Do vacancies on University Avenue in Hillcrest signify too many eateries?
Contractor adds brick in The Wall while ephemeral eateries exit
David Batterson 10:30 a.m., May 25
La Mesa Stories
Whither La Mesa's old police station, the farmers market?
City council works deal with SDG&E, water authority
The La Mesa police station at 8085 University Avenue opened in 2012, and it’s been five years since the old station located at 8181 Allison Avenue was demolished. The sight of fencing and equipment on ...
La Mesa's Green Mile
University between 70th and Baltimore
University Avenue is improving. Between 70th and Baltimore, La Mesa is “maximizing walkability and creating a unifying streetscape theme” by installing trees along the sidewalks, amending crosswalks, updating street lights, and most significantly, planting the ...
Random people with great weed
The Vault on La Mesa Blvd. — "This is my afterlife"
Jay’s daughter has osteosarcoma — “cancer of the bone. She had to have her leg amputated. It also tries to travel to your heart and lungs, and it’s ongoing. They actually prescribed cannabis for her ...
Weird crimes so far this year in La Mesa
The hatchet, the drug dealer, and two staged robberies
According to La Mesa police chief Walt Vasquez’s quarterly operations report for the first three months of 2017, the city’s one homicide was related to a 1996 incident where a man attacked his mother with ...
Move over burger place, coffee place coming in
Sixties-era Jack in the Box building not considered historical
When construction started in September 2016 in the Village Shopping Center parking lot east of the Jack in the Box, people were curious about what was coming to the center located at the northwest corner ...
The pork chop was the star
New La Mesa eatery now open
The Farmer’s Table restaurant in downtown La Mesa had only been open a week when my mother invited us to try it out with her. When we arrived, the line was out the door, and ...
Historic elderly home to become apartments
Developer to convert Little Flower Haven in La Mesa
Little Flower Haven, the Catholic nonprofit home for the elderly located at 8585 La Mesa Boulevard, closed on June 30, 2015. The proposed plan for the 4.09-acre site is Little Flower Apartments, a 130-unit complex ...
Beereakfast at Craft Kitchen leaves me wanting a morning nap
A steamy, spicy mess
Hmm. Chilaquiles. Coffee. Beer. Beer. My Sunday brunch. Not just me. Guy on my right is downing a pint of “Dank & Sticky IPA,” think he says. Couple on my left is full-chomp into steaks, ...
Legitimate proof that La Mesa is hip
Blvd Noodles hits the boulevard
For some, a Starbucks is a sign that the neighborhood has arrived. For others, it’s a microbrewery. For me, it’s a noodle shop. La Mesa already has its share of sushi joints, pho spots, and ...
La Mesa opens for pot business
Shop applicants cough up the fees as illegal dispensaries close
Today (February 6), the City of La Mesa accepted applications — and a nonrefundable $1200 initial fee — from people seeking a conditional use permit to open a medical marijuana dispensary, cultivation business, or to ...
Inadvertent off-roader vanishes from crash scene
Six tow-truck operators work on vehicle stuck on side of hill
A La Mesa motorist expressed surprise on Wednesday (January 18) when he saw a burgundy-colored truck on the side of a hill on the south side of Parkway Drive. The truck had crashed through a ...
Tried taking Highway 94 east off the 125 south lately?
Caltrans won’t clean up the mess
High-priority project at the 125/94 interchange never gets done.
Beer and wine fuel La Mesa's music scene
Breweries bringing bands to East County
Depot Springs, the brewery, restaurant, live music venue being built in La Mesa, seems to be nearing the finish line. After two years of development — and delays — founder Aaron Dean anticipates the ambitious ...
Bloody good bloody mary at The Hills
La Mesa pub does brunch right
For the next five months, my kids are spending their Saturday mornings at a theater rehearsal. Date nights are difficult to do right now, but I can handle date mornings. For our taste of Saturday ...
Former gas station turned into hot La Mesa lunch spot
At your service
When La Mesa held its Oktoberfest in early October, a running topic of conversation was whether the city is the next North Park or the next Little Italy. La Mesa is a great city to ...
La Mesa council votes for...cooperation?
“We’re cutting down on transparency.”
The La Mesa City Council on October 11 voted 3-1 to rescind the 2002 policy allowing one councilmember to place an item on the agenda. Instead, the signatures of two councilmembers will be needed to ...
Grossmont Theatre to serve high-end food and drink
Sample the new fare on Friday, October 7
What better way to cloud your vision of San Diego’s two largest theatre screens than by taking advantage of Grossmont Cinema’s new stocked bar? As if movies weren’t intoxicating enough, this weekend Reading Cinemas Grossmont ...
La Mesa's last skirmishes with illegal pot dispensaries?
