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Ken Leighton 12:30 p.m., Oct. 21
Balboa Park news & stories
Your source for news and stories about Balboa Park in San Diego. For more on Balboa Park, including events, museums, photos, and more, visit the Balboa Park section.
Art history, Korean beef at The Prado
“San Diego’s greatest sculptor, yet people like you don’t even know him.”
Little things mean a lot: the first little thing that makes me like this place is the, well, amuse-bouche. Wedges of crisp flatbread stacked vertically like surfboards. They have sesame and other seeds baked on ...
More drama at San Diego Junior Theatre
Conflict of interest in the City Attorney's office?
The three-year saga at Balboa Park’s San Diego Junior Theatre, a city-funded operation, continued May 7 when former theatre parent Matt Valenti and his family went to City Hall to confront city attorney Mara Elliott. ...
The hazards of Balboa Park's golf course
The chain link fence along the ninth hole now is at least 18 feet high
Some North and South Park dwellers have recently come forward regarding their vehicles being struck by golf balls from the Balboa Park Municipal Golf Course; and not hearing the “fore” warnings. “The golf ball bounced ...
Sinkholes in Florida Canyon targeted for quick fix
Biological and archaeological monitors will be there
A 126-inch diameter corrugated metal storm drainpipe near the entrance to Balboa Naval Medical Center failed in late January, causing sinkholes along Florida Drive. Recent rains have caused more water than usual to flow in ...
Women's March and Walk for Life – a mile or a world apart?
Abortion the litmus issue in San Diego
Two events drew out civic exhibitionists in San Diego on Saturday, January 19, each expressing a different view about what it means to be pro-woman. An estimated 20,000 participants in the Women’s March gathered at ...
Bankers Hill opens umbrellas to protest 'shady' project
City Council to weigh tallest building on Balboa Park
Nearly 100 people opened black umbrellas in western Balboa Park on Sunday to demonstrate how far the shadow from a project will fall and darken the park. “This is the early afternoon shadow,” said organizer ...
She won without a camera
Instagram levitation technique shows up at MOPA contest
For thirteen years, the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park has been sponsoring a youth photography competition. The contest is open to students in kindergarten through high school in San Diego and Tijuana. Winners ...
Adam Parfrey goes to the zoo
An inside look at how he operated
Ed. Adam Parfrey, publisher of books from Feral House and writer for the Reader, died on May 10, 2018. The following came by email to the Reader on July 3. It is not generally appreciated ...
Delivery only
Don't get up: new Indian concept brings dinner to you
It’s tough to believe, but only ten years ago, if you wanted dinner from your favorite restaurant, you had to go to said restaurant in person. Those were primitive times, when home delivery was the ...
St. Patrick's with Clan Welch & Co.
Last year, they posed as Irish Drunks for Trump
“God love him, you can’t have a holiday without Mike,” says Beth Lipski of her uncle, Mike Welch. He’s the one standing in full Tipperary kilt on the greensward of Balboa Park along Sixth Avenue, ...
Why do they call them The Fighting Irish?
“Whiskey in the Jar,” a song about getting drunk, getting laid, and armed conflict
San Diego State University has appointed a task force to make a recommendation about whether or not to keep Monty Montezuma, the school’s Aztec warrior mascot. As of this writing, there has been no corresponding ...
What did he discover? How did he die? Who named Balboa Park?
No, Balboa was never in San Diego
Why does Balboa Park carry his name? Re: “Balboa statue – no way,” News Ticker. What is really sad is that this reporter Dorian Hargrove would not contact me and get my side of the ...
Balboa statue for Balboa Park unlikely
"Be glad that he is already commemorated in the park's very name."
Jesus Benayas, the president of Balboa Park's House of Spain, has lobbied the Balboa Park Committee for three years to sign off on a statue of the park's namesake, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. But judging ...
Familiar muralists, but a lot unfamiliar
The uncanny in Balboa Park
One pleasure of anthology exhibitions is discovering pictures by unfamiliar artists. The English-born artist Leonora Carrington was new to me when I saw a small picture by her in Modern Masters from Latin America, currently ...
Deep, unusual Mexico in photos
Our Lady of Guadalupe, drug-war dead, the border from above, filthy rich girls
Modern Masters from Latin America reminds us, if we need to be reminded, that Modernism knew no borders. Point/Counterpoint, a compelling selection of 19 contemporary Mexican photographers currently at the Museum of Photographic Arts, has ...
The top ten trees of Balboa Park
History, roots, reverence.
Canary Island pines, Australian tea, Moreton Bay fig, Kauri pine, Calif. juniper, Ilelo palm, dragon tree, elderberry, bunya nunya.
Yes, German satire!
German Currents Film Festival, October 14-15
Think high tide, not slack water when the German Currents Film Festival returns to the Museum of Photographic Arts on October 14-15, bringing with it five films to celebrate its seventh year. Saturday evening’s opening ...
