Editor's note: More than 600 San Diegans submitted stories for the Reader "My Neighborhood" writing contest. Ocean Beach led all communities with over 20 entries. Writers 10 to 87 years old sent pieces from as …

My dentist looked at me as though he knew a secret, as if he knew something about my underpants and extra-virgin olive oil. He twisted his face and covered his mouth and whispered to the …

Skylar EpplerAssistant, La Jolla Landmark Midnight Madness Donnie Darko: Director's Cut will be a cult classic for years to come. Worthy of midnight moviegoers, young and old. A young boy learns a few things about …

Sammy Sosa leans over confidentially. "It was a special treat for the king. For the Aztec king. Ordinary people couldn't eat it." I look at the black morass on my plate. I almost expect him …

'When I structure my classes, they're usually themed," says Elizabeth Podsiadlo, known as the Opera-Singing Chef. "If I'm doing Italian, I'll be singing Italian. If I'm doing French, I'll be singing Carmen. Once I did …

DJ: Sam Bass Station: 96.5 KYXY FM Shift: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays; Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. When I was in fourth grade, I was told by my dentist that …

A churchgoer of a certain age might take in the '60s décor at Covenant Presbyterian Church and think, "Time for an update." The tawny gold of the deep pile carpet, the worn blue velveteen on …

Name: Eli Humphrey Vehicle: 1996 Toyota Tacoma LX Lives: La Jolla Surfing: Hospitals, La Jolla Eli Humphrey grew up in South Carolina but moved to San Diego ten years ago and has been surfing ever …

"Perhaps the Merrie Englanders and the Puritans are not so far apart as each imagines."

Depending on who tells the story, when Captain Charles Fitzallen sailed from Cardiff, Wales, aboard the Challenger in 1887, he had a bald spot either the size of a monk’s tonsure or the Great Globe …

"I have a Wright Brothers bike that the Smithsonian wants."

Ten years earlier, plans got under way to develop the 780-acre Sorrento Valley Industrial Park -- "one of the greatest industrial parks in the nation," according to developers quoted in the local daily. As development …

The Junky's Wife Explained When I was in my late teens and early 20s, I was a spectacular train wreck. I used coke, a lot, sometimes for days on end. I cut myself. I hated …

Earlier this year, I attended a couple of business affairs. At an afternoon party, Muttropolis in La Jolla had a spread of food -- corn on the cob, grilled ribs and burgers. Upon closer inspection, …

The phone rings, I pick up, Dorothy Giliam says, "Hello." "Dorothy, been a long time. How are you?" UNLV, 1969 "I'm good," Dorothy says. "I finished editing Frank's book, and it's published now. I remarried. …

Hi, Matt: One of my favorite E. John songs is "Candle in the Wind." One question: How the hell did they make Norma Jean change her name? Was there slavery back then? Did they hold …

Hey, Matt: There are plenty of ingredients or toppings that add spice to a meal, but is there anything I can add to "cool" the food down? Does the jalapeño have an opposite? -- Jay, …

'We have serious concerns about the management," says stock market research firm Morningstar, Inc., about a publicly held company, Usana Health Sciences. "The company is under investigation by the SEC, and scandals about directors and …

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 …

Name: Chris Olsen Occupation: Lock Salesman Neighborhood: Pacific Beach Where Interviewed: La Jolla Cove What book are you currently reading? "The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous I've read through chapter four, but I decided to …

The TV spots are already running, posters are up all over downtown, banners fly from the lampposts, and hotel reservations are presumably booked, and the speedy little airplanes of the Red Bull Air Race, set …

Thirty Years Ago The tall blonde who sits on a barstool in front of the Princess Rap Parlor on lower Fifth reacts warily to questions about her trade. "That's all I ever do, man; just …

Steve Rohrer booked the bands for "Ranchita Rocks," a three-day event at which 40 bands will play. Concertgoers are encouraged to camp out on the 160-acre Golightly Farms Ranch between Warner Springs and Julian. Rohrer's …

Rapper Tonex (pronounced toe-NAY), a pastor at Truth Apostolic Community Church, has generated controversy because he curses in his song "The Naked Truth": "I got out alive, nigga...I did it, I made it, [I'm] the …

At press time there was speculation that Dynamite Walls, Scarlet Symphony, and Dirty Sweet might be last-minute additions to next weekend's Street Scene lineup. Weeks earlier, the booking of side stage headliner DJ Kid Lightning …

When vocalist-guitarist Amber Coffman takes the Casbah stage this weekend as a member of Brooklyn's art-pop band Dirty Projectors, it will mark a sort of homecoming. Before relocating to New York at the beginning of …

Pinback, Goblin Cock, Thingy, Heavy Vegetable, Optiganally Yours, Other Men...man of a thousand bands Rob Crow has referred to the Star Wars film series in nearly all his musical projects: "She purrs and sabers light, …

Tyler De Los Reyes says, "I had a good family. We didn't have any violence. We just didn't have a place to stay." He was out on the streets by age 13. De Los Reyes …

Some writers thrive on deadlines, with the egg-timer ticking or a nine-milly pointed at their brain. Noel Coward penned Private Lives in three days, in a bathtub, he says. William Saroyan allegedly locked himself in …

Toys were lots of fun before they became capitalist tools. -- Beth Copeland Vargo The thermostat read 85, but it felt more like 100. Jen and I sat side by side on the warm concrete, …

This is not so much a film of the individual trees as of the overall forest.

Steve Serrano, drummer for Dynamite Walls, says that the first night of their first national tour was, unbeknownst to the band, spent in a home where one of Seattle's worst shootings had taken place the …

Clean notebooks and sharpened pencils, white sneakers and new socks, homework and carpooling -- the school year has begun. This year's hectic schedule of school and sports has made me eager to have one night …

Guatay Mountain, a gently swelling, chaparral-covered ridge rising about 900 feet over the hamlet of Guatay, is distinguished by its old-growth population of Tecate cypress trees. This particular species of cypress has a very spotty …