Retired American Airlines pilot Barry Martin has been called the best animal tracker in San Diego County. I asked how he first came to be interested in this arcane discipline. A lanky athlete with probing …

Mention the words "club owner" to me and you can watch my eyes narrow. I'm probably picturing a beer gut sausaged into a too-small T-shirt, a few days' growth of beard from which sprouts an …

There were those days. When I was young and there was violence in my blood. There were those nights. Pulling a friend from the double yellow line of a busy road while he screamed, "NO! …

If you had any doubts about the power of emotion or whether there is such a thing as a home-field advantage in professional football, they were taken care of Monday night. New Orleans played eight …

Saint Gregory the Great might be an Arts & Crafts arboretum, with its huge slatted dome of a ceiling, its preponderance of windows framed by great beams of wood, its gray-green tile floor, its trickling …

The Best American Science Writing 2006. Editor: Atul Gawande. Series Editor: Jesse Cohen. Harper Collins Publishers, 2006, $13.95, 384 pages. ABOUT THE BOOK: Carrying the imprimatur of bestselling author Atul Gawande, a rock-and-roll-loving surgeon and …

Thirty Years Ago Needle's Eye. The secret about Needle's Eye is why more surfers don't get their lunch there. Located below Sunset Cliffs Boulevard on the north side of Luscomb's Point and breaking into No …

Summer's hellishly hot siege of the Anza-Borrego Desert is nearly over, and Agua Caliente Regional Park (adjoining Anza-Borrego) is back open for business. For the next couple of weeks the demand for Agua Caliente's campsites …

When Jeff Fagan ("Dr. Jefe") began piercing noses in 1994, he says there was one other body piercer in town. During his glory years (1994--'98), Fagan's shop would have 50 to 60 customers per day. …

Scolari's Office, the North Park bar on 30th Street that has hosted local and touring bands for five years, won't be offering music for at least a little while. "The entertainment license ran out," says …

Ten days before the San Diego Music Awards ceremonies, a former L.A.-based limo-company owner hosted a two-day music event at Squid Joe's in Carlsbad. Al Bowman describes his "Rockfest" as part of a showcase series …

It was billed as "Hell and Heaven United," with Satan-loving Slayer co-headlining with Christian rockers Stryper. However, the September 23 Monterrey Metal Fest in Nuevo León, Mexico, was derailed "due to Slayer not wanting to …

After four years as a live-music venue, San Marcos's Longshot Saloon has shut down. The owner of the building, Paul Eckert, says that three weeks ago the fixtures were removed, and the Longshot will no …

Thirty-eight years ago today (9-28-68), Big Brother and the Holding Company were scheduled to play a sold-out show at downtown's Community Concourse. The afternoon before the show, Janis Joplin announced to the press her intention …

Three decades ago, Democrat Richard Silberman was a high-ranking member of San Diego's largely Republican political domain. A San Diego State grad who dabbled in a long series of financial schemes before hitting the jackpot …

The San Diego City Council keeps eating up the freebies, according to personal financial filings at city hall. La Jolla's Scott Peters, who is married to a multimillionaire, got a $150 ticket this January 19 …

It takes American eyes a minute to see the signs of wealth in Tijuana's Zona Diamante (Diamond Zone), high-end neighborhoods that cling to the hills south of downtown, above the country club and racetrack. Nowhere …

It's time to jettison "America's Finest City" for a new moniker: "The Capital of Cognitive Dissonance." What, you ask, is cognitive dissonance? To a psychologist, it's the acute discomfort you feel when there is a …

It is comfortable for us to pretend, in our nouveau puritanical way, that our fellow family members don't "do it." Adolescents -- Daddy's girls and Momma's boys, especially -- cringe when presented with the idea …

Last week a guy called my voicemail to tell me that I got the NBA logo wrong. I wrote that it was Jerry West, and the caller insisted it was Pete Maravich. He should have …

Back when singer/guitarist Steven Bradford was in Waiting for Autumn, it looked like the power-punk band was about to break big, with write-ups in Alternative Press and a tour opening for Underoath. Many were surprised …

Me So Kooky First, the office is really big on this pupil-dilation thing. I know, preventive care blah blah, but it's just never convenient and I hate it, so I declined this time around. And …

'One of the things that military children get that is very positive is that sense of mission, a sense of doing something for somebody more than just yourself," says writer/director Donna Musil. On Friday, September …

'There was a real need for a little wine guide for gringos.'

“Here’s the problem. The Aztec cook? He left, along with his wife, Michelle.”

Your Smartness: I'm nearsighted, and when I look in the mirror without my glasses, I can see myself okay but things across the room look blurry. But if the mirror is close enough for me …

Hi, Matt: How do you spell whatever word is shortened to Mrs.? Please tell me it isn't "missus." -- Keith, Antioch, Illinois So this is what's on the minds of you flatlanders. The soybeans are …

Help! In his novel Galapagos, Kurt Vonnegut describes the dining habits of the iguanas in the region. Basically, he says they make their way down the rocky cliffs to the sea, where they eat a …