Being in the Navy seems like the perfect time to be single. Sailors are young, many just out of high school. They’re always traveling the world. Reaching a foreign port is one of the craziest …

It’s always said that San Diego tourism, the county’s third-largest industry, is insulated from — if not immune to — recessions and high gas prices. When the economy sags and/or gas prices zoom, Angelenos and …

On April 21, local attorney Bob Ottilie went to the city council meeting with a Personnel Department list of salaries made by city employees last year. That day the council would reverse a decision it …

Bones Everywhere I was reading your cover story in the May Day issue, all about the big fuss over the UCSD house on the bluffs above Black’s Beach (“How UCSD Spent Over $500,000 on a …

The long-running dispute between the Barona Indians and their neighbors over pumping water for the tribe’s golf course apparently demanded a recent firsthand inspection by county supervisor Ron Roberts. On February 20, according to recently …

EdVoice, that controversial Sacramento lobbying organization, has already rolled out at least two mailers on behalf of 78th District Democratic assembly candidate Marty Block, chairman of the board of the San Diego Community College District. …

Some San Diego city hall insiders are expecting the investigation announced this week by Mayor Jerry Sanders of that controversial Otay Mesa Blackwater training facility to be a whitewash. Exhibit number one, they argue, is …

Thirty Years AgoWhen Weird Marvin screams, he means business. He says he once screamed from the top of Mount Helix and a friend over on Mount Miguel heard him. Now Marvin is screaming off Hawley …

Pride goeth... My best gal pal Bernice has a niece, newly engaged and eager to learn the secrets of domestic bliss. Bernice sent her to me for an introduction to the kitchen. I was pleased …

The paved road stops at Al Qaim, a military base in northwestern Al Anbar province. Another 40 kilometers further along muddy and half-formed paths is a small combat outpost near the Syrian border. Surrounded by …

I usually dress up for theme parties, but when I hit The Wizard of Oz theme party in North Park, I didn’t have anything to wear. I wasn’t about to make myself look like a …

Families with babies and families without babies are sorry for each other. — Ed Howe The gestation period had only been three months — from the date I conceived my little one to the moment …

Hold on to your butts, kids! Here comes another installment of...The Underpants Tablecloth-Caped Avenger! Disguised as my nebbish alter ego, Johan Awesome, I patrolled an enclave of Kensington. Ol’ Black Betty, the Six-Speed Bicycle of …

The Laguna Mountain range, just east (and squarely in the “rain shadow”) of the nearby Cuyamaca Mountains, snags just enough moisture from passing Pacific storms to support a forest of scattered live oaks, black oaks, …

I worked with special-education kids for a very long time, and you have to be really careful what you say around them. You can’t cuss or say anything dirty because they will pick it up …

Things I took away from Sunday’s service at Father’s House Church International: Israel and the Jews are important. An Israeli flag stood on one side of the stage. One of the hymns, in the midst …

I began tai chi lessons in February 2004. Since there is nothing in my past that would foreshadow an interest in tai chi as opposed to, say, an interest in small-town bars, I decided this …

“He had become a public figure, as no composer had done before. Unlike composers of the preceding generation, he had never been a purveyor of music to the nobility he had lived into the age …

Najem Al Ekabi sits beneath the forest of red, white, and black Iraqi flags. He’s intent on a video on his laptop. “Look, see?” he says. “The one on the left. That’s me. Winning the …

Over the door is the “dough” — the Chinese ideogram for the Tao (pronounced “doe”), meaning “the way” in general, and in Taoism, the way of the universe. (George Lucas calls it “The Force,” and …

DOWN IN THE DRAINS: It’s on the first sunny day after a string of rainstorms when Robert R. slides his blue SUV to the side of the road somewhere in UTC. In the passenger seat …

Having lived in San Diego since 1980, one would think that I would have long ago gravitated to residence in the northern portion of the county. It seems, by consensus, to be more generally livable …

“The word ‘zydeco’ comes from the Cajun-French song ‘Les haricots san pa sale,’” says Peter Oliver, musician and co-promoter of the Gator by the Bay Festival. “In French that means ‘the snap beans aren’t salty,’ …

There’s a song called “Oil Man’s War” on Canadian alt-country singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards’s new album Asking for Flowers, but it’s not about you-know-who or you-know-where. No, it’s the story of a young American couple, Bobby …

New Orleans drummer Stanton Moore’s jazz has more to do with the rowdiness of rock than with free-form intellectual explorations of melody. That’s not to say that Moore is a failed rocker turned jazzman or …

What San Diego musician can claim the title of Most Local Airplay? Pinback? P.O.D.? Jewel? The honor goes to Leonard Tucker. You many not recognize the name, but odds are you know the voice. Here’s …

I was scraping by as a line cook in San Francisco in the mid-’80s when my landlord offered me the job of managing a 24-unit apartment building on Pine Street. It sounded like easy money: …

Call me an ingrate, but I cannot suppress the comment that Landmark Theatres have finally found a slot for Hou Hsiao-hsien only after the Taiwanese filmmaker made a film in France and in French, and …

Artist: Archways Song: “Jinx” (from the CD Lest We Forget) Heard By: Dan Watman, Stockton I liked it a lot. The guitar riff was catchy and original. I liked the style of music — it …

The Four Kings played a local battle-of-the-bands show at the House of Blues last August. “At the end of the show the four of us were taking different trips up and down the loading elevator,” …

When an abandoned 18-foot boat loaded with marijuana washed ashore April 21 at Sunset Cliffs, a KUSI News reporter interviewed one damp, long-haired, shirtless witness who called the huge stash “the harvest of Neptune.” The …

Although a March 25 San Diego Union-Tribune article announced that “Street Scene is poised to reclaim the streets that inspired its name,” founder Rob Hagey has taken out a special-events permit to hold it in …

“Chasers is the new Scolari’s,” singer Vv Morgue says of the North Park bar. “Scolari’s no longer has bands, so their crew all moved on over to Chasers to pick up the pieces.” Last year, …

Last month, Disco Pimps front man Eric Alexander opened the Stage Saloon downtown. Formerly the Heat Supper Club, the 300-seat room at 762 Fifth Avenue becomes one more county nightspot at least partially owned by …

Single: Don’t Wake the Sun (2008) Artist: Writer Label: self-released Where available/price: At live shows, Lou’s Records (Encinitas), Off the Record (North Park), M Theory (Mission Hills), and Spin Records (Carlsbad) for $5. Online at …

Dear Matt: When I was a little girl, my mother always cut my hair in bangs, straight across my forehead. I was looking at some old pictures lately and suddenly wondered why that hairstyle is …

Excavation of the Spreckels Theatre building at 121 Broadway, c. 1908. Sugar millionaire John D. Spreckels is said to have had it constructed to coincide with the Panama Canal’s opening. (San Diego vied to be …

Clue: Son of a beach. Describe this location, name the nearest cross-streets, and win a Reader T-shirt. Enter by completing the form below. Last week's place: (clue: Christa and crew, remembered) Graffiti tribute to the …

Name: Frank Age: 35 Lives In: Mission Beach Surfing: Mission Beach Pre-Surf Music: Band of Horses Post-Surf Food: Anything healthy Frank had a nasty collision one evening at La Jolla Shores. “As I was starting …