perhaps a sophomore, near Los Angeles. I’m not going to press my memory for that, lest I forget the most ...
The Burbs
We moved to Tierrasanta from the heart of El Cajon. The townhome we rented in East County was three blocks away from the liquor-store double homicide that happened a few years back. Police helicopters were known to circle above while my kids were playing outside. Tierrasanta was a big change. ...
Realism is Overrated
My husband and I rent a condo in City Heights. We have 812 square feet, two bedrooms, and a bath and a half to share between ourselves and our two children. The baby sleeps in the closet. It’s time to expand, and it has been for a long time. Back ...
April
Postcards From the Purple Buddha
A Neighborhood Affair to Remember
When I first saw Ken, I nearly dropped my teeth. He was the best looking guy I'd ever seen. I knew I had just hit the jackpot, considering the freaks with fantasies I had heard about on San Diego Craigslist. Moments before, I'd been shaking in my shoes. We'd been ...
Around the Circle
Little did I know that upon moving into my neighborhood, I was sooner or later going to have to go around in a circle and re- introduce myself at least a handful of times. This is extremely challenging for me because I don’t talk much. It is however clear to ...
PB Underground
Everyone, even my friend from Ohio, knows that PB is full of douchebags. So when I said I was going to move to the beach, I didn’t have a lot of support from my homies. There wasn’t a lot of overt protest though either, come to think of it. Maybe ...
March
An Execution in the Hills
Ethel’s voice cuts through the hubbub of the grandkids’ wrestling over the Etch-a-Sketch and Dr. Phil’s scolding of another drug-soaked teenager. Fred blinks and brushes the crust from his eyes. “It’s for you. Zack, from across the street.” She hands him the phone, rolls her eyes, and returns to trimming ...
GETTING WET: Cars, Critters and a Con man
DAY ONE On a dark and dreary Monday morning not long ago, my car would cough and shiver, stutter and fart. But it would not start. I popped the hood. "Not now, please," I whispered to the engine. I had overdue DVDs and books to return, dry cleaning to pick ...
Bob the Hermit Crab
bobthehermitcrab formerly of OB, now lives in Clairemont, guess you could say it is his neighborhood! A rainy day trip to Wings on Newport (amuse the outta town guests - Seattle/Pasadena - with some local OB color) my oldest grand daughter approaches with an obscenely blue shell embellished with a ...
February
San Diego is Second Worst
Well, there it is for all to see and read, an article in Forbes. The article is entitled: "America's Worst Cities To Be A Sports Fan" It states: "Lining up behind Miami for the booby prize is San Diego". Chargers and Padres combined winning percentage is .425 (26th place). This ...
Claiming City Heights
I was training for a marathon when I found out I was pregnant. Back then, even my short runs were long enough to take me out of City Heights and into other neighborhoods whose houses are prettier and whose services a bit more desirable (decent coffee, a nice restaurant or ...
In Defense of Food (and Porn) in Paradise Hills
I Should Call Him Bas
I salvaged a Lonely Planet Thai language phrase book years ago, a souvenir of my father's long-ago Navy travels in Southeast Asia. Practical and illuminating, it highlights the primary concerns of visitors to that sultry locale, so it's no surprise that a great deal of textual space is dedicated to ...
January
Ocean Beach: A Travel Brochure
OB Vacation = Damnation Station?
Yeah, that right. It’s OB baby, a haunted seaside saltdream floating across the space-time grid like a languid spectre in blank half-smile. An anachronistic funhouse full o’bleary-eyed skellys shuffling down Newport in search of something they will never find in Ocean Beach. My fat little hands pecking away on this ...
Yolanda
Oh Yolanda, Yolanda, just speaking your name sends the shudders of loving emotion resonating through my body. Come closer to me my love, I must have you tonight. His lustful hands around her waist, then exploring her every curve, and those firm breasts against his, her heat igniting his passion. ...
The Promised Land
Tijuana Estuary NP, Imperial Beach, CA Ever since the 1800's, people have been crossing the American West in an attempt to create a better life. I grew up in the Mid-Atlantic and I am no different. Most of the natural beauty where I lived had been choked off by city ...
