Author: Lane Tobias Neighborhood: Ocean Beach Age: 24 Occupation: Wildfire Relief Case Manager I am a recent transplant from New Jersey living in Ocean Beach. I already know what locals or natives think of me. …

Author: Dominic Carrillo Neighborhood: Barrio Logan Age: 32 Occupation: Counselor It’s a noun. It’s the place where I live. It’s Barrio Logan, to be exact, but that lone fact is insignificant, really. There’s no Sherman …

Author: Elizabeth Zerbe Neighborhood: Valley Center Age: Over 40 Occupation: Care provider Saturday night, and everyone was going out to dinner — even the six-inch black-and-silver tarantula in the driveway, heading to our ­house. It …

“That’s it,” my husband, Ben said as he squeezed the last box into the truck before closing the camper shell. “That’s all we can fit.” We were finally leaving Texas and moving back to California …

I couldn't help it. As I walked by what used to be my favorite bar I had to peer through the window and see the abomination. I could not even recognize it anymore, my old …

A San Diego native, I was well aware of El Cajon Boulevard’s reputation long before I moved into my University Heights apartment. I barely raised an eyebrow the first morning I made my hike to …

I suppose I am a man without a neighborhood. As a life-long San Diegan, I have called many neighborhoods “home.” Often I find myself in the minority and my native claim second only to the …

I stood in front of my rack trying to keep from crying. Having just woken from a nap and ready to leave base for the weekend, I could not find my I.D. It had been …

Twas mid-May in Ocean Beach. May Gray was momentarily at bay, spring had sprung, and every OBecian could smell and see sweet summer coming. Whilst walking my precious pooch, Kindle, on Voltaire Street mere moments …

Didn't want to be here. Liked the old place better, in the city. A housekeeper's flat in the back of a Craftsman-riche palazzo in Kensington. We grew baby raccoons in winter, big shimmery spiderwebs in …

"It's over, I'm done with all of this and I can't handle another second of it..." The sobs echoed through the narrow hallway of the tiny Sixth Avenue complex. "There's no more us...there's just Russ." …

“You have got to be kidding me!” My outburst was not at all surprising, after I saw the over-half- million-dollar price neatly printed on a colorful placard in front of the model house. My family …

Shade of Orange I scurried through dancing shadows to reach my carpool pick-up spot at the swimming pool-mailboxes annex within the condo complex. I glanced at my watch. It was 6:07 a.m. All was quiet …

I am old. My neighborhood is shrinking. Once, my Coronado was mainly blocks and blocks of houses with just a few shops and cafes. Now it has grown, but my world has been reduced to …

My earliest memories of Shelltown are those of a chaotic and scary place. I was an impressionable and tender ten years of age when my family moved into the impoverished Southeast San Diego neighborhood, which …

I meet DB at the Coffee Grounds, where we catch up on gossip. He asks why I moved from downtown to Rancho San Diego, his gaze fixated on the very competent, very cute, barista. I …

I have lived on the same block, in the same city in the same state, and in the same house for my whole life. Fifteen years to be exact. It's hard growing up in Fletcher …

When I moved into Peutz Valley, this deadend, oak-lined community in Alpine, my family consisted of two boys still living at home, craving a country atmosphere. Here we could raise animals and grow a garden, …

When I think of my neighborhood, I think of transformation. My five-year-old daughter and I were mesmerized when we first saw Mountain Shadows Mobile Home Park in '94. There were plum and orange trees growing …