How long have you been surfing? “7 years now. The first time I ever surfed I hated it. My dad got me out on a surfboard for the fist time at Doheny State Beach. It …

Jerk chicken, goat curry, oxtail, brown stew. Having spent fifteen years sampling dishes from at least that many Jamaican restaurants, I’ve come to view these as staples of the island cuisine built upon the pleasures …

A report that could affect thousands of property owners in San Diego by bringing historic designation to some bungalow and apartment courts has sparked strong opposition and support. What began as an informational item at …

Over a week ago, a man broke into a private train car, which former President John F. Kennedy allegedly traveled in. It was parked at the Santa Fe Depot train station. "We attempted to speak …

There’s an aisle of shelves in Spring Valley grocery Valley Farm Market almost entirely devoted to barbecue. It carries sauces, seasonings, wood chips, pellets, and a litany of accessories for the wannabe backyard smoker. I’ve …

Carlsbad police were contacted early the morning of February 4, 2020, alerted to an attack on a bed-ridden woman in a senior facility. The alleged incident happened at the Elmcroft Senior Living facility at 1088 …

Chaparral, the tangled assortment of low-growing, drought-resistant, native shrubs covering most of San Diego County’s lower mountain slopes, has managed to remain fairly attractive this summer. Unlike many of the scrubby natives near the coast, …

The real Saint Diego If he’d stayed on the islands, our city now would probably be called San Miguel, the name originally given to the area by Juan Cabrillo. But around 1450, Diego went to …

Saltwater: The full moon phase at the beginning of the week coupled with breezy conditions slowed the bite across the board for the fleet. That said, fishing was spotty for some trips yet still very …

An unhampered look at Carlsbad's Army Navy Academy "Unlike the upper-school cadets, these boys will break down and cry, a lot. They don’t want other boys to see ’em cry, ’cause it’s not macho. But …

Cave Johnson Couts Ysidora's brother-in-law, Don Abel Stearns, gave her the Guajome land grant surrounding Mission San Luis Rey. Couts resigned his commission with the Army and built a ranch on land that “had neither …

Opera singer Ryan Speedo Green proved a very important point during his performance at The Rady Shell during the opening night concert on August 7. Mr. Green proved that opera, when done well, appeals to …

I’ve photographed burritos, dumplings, and egg rolls, but probably the most challenging photo I’ve ever tried to take centered on a lump of fudge. I’d ordered the rocky road flavor, hoping that the large, white …

“We had a great story,” says San Diego Sheriff Bill Bore. “We had body cam video — you know, the stuff that’s supposed to clear up confusion about police business — showing Deputy David Faviiae …

What’s bigger, more exciting, and two years older than Airport 1975? Airport ‘77! Airport ’77 (1977) In Airport, the Arthur Hailey original, disaster struck in the form of mad bomber Van Heflin, while the 747 …

“Love is blind,” said baseball great Yoga Berry, “but it still knows which team its rooting for.” Which makes it all the more mysterious how Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer, recipient of maybe the …

“Everybody talks about how gay bars are disappearing all over America,” says Dan Butterman, self-appointed historian of Hillcrest’s history as San Diego’s gay district. “But what’s less discussed is the disappearance of an even more …

Circa 200 B.C., the Greek physicist Archimedes of Syracuse is said to have jumped out of his bathtub and run through the city streets naked, shouting, “Eureka! Eureka!” —”I have found it!” The ancient scientist …

Not Waving but Drowning Nobody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought And not waving but drowning. Poor chap, he always loved larking And …

Super Buffet smorgasbord: After teasing two songs as a single on Big Stir Records this past spring, North County’s Super Buffet self-released their debut full-length, Self Styled, in July. The majority of the recording was …

My two friends Erik and Chris said I had to do this. “It’s not that cheap, but you get so much, you have two meals for the price of one, guaranteed,” said Chris. He was …

