Golden Hill Stories

Golden Hill – slowly gentrifying

City Mark, Victorian homes, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Big Kitchen

19 townhomes at 32nd and C instead of park The largest undeveloped parcel in Golden Hill, once considered by the Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee as a top choice for a neighborhood park, is now ...

Golden Hill’s Iacon Sound recording studio closes

Sulo King loses his castle

The physical location of Iacon Sound is history. The Golden Hill studio that also housed six rehearsal spaces was shut down at the end of September after the building’s ownership changed. Their lease expires at ...

Zanzea jumper and Birkenstocks for the criminally indigent

Not Guilty in Golden Hill

The best part of contributing to this column is the people I get to meet on the streets of our city. Our interactions provide me with small glimpses into the worlds of others. On a ...

Signs in mind of Harry Crane, Orson Welles, and a rock-pile installation in Golden Hill Park

The collection is accompanied by something human: a face

A low-grade tag war broke out a couple of months ago on the retaining wall in front of a burnt-out motel near my home. Three letters — initials, surely — spraypainted by some poor soul ...

Taco tees at Golden Hill Park’s Tacotopia

“I have the perfect shirt!”

I often scan the crowds for fashion trends at events, so I knew there were bound to be some interesting outfits at Reader Tacotopia. Once again, I kept my eyes peeled for common thread themes ...

Yellow Cab driver's death by Camp Pendleton Marine solved 40 years later

DNA vs. the overlooked cocktail napkin

On January 29, 2019, before Superior Court judge Louis Hanoian, six women and six men stepped into the jury box to begin hearing evidence in the trial of Jeffery Duane Cauble on charges of murdering ...

Downtown San Diego's Plaza Hotel goes; homeless parking proposed on Mission Bay

"In a perfect world we'd all have a unicorn and Lamborghini too"

Another SRO is about to bite the dust. Short for single room occupancy hotels, these cheap hotels have been dropping like flies from 123 in 2012 to 37 in October 2018. It's hard not to ...

Close, but no thanks

It's tough to quit your favorite taco truck

When I heard about a new mariscos food truck parking in Golden Hill, I started fluttering around it like a moth on a porchlight. Mariscos El Chingon has started parking daily in front of Anakin’s ...

Golf Course Drive bike lane project in motion

Wait will take more than three years

After years of requests by residents and riders for bike lanes and sidewalks on Golf Course Drive, the project is on the city’s map. From 26th to 28th and Date Streets, pedestrians and bicyclists can ...

Mutual Friend – a neighborhood ice cream shop

How homemade ice cream relates to coffee

Golden Hill has an ice cream shop, and it’s making me realize the sort of family neighborhood it’s become. Mutual Friend Ice Cream opened next door to Dark Horse Coffee Roasters, and I’d call it ...

Golden Hill gentrification continues

19 townhomes at 32nd and C

The largest undeveloped parcel in Golden Hill, once considered by the Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee as a top choice for a neighborhood park, is now set to become 19 new townhomes. CityMark development acquired ...

Why did the cheesesteak guy cross the road?

A neighborly collaboration emerges in Golden Hill

On the block of 28th Street where South Park becomes Golden Hill, the small diner Giorgino’s has made a name for itself over the years for all things Philadelphia: cheesesteaks, pork rolls, Tasty Kakes, and ...

Mayor Faulconer's short-term rental idea — pro and con

Ocean Beach will show up in blue T-shirts

At the July 16 city council meeting, the usual sea of green (pro-vacation rental) and red (anti-vacation rental) t-shirts will be joined by blue representing Ocean Beach. The Ocean Beach town council has chartered a ...

Are these the best chilaquiles in San Diego?

Don't wait ten years to find out.

Over the past decade, there’s probably not a commercial district in San Diego I’ve walked, biked, or driven through more often than that along 25th Street in Golden Hill. There are only a few dining ...

Grinchy city grabs rec-center funds

Council vote diminishes community control of activities budgets

Back in October the city attorney’s office delivered a legal opinion that supported the city's decision to immediately appropriate recreation council funds, raised locally by each individual recreation center, and deposit the monies into the ...

Old bike-sharing company, new plan

"We’re trying to get that first mile and last mile.”

DecoBike is looking at a dozen places for stands in North Park, Uptown, downtown, and Golden Hill after getting kicked out of the beach areas by the California Coastal Commission, city engineer Brian Genovese said ...

City grabs Park and Rec funds

“They basically just told us this is how it is now."

After more than 30 years of operating within the communities they serve, city recreation-center councils will no longer have the ability to decide how to spend the funds they collect. City attorney Mara Elliott’s office ...

