Normal Heights Stories
“Och, dreich. Ye coulda picked a better night, sailor,” says Annie. “It’s chucking it down.” Annie’s my Scottish friend. She’s right about the rain. Says it takes her back to ...
“Hi, hi, hi, high / Marijuanaman, marijuana man / Say we gonna save the land.” So go the lyrics of Ziggy Marley’s 2016 joint “Marijuanaman.” On February 3 and 4, ...
Since the 2.25-mile bike lane replaced over 460 parking spots on 30th Street from Normal Heights down to North Park last year — 34 businesses shut down, and some are ...
It took me years to realize that Welsh rarebit wasn’t eating about bunnies at all. A little while after I learned the truth, I was up in Oceanside — Mission ...
Normal Heights Stories
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 ...
There’s a term particular to The Philippines, bayanihan, which describes the spirit of a community working together for the common good. It springs from a centuries old practice of an entire village showing up to ...
San Diegans are switching to mopeds and motorcycles for transport to work to deal with California's highest gas prices in the U.S. and limited street parking throughout the county. But as more locals purchase or ...
It is known that, since the day it opened, University Heights restaurant Madison on Park has been one of the best places in the city to start, finish, or spend your evening. Especially when said ...
On July 22, the Blind Lady Ale House, referred to as BLAH in the Normal Heights neighborhood, recovered its stolen fermenter tank. It's worth $5,000 and is a large piece of steel equipment used to ...
On August 1, the City Council approved Mayor Todd Gloria’s Build Better San Diego, an initiative that will improve services and infrastructure in lower income communities. Last summer, the city took action on parks. This ...
"About two weeks ago, there was an accident where a person drove up on the rocks in the middle median on the roundabout just down the street from ours on Swift Avenue," Kira Hawkins said ...
When Howard Mandel, President of the Jazz Journalists Association, emailed Louis Valenzuela to congratulate him on being selected a Jazz Hero by the organization, the guitarist almost missed it. “I didn’t recognize the name,” says ...
Last month, Normal Heights neighbors posted photos of the Adams Avenue Theater on social media, wondering what would be moving into the near-100-year-old building. Then, on April 15, Devyn Randolph posted a picture of a ...
Normal Heights inhabitants are throwing shade on The Mars Project development coming into their neighborhood. According to artists' renderings, the art deco-inspired building will have a sheet-metal facade and tower seven stories high on Adams ...
“It’s a cacao bar,” I tried to explain to the kids, as we approached Maya Moon Collective. They shot me a funny look, pretty sure I was either promising them cocoa or a candy bar, ...
Josh Blanton The Rabbit Hole 3377 Adams Avenue Normal Heights Feeling festive, I make my way down to The Rabbit Hole in Normal Heights, where they’ve curated a fall-themed drink menu. There, bartender Josh Blanton ...
On August 26, a driver of a yellow Kia Rio crashed into a tree in front of Top Gun Wash & Groom on Adams Avenue in Normal Heights. "I had just crossed the street," Jonathan ...
On April 11, Lisa Sku and her doggie Stella strolled past Orchid, a newly built Adams Avenue structure their neighbor compared to "Darth Vader." "I appreciate the urban design element," she said to me later ...
San Diego County dwellers have started to hide their birdbaths and feeders from Salmonellosis-infected birds that might fly in from central and northern California. "Since December, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and wildlife ...
I know indoor dining is supposed to be back, but some outdoor dining options are just too good to give up. Like one I recently checked out in Normal Heights. I’d driven by Ska Bar ...
On February 25, Jordan Taylor took to Facebook and warned her Normal Heights neighbors. "TOWING NOW: Heads up if you're parked on Monroe between 39th and 40th, the asphalt company is trying to start working ...
In the last 30 days, there were about 210 curb-related reports on our city's Get It Done app. Requests for reapplying red paint on pinkish-hued, faded curbs are a common request. When motorists park within ...
Katryn Macko met Ryan Stanley while they were both living in Tallahassee and attending Florida State University. Macko worked at a venue called Club Down Under, which was run by a student organization. She describes ...
On September 19, video footage surfaced online of an impromptu art gallery in Normal Heights. The "mystery artist" hand-painted murals on what appeared to be dead palm tree leaves and strung them along a fence ...
It sits within an inconspicuous stucco strip on Adams Avenue, smack in the middle of Normal Heights, with a generic sign bearing a generic name: Thai Joint. How many times have I driven past without ...
In the city’s quest for park space, mid city neighborhoods Kensington, Normal Heights and City Heights are among the least served, according to the San Diego Foundation’s 2010 Parks for Everyone report. The report defines ...