It’s been a fertile period of late for adventure films that pair tough burly movie stars opposite young unknowns — Dave Bautista and Chloe Coleman in My Spy, Liam Neeson and Jacob Perez in The …

Founded during the 2020-2021 pandemic, cinematic throwback rockers Superweapon cite among their influences Queen, Styx, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Zak Wylde, Dimebag Darrell, Eddie Van Halen, George Lynch, Rush, Journey, Muse, and Rammstein. The band …

Poet and performer Noah Lekas, late of Wisconsin, more lately of North Park and Vista, says that the work of combining his poetry with the sound from local musicians just flowed naturally. “I’ve always been …

Frank Hope Sr. was a World War I veteran and UC Berkeley dropout when he came to San Diego to work for the esteemed architectural firm Requa & Jackson. By 1928, he had struck out …

Depending on whose ox is vaxxed It’s Democrat versus Democrat in Sacramento’s latest battle over whether to mandate vaccinations for employees, at least in the state capitol. After state Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon ordered lower …

I met “Border Chef” Andrea Aguari — the title is her own — a decade ago when she was cooking for the short-lived Taberna Etxeverri on Calle Sexta. We hadn’t spoken in years when I …

Discriminating intelligence I am NOT going to take the Covid vaccine (“City expands outreach to vaccine-hesitant communities,” SD on the QT: Almost Factual News, June 18). There is no proof that it works. There seems …

Okay, I’ll tell you about how I almost went to jail dressed as Tonto the Indian. But fair warnings: it’s the most 1970s tale you’re likely to hear this week, and it’s definitely NSFW (for …

Dear Hipster: For many years, faithful readers have come to you for help in identifying hipsters and their hipster behaviors. But nothing lasts forever, and even the coolest hipster may one day wake up, look …

Darian Alexandra moved to Pacific Beach from northern Indiana on Christmas day 2014 with the sole purpose of learning to surf. She was stung by a stingray her first day in the water. But she …

Roberto made a collect call to his girlfriend Lizzie in Oceanside, from the jail in Vista, on March 27, 2017. The call cost her about twelve dollars, they talked more than 20 minutes. As is …

Efforts to bring unleaded fuel to Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport haven't gotten far, but a study of an airport less than half its size is raising new concerns about lead exposure in children. Today {Aug. 24}, …

Out in search of a romantic dinner, we approached a rather nondescript, gray storefront on University Avenue. The place didn’t even have a sign up — were it not for a handful of diners enjoying …

On August 15, before 6:30 a.m. Cindy Morton said she heard a man screaming "help, help, help" from the tandem parking spots underneath their Mission Heights apartment complex in Mission Valley. "I ran down, came …

Jasmine’s Thick, Sweet Odor wafts on the night breezes this time of year, especially throughout the older, well-landscaped neighborhoods of San Diego. The exotic odor is produced by the flowers of true jasmines (genus Jasminum), …

Adult Orphans A Wednesday afternoon, hot. Half the stools at the State Hotel Deli are taken. Talk is quiet, desultory. Mama Sofia perches on her stool near the cash register, her daughter — mending again …

Dock Totals 8/15 – 8/21: 5,486 anglers aboard 247 trips out of San Diego landings this past week caught 84 barracuda, 1,322 bluefin tuna (up to 75 pounds), 1 bocaccio, 694 bonito, 2,761 calico bass …

Just Relax and I'll Get Dinner I am stepping through the front door of Andronico’s, my countenance set to grim purpose. Andronico’s is a grocery store, the kind that doesn’t carry 1 variety of pear, …

Decent Life Led by the Ordinary Man I will never forget the time a monsignor from our church, favoring our simple household with a visit, stopped by and in the course of dinner, sat back, …

The past couple years have brought plenty of changes to Split Bakehouse. When Vanessa Corrales launched the brand in 2018 with acclaimed pastry chef Kristianna Zabala, the idea was to offer a wholesale pastry menu …