Golden Hill Park & Rec facelift

Landscaping, mural, pergola, and first new signs anyone can recall

“It’s part of a transition to make the park more comfortable for families, and having shade will help,” says Park & Rec area manager Kathy Castello of the new pergola behind Golden Hill Recreation Center. ...

One less market for Golden Hill

“I started working there when I was 11.”

One of the two full-service grocery stores in Golden Hill, Miller’s Market, will soon close for redevelopment. Slated to be demolished, the store has been in business for over 50 years. The lot on the ...

A Golden Hill feast

“Oh man. Can something so good be actually good for you?”

"Hey, want buy this Bluetooth headset?” Guy’s talking to me. I’ve just come down to sit in the bus stop. “Cost me $90. I’ll give it to you for $30.” We’re at the #2 bus ...

Let’s give it one more Thai

These are not limp, broken-down-in-the-stir-fry veggies

It was not long ago I wrote about a hot-sandwich shop working out of the back of a Golden Hill corner store and how I thought the succession of doomed, sloppy businesses back there had ...

What about people who sleep in their cars?

They can park at New Life Church and Jewish Family Services

“Hey guys why do you need like 12 squad cars,” asked Konrad Czerwinski to the police officers that blocked off his auto shop. At approximately 8:00 a.m., on May 5, Czerwinski, the owner of Adams ...

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 ...

Go south for tacos, north for pizza

“That’s a great one, that one is also really good, or you could go for that one.”

I first visited Pizzeria Luigi in 2008. I lived in Los Angeles at the time, but I visited my brother in San Diego frequently enough that Luigi’s became a regular spot. I thought Luigi’s pizza ...

Hipster zone planned for North Park

Community plans for Golden Hill and South Park also laid out

Mid-city residents packed city-council chambers on Tuesday afternoon (October 25) as councilmembers convened to consider long-awaited updates to community plans for North Park and Golden Hill. The most contentious discussion centered around the North Park ...

Get an early start on tomorrow's happiness at Krakatoa

Coffee, rotating beers, and hippie-tinged potions

Over at Here’s the Deal we often revel in the local nightlife, but what about you day-drinkers out there? Krakatoa is the kind of place that allows one to feel validated — nay, vindicated! — ...

Where does that meat come from?

Butcher shops are back, baby

I’m already on record as being in favor of the reemergence of the dedicated butcher shop. Since Sepulveda Meats and Provisions opened in my neighborhood, I’m even more enthusiastic. At one point, standalone butcher shops ...

Tasty grabs

Little Golden Hill food counter has surprising flavor

Back when I lived in Golden Hill, the nearest shop was this little corner convenience store at the corner of 26th and Broadway called San Diego Market. I’d buy lottery tickets there, pick up beer, ...

My eccentric Golden Hill landlord

Tribute from “the kind of tenant everybody wants!”

You should come home. Rod died. I got the text from my roommate on a Sunday night. “Oh, Rod,” I sighed. It was sudden news, and I wanted to be surprised. But I couldn’t be. ...

Hunka hunka Bernie Love

Local indie kids throw a Berning Man fundraiser at the Tree House in Golden Hill

“It’s been percolating for a while. I’ve been wanting to do something to help the campaign,” says local musician/promoter Jakob McWhinney about his upcoming Bernie Sanders rally, appropriately called #BerningMan. The day-long concert is scheduled ...

Dark Horse’s new stable

Weathered machinery lends attitude

Normal Heights coffee roaster Dark Horse will soon become a Golden Hill coffee roaster. Following more than a year of planning and construction, the company soft-opened its new retail shop on 25th Street just before ...

Tour de Fat rides into Golden Hill

Folks of all types come out to celebrate two wheels and liquid bread

Cyclists of all stripes converged on Golden Hill Park Saturday afternoon (September 26) for the latest installment of Tour de Fat, a bicycle-centric traveling carnival used as both a cycling advocacy fundraiser and promotional venue ...

A drink that is not a pick-me-up so much as a wind-me-down

Perfect home for the Quick Fix

Like New Yorker Tony Bennett singing his heart out for San Francisco, Counterpoint bartender Ryan Andrews has made the East Coast cocktail known as the Quick Fix his own — and in the process a ...

Kinda tacoish

Sinner or Saint at the Golden Hill Farmers’ Market

I spend more time than most worrying about the authenticity of tacos. There are thousands of versions in San Diego County, and most would pass any test you might come up with, even those using ...

