Downtown San Diego Stories
“We had people [trying to come inside Comic-Con] dressed as Elite security wearing black polo [shirts] that said Elite on the back,” said Paulina, “[but] we don’t hire Elite security and then there was one …
Ricky Franco and his two sons camped out on a downtown sidewalk for the last 31 hours – they had 18 more hours left. Franco, 40, and his two sons, were the first in line …
Many of the cosmetology students at City College were impressed with the new signage being installed on their Career Technology building. “OMG, $50,000 per sign?” Corinne said, ” I saw them installing it the day …
It’s half past 9:00. The happy hour/dinner crowd is packing into their vehicles, creating precious new parking spaces for the new guard. Apart from a few locals blaring hip-hop from a boombox, the sidewalk of …
"Elvis? He stole Roy Orbison’s thunder.” John’s serious. “Roy was the bigger talent. Just because Elvis had the looks, all the girls went for him. But Roy was the great one.” John is kinda qualified …
David Ross is full of stories. Gaunt yet sprightly at 82, Ross, known to his many friends on the streets of downtown San Diego as “Water Man Dave” or “Water Man,” has spent more than …
It’s decision day in the city-council chambers, Two Broke Girls vs. Billions. Call it a classic smackdown between local architectural preservationists who want to save any Spanish Colonial Revival building (and think someone should pay) …
In the movie Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Johnny Depp plays a dangerous and dashing CIA agent with a penchant for puerco pibil. “It is a slow-roasted pork,” Depp’s character explains as he takes …
The boom in downtown apartment construction continues at a furious pace. Two more projects recently submitted their applications to Civic San Diego for the extensive approval process. One new project will be just east of …
“I didn’t miss church [because] I’m the choir director – so it’s essential that I get there,” said Nina Gilbert. Gilbert was one of the prepared ones for the detours and roadblocks brought about by …
It's been a decade-long slog for mega-millionaire developer and onetime Union-Tribune publisher Doug Manchester's controversial Navy Broadway complex at the foot of Broadway. Project foes vowed that it would never get built, citing its forbidding …
Hookah lounges were on the agenda at the Eastern Area communities planning group meeting on April 11. Specifically, the lack of regulatory teeth the police have when it comes to the new version of old-world …
It’s hard to believe that any dive worth its weight in spilt Schlitz has survived the past few decades of redevelopment in the Gaslamp with any semblance of integrity left intact, yet there she is: …
After months of behind-the-scenes bickering and horse trading between San Diego's commercial fishing fleet and a developer tapped by the Port of San Diego to revamp a large portion of a large section of San …
On April 10, the city council voted to change an ordinance regarding alarm system fees and penalties. SDPD Lt. Kevin Mayer told the city council that three key things had driven the changes. First was …
To me, a good breakfast is like a good blues CD: Talented artists work on an established formula, whether it be three chords or eggs, bacon, and potatoes. Done well, it’s simplicity with style. Brunch …
A Lullaby of Broadway “I was sitting in my room,” declared one hotel resident, “when I heard a knock at the door. I opened the door and three or four men forced their way in. …
“Well, look around you,” she says. “It’s real. Close your eyes and we could be in Tehran.”
A group of demonstrators gathered outside the El Cajon offices of Representative Duncan Hunter for the sixth time in as many weeks on Tuesday (March 7) to protest a proposal to repeal and replace the …
Thousands of San Diegans took to the streets downtown on Saturday (February 18), calling on mayor Kevin Faulconer to establish San Diego as a sanctuary city and specifically offer support for Senate Bill 54, a …
Verdi’s only successful comedy, Falstaff, opens at San Diego Opera on Saturday, February 18, 7 p.m. There will be four performances running through February 26. Sir John Falstaff appears in three Shakespeare plays: Henry IV …
The Clairemont High rock scene honored in Cameron Crowe’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High lives on, more or less, in the eight-piece rollicking Irish-rock band Ass Pocket Whiskey Fellas. “We’re all from Clairemont,” says guitarist …
A crowd of red-shirted union picketers took to the streets downtown on Saturday morning (February 11), banging drums, chanting, and blowing on vuvuzelas outside an AT&T store at the corner of Third and Broadway. "We're …
Current and former San Diego councilmembers gathered in front of city hall Friday morning (February 10) to offer support for an ordinance being introduced by Chris Ward (District 3) that would require recipients of city …
Clint Sobolik’s latest project takes on the nickname he picked up in his last band, the Whiskey Avengers. “I squint a lot and I’m a man of few words, so I guess I just gravitated …
Downtown's "World Trade Center" at 1250 Sixth Avenue started out as the San Diego Athletic Club in the late '20s and eventually became home to publisher Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; they vacated the building in 1993 …