If this dive into Airport 1975 were any deeper, it would have crashed! Airport 1975 (1974) It was the first of three officially sanctioned sequels to Airport, the obscenely successful air-disaster soap opera based on …

Adventure Sun and wind and beat of sea, Great lands stretching endlessly… Where be bonds to bind the free? All the world was made for me! Doom Peter stands by the gate, And Michael by …

Church of the Resurrection Parish Contact: 1445 Conway Drive, Escondido 760-747-2322 www.resurrectionchurch.org Membership: 3,000+ families Neighborhood: North County Pastor: Father Eduardo Bernardino Age: 60 Born: Bulacan Province, Philippines Formation: Mapua Institute of Technology, Manila; Our …

What started as a refugee camp close to El Chaparral Port of Entry in Tijuana has ended up as a sort of shelter for criminals and gang members from Central America. According to Paty (not …

Erick Zenteno Gaslamp Breakfast Company 551 J Street Gaslamp ”The pink is kind of our signature color here,” says Gaslamp Breakfast Company’s bartender Erick Zenteno. One glance at the restaurant’s perky pink decor and bright …

“I was able to secure a PPP loan with the SBA to support my music career,” says southeast San Diego rapper Cesar “Crhymes” Tellez. Despite losing 15 months of career traction to Covid, “the blessing …

The blue flame dances in and out of focus. The Green Fairy sparkles in front of my eyes. I can feel her hypnotizing me. I’m seeing seven veils, I’m thinking “Scheherazade,” “Salome.” My eyelids are …

There was a time in the mid-’90s when it seemed like every other indie release owed a debt of originality to Quentin Tarantino. Hell, he produced half of them! The studio press release for Habit, …

Born in Budapest, Hungary, Geza Keller is a physicist by day whose Infinite Optics company earns $3 million in annual sales. He was three years old when he and his Canadian-born Hungarian mother fled the …

There’s an old joke that says the only way to make a million dollars in jazz is start out with two million. Given that, and given the reality of post-pandemic life, it seems like opening …

The City of Vista is rolling in weed money, and it's only going to increase. Vista became the only city in North County to allow cannabis dispensaries when the citizen-sponsored Measure Z passed in 2018. …

I have always loved the word “loquacious.” I also love the word “screwball.” And I especially love when the two come together in screwball comedies. If ever a rash of movies was by definition loquacious, …

UCSD’s moonlighting abuse It’s an open secret that some already richly paid UCSD academic staffers have been taking advantage of lax enforcement of the school’s limits on overtime, moonlighting, and other off-the-job activity to make …

The house at 2719 Chestnut Avenue in northeast Carlsbad sits on a tract of land once used for tomato farming. The tract is a neat, well-kept neighborhood that is home to a mix of young …

Sunday night knockoff This is the lady cab driver who got kinda messed over when we had the articles on the Gaslamp and LiMandri called for a bunch of meetings over it, and its long …

“Limo driving?” says Corb. “It’s not all bad.” The guy should know. He has been driving execs around for 25 years. “I started in 1996, when the Republican Convention was on. I never left. I …

Favorite Surf spot?: PB Point How long have you been surfing? “Since I was 7 yeas old. I’m on the Mission Bay High School surf team, and I’ve been competing in surf competitions for a …

Next month, the city of Encinitas will consider a ban on helium-filled balloons, a proposal that has garnered more support letters than any topic ever heard by the environmental commission. Some balloon businesses, however, are …

Other than the word sushi itself, there’s usually not much to learn about a sushi restaurant by looking at its name. Sometimes, if there’s a Japanese word, you can run it through an online translator …

I HAVE THE 1953 PLAYBOY magazine with Marilyn Monroe's famous nude centerfold. I purchased this copy new in the 1950s. What is its value today? A.R. Evans Billings, Mont. The price of your Playboy, which …

