Dear Hipster: I have always wondered about the allure of weird, hipster businesses concepts that combine unlike elements under one roof. I’m thinking of things like a combination laundromat and bar, or a garage that …
March 31, 2021
Latest News & Stories
A combination of unlike elements
Frost Me Café’s bakery case of temptation
A couple of youngsters I know were on spring break and asked if they could go out for a special treat. Muffins. Granted, I haven’t been a kid for quite a while now, but I …
March 30, 2021
Does it feel as if San Diego crime is down?
On March 10, the San Diego Police Department posted an online graphic of their 2020 Annual Crime Statistics stating that overall crime was lower by 8.4 percent throughout the city of San Diego. The department …
March 30, 2021
Pepper tree fight spreads beyond Kensington
In the past two months, the city has cut down four of Kensington's historic pepper trees that are as old as the subdivision itself. Since there are only about 32 left, neighbors wonder where will …
March 30, 2021
So Saap makes Lao food irresistible
Whichever cuisine they serve, planned restaurants that went ahead and opened after the pandemic started deserve a special kind of acclaim. The business is notoriously tough under normal circumstances — well publicized studies contend as …
March 29, 2021
Exec’s talk fuels more rumors of Union-Tribune's doom
A widely anticipated "all hands" California Times staff meeting on Thursday failed to produce any good news other than a declaration by president Chris Argentieri that the Los Angeles Times was closer to the end …
March 29, 2021
Indian hawthorn, African daisies
Indian Hawthorn, one of the most common flowering shrubs used in landscaping as hedges and dividers in San Diego, is blooming best right about now. The plant, which has several varieties, covers itself with blossoms …
March 29, 2021
Miramar's F-14s, MCRD officer's club as pick-up venue, Richard Meltzer goes to sea
Wing Men On June 15, 1988, they headed north to the Aleutians, where the F-14s played their usual games with Russian MiGs and bombers: VF-51 pilots shot excellent video of the Soviet planes on patrol …
March 29, 2021
Honest stories from a Chula Vista OR nurse, riding in Central San Diego with paramedics
Nurse’s Log Eugene Johnson — by far the sickest person on this shift. We check his I.V., which has again infiltrated. Since even 11:00, his condition has deteriorated. He is barely breathing, and his blood …
March 28, 2021
Geronimo's San Diego ally, the five Indian settlements moved from Warner Hot Springs
An Indian Chief Plots Revolution Garra sent couriers to every tribe in San Diego County, including San Pasqual, Santa Isabel, San Luis Rey, and Temecula. At the same time, he also sent runners to tribes …
March 27, 2021
The year of hot chicken and picnics
Right about now, I’m supposed to be indoor dining somewhere and reporting how great it feels that we’re trending back toward normalcy. But not so fast! Yes, restaurant owners and their bottom lines may be …
March 26, 2021
Revisiting Let No Man Write My Epitaph
Almost 60 years after my babysitter let me stay up to watch it, I finally paid a return visit to the seedy underbelly of life on Chicago’s skid row, Let No Man Write My Epitaph. …
March 26, 2021
Laguna y Mar: purity in design and sophistication
Regardless of whether you find the penchant of rich people for naming their homes to be eccentric or narcissistic, “Laguna y Mar” (lagoon and sea) probably won’t be making any top ten lists of things …
March 26, 2021
No one wrote a better melody than Puccini
If there is one thing I’ve bemoaned about modern music, all modern music, it’s the lack of melody. From the concert hall to the opera stage to popular music, melody is on the decline. Within …
March 26, 2021
Marina Tsvetaeva: a witness to the horrors of totalitarian rule
For My Poems, Written So Early For my poems, written so early That I didn’t even know I was a poet, Hurled like drops from a fountain, Like sparks from rockets, That burst like tiny …
March 26, 2021