I look at my chunk of bread. Just think, Napoleon ate this. Could have. Really. This bread. That’s how long it’s been going. Back in 1815, Battle of Waterloo and all that, this exact same …
A couple of weeks before Anthony’s Fish Grotto closes its doors on Harbor Drive for the last time (January 31 is the scheduled date), I decided to stop in and have one final meal. Anthony’s …
As many as 100 climate activists gathered downtown on Monday evening (January 9), joining in a nationwide day of protest calling on senators across the country to vote against several of president-elect Donald Trump's cabinet …
“Part of the project is to remove all of the concrete here and redo it,” said City College project manager Tom Fine last week during a construction-zone tour of the campus. “And I don’t know …
Beds: 3 Baths: 3 Current Owner: Raskin Family List Price: $4,750,000 The region’s priciest condo, a 26th-floor corner unit in the Meridian building at 700 Front Street, promises prospective buyers “exclusive living style in the …
Advocates for San Diego's homeless population gathered downtown Tuesday morning (January 3) to rally and present mayor Kevin Faulconer's office with a petition calling on police to cease ticketing and arresting individuals living on the …
The darling of the 2017 San Diego International Auto Show that opened yesterday (December 29) was Ford’s new production vehicle, a bright red GT with gull-wing doors that pumps out 600 horsepower with a twin-turbo, …
On Top of the City Higgs is seventy-four, has been practicing law since 1934, and was president of the San Diego County Bar Association in 1940. His voice is raspy but his sentences are clear …
Saturday morning is one of my favorite times to walk around the Gaslamp. It’s not crowded, there’s parking, and the old buildings have grandeur in the a.m. sunlight. Except for the occasional jogging conventioneer, you …
The aggro spirit present in many rap lyrics bubbled up when an impromptu curbside verbal battle between two local crews got physical outside the Tower Bar in May of 2013. Don’t expect any inter-artist aggression …
As many as 1000 activists pushing a broad range of causes gathered downtown Tuesday evening (November 29), the fourth anniversary of the "Fight for 15" movement backed by fast-food workers and labor unions to raise …
They may range in size and scope, but most of the nearly 150 breweries and tasting rooms pouring across greater San Diego have at least one thing in common — their looks. Since the majority …
Kevin Hellman says he was convinced to come back and resurrect the San Diego Music Awards, which will be held March 21 at the House of Blues downtown. Hellman told the Reader two weeks ago …
A marathon set of Joy Division and New Order classics by Manchester legend Peter Hook as the U.S. votes itself to hell is the only cure for the surrounding catastrophe. After a subtle start, “Ceremony” …
"Go!” This is Carla. “You can make it!” Eight. Friday night. Tapped out. Cupboard’s bare. Broke, broke, pelado. Except, heh-heh, just saw an ad that says free hot dogs today and tonight only, at the …
A former bouncer who launched his own security company and then parlayed his concert access into a gig as the tour manager for Guns ’N Roses, penetrated San Diego’s closed-shop concert business. “I think its …
“No, this is not the sort of thing that you’d expect to hear in the library.” Laurie Bailey is the arts, music, and recreation librarian at the Central Library in East Village. She’s talking about …
Named for Sally Ride, the first American woman in space as part of the space shuttle Challenger crew and member of UCSD’s faculty, Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s new research vessel, Sally Ride, will be open …
Jethro Tull the band may be on hiatus, or may be kaput, but Ian Anderson is keeping the name going strong. Anderson is back with his Thick as a Brick 2/Homo Eroticus band, but this …
The old downtown public library was notorious for hosting legions of homeless inebriates haunting the stacks. Now the city is looking for a vendor who can purvey the hard stuff to higher-dollar crowds. “From a …
Alice in Chains is one of the many bands to come out of the Seattle grunge scene of the early ’90s. Often overlooked by fans that flocked to Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam, I found …
As the specialty coffee business has gained in popularity, it's become an appealing choice for non-service industry professionals pursuing a second career. A couple such cases have led to new roasting shops in the county. …
Wow. Downtown. This scuzziest part of Broadway, around Fifth, is suddenly taking off. Guess the facelift started with the opening of the park at Horton Plaza, but now eateries are opening one after the other, …
Tasting rooms have become a dime a dozen in San Diego, but beer is not on the menu of one that opened on Pacific Highway in May. Bootstrap Kombucha offers free tasters and fills growlers …
If you're crossing the street at an intersection on University Avenue, watch out! Because 11 of the city's most dangerous intersections for pedestrians are on University in the five or so miles between Fourth Avenue …
Beds: 4 | Baths: 4 | Current Owner: Robert Wright | List Price: $5,900,000 The Harbor Club condominium complex, comprising two towers at the foot of Harbor Drive across from the convention center and blocks …