Beth Smith noticed her terrier-and-chihuahua mix, Pebbles, barking and yelping more than usual last week. On August 12, she reached out to us on our mid-city neighborhood online forum: "My neighbors have been shooting my …

The year of the big Covid-19 shutdown was San Diego city hall's most lucrative year for behind-the-scenes influence peddling. "In 2020, a total of 57 lobbying firms and 61 organization lobbyists registered a total of …

Thunderstorms have visited the Imperial Valley and parts of eastern San Diego County over the past several weeks. The seasonal arrival of moisture from the east and south, more or less typical for late summer, …

Happy Endings on Convoy Street In all the years I lived in and visited Korea, almost always staying in some relative’s household, I went to countless parties. When they were outside the household, they were …

Dock Totals 8/8 – 8/14: 5,585 anglers aboard 256 trips out of San Diego landings this past week caught 78 barracuda, 4,133 bluefin tuna (up to 80 pounds), 13 bocaccio, 517 bonito, 2,134 calico bass …

Destination Tijuana “Don’t let them tell me the bus is new. Of course, we always get there on time; it’s just on the way there are, well, complications. It’s in the nature of the route. …

I Wanted to Own Him Until He Opened His Mouth Six days later, on a morning when the air was light blue, the weasel left his kill on the driveway, a young opossum so dead …

Plant-based eateries aren’t as tough a sell as they used to be in San Diego, but they’re still part of the volatile restaurant business, so even some of the good ones close before their time. …

I came to San Diego in the fall of 1990. All through the decade, I took advantage of the chance to buy student tickets for the San Diego Symphony and the San Diego Opera. However, …

San Diego’s Tiki Oasis festival celebrated its 20th anniversary this year after postponing the celebration and being forced to go virtual in 2020. This year also marked the first Tiki Oasis in its new home, …

Many performers lost their careers during Hollywood’s transition to sound, but Jean Arthur literally found her voice in talkies. And don’t let the pink and squishy sounds it radiates fool you: Ms. Arthur was a …

Yesterday, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria spoke out against a plague of faked vaccination cards that seems to be spreading among the unvaccinated community in San Diego even faster than covid-19. “Even as San Diego’s …

Last week, a SurveyUSA poll revealed that more than half of likely voters would vote to recall Governor Gavin Newsom from office, a clear sign that many Californians are unhappy with Toothsome Newsom’s handling of …

“When I first suggested that China’s decision to share its pandas with the San Diego Zoo might be a fur-op, everybody said I was crazy,” says local conspiracy theorist Saul Openmind. “That was what, 27 …

Epigram I.90 Bassa, I never saw you hang with guys— Nobody whispered that you had a beau. Girls surrounded you at every turn; They did your errands, with no attendant males. And so, I guess …

Javi Nunez was into gothic metal and punk before he dove into deathrock, a subgenre of punk and goth that originated on the west coast circa 1980. The crossover act for him was Rudimentary Peni, …

‘OORAH!” This is Kevin, popping his head through the window. He’s an ex-Marine. Also a neighbor. We’ve started these five o’clock follies, always involving grog, arguments, and lots of snacks, from peanuts to carrot sticks …

There should never be another fictionalized account of the Holocaust put to film. The temptation to sentimentalize the atrocities too often proves impossible to resist. (As Prof. Deborah Lipstadt points out, “The minute you’re trying …

Birth is a new psychedelic band featuring members from retro rockers Astra, along with current or former members of Joy, Silver Sunshine, and Radio Moscow. The lineup includes Conor Riley (Astra, Silver Sunshine) on keyboards, …

“I didn’t want to throw it all away, and I wanted to actually do something with it and not just be getting high and rapping in my car and not ever recording anything.” So says …

On Sunday, April 25, 2021, Taylor Kahle and her date had dinner at Basic Bar & Pizza in East Village — just “Basic” to locals. They ordered Mashed Potato Bacon pizza and a couple of …

