It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of the Westgate Hotel, which takes up the bulk of a downtown city block at the corner of Broadway and Second Avenue. Opened in 1970, …
July 14, 2022
Latest News & Stories
Gonzo Report: Westgate bar is sonically sweet, inspired by Versailles
The dead may walk, but Zombies can tour
Point of clarification: we’re not talking about the slow moving, brain-eating monsters that populated George Romero’s 1968 Night of the Living Dead movie, nor the post-apocalyptic goons of The Walking Dead. The Zombies became a …
July 14, 2022
The right reasons for canceling the 1812 Overture
The San Diego Symphony has canceled Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture for the final concert of their summer season. They are replacing it with Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture. Here is the complete statement from The Symphony: “While …
July 13, 2022
Reader writer tests alternative medicine on self
Alternative medicine has been defined as “Medical therapies not regarded as orthodox by the medical profession, such as herbalism, homeopathy, and acupuncture.” But while those practices may have been filtered out from the mainstream of …
July 13, 2022
Priority mail bumps First-class at Margaret Sellers
Late mail call As Christmas approached last fall, an upbeat account of mail handling at the U.S. Postal Service’s huge Margaret L. Sellers Processing and Distribution Center on Rancho Carmel Drive appeared on TV station …
July 13, 2022
A spiritural contract with Kambo
It was about a decade ago, in the jungle city of Iquitos, Peru, that Caitlin Thompson first heard about Kambo, a traditional medicine used by some indigenous groups in the Amazon. Kambo is the poisonous …
July 13, 2022
Bad Hombres make better than good Mexican food
Good Mexican food. This is something San Diego has in abundance. In our part of the world, even the average taco shop glows with an aura of desirability, particularly when you’re hungry and it’s the …
July 12, 2022
PurpleAir fire sensors dotting San Diego's North County
On June 25, Steve Sedio noticed a fire blazing in Carlsbad about 30 miles west of his Valley Center home. "An arsonist started the brush fire in Carlsbad," he told me on July 9. The …
July 12, 2022
Solana Beach out in front to prolong outdoor dining
As temporary outdoor dining winds down in San Diego, Solana Beach is looking to extend the permits until next year. Tomorrow, July 13, the temporary outdoor dining permits that helped restaurants stay open during Covid-19, …
July 12, 2022
Marijuana growing in Vista great idea – or is it?
Cannabis is booming in Vista. Its 11 retail dispensaries have a corner on North County’s legal weed market, serving consumers from Oceanside, Carlsbad, San Marcos, Escondido, and Fallbrook. Since August of 2021, they haven't needed …
July 11, 2022
Thunderheads loom in mid-July
Cumulonimbus Clouds, or thunderheads, are most likely to form over San Diego County’s deserts and mountains during the latter part of the summer season, beginning about mid-July. The clouds appear by midafternoon — often the …
July 11, 2022
Inside Child Protective Services
Sometimes Child Protective Services works “When I got back to Stepping Stones from Vista Hill, I decided, ‘Okay, this is it.’ All the people there were the only friends I had. I got in drug …
July 11, 2022
Surf perch bonanza in San Quintin
Dock Totals 7/3 – 7/9: 3,950 anglers aboard 162 half-day to 3-day trips out of San Diego landings this past week caught 961 barracuda, 83 bluefin tuna (to 70 pounds), 676 bonito, 2,625 calico bass, …
July 10, 2022
San Diego Community College shadow money
The chancellor's private plans Burchard had become dismayed with the conduct of Peed and the trustees. “The more I got involved, the more I perused Peed’s documents, it became pretty apparent how he was operating …
July 10, 2022
Tenkatori Karaage brings fried chicken lore to Miramar
Slowly but surely, a Japanese fried chicken outfit called Tenkatori Karaage has been making its way across Southern California. Since 2016, its opened a couple locations in greater Los Angeles and one in Orange County, …
July 9, 2022