An assessment of landscape in advance of November 8 vote
La Mesa voters on November 8 will decide whether to approve a citizen-sponsored initiative to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, a proposal voters rejected in November 2014. Since then, the La Mesa City ...
Wartime on the boulevard
Riston Diggs finishes his military stint and is ready to rap
La Mesa–based MC Riston Diggs (the Known Unknowns) recorded his debut album, The Blvd Experience, following the completion of a nine-year Navy career where he served as an aviation administrator. I asked him about the ...
La Mesa's Oktoberfest becomes different animal
City hires event company charged with making it authentically German
The La Mesa City Council on June 28 voted unanimously to stage Oktoberfest, a rebranded three-day event that will start September 30 and be managed by EventWerks, LLC. EventWerks’ website shows Oktoberfests in Orange County, ...
Why change, La Mesa?
Developer describes future vision of the Village
Change continues in the La Mesa area known as the Village or downtown. One highly visible part of this change was the sometimes-maligned Streetscape project, after which several businesses departed or will soon do so. ...
Pastor Burkey appreciates the wrestling
Christ Lutheran Church: “Developing dynamic disciples for Christ.”
Membership: 1000 Pastor: Richard Burkey Age: 56 Born: Chicago Formation: Concordia College, Austin, TX; Concordia College, River Forest, IL; Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, MO. Years Ordained: 31 San Diego Reader: How long do you ...
La Mesa car show series gets the green light
Stopped for a year due to Streetscape, council votes yea
The La Mesa City Council on May 24 gave the green light to sponsoring the City of La Mesa Classic Car Show on La Mesa Boulevard on eight Thursdays, starting July 7; the shows will ...
Urban Assault via VW
Busted bug driver talks about video that helped cops pop him
“Ultimately [the police] caught me by my name being on the side of the car, not blurring out my license plate, and I didn’t expect the video to go that viral.” Blake Wilkey, 27, was ...
La Mesa's Legacy Park nearly done
Loaded with symbols of city's history — time capsule to make more
People passing by the intersection of La Mesa Boulevard and Allison Avenue have seen a former traffic island transformed into a triangle now named Legacy Park. Eight mosaic-covered columns and a 450-pound bronze snail are ...
La Mesa dog-and-cat-friendlier than ever
A look at city's 2016-2017 fee schedule
When the fiscal year starts on July 1, La Mesa residents will see a decrease in some animal-related fees, a permit will be required for commercial haunted houses, and nonprofit groups and service clubs will ...
Streetscaped out of La Mesa Village
“You have sell a lot of candles to pay a $5000 lease.”
Walking through the La Mesa downtown area known as the Village, it is striking to see numerous signs testifying to change in this area of small businesses: real estate and property management signs, in the ...
Everyone will be moving to La Mesa
Development plans on the books include lots of residential units
A reader's request for a follow-up on my February 2015 story about vacant land on El Cajon Boulevard that La Mesa resident Linda Johnson labeled an "eyesore" produced information about that location and details about ...
Breaking the curse
Cucina Basilico serves authentic Italian in a La Mesa strip mall
There’s a strip mall near my home in La Mesa that seems to be a black hole for restaurants. They seem to disappear almost as soon as they open. Some of the places that have ...
It’s April — La Mesa's Oktoberfest bill still unpaid
"We have to have partners that hold up their end."
The bill for $47,900 in city services for La Mesa's Oktoberfest 2015 has gone to collection, and it may be the last time the city will work to collect from the group that runs the ...
Depot Springs due this summer in La Mesa
Brewery, restaurant, music venue back on track
Following several months of delays, construction has resumed on La Mesa's next brewery, Depot Springs Beer Co. Originally projected to open in December 2015, Depot Springs founder Aaron Dean pressed pause on the project last ...
La Mesa mobilizes on trail plan
Pedestrians and bicyclists can look forward to 22.1 miles of routes
The La Mesa City Council on February 23 unanimously adopted a resolution approving the Urban Trails Mobility Action Plan, "a road map for expansion and improvements for urban trails." The plan created a 22.1-mile network ...
A farewell to Charlie
Funeral for two-tour Korean veteran has huge biker turnout
The mission alert went out for a military funeral for an Army combat veteran of the Korean War, the oft-described “forgotten war.” Staging was on a Thursday morning (January 21) at the VFW hall in ...
La Mesa council bans mobile dispensaries
"...powered or unpowered, licensed or unlicensed, manned or unmanned ..."
The La Mesa City Council on December 8 unanimously approved the first reading of two ordinances banning medical marijuana cultivation, deliveries, and mobile dispensaries. One ordinance includes a misdemeanor penalty for dispensing and delivery. In ...
Restaurant chain thrives; owner’s flagship dies
Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza vs. Roppongi
When I heard that Roppongi in La Jolla was closing down after 17 years, I wasn’t surprised. Owner Sami Ladeki said the restaurant’s closure was due to changing neighborhood tastes. I always liked Roppongi and ...