Adela’s changing of the guard When San Diego State president Adela de la Torre took charge back in August of 2018, some questioned her $441,504 salary, while others wondered how much change the campus’s first …

355 Bellaire Street | Del Mar, 92014 Current owner: DMG | Listing price: $13,595,000 | Beds: 7 | Baths: 6.5 | House size: 6600 The median house price in San Diego County jumped to $865,000 …

Dear Hipster: Given that SoundCloud, Bandcamp, and Spotify make it relatively simple for musicians (myself included) to put their tracks, mixtapes, EPs, and albums out in front of an internet audience, it’s almost as if …

“On this side, there are also dreams,” she says constantly to the people she helps out – migrants and deported persons. She was more than once in the same situation, but now she owns a …

I’m not sure what spurred an interest when I learned that an Australia-styled gastropub had opened in Shelter Island. Probably, I’d be just as keen for the arrival of a gastropub claiming any national character. …

Favorite surf spot? “The OB Jetty. The waves are really good! How long have you been surfing? I started surfing about 8 years ago. In the beginning, my dad would take me out surfing and …

On July 28, a truck full of Aroma-brand rice cookers overturned a couple of blocks north of Mira Mesa Boulevard. "We were confused how that freaking big thing happened," an employee of a nearby business …

It's a day many have worked and waited for: when Oceanside restaurants get stingy about straws and other single-use plastics. On August 4, a once reluctant city council finally agreed to require the businesses to …

There’s a new snack shack in Solana Beach, even if the physical shack itself is anything but new. Sindi’s Snack Shack recently opened within the “Detached Garage of Witmer Residence and Drug Store,” built in …

The Perseid Meteor Shower, the best known of the many meteor displays that return annually, will take place under optimum conditions this year because there’s no moonlight to interfere. Peak viewing nights are Wednesday, August …

Of Wave and Camera Shaun Tomson, Larry Bertlemann, Terry Fitzgerald. Gerry Lopez, and Donald Takayama are special because of their boundless optimism, a character trait he feels is infectious. “Good surfers are the most positive …

Dock Totals 8/1 – 8/7: 4,882 anglers aboard 215 trips out of San Diego landings this past week caught 120 barracuda, 1,921 (up from302) bluefin tuna (up to 138 pounds), 85 bonito, 1,387 calico bass …

Athens, Greece, is the antidote for the bland. I was inspired by it all – the cultural sites, museums, cuisine, and congenial residents. Athenians are guardians of a rich heritage. Over two thousand years of …

Beneath the Bunya Bunya They lived on the ranch [Scripps Ranch] for six years. He supervised teams of men in planting thousands of eucalyptuses, all together about forty percent of those that were set out …

Meltzer Family Christmas Beer Bust Carta Blanca's the best. I would stand behind Carta Blanca. It's the first one that's given me any sense of, you know, where I have conviction about it. Its taste …

On July 28, 2021, the classical music and opera worlds celebrated conductor Riccardo Muti’s 80th birthday. The next day, I found out that one of my opera heroes had died on the same day. Giuseppe …

What was the first film to receive an R rating from the MPAA? Not The Graduate, which was classified Adults Only, but The Split, a crime drama starring Jim Brown and Diahann Carroll. Do you …

The surf industry is dropping in on Oceanside. The city that once billed itself as "California's best kept secret" may now be better suited for the "Surf City" handle long used by Huntington Beach. Because …

Trinity Fellowship Church Contact: 4110 Palm Ave., San Diego 619-690-5286 www.trinityfellowshipcrc.com Membership: 30 Neighborhood: South Bay Pastor: Patrick Guarracino Age: 60 Born: North Bergen, NJ Formation: Rutgers University, Newark; Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. Years Ordained: …

Allen Glick, a key figure in San Diego's bloodiest and arguably most famous Mafia hit, has died, his passing marked by a paid Union-Tribune obituary making no reference to its subject's colorful and deadly past …

