It is New Year's Eve, 2005. A cold rain lashes skid row at the corner of 16th and G Streets. David Ross, aged 71, pulls to the stoplight and hears a voice from the darkness …

The Café Noir on Ninth Avenue near Island Avenue is painted a flat charcoal so that it disappears after sunset, leaving only the small, red-neon rubric, "Café Noir," unblinking, a cyclopean Cheshire cat's bloodshot eye. …

There are these milk crates I have. I found 'em in an alley and when I spotted 'em I slammed on my brakes and rushed from my truck to nab 'em before anyone else could. …

As of noon today, San Diego Chargers HQ is in lockdown and a dusk-to-dawn curfew remains in effect for the coaching staff and all players. The latest news bulletin quotes an anonymous source as saying …

Pastor John Kim was finishing up the hour of Sunday school that preceded the service: "Why do people turn to drugs and other things? They need something to help them deal with the realities of …

Thirty Years Ago While in San Diego Metropolitan Correctional Center, though, Leary had already set forth on his new career. He listened every Sunday to KGB disc jockey Gabriel Wisdom's program of "neo-spiritual and scientific" …

The cool, forested north slopes of Liebre Mountain rear up in stark contrast to the wide, brown Antelope Valley (westernmost Mojave Desert) at their feet. The San Andreas Fault, which lies along the mountain's north …

I met an alien last Wednesday. Don't get up on your political soapbox yet; it wasn't an alien who'd hopped any fences or walked across borders, but the kind that cruises around looking for country …

There'll be no new day dawning if the city keeps walking on the dark side. Mayor Jerry Sanders pledges transparency, open government, public participation, and accountability, and then bows and scrapes before Wall Street, whose …

If nothing else, the Kearny Mesa strip joint called Cheetahs has had a colorful family history. For 12 years, according to police records, it was owned by Jack and Michael Galardi. Jack was a hardened …

The tow-truck magnate reputed to be the business brains behind Metabolife International, the diet-drug outfit that made hundreds of millions of dollars before its financial collapse, has finally been sentenced. William Robert Bradley, who pled …

High-dollar political consultant Tom Shepard, who is currently working on the campaign by San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders to privatize city services, has a lucrative side business as a county lobbyist. Among his most recent …

'It's a Budweiser and badminton bash," Brandon said when he invited me to his son's birthday party at Balboa Park. I had plans that day but had to know what people called a "shuttlecock" after …

It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept. -- Bill Watterson I had noticed it before, but I wasn't worried. Not until David brought it to my attention one night as I …

“It has about 3 grams of fat in it. A regular beef patty has 29.”

"Feels like another $35 for the chiropractor," said my husband Patrick, rubbing his back. He'd spent the weekend in L.A. on business, stayed at his sister's, and slept on an air mattress. "I'd have been …

Jungle Love "So why did you move to Belize?" It's the question that everybody asks when they come to our jungle lodge. The strange thing is that we haven't got a straight answer to that. …

'My Next Dilemma started as a studio project, and three albums later we find we are starting to do shows," says San Diego--based guitar player and vocalist Todd Miramon. "The songs come from mostly experiences …

Last week's free Saosin show in the parking lot of Lou's Records in Encinitas did not sit well with a local who sells concert tickets for a living. "How do they get away with it?" …

This summer, Don Ho (not his real name) held a series of live-music events at the end of Brighton Avenue in Ocean Beach. Dubbed "Sounds on the Sand" and held under the auspices of Ho's …

Local performers have posted the following content on their MySpace sites: The Death Squad's page header reads, "I Will Slaughter Your Family," and graphics feature photos of Hitler and swastikas. At this writing, tracks such …

Back home in France after a West Coast tour, Trumans Water's Kevin Branstetter chuckles about a blurb anticipating the band's Casbah appearance last month. In an August 30 item, CityBeat's Scoop Stevens noted that "...the …

Charlie Recksieck of the Bigfellas says being known for their bawdy tune "I Wish That I Were Gay" has its plusses and minuses. "The good side is it gives people something to remember you by, …

'San Diego is somewhat noted for contributing greatly to offensive theory," says author and historian Todd Tobias. "In the 1960s, [Chargers coach] Sid Gillman started throwing the ball more than anybody -- most folks were …

'I'm representing wineries that make only 200 cases for the world, [maybe] 50 for Southern California.'

I would assume that most people know that a dog's mouth isn't very clean, considering where its tongue is most of the time. Still, my friend argues that if you were to injure yourself and …

Matthew: Why has the paint job on the San Diego-Coronado bridge been allowed to look like hell for so many years? For a while they were doing the retrofitting, so I understood that was the …