La Mesa Oktoberfest report
Less teenagers, less cost, and less business = mixed reviews
The La Mesa Village Merchants Association threw their first Oktoberfest 42 years ago. Their website states “over 100,000 attendees” now flock to the annual gathering. With the disruption from the La Mesa Streetscape Project and ...
File under: La Mesa Lunkheads
Suspected stun-gunning purse-snatcher caught
A couple suspected in a purse-snatching incident were arrested Wednesday night (November 18), police are reporting. On November 5, a suspect later identified as 18-year-old Dante Bahena approached a woman in her 50s who had ...
Michoacán carnitas in La Mesa
Carnitas Uruapan specializes in carnitas and Uruapan
On a corner lot in La Mesa, a block from busy I-94 and sharing a tight parking lot with a dry cleaner, stands a brightly colored brick house called Carnitas Uruapan Mexican food. Emphasis on ...
Lake Murray rebel has a short run
Cops take down violent young man the old-fashioned way
On November 16, at about 2 p.m., a 20-year-old Caucasian male started screaming and verbally threatening Lake Murray walkers near the 1¾-mile marker along the road that runs around the lake. According to a few ...
The bars of El Cajon Boulevard: 70th to Baltimore
Out here at the edge of East
“No matter where you are on the Boulevard, no matter what part of town, you’re always on the Boulevard,” says Chino. The Boulevard, of course, is El Cajon, and Chino, whose long dark beard sways ...
Giant, ugly storage facility okayed
It's zoned commercial, next to the freeway — what's the problem?
The La Mesa City Council on October 27 voted 3-1 to reject resident Christina Martin's appeal of the planning commission's September 16 approval of a conditional-use permit for StorQuest La Mesa, a three-story self-storage facility. ...
Time to forget about Streetscape debacle
Clock donated to La Mesa for installation at Lookout Park
The La Mesa City Council on October 27 voted 3-0 to accept the donation of a two-faced, 220-pound, 12-foot-tall street clock. The timepiece, valued at about $8400, is a gift from the nonprofit La Mesa ...
Octopus is the star fish
Los Pinos Seafood shines in a strip mall
I try to differentiate between places that are worth driving to and places that are good if I’m in the neighborhood. Taco shops are part of what makes San Diego great, but most of them ...
'Wiches and brew at La Mesa Oktoberfest
Santa Maria-style BBQ from Oceanside and root beer from right-here in the Village
The two old crones stir the vats surrounded by circling bats. Okay, no bats. No quoting from Macbeth. No crones. But these gals really are stirring up brews in vats, with billows of fog coming ...
Year-long La Mesa Village renovation takes its toll
New sidewalks, no customers
Sometime during the final weekend of August, Ari Bejar made a decision that would reverberate throughout the downtown La Mesa Village. He carefully hand-lettered his final message in chalk on a menu board, and come ...
La Mesans' gripes with group homes
Residential treatment facilities on Wellesley Street scrutinized
La Mesa vice mayor Bill Baber on October 2 will vote in favor of a League of California Cities resolution "to preserve therapeutic environments for group homes and avoid impacts of concentration of alcohol and ...
La Mesa Village still a mess
Streetscape to continue after Oktoberfest
Construction of the long-term project known in La Mesa as "Streetscape" will continue, including after Oktoberfest. Regarding Streetscape, according to the city's website, “The objective of the project is to revitalize and beautify the downtown ...
Helix Brewing off to a charming start in La Mesa
A man, a plan, a new craft brewery
Cameron Ball spent nearly three years planning Helix Brewing Co., and the long effort paid off when La Mesa's second brewery and tasting room opened in late August. In fall 2012 the young home brewer ...
A master of MasterChef in La Mesa
Sandoval beat out 19 other contestants to make the top 3
La Mesa’s Claudia Sandoval is one of the top-three finalists for this season of MasterChef, a cooking show on the Fox Network. She stands to win a book deal and $250,000. When she was picked ...
Narumi Sushi makes perfection for about eight bucks
The surprise wasn’t the satisfying sushi but the chicken katsudon
Eating good sushi in San Diego often means visiting a strip mall. Many count Pacific Beach’s Sushi Ota among the best in town (it’s next to a 7-Eleven), and Kaito Sushi holds it down in ...
Feast! Best of the rest
Worthy restaurant spots from East County to South Bay
Foodies living close to the city's center are waking up to the fact that there are excellent reasons to drive all over this county. Reader feasters have caught on to worthy spots in East County, ...
La Mesa Village's Cosmos...closed. Yelp!
Coffee shop (and much more) seems a casualty of sidewalk improvements
Not a good start to the week for early risers or musicians: on Monday morning, September 1, the regulars at Cosmos Coffee Café in La Mesa arrived to find locked doors and a hand-chalked sign ...