Short-lived TV shows made here
If Netflix's Ted Sarandos reads this...
Simon & Simon was a buddy detective series set in San Diego that ran for eight seasons on CBS during the ’80s. Veronica Mars put a teenage girl in a noirish milieu and managed three ...
Interview with a Balboa Park transient
"I thought there was doors into the bridge but they are locked."
Back in 2007, it was reported that a group of transients was evicted from inside the columns of Cabrillo Bridge. A photograph featured in an article showed a makeshift apartment inside the bridge complete with ...
Transients block access to Cabrillo Bridge interior
They come and go via manholes in Balboa Park landmark
"We've had some transients living in the bridge," Balboa Park operations district manager Mario Llanos said last month. "They're going in and out of the manholes on the bridge, so I'm not sure what we ...
Special events aren't so special for Sixth Avenue residents
"There are times we're blown away with 100 decibels."
A topic of discussion at Balboa Park Committee's July meeting was that of noise along the western edge of Balboa Park, also known as the West Mesa. Specifically, noise from special events that are causing ...
Balboa Park's Moreton Bay fig — how to keep the love
Viewing platform proposed
Trees were a hot topic at last week's (July 6) Balboa Park committee meeting. There was talk of planting new trees (500 over the next two years), inventorying all trees (1200 done so far), and ...
No quarters necessary
Nonstop gaming at Fleet Science Center
Fleet Science Center welcomes gamers of all ages and levels with Game Masters: The Exhibition. This traveling exhibition that originated at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image opened on July 1 and runs through ...
Breath of kings
No gaudy excesses or cartooned foppery in this King Richard
"Not all the water in the rough rude sea/ Can wash the balm from an anointed king./ The breath of worldly men cannot depose/ The deputy elected by the Lord.” Richard of Bordeaux became King ...
Von Metzke "groomed" underaged girls by texting
Teens reported him, but theatre slow to act
Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 were best friends — and both were active in San Diego Junior Theatre, and had had sex with Eric von Metzke, a junior theatre teacher, when they were ...
Balboa Park dreaming — ah, but there's the retro-fitting
Who's fixing the Botanical Building, the 6th Ave. playground, what about statue of Balboa?
A crowd of about 100 gathered in an auditorium adjacent to the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park on Tuesday evening (May 30) to discuss the state of the park's improvements and discuss ...
PigPen’s doozy about the end of the world
Chaos or wife?
The Old Globe’s multileveled set for The Old Man and the Old Moon — pilings, planks, and wooden boxes — suggests an ancient wharf. Downstage footlights and roughhewn boards say a 19th-century theater. As the ...
San Diego dog parks becoming dust boxes
Dusty Rhodes in Ocean Beach, Morley Field, Nate’s Point at Balboa Park, and the dog park south of Mesa College
About two dozen dog and park lovers braved the rain Sunday for a protest over the lack of city care for the very dusty Dusty Rhodes dog park in Ocean Beach. The dog park that ...
Brouhaha or foofaraw at San Diego Junior Theatre?
Lawyer taking complaint to Mayor Faulconer, city council
A brouhaha is a public clamor over a critical matter. A foofaraw is a clamor over a petty matter. At Balboa Park's Junior Theatre, a group of parents and attendees believe there have been serious ...
USS Bennington oak grove now on Balboa Park map
And many other improvements
More than 110 years after they were planted in Golden Hill, the trees in Bennington Memorial Oak Grove are getting a dose of proper decorum. In July 1905, when the boiler on the USS Bennington ...
Lightsaber fighters spar at Balboa Park’s fountain — and cast wary eye on Disney
“I’ll strike a deal with them.”
“I feel that if I ask Lucasfilm or Walt Disney [Company] for permission (to use the lightsaber word in the company name),” said Nick Murico, “that might be my Achilles heel.” When the sun set ...
Drop the shovel — more court for Plaza de Panama plan
Critics consider the financing scheme as a "total scam"
A proposed road from Cabrillo Bridge that bypasses Balboa Park's Plaza de Panama and leads to a newly constructed parking garage must make another stop in San Diego Superior Court. Earlier this month, Cory Briggs ...
Discrimination at House of Pacific Relations?
House of Lebanon claims it is victim of prejudice
The House of Pacific Relations International Cottages in Balboa Park says it is a "near utopian multicultural organization" that was launched in the 1930s "to create a spirit of understanding, tolerance, and goodwill" among various ...
Canna-business beachhead established
Pot investors and entrepreneurs come together in Balboa Park
Hundreds gathered at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park Wednesday night (January 25) to celebrate the completion of San Diego's first cannabis-focused business accelerator program. "We're taking entrepreneurs just starting a company ...
Little drummer girl Carmen Murray
"We’ve always had African drums around the house.”
