An attempted mugging at the bus stop near the Lemon Grove trolley station on Monday, November 2, was foiled when the perpetrator slipped on some lemons...near the city’s lemon statue. Cristiana Flores was waiting at …

One of the most exotic travel experiences I’ve ever had was in Varanasi, India. Varanasi, sometimes called Benares, is the holiest city of the Hindu religion. The highlight of any trip to Varanasi is a …

Before I visited Bosnia, I heard that Sarajevo was once revered for its beauty. Visitors were awed, during the 1984 Winter Olympics, by Sarajevo's sumptuous valleys and alpine mountains. When I visited the city in …

How can one possibly encompass Paris within a brief article? Arthur Frommer considers “the city of light” his #1 travel destination in the world. Ernest Hemingway called it “a moveable feast.” The Eiffel Tower, the …

Thirty Years AgoA few months ago, local homosexual activists were eagerly anticipating passage of the first “human rights” ordinance in San Diego County. Legalization drafted by the San Diego Democratic Club, a political organization of …

Artist: The Heavy GuiltSong: “Clove” (from the CD Lift Us Up From This)Heard by: Mike Motz, San CarlosIt’s not exactly the style of music I listen to. It almost seems like a cliché. It’s rock. …

Linda Perry might not be the only pop star to emerge from the streets of San Diego. In the late ’80s, the ex–4 Non Blondes singer was a homeless teen in Balboa Park. Two years …

The Padres earned no invite to baseball’s Fall Classic this year, but San Diego already had its 2009 global champs in Chula Vista’s Park View Little League Blue Bombers, who beat Taiwan in the Little …

“Nobody is safe from getting something snuck into a drink,” according to Syndicate bassist Tim Nelson, who says someone surreptitiously slipped band vocalist Chase Shelton a “roofie” before a Ken Club gig. “Chase and I …

Music-history books and websites report that the Rolling Stones visited San Diego ten times to date, but tour posters and handbills have turned up that shed light on a little-known 11th concert a matinee on …

What are you reading? “The Fabric of Faithfulness, by Stephen Garber.” Tell me about it. “I’m trying to remember the subtitle — I think it’s Weaving Together Belief and Behavior.” [He left off During the …

Southern California abounds with duplicate place names such as Devil Canyon, Devil’s Canyon, Devil’s Peak, Devil’s Punchbowl, and the like. In the particular Devil Canyon described here, which lies at the northwest corner of the …

This year, the City of Oceanside couldn’t afford to host its downtown celebration of Día de los Muertos, but the festival found a new (if slightly smaller) home on the grounds of Mission San Luis …

‘I’ve been surf kayaking for 12 years,” says Dan Carey, 60, owner of Carlsbad Paddle Sports in Oceanside. “There are guys who have been at it since the 1940s and ’50s. The sport didn’t sweep …

J. David “Jerry” Dominelli is famed in San Diego lore for one thing: his 1980s Ponzi scheme that bilked Southern Californians of $80 million. A full 24 years after Dominelli was sentenced to prison, and …

If she’s right, Tiffany Stern has cracked a theatrical mystery: how companies rehearsed — or didn’t — between 1567 and 1780. Her book, Rehearsal from Shakespeare to Sheridan, first appeared in 2000. Reactions to it, …

Washington may declare that the recession is over, but don’t tell that to Chad and his cousins at Market 32. They’ve had to close the doors on their original, very green idea. These guys from …

Food can be a deeply political issue, but in this case it’s the merely skin-deep question of the restaurant’s name that’s bugging me. (Didn’t Shakespeare say, “A grill by any other name would smell as …

When Sea Wolf released their first album a couple of years ago, they had a name taken from a 1904 Jack London novel, music with old-fashioned instruments, lyrics about mysterious old Gypsy women, and a …

I first got tipped off about the Electric Six when a friend sent me links to their videos on YouTube. Funny stuff, in a lowbrow sort of way. Adam Sandler could front this band. E6 …

Matt: Does San Diego’s hard water cause any problems in a person’s body? Sometimes when I’m forced to drink tap water, it’s like drinking Clorox and rocks. I mean, people aren’t dropping left and right …

I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why, then, do I feel an uneasy sense of guilt on approaching a customs barrier? — John Steinbeck It was 10:30 p.m. on Friday night, and the …

Our camping trip was near perfection. Long hikes in the backcountry, bird-watching, warm days followed by cool nights gathered around the campfire singing songs… The only wrinkle was the much-anticipated s’mores. On the way out …

Froebel “Fro” Brigham, namesake of the Fro Brigham Preservation Band, 1981. In the 1950s, Brigham booked the Creole Palace in downtown San Diego. Billie Holiday, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington may have performed paying gigs …

It may well be behind us as this sees print, but I will comment again on the fascination this part of the country has with the macabre at this time of year. Between Halloween — …

The dolphin skimmed down the face of a cresting wave mere feet from where I sat on my surfboard. Then, circling around, it joined up with three friends outside where the waves were breaking. The …

Thankth The gopher on the front page (October 29) is missing his or her two front teeth. Don D’Ercole via email How Silly Of Us Re “The Scariest Part of Halloween” (“City Lights,” October 29). …

If ever there were a San Diego Charger whose postcareer success has matched his years spent on the field, it’s the great Ron Mix. Mix’s glory years came in the 1960s, when the Chargers were …

On Monday, November 2, the second Sonic Drive-In in San Diego County opened for business on the corner of Broadway and South Santa Fe Avenue in Vista. Like the Santee location, this time North County …