Downtown San Diego Stories
David Ross, known as "The Water Man” and as an advocate for homeless people in San Diego, appeared at the city-council meeting on Tuesday, September 14, with a shopping cart. His aim was to appeal …
Mama said there’d be days like this, but I don’t remember anything about “weeks and weeks like this.” Normally, I’d try to save a report on food-delivery services for the rains of winter, but in …
A desperate traveler named Robin pleaded with waiting taxicab and pedicab drivers to help retrieve her phone, which she dropped down the storm drain outside the Santa Fe train station on the afternoon of September …
Back when, a dear friend used to give mix tapes as gifts: collections of favorite songs on audio cassettes. She insisted that the sequence was as important as the songs. Like a baseball lineup, it …
"All three approaches lead to concession. It is the mindset of the board to take this to concession and that is something that I am not in favor of," said San Diego cabbie Edris Wahab …
Downtown residents are celebrating a change in greenery around Fahrenheit, an East Village condominium located on the corner of Island and Tenth Avenue. After being installed approximately three years ago, fake turf placed on the …
Recently at the Cortez “hole” site (midblock between Ash and Beech, flanked by Fourth and Fifth avenues), I met with Barry Getzel, senior project manager at Wakeland Housing & Development Corporation. The aborted construction site …
Sunset’s my kryptonite. Honest. Dusk is my undoing. I’m weakest when Huey’s dipping his tootsies in the ocean. Food and drink-wise, anyway. Here at the Gaslamp trolley stop around six, I can feel the magic …
A small crowd of MoveOn.org supporters gathered at noon on August 10 at the Community Concourse to "fight Washington corruption." Speakers included Anne Hoiberg, copresident of the League of Women Voters of San Diego, and …
After Northern California’s chief district judge Vaughn Walker on August 4 ruled that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional, I contacted Robert R. DeKoven, law professor at San Diego's California Western School of Law, since he writes …
The text messages that the parents of 18-year-old Tiffany began receiving on July 24 were chilling: “i think someone was stabbed,” she texted from Comic-Con shortly after 5:00 p.m. “They have locked down hall h,” …
The Westboro Baptist Church’s planned protest at Comic-Con on July 22 was overridden by a rally against hate and intolerance. (For a background story on the church’s plans, click here.) At noon in front of …
“San Diego has a sordid history of inadequate planning and project management for big projects,” said Mission Valley resident Phil Hart. He spoke during the non-agenda public comment portion of the July 19 San Diego …
Amtrak seems to be feeling the crunch of the current recession, as I noticed on a recent trip. Every few months for the past several years, I have used Amtrak to take short trips up …
Pastor Fred Phelps and members of his Westboro Baptist Church, out of Topeka, Kansas, plan to picket San Diego Comic-Con on opening day, July 22, starting at 1:15 p.m. The religious group has made headlines …
"This is right in the heart of our financial district," said Tom Sullivan, a representative from the Irvine Company, which owns several downtown buildings, during a city hearing on the proposal to build a downtown …
On July 13, Izean Rim Jr. walked down the aisle toward the dais to address the San Diego City Council. Rim, a homeless man, knows the trek well. He often appears at council meetings advocating …
“Dizzy’s,” explains Chuck Perrin, “has always been an artist-driven space.” He offers this on a Saturday morning as an explanation for why he is setting up a stage, chairs, and sound system in the Culy …
The 500 West Hotel located in the old Armed Services YMCA building in downtown San Diego, may only have several more years of life. In March 2013, the hotel operator, a company called 500 West …
In an attempt to break the current world record for largest “bikini walk,” an estimated 200 women wearing bikinis paraded down the streets of downtown San Diego on June 27. Although they fell over a …
"You will not be coming back for additional funds? Everything is accounted for? You know the cameras are recording this?" Councilmember and rules committee member Todd Gloria asked mayoral staffer Amy Benjamin during Wednesday's hearing …
On Saturday, June 12, upward of 50 near-nude bicyclists rode a loop from Hillcrest to the courthouses in downtown, drawing attention from tourists and locals. Many of the riders wore just enough clothing to cover …
After several years of contributing to downtown blight, the huge construction hole between Ash and Beech streets (bounded by Fourth and Fifth avenues) is finally being filled. The site of the planned Atmosphere condo development …
Donna Lambert, facing seven felonies for selling marijuana to an undercover officer with a doctor's recommendation, accepted a plea deal on May 27 and will avoid jail time. Lambert's case is the third of three …
During Friday’s lunch hour, a group of about 30 demonstrators organized by the San Diego Coffee Party took to the streets of downtown, carrying signs and occasionally bursting into chants. They gathered at the park …
Blue skies, smiling at me/ Nothing but blue skies do I see… It’s an oldie but goodie, and Irving and I launched into it when he mentioned that the guy who wrote it had the …
