Hopping out of the van, we were greeted by the cold like a slap in the face. Our fingers working slowly as we struggled to strap snowshoes to our boots. The day started out with …

The site of pre-Colombian ruins on the Yucatan peninsula, Coba, reachable on a day trip from Cancun, was at one point inhabited by over 50,000. Coba’s Nohoch Mul is the highest pyramid in the Yucatan …

When the housing market crashed, wreckage was scattered throughout Chula Vista. In 2007, 12 to 15 homes out of every 1000 went into foreclosure. Many of those thousands of homes that fell vacant as a …

“Global warming?” says Steve Wampler. “Crap!” This is unexpected because Steve trained as an environmental engineer at UC Davis. But he’s serious. “There are 100,000 scientists out there who are saying it’s total crap too, …

Jazz in North Park is the new name for an old concert series that hopes to pick up where it left off over a year ago. In 2008, Jazz in the Park (as in Balboa Park) went dark when its host, the San Diego Museum of Art, pulled the plug after a seven-year run.

The name “Sycamore Canyon” in California geography plays a rather redundant role. How many canyons have specimens of native sycamore, and how many of those were named (either in English or in Spanish) after that …

The circular interior of St. Ephrem’s church might serve as an eclectic museum of Catholic devotional art. So many styles, drawn from so many traditions: a golden mosaic rendering of the icon of Our Lady …

The idea behind Duncan Sheik and Kyle Jarrow’s new musical has potential: What if only certain characters sing? And what if they’re ghosts haunting a lighthouse during World War II? The people in the “real …

Pacific Beach is more mysterious at night. Silent runners materialize like ghosts along the boardwalk, murmuring couples huddle in shadows, the odd drunken brown-bagger holds up a lamppost, groups burst out of eateries like the …

Planning a trip to India years ago, I set my sights on the south of the country (Kerala and Tamil Nadhu). Why? To eat. I’d heard that the southern food was really spicy and really …

Bigfoot And God Last night (and into the morning), I read with interest your article “I Found Bigfoot” (Cover Story, January 14). I believe you! “Things” did roam California early on. When I was a …

If there’s one story we love, it’s the story of a young person who pursues his dream in the face of obstacles — with his money running out, with his family begging him to get …

Thirty Years AgoMy Ocean Beach/Point Loma friends have taken offense to comments made by Lowell Gannon. He says he was embarrassed to say he lived in O.B., then moved to P.B.! I’d be embarrassed to …

“Some people say we sound kind of like groovy ’60s music, and some people say we sound kind of like surf punk,” says Erica Putis, bassist in the alt-rock trio Recordable Colors. Putis says that …

The family Suburban turns 16 this year and with a little help from my kids, the tinting on the rear windows looks even older. I’m not giving up my truck until it’s dead, but I …

For decades, Chargers owner Alex Spanos has been a financial mainstay of Republicans far and wide, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to a vast array of GOP candidates and officeholders, from city councilmembers and …

Ex–San Diego schools chief and border business investor Alan Bersin, still awaiting senate confirmation of his appointment by President Barack Obama to become head of Customs and Border Protection, has hit the lecture circuit. On …

On Wednesday of this week, the State Race Track Leasing Commission was scheduled to approve a new request for proposals for a new lease of the Del Mar track. The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, the …

It’s Big Lie season again. Super Lie. Specifically, Super Bowl Lie. It’s that giddy time of the year when the National Football League trots out its claim that the city that hosts the Super Bowl …

Communication at a Chula Vista city council meeting hit an all-time low on December 15. The council was besieged when one resident threw plastic eggs at the dais, claiming that councilmembers had “no backbone, no …

Revivals aside, we are lucky to get one black-and-white film a year. So we must count ourselves lucky, already in January, to get Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon, a common choice in cultural hubs as …

Dear Matt: I have some friends in Denver, and they keep wanting me to come visit. They say you can get drunk there faster and cheaper because of the altitude. I asked them why but …

John Stewart Harbison, c. 1870s. The Pennsylvania beekeeper brought his first shipment of bees to California in 1857. He settled near Sacramento and had such success that many others tried their hand at honey production. …

In 1969 Tom Chapin was the sound guy on a film crew that spent several months at sea in search of great white sharks. The footage resulted in the spooky nature thriller Blue Water, White …

Artist: The TouchiesSong: “Ur Friendz Suck”Heard by: Jimmy Wigdahl, San DiegoIt’s your average punk song. It has three chords. It’s something that you listen to that’s fast and makes you want to run around in …

“The Jumping Turtle is not going out of business,” says owner Matt Hall, despite having lost his most recent appeal to keep the City of San Marcos from revoking his venue’s entertainment permit. “City Hall …

Ad Seg is not just a name for a local four-piece hardcore punk band. It’s short for “administrative segregation” (also known as “the hole”). It’s the isolation area you go to if you’re bad in …

What are you reading? “Guns, Germs & Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond. My wife gave it to me. Basically, [the author] asks the question, ‘Why did the Spanish conquer the Aztecs …

Thursday 28He’s got Grammys, he’s got Emmys, he’s got a velvet croon and a watch-out-for-your-girlfriend grin. This renaissance man-about-town is Harry Connick Jr., and he’s bringing Your Songs, his umpteenth collection of fancy-pants jazz as …

For Travis Trevisan, vocalist and guitarist for San Diego discordant-pop three-piece Tape Deck Mountain, the 5.1 rating out of a possible 10 they received from music website pitchforkmedia.com for debut full-length Ghost doesn’t faze the …

On Tuesday night, January 19, during a storm that pounded San Diego, traffic signals all over the City of Encinitas went out. Traffic engineers believe lightning stuck a main controller in the Mountain Vista area …