Cover Stories
This is a story about the summer of ‘79, but it starts a year earlier, circa mid-’78. That’s when I first drove into San Diego. Within minutes of my arrival, I was almost murdered — …
Only 19 days into 2022, I managed both to contract Omicron and have my car stolen. When I attempted to pinpoint the origin of my terrible car-ma, the only thing I could come up with …
We’re all lawbreakers. Each of us. Every one of us. Ever go over the speed limit on the freeway? Then you broke the law. Walk your dog on the Oceanside Pier, or let your puppy …
First Place Winner CHANGING OF THE GUARD Unexpected violence at the San Diego Zoo When people found out I worked security at the world famous San Diego Zoo, they asked: “What’s the craziest thing you’ve …
The Reader’s editorial staff was gratified and frequently delighted by the response we got to our writing contest: 347 non-fiction stories, 31 pieces of fiction, and no less than 199 poems. It’s good to know …
“I always say that Mexicali is hell, Tijuana is purgatory, and Ensenada... well, Ensenada is paradise!” says Jesús “El Chino” Hernández, who runs Trophy Tacos, an experimental seafood tacos cart in a corner of Colonia …
Arguably, it was incidental that a San Diego courtroom proved to be the venue where federal judicial power asserted that enough was enough in terms of Donald Trump’s child-separation policy — a decision that helped …
The history of freediving is so rich in La Jolla that diving in its cove is akin to a Catholic visiting Rome: maybe it didn’t all start there, but that’s where it really hit big. …
It’s been a couple years since the alt-weekly San Diego CityBeat and its blend of local news, irreverent columns, and cultural coverage went silent. The paper disappeared after a cascade of events, starting when Times …
The Marina District is one of San Diego’s more prestigious addresses. Once consisting mostly of warehouses and vacant lots, the 343-acre area on the west side of Downtown is now a cluster of apartments, high-rise …
It feels good to be a winner. Who doesn’t love being the best — or at least the first, or the luckiest? People congratulate you, make you feel special and singled out. And you get …
None of this actually happened. Except, of course, there was that Board of Supervisors meeting back in August… [Intrepid reporter Walter Mencken is enjoying a morning stroll along the strand in Ocean Beach when he …
Michael Vilkin owned a huge vacant lot in Olivenhain, right next to a house John Upton was renting. On the morning of March 28, 2013, Vilkin drove up to the 2.6-acre lot on Lone Jack …
Baja’s beer scene has grown exponentially since I first wrote about it for the Reader six years ago, and I’ve been obsessing over it ever since. Back in October of this year, at the most …
“If Ponce de León wanted to find the fountain of youth, he should have jumped off the boat.” —Lifelong surfer Skip Frye A paralympic superstar turns to the waves In 2016, 60 Minutes featured local …
In April of this year, a sports trading card featuring basketball star LeBron James sold for $5.2 million. That tied the previous record, set in January, for a 1952 Topps baseball card featuring Mickey Mantle. …