On May 7, San Diego County Superior Court judge DeAnn Salcido held a press conference in front of the Hall of Justice and alleged widespread violation of the law by the superior court judges of …
San Diego medical marijuana dispensary operator Joseph Nunes was sentenced to one year in federal prison on May 10. "They took him right to jail," said a medical marijuana activist who was in the downtown …
On May 7th, several members of the Carpenters Local 1506 Union set up banners in front of 600 B St. in downtown San Diego. They were set up in front of the building next to …
If you drive often in downtown, you’re probably pretty familiar with obstacles. Weekend nights offer partying pedestrians jaywalking. Early mornings throw double-parked delivery trucks and garbage trucks in your way. And if you come into …
The Star Bar starts to get a little crowded by noon. I went back in and all I knew was two things. I knew that Hank was broke and he would ask me for money, …
Jeff Trevethan, a man living homeless in San Diego, appeared before the City Council to comment on his personal difficulties with trying to remove human waste and animal feces that remain uncleaned in the streets …
During the April 20 city council meeting, council president Ben Hueso agreed to purchase a prepaid parking card from a downtown San Diego resident. Brian Murphy purchased a prepaid parking card to use on downtown …
‘Not my responsibility’ is the answer I get wherever I turn. When a government agency incorrectly collects taxes, why will no one accept responsibility?” said Kathy Casey, as she peered through black-rimmed glasses at the …
Inside Centre City Development Corporation's fourth-floor meeting room on Wednesday, April 14, downtown developer Peter Janopaul took the podium to address the corporation's real estate committee. Janopaul spoke to the objections that a handful of …
About six months ago, “Tin Fork’s” Ed Bedford reviewed Indigo Café and liked it. He mentioned that half the dinner menu consisted of New Orleans classics but tried none of them, sticking to the real …
J. Howard, a pedicab driver from downtown San Diego, spoke before the San Diego City Council during the public comment portion of their April 6 meeting: “We’re talking about one death that was listed as …
Downtown San Diego has earned a reputation for having little street parking available when you need it. When a “Public Parking” sign appeared last week at the driveway of a privately owned lot on Tenth …
The old Hotel San Diego was demolished four years ago to make room for a new federal court building, an annex to the existing federal court building across the street on Broadway. Construction of the …
The menu calls Quality Social “a bar with food.” It’d be more accurate to say “a serious casual eating place with a bar.” You could call the menu “pub grub,” but that’d be like calling …
The homeless encampment at the I-5 underpass at B Street has been cleared out. For months (perhaps even for years), many of the city's homeless took advantage of the rain-free environment; rows of cardboard mats, …
Three county tax liens have been lodged against Katherine Stuart, wife of GOP San Diego city councilman Kevin Faulconer, who is currently running for reelection and said to be eager to succeed Mayor Jerry Sanders …
For the past six years, a huge construction hole in the lower Cortez neighborhood has remained a collection of rusty rebar, weeds and dirt, and wooden shoring. Located midblock between Ash and Beech, the L-shaped …
"Somebody please call 911!" Those were the words shouted by a middle-aged woman with blood running down her face as she burst into the Starbucks at 511 F Street on March 15 at 8:10 a.m. …
I was shocked — shocked, as Claude Rains said to Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca — to see Funky Garcia’s sign being put up above the Sun Cafe’s a few months back. Actually, I did go …
As a result of “Operation Hotel California,” a six-month-long investigation, the San Diego County Grand Jury has indicted 51 defendants on charges of auto theft, selling stolen vehicles, sale of controlled substances, carjacking, residential burglary, …
The San Diego Superior Court has launched a new Behavioral Health Court, similar to Drug Court. The purpose of the program is to break the cycle of incarceration for San Diego's mentally ill by providing …
Oh, so embarrassing! I’ve known for a long time that Soleil @ K had changed chefs (the opening chef moved on to another local restaurant), but it took an abominable snow job by Wolfgang Verkaaik …
Vantage Pointe, the high-rise condominium project whose owners made the controversial decision to rent out units in its center tower last year, may be a little late in paying its own rent. On a stroll …
Can I wax poetic? Heed ye the words of Carl Sandburg, the poet, describing the rough, tough city he loved, Chicago. “Here is a tall, bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities/ Fierce …
In an effort to make reporting for jury duty more enjoyable, the San Diego Superior Court has implemented a program that allows jurors to access wireless internet in the court's jury lounge at no charge. …
Near Windansea Beach on Tuesday, January 12, at about 10:00 a.m., I spotted what appeared to be a construction project at the intersection of Neptune and Playa Del Sur. I stopped to speak with Jose …