Not your average street person, not your average refugee, a bicyclist dies, cross-border kidnapping

Harrowing tales from the 2010s

Author

By Matt Potter, John Brizzolara (RIP), Laura McNeal, Maryann Castronovo, Tam Hoang

Publish Date

Oct. 3, 2020

"I had my daughter who was 11 years old with me and the American government took her away from me. Yes, I was on the street, but I was home-schooling my daughter."

Street neighbor in the East Village

Kazakhstan national can’t get her daughter back

Yes, I was on the street, but I was home-schooling my daughter.

By John Brizzolara, July 26, 2013 | Read full article

When my family came to the U.S. in 1991, I was in the second grade. I knew three sentences that I strung together as a stock response: “How are you? I’m fine. I’m from Vietnam.”

When Vietnamese people say American they always mean white

Living in the in-between

Oil and Politics in La Jolla

How two Texas oilmen ran Del Mar and national politicians from a La Jolla hotel.

Two of America’s richest and most powerful oil barons took a small La Jolla hotel called Del Charro and turned it into an unlikely base for their political and financial schemes.

By Matt Potter, Jan. 5, 2011 | Read full article

Udo’s memorial bench reads, “Udo Heinz, 1969–2013, Thank you for inspiring us all with your love of cycling and the preservation of trails. Your memory rides on.” (@readerandy )

Udo was gone

German cyclist killed at Camp Pendleton by North County Transit bus

Udo and his new cyclist companions were riding on a shoulderless stretch of a two-lane road, between two low-lying heavy guardrails. Signs indicated the bike route, set the maximum speed at 45 mph, and reminded cyclists to ride single file.

By Maryann Castronovo, Nov. 12, 2014 | Read full article

In March of 1981, my small family and I moved into the house before which I now stand. We paid $60,000.

Hi. I used to live here. Can I come in?

What a house means.

As I approach my former address at the edge of Mission Hills, right where that neighborhood turns into Hillcrest, I am approaching a time machine as surely as if I were walking toward and lifting my hand to knock at the address of H.G. Wells’s Victorian scientist in the famous story from 1895.

By John Brizzolara, Jan. 28, 2009 | Read full article

Juan Laureano Arvizu. Charged with leaving a warning note on the Tostados’ doorstep. At large and wanted for 5 murders, kidnapping, and robbery. Avid gambler.

Want to Be Sent Home in Pieces?

Across the border kidnapping

At 3:39 a.m. on January 7, 2007, Columbia Street was almost deserted. Little Italy had been plagued with car burglaries — “You couldn’t drive too many of the streets down there without seeing broken glass in the morning,” said San Diego police officer Joel Schmid, so Schmid parked his patrol car and approached on foot when he noticed a pearl white Escalade stopped in the driveway of a condominium.

By Laura McNeal, April 7, 2010 | Read full article