Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

La Jolla Stories

Waterbeds – from my La Jolla garage studio to Paris

The first time I lay down on a waterbed, I thought, “Who wouldn’t want one of these?” The undulating motion of the water, the evenly distributed pressure against my body — so relaxing, and sensual …

Ginsberg thought I was an airhead, Vonnegut said I was 'loose'

I hesitate to admit this, but much of my writing is rooted in dreams. Before your eyes roll back in your head and you start struggling with whether or not to feign interest — you …

The Artificial Intelligence of the Generative Grounded Transformer: this time, it's personal

“It’s almost like an infant,” says Jonathan Bickoff. It’s a refreshingly simple take on one of the most tortured topics currently getting bandied about among La Jolla’s digi-pioneering crowd: AI. Artificial Intelligence: an evolution-leaping phenomenon …

May 17, 2023
Why La Jolla and Pt. Loma areas lack sidewalks and Burlingame exults in them

This lowly but common part of every city’s infrastructure, as the National Association of City Transportation Officials so eloquently states on its website, plays “a vital role in city life. As conduits for pedestrian movement …

San Diego Reader 2023 Music & Arts issue

On May 11, the Federal Department of Health and Human Services will end the Covid public health emergency. But the bureaucratic behemoth is a slow-footed beast; John Q. Public knows the pandemic ended some time …

Gonzo Report: Dodging the storms at La Jolla Community Center

As much as I was looking forward to the 2023 debut of the Fourth Friday Jazz Series at the La Jolla Community Center, I have to admit that, due to the relentless deluge of doomsday …

March 16, 2023
Erica Saphire’s tiny world

Take two Titan Krios microscopes, a whole lot of viruses, and a sharp scientist, and you have full-on war against immune-disease. I’m still in the thrall of this local research tank which is looking into …

March 9, 2023
La Jolla house touted as part of the Green Dragon Colony established by Anna Held

We don’t seem to care very much about old buildings here in San Diego. I spent some time looking for a nice old home to write about here, as I tend to do every couple …

March 1, 2023
January near misses in Tourmaline, Windansea, Sunset Cliffs surf

Last month, San Diego's gnarly surf kept lifeguards busy towards the tail end of January. The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department lifeguards even helped rescue folks from a plane that landed on the surf. On January …

La Jolla Institute for Immunology studies the affects of Alzheimer’s in women

Dr. Sonia Sharma makes no bones about it: when she’s studying immune diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, she concentrates on women, not men. She is also one of those vital, loquacious academics who actually likes …

February 3, 2023
Salk and pepper

“How to find the Salk Cafe?” replies this kindly professor type to my query. “And you’re walking? Ha! Head west on Gilman Drive. Turn right onto Mandeville Lane. Turn right onto Muir Lane. Turn left …

December 15, 2022
Returning to the opulence of La Jolla’s Chelsea Street

Let’s talk about what makes real estate unreal, and therefore worthy of consideration by our esteemed selection committee (members: me) for inclusion in our annals. For years, it was all about the dollar signs. Show …

December 8, 2022
Gaslamp ugly sweater pub crawl, Coronado ice skating, Nutcracker tea party, Del Mar Red Nose Run

December Nights Balboa Park Join your fellow citizens on December 2 and 3 for the City of San Diego’s largest free holiday festival in beautiful Balboa Park. The family friendly event brings San Diegans together …

Bassist from Bad Plus kicks amp in frustration

I’m officially a concert junkie. Since attending my first one (Led Zeppelin in August 1970 at the Sports Arena), I’ve witnessed more than 1000 shows. Once I started writing about music 13 years ago, this …

November 17, 2022
Kayakers lifted out of La Jolla Cove

On September 24, before 2 pm, Erica was eating lunch at Eddie Vs on Prospect Street in La Jolla; she noticed a fire truck crane extended over La Jolla Cove across the street. So she …

September 27, 2022
UCSD’s prep school Covid testing doesn't pay the bills

UCSD’s costly EXCITE tests It was supposed to be a genius move: take advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic by offering virus testing to well-heeled private schools by the region’s biggest name in medicine. But now …

September 14, 2022
La Jolla on the western slope of Mt. Soledad

Sometimes, the houses become a blur. Over the years at Unreal Estate, we’ve had the chance to look at some interesting, unique properties, such as the hospital-turned-into-condos last week, a Queen Anne in Carlsbad once …

August 31, 2022
Eppig’s new digs

“As soon as we saw the space,” recalls Eppig Brewing co-founder Todd Warshaw, “we knew it was ideal for a new Eppig tasting room: proximity to La Jolla Cove, neighboring some of the best restaurants …

August 25, 2022
The evolution of Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla

In 1922, noted newspaper mogul and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, then 85 years old, spent some time recuperating from a broken hip at the La Jolla Sanitarium, a small, 10-bed hospital she’d paid to build …

August 17, 2022
When you mess up, just say sorry.

Local? Yes, from La Mesa How long have you been surfing? I first started surfing when I was like 11. I really started getting into it when I was 16 and I finally had a …

August 11, 2022

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.