San Diego’s simplest food truck is Tastlicious

No-frills food truck drops in remoulade and gremolata

There’s something refreshing about a food truck that bucks the trend of a cartoonish theme and puts the focus on making a few things well. During a visit to Golden Hill’s Saturday farmers’ market, I ...

The history of the world is written in food

Garlicky delish

So good to be back. I first came here two years ago. Then popped in earlier this winter when I discovered their happy hour. Devoured a totally delicious $3 eggplant roll. Promised more in this ...

We roast to sweetness

About as micro as a micro-roaster can be

Experienced third-wavers the Bonner family have been quietly building their business in Golden Hill and Sherman Heights.

Grandmother's tongue at sunset

Happy hour, Georgian-style: eggplant, Russian beer, and Marko

Broadway? This must be the narrowest patio west of 25th. I mean, two people can sit at each of the half dozen tables, but nobody can get past you. You have to scrinch in from ...

Golden Hill hangout raises its food game

One-time wine bar now solid all around

Having lived in or around Golden Hill for several years, I've spent plenty of time drinking in all the same spots everybody else has — there just aren't many to choose from. Here's the typical ...

Be a better person, or like, whatever

A smug of hipsters, like a murder of crows

Dear Hipster: My sister and I went to Luigi’s Pizza on a recent Friday night. And as you can imagine, the place was packed with hipsters galore and their hipster tots in-tow. We ordered, ate, ...

Sucker puncher

City and one of their parking-enforcement officers hit with lawsuit

Two emergency medical technicians are suing the City of San Diego for negligently hiring parking-enforcement officer Anibal Solis, who on April 13, 2014, entered a Golden Hill convenience store and punched the paramedics with no ...

Dog fight in Golden Hill

Street King's taco truck makes you choose between SD & TJ

Street King Tacos is a food truck with very good tacos, plus tortas, and TJ-style hot dogs that are as good as any on Revolución. Excellent fish tacos, too. Open late. Stays at this location.

Off-menu at my go-to burrito joint

The Bay Area's got nothing on Los Reyes

I've rarely been more than a ten-minute drive to Los Reyes over the years, and for the past few it's been about a five minute walk. The place is entirely what I expect from San ...

Dollar belly filler

Ed searches for a meal that costs a single buck

Can a feller fill a belly for a dollar in this town? Just ask Carlos. That’s what I did, because that’s all I had. Exactly one Washington in the pocket, eaten nothing all day, had ...

Balboa Park Golf Course plan gets go-ahead

City attorney's office deems funding method sound

The City of San Diego, golfers who frequent the Balboa Park Golf Course, and pedestrians who traipse and cycle the the winding road where the clubhouse is located hope to replace the 1930s clubhouse, pathways, ...

City can’t drag its heels any longer

Residents to get reimbursed for illegal maintenance assessment district

It was a long time coming for attorneys and volunteers in Golden Hill and South Park to get reimbursed, at least partially, for their time and money spent to fight the city over their illegally ...

Doggone! The dog’s back after 7 years

Buddy the black Lab returns to owners as owners return to county

A few weeks ago, Buddy, a ten-year old Lab, was reunited with his owners after having gone missing for seven years. During the San Diego County wildfires of October 2007, Buddy and his family were ...

Cheesesteak isn't the only food from Philly

At long last, I try a pork roll sandwich

A lot's been said about Giorgino's cheesesteaks — after all, the sign over the Golden Hill shop boldly claims to have the best in town. But there's been another item on the menu that's aroused ...

Final verdict on blood moon? Whatever.

Note: you can’t take a good picture of the moon with your iPhone.

I watched April 15’s much-hyped “blood moon” in two phases. I don’t understand the science behind the blood moon but the entire internet said that it was something that happened rarely. I was determined to ...

Golden Hill "Renaissance Project” begins

Widened sidewalks, new water mains, reverse-angle parking spots planned

City leaders on April 9 broke ground on a $1.7 million effort to ease traffic, upgrade sidewalks, and revamp parking along 25th Street in Golden Hill. Work on the thoroughfare connecting SR-94 and Balboa Park ...

Golden Hill canyon to fill with 27 new homes

No opposition to development site “well known for its rich fossil beds”

Where 29th meets B Street, in a quiet part of Golden Hill, a previously undeveloped, narrow green canyon will soon be the site of 27 new homes. The canyon, which for many years included the ...

Shaded deck seating apparently worth the wait at Krakatoa

Slow service hasn't turned people away

I keep waiting for Golden Hill to finally give up on Krakatoa. The converted craftsman coffeehouse is plenty inviting, with a shaded wraparound deck and ample parking in the back. But it's slow. The frustrating ...

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