“I got the recommendation from [hand-drum pro] Monette Marino,” confides 14-year-old percussionist Carmen Murray. “The symphony asked her for a young player and I got the call one day before the audition. I just played ...
Sixty-five miles of trails in Balboa Park
Hike the perimeter loop
Balboa Park has 65 miles of trails that differ in length, difficulty, and scenery with 19 trails beginning at one of five gateways located at Golden Hill, Marston Point, Morley Field, Park Boulevard, and Sixth ...
Brush up on your Shakespeare
Despite its age, Measure for Measure is still surprisingly relevant.
Watching Measure for Measure — performed as part of the Old Globe’s “Globe for All” program, which injects free productions into unconventional venues all over town — I got deja vu listening to Angelo, the ...
Two films on photography and more this week at MoPA
"Something old, something twisted, something new, and something experimental"
It’s always nice to welcome an old friend back to town, particularly one who is as bright and talented a filmmaker as Wolfgang Hastert. After years spent studying and getting his graduate degree from Duke ...
Balboa Park bypass bridge and parking project okayed
"We're talking about $80 million for 267 spaces, or about $300,000 a space."
After years of delays that included criticism from many sources, lawsuits, and the withdrawal and later reinstatement of millions of dollars' worth of private funding, San Diego's city council on Monday (November 14) approved up ...
Council close to firing up Balboa Park revamp project
Since 2012, estimated cost has more than doubled
After numerous meetings and an epic amount of public rankling about a bridge bypass and parking garage, the San Diego City Council is about to decide whether or not to finalize plans for Balboa Park’s ...
Is Faulconer heading for a Jacobs fail?
Secret-keeping mayor and council said to fear public vote on $50 million parking debt
Two big San Diego losers in this week's election are looking for a big-money, tax-funded consolation prize in the form of a hurry-up city-council power-play that could ultimately forever emblazon the name of Qualcomm and ...
Cottages to blossom in Balboa Park
House of Pacific Relations to grow to 34
Groundbreaking for new cottages in Balboa Park's House of Pacific Relations is slated for November, giving nine nations their own dedicated spaces in four duplexes and one stand-alone building. House of Philippines will stand independently, ...
You can't really call The Lion a play
Benjamin Scheuer learns to play like himself
There have been many notable plays about fathers and sons. Strindberg’s Fathers and Sons and O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night come to mind. Yet none are quite as powerful as the one-man autobiographical musical, ...
Old Globe’s October Sky is sermon on stick-to-itiveness
Look to the sky
If you decide to see the Old Globe’s October Sky, take your seat early. Kevin Depinet’s set has the composition and texture of a quality painting. A massive half-circle hovers over the stage. It’s what? ...
The maddening inconsistency of Balboa Park busking
“Hotel California” is the busker’s “Freebird.”
“As long as the buskers are getting along with each other and not fighting…everything is fine,” said Chet Harrison, a guitarist and fiddle player who makes his living as a busker in San Diego. “The ...
Politicians stand up for deported veterans
"Every American can look at this issue...and know that this isn't fair."
A group of advocates for veterans and local politicians gathered in Balboa Park on Monday morning (September 19) to call attention to the plight of servicemembers who, after receiving honorable discharges following their military service, ...
Run over in Balboa Park
Settlement of $1 million; victim's back broken in several places
A 52-year-old man who was sleeping in Balboa Park when a park ranger drove over him will receive a $1 million settlement from the city, it was decided Tuesday (September 13). Derrick Marable was sleeping ...
Love’s Labor’s Lost in the towering eucalypti of the Old Globe’s festival stage
Talk the talk
The Old Globe’s got a charmer on its outdoor stage. Director Kathleen Marshall, scenic designer John Lee Beatty, Peter Golub’s original music, and a uniformly fine cast turn Shakespeare’s Love’s Labor’s Lost into a Greenbelt ...
San Diego High land-lease ballot measure discredited
"They say, 'trust us.' That means trouble."
Opponents have filed their opposition letter pertaining to a ballot measure that, if passed, would extend San Diego High School's land lease in Balboa Park. The letter, written by Balboa Park Heritage Association president David ...
Meteor Shower — this is a play by Steve Martin, after all
One night in Ojai...
Laura suffers from “Exploding Head Syndrome.” A mere soupçon of stress and — ka-bloooey!
State fines Plaza de Panama project consultant
Technicality, says Gordon David Kovtun of KCM Group
The State of California's labor commissioner has fined the lead consultant on the Plaza de Panama project $19,200 for hiring unlicensed contractors and failing to issue pay stubs to two employees. According to a complaint ...
Steady as she goes on proposed Balboa Park project
City attorney advises seeking opinion from Fair Political Practices Commission
The San Diego city attorney's office has cleared the way for the city to rehire Plaza de Panama building consultant KCM Group to complete design work on the controversial Cabrillo Bridge bypass road in Balboa ...
