"Let me show you something,” said Jeff Matthias proudly from the Christmas-light-draped front yard of his home on 28th Street in North Park on November 9. “You're just going to freak out." Matthias, a serious …

A rabid, adult gray fox was recently found in a remote area of rural Jamul, county officials announced on November 5. Dr. Gundula Dunne, veterinary medical officer for the County of San Diego, says, “The …

Kelptown What a cool surprise for me to see a photo of one of my kelp art installations on page 135 this week (“Pictures of a Town,” November 4)! With the onset (hopefully) of winter …

Gayle Skidmore’s CD-release show for Make Believe happens November 13 at the Ruby Room. “I played over a dozen instruments on the album and took over a year and a half to record it,” reports …

The cactus and Joshua tree’d villa at 30th and Quince in North Park lent the perfect aesthetic for a Halloween Dia de los Muertos party. Roommates Hannah and Emily, both half Mexican, had decorated the …

How to build an old-fashioned neighborhood.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. — Mark Twain "Jane’s waiting for me downstairs. I’ll see you in a few hours,” I said, kissing David on each cheek. …

Hi, Matt: I’m a former San Diegan who now lives in China. The bed here is provided by my employer, and it is a bit more firm than the average bed in America. Strangely, every …

It had to end sometime. Now’s as bad a time as any. After thirty-eight years of them — commencing with a typo-marred encomium on Hickey and Boggs dated November 2, 1972 — this is to …

Don’t get the wrong idea. I don’t frequent adult entertainment establishments. Not anymore. But whenever I drive from the airport to Balboa Park, while going up Laurel I sometimes give a friendly nod to Pure …

The sun of my Perfection is a Glass Wherein from Seeing into Being pass All who, reflecting as reflected see Themselves in Me, and Me in them, not Me, But all of Me that a …

Thou, Whose breath is sweetest perfume to the spent and anguished heart, Thy remembrance to Thy lovers bringeth ease for every smart. Multitudes like Moses, reeling, cry to earth’s remotest place “Give me sight, O …

Back in the Neolithic Era, the year my in-laws were coming for Thanksgiving dinner, I was so nervous that when the doorbell rang, I dropped a raw egg on the kitchen floor. Today we have …

Had to smile at what was happening on one corner of the big split-screen TV. I’m talking about Sunday’s game, specifically, the last Oakland Raiders drive, the one in overtime, the one that set up …

"Each of us who loves the theater,” writes John Lithgow, “has a secret list of the great shows we never got to ­see.” His may be. Mine’s not. I would love to have seen the …

Aha... There he is. Allen and his ’88 Chevy lunch-truck, parked here on Carroll Centre Road. It’s Monday evening, about dusk. Takes a bit of street-scanning after the 210 bus leaves me. Then I see …

Whenever I say, “I am from the Faroe Islands,” the most common reaction I get is “Sorry, what, where is that?” So here is a brief description of the Faroe Islands before we continue: The …

Membership: 100 Pastor: Walter Frank Born: San Diego Formation: Pastoral training in Korea Ordained: 14 years San Diego Reader: Can you think of a sermon that flopped? PF: It was July about two years ago…. …

Thursday 11A pair of seasoned punks from the Palm Desert scene — Circle Jerk Zander Schloss shredding an acoustic and wordsmith Sean Wheeler of Throw Rag — bring their folk-raunch shtick to Brick by Brick …

I was just turned twenty-one, And Henry Phipps, the Sunday-school superintendent, Made a speech in Bindle’s Opera House. “The honor of the flag must be upheld,” he said, “Whether it be assailed by a barbarous …

The 1100-acre La Tuna Canyon Park, basically an open-space area with minimal picnic facilities, drapes over the north-facing slopes of the Verdugo Mountains near Glendale. On this trek, which is perfect for a cool late …

Thirty-Five Years Ago“Al would come to work every day on time. From the moment he arrived at the beach he never took his eyes off the water until it was time to leave.... When the …

“People think it’s making beats,” says UCSD doctorate student Mike Gao, “but it’s actually programming things to make music with, or making things to make things to make music.” Thanks to the guidance he received …

“There were a lot of extenuating circumstances that led to the death of Nautical Disaster, both private and public,” writes Berkeley Kent Austin, singer-guitarist for San Diego psych-rockers Heart Beat Trail. In April of this …

At 6 p.m. on a Monday evening, an ex-rocker named Bob Bell, along with 18 other music students, tune various instruments in classroom 801 at Southwestern College. Music 157, also known as Mariachi Garibaldi, is …

Of Sons and Ghosts are based in North Park and played their debut gig in May 2010. “The band is named after the recent departure of three of our most influential father figures,” says singer-keyboardist …

Jon Ragel from Portland, Oregon, performs as his alter ego, Boy Eats Drum Machine, a one-man act that leans heavily on turntables and digital sampling. “Also saxophone,” he says. “A tenor saxophone. A real one.” …

This year’s Heaven Is Whenever is the fifth studio album by Brooklyn’s Hold Steady, and if you’ve been paying any attention, you know what to expect. There are big, butt-rockin’ guitar riffs. There are boozy, …

You can’t be blasting your fellow man with dragon breath. So, when Patrick complained of the chalkiness of his Dentyne Pure Mint gum ($1.49 for 9 pieces at Ralphs), I knew a replacement was needed. …

"Try to remember the kind of September…” The song was from a musical named The Fantasticks. In that spirit, try to remember September of 2006. The media crowed that the state added 17,300 jobs that …

Twenty-nine politicos from the League of California Cities got in free to September 19’s Chargers versus Jacksonville game at Qualcomm, thanks to tickets with a face value of $98 each, distributed by San Diego city …

700CN, the gleaming blue and white 1990 Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV executive jet that was the pride of Copley Newspapers and its owner David Copley, has finally been sold. The new owner, according to Federal Aviation …

Forget the price of health insurance for its employees, the City of San Diego also has to deal with setting up a health and dental plan for its police dogs. According to a recently posted …

If he’d take it as a compliment, I’d call him the Einstein of West Morena Boulevard. That’s where Tony Iaquinta holds forth in his restaurant, Bull’s Smokin’ BBQ. It’s mighty good food, the barbecued ribs, …