Hymn to Jupiter What force, what sudden impulse thus can make The laurel-branch, and all the temple shake! Depart ye souls profane; hence, hence! O fly Far from this holy place! Apollo’s nigh; He knocks …

Synth-pop group Glass Spells has released a music video for “Shattered,” the title track of the album that drops this week via Negative Gain; the band says it was “inspired by nostalgic synth-driven classics. The …

How many times have I potholed my way up University, juddering past this place and watching it transform from a lamp store, think it was, to this so-cool coffee, food, cool-merch emporium, right next to …

San Diego native Christian Ariza, aka Rad Cat, is a 25 year-old Mexican American DJ and producer turned solo artist. He began writing songs as a teenager, first learning guitar and then studying production techniques, …

There have been movies based on 45 rpm singles (Ode to Billy Joe, Harper Valley P.T.A.) T.V. shows (Downton Abbey, Barney’s Great Adventure), toys (Ouija, The LEGO Movie), and comic books too numerous to mention, …

Three years ago, jazz-vocal chanteuse (and native San Diegan) Sacha Boutros pulled up stakes and moved to Paris, France, frustrated by the lack of opportunity for performance in her hometown. Now she’s back, at least …

We’re here for the leopard sharks. They are supposed to be the friendliest sharks in the ocean, and this is the time of year they come close to the shore around La Jolla and raise …

Seven-figure overrun San Diego city officials have gotten a splash of cold water over their handling of last year’s showers-for-the-homeless program, called Operation Shelter to Home, in a July 21 report by City Auditor Andy …

It’s just after noon on a Thursday at Escondido’s TJ Tacos. The place is surprisingly uncrowded, with only about six people in line for the taco stand’s signature adobada tacos, a spicy blend of marinated …

Pathetically satirical Satire articles are pathetic attempt to copy The Onion (“Torrey Pines High School becomes all-white campus in effort to combat racism,” SD on the QT: Almost Factual News, July 30). It is confusing …

“I’m a node worker,” says Josh Montes. He’s in the alley, sitting on a makeshift work bench, fiddling with metal brackets. Jeff, his buddy — supervisor actually — is up in a bucket, attaching cable …

Dear Hipster: Here’s an obviously non-controversial premise for you: hipsters are very nostalgic, and they love old-fashioned stuff so much that they’re constantly imitating past trends in an effort to color modern life with the …

A native of San Diego, 21-year-old Ryan Filds talks about the surf around Sunset Cliffs. He says he enjoys surfing up and down the coast, and at Sunset Cliffs specifically, but can’t really name the …

North County athletes are sendin' it from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games — including Bryce Wettstein, Jordyn Barratt, Cory Juneau, and Heimana Reynolds. Per their Olympic Games' profiles, Bryce Wettstein, who is 17, was born …

Propping up Del Mar's failing bluffs with piles, plants and seawalls is a temporary fix until the railway can be relocated. But many see the work causing lasting changes. A skinnier beach. Industrial looking bluffs. …

Huell Howser, the folksy host of public television's California's Gold, who died in 2014, may be spinning in his grave, but a top North County politico wants to emulate him on YouTube, courtesy of a …

Towering Thunderheads have been seen hovering over the mountains east of San Diego in recent weeks. Afternoon rainshowers have already dampened Palomar, Cuyamaca, and Mount Laguna, with more of the same expected at times during …

I Need Time to Recuperate A snowstorm trapped the porter on the other side of a pass, and he couldn’t get back for three days. Quentin had matches and lit a fire. He had a …

Saltwater: Though today’s sportfishing vessels are equipped with the latest fish-finding and scanning technology, captains and crews often rely on ‘old school’ methods to give their passengers the best odds of putting fish on the …

God’s Dirt “It’s not for the faint-hearted. It’s pretty high-risk because they’re very, very, very, very perishable. When the flowers are bloomed, you have to pick ’em. And you have to sell ’em. Otherwise you …