Imagine a near-future trip to a central San Diego neighborhood reshaped by the zoning plans proposed by Mayor Kevin Faulconer. 12-story buildings line 30th Street, University Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard – and up to ...
We the people of Normal Heights Adam Deutsch and his wife Claire moved to Normal Heights in 2014. Shortly after their move, the couple went to a meeting of the Normal Heights Community Planning Group ...
I had intended to arrive at Rosie O’ Grady’s well before the music started. Like most of life’s good intentions, that plan was thwarted by a personal inertia more powerful than wishful thinking. As I ...
A few weeks ago, I was startled to find an unwelcome visitor climbing up a wall inside our North Park garage—a rat. My wife and I had dealt with mice at our last house (also ...
On another typical Saturday night, I found myself craving pizza. My friend indulged me in a visit to Blind Lady Ale House in Normal Heights. While we waited for our burrata and strawberries appetizer, I ...
Charlie Garcia cancelled his San Diego Goth Swap event earlier in the month due to the then-forecasted heavy rains and rescheduled it to Feb. 17. “With so many vendors involved along with food carts,” Garcia ...
On October 11 at about 1:45 pm, I saw a lady by the I-15 exit on Adams Avenue carrying yellow signs. I wasn’t sure if the lady just pulled the yellow and red Wild ‘n ...
A month into its launch, a network of temporary shelters for asylum seekers arriving at the world's busiest border station in San Ysidro is beginning to take shape. The Safe Harbors project, spearheaded by Dr. ...
On July 14, about 20 utility boxes were painted along Adams Avenue in Normal Heights. “Each of the 16 artists, was assigned a box and given anywhere from $125 to $675,” said Selena from the ...
When John O’Connor looks at the lot on the northwest corner of El Cajon Boulevard and 40th where the I-15 exit ramps end, he sees a great opportunity for a building with housing and shops ...
After over three decades without music, a legendary part of San Diego’s pop music history is on track to be resurrected as a music venue. Opened in 1930 as a movie house, by the late ...
Adam Deutsch and his wife Claire moved to Normal Heights in 2014. Shortly after their move, the couple went to a meeting of the Normal Heights Community Planning Group to see what was going on ...
When angry Normal Heights residents and the planning group began fighting the latest “park” shrinkage at the joint-use Adams Elementary School, they expected some resistance. But, instead, they learned that the joint-use agreement between the ...
The Reader recently reported that Discount Fabrics on Adams Avenue will be shutting down due to the sale of their building. The story mentioned that the establishment (located at 3325 Adams Avenue) was once a ...
A spate of incidents where people walking in North Park and Normal Heights were hit by or nearly hit by eggs has left social media abuzz, but the police say they haven’t heard about it. ...
John Hartley wants the San Diego Police Department to return to the Adams Avenue storefront that he helped create in 1993. On January 22nd, he received a letter from the office of councilmember Chris Ward ...
“Deep crushedness is the general feel around here,” said Matt Bantelman. “I’ve gone out of the way to not mention it this evening because everyone’s trying to play [games] and have fun, and then inevitably ...
"The reason we are closing is because they are selling the building," said Jack, an employee at Discount Fabrics (3325 Adams Avenue, between Felton and 33rd streets). “We are not moving, we are closing, and ...
The Kargoyle, a chop-topped 1967 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Funeral Coach of dubious practicality and somewhat mysterious origin, slunk and slithered its way into the Adams Avenue Vons lot in Normal Heights and parked next to me. ...
“Yesterday at 9:40 [p.m.] two Modelo 24 oz. cans fell out of his pants,” said Fredley. “I said, 'What the hell...what is this?' then he grabbed them and ran away…but his girlfriend is right behind ...
Normal Heights residents remain frustrated and angry over the recent influx of homeless people in their neighborhood — which city staff say was prompted by the downtown streets bleaching to ward off hepatitis A. The ...
It’s not his real name, but the name he gave me wasn’t real, either. He’s navigated his dual wheelchairs, one for his luggage and one for himself, with impressive efficiency — and even agility, despite ...
Concerned about what the city is planning to do with two vacant lots on the northwest corner of El Cajon Boulevard at 40th Street, adjacent to the I-15 off-ramp, local groups are asking the city ...
One year after the neighborhood called out the city and Normal Heights Elementary School for breaking the promise that the school grounds would be open to the public after school hours, the chairman of the ...
“Two months ago, while I was walking my two dogs by the Adams Recreation Center park,” Frank said. “A black homeless [looking] guy flicked his cigarette on the street. He [then] said, ‘What you lookin’ ...
In the past couple of weeks, there have been four autos stolen in Normal Heights, according to the Crimemapping.com website. An additional eight auto break-ins and thefts were also reported. “I woke up to find ...