Project is not dense enough or land is too steep
Project on Indiana St. on edge of Florida Canyon opposed by neighbors
Dorian Hargrove 9:31 p.m., May 23
Normal Heights Stories
Dog towns
Ward Canyon park would serve several neighborhoods
The Normal Heights Community Association is leading a new effort to bring a bona fide dog park to mid-city. The group is set to launch a public relations campaign in hopes of convincing elected officials ...
Now Try This: Duck Wings at the Rabbit Hole
Normal Heights' new sports bar does a tough dish right
Duck wings can suck. Compared to chicken wings, they’re scrawny, and filled with connective tissue, which makes them hard to cook. The extra fat lurking beneath the skin makes it borderline impossible to achieve the ...
Bine & Vine looks the part
Recently renovated standout bottle shop ups its game with redone interiors
Believe it or not, there was a time when craft-stocked bottle shops weren’t in every neighborhood throughout San Diego. Sure, there was craft beer, even the local variety, but it took awhile for the retail ...
Festival style on Adams Avenue
“I made them from my dead cat’s bones.”
Ever notice how groups of friends often share similar tastes in style? I ran into several groups of ladies who wore complementary frocks at the Adams Avenue Street festival. Lein Gage, Lora Mathis and Daliah ...
Put a lid on it
A photographer, an artist, and a musician talk about the hats that complete their looks.
Hats can make a creative man. Pharrell's Vivienne Westwood vintage hat worn to the Grammys has since become a Halloween costume option. Slash’ has been wearing his iconic top hat, that he famously shoplifted prior ...
Lies, lies, signature-gatherers lie
Minimum-wage-hike proponents claim they were duped by petition reps
Former California assemblywoman Lori Saldaña held a press conference on Tuesday, September 9, highlighting "hundreds" of San Diego voters officially submitting forms to withdraw their signatures from a signature-gathering effort intended to place the city's ...
Temporary trailer-park market
Shops on wheels in Normal Heights
“STOP, Poppa, and look!” Our four-year old daughter yelled from the backseat of our SUV. Saturdays are usually a family day, when we take our daughter for a cruise to the park or beach and ...
How to get the church back into the world?
Catch a new vision for life or faith.
Membership: 120 Pastor: Brent Ross Age: 40 Born: Albuquerque, NM Formation: Vanderbilt Divinity School, Nashville, TN; Garrett Evangelical Seminary, Evanston, IL Years Ordained: 5 San Diego Reader: What’s your favorite subject on which to preach? ...
Normal Heights planners vote on Barrio plan
"The neighborhoods should have a say in their own affairs."
The Normal Heights Community Planning Group last week took a confusing vote of 4 ayes, 0 nays, and 11 abstentions on whether or not to support the Barrio Logan community plan — which would finally ...
Outta here: Homes become houses on wheels
Academy of Our Lady of Peace rids itself of two structures
The City of San Diego has removed two single-family homes from Academy of Our Lady of Peace–owned property, per a previous consent decree. The removal had been ordered to occur by May 1, 2014. The ...
Look out — burglaries in Normal Heights
All three within a block of each other
San Diego police say Normal Heights residents need to lock their doors and windows — a series of burglaries recently hit the normally quiet neighborhood north of Adams Avenue. The burglaries took place during the ...
Let it out, let it all out
Tribal Baroque comes to San Diego
Tribal Baroque is in town for a handful of "prayformances" in Balboa Park near Casa del Prado Theater, on April 24 from 3-5 p.m., April 26 at 9 p.m., and April 27 from 3-5 p.m. ...
Cat ladies
Feline frenzy in San Diego
I’m not a cat person — mostly due to a silvery scar on my arm that I got as a child from the claws of my neighbor’s grumpy tabby cat. Also, cats make me sneeze ...
Adams Avenue music festival only free to you and me
Business district's annual money-loser, "Unplugged," turns to online fundraiser Kickstarter for relief
Adams Avenue Unplugged, the free music festival set for April 26 and 27 has launched a fundraiser on Kickstarter to help pay for the costs of the street fair, which takes over two miles of ...
Art for art's sake on Adams Avenue
Transmedia experiences coming to four blocks in Normal Heights
“We, as many artists, divorce ourselves in a sense, whether it’s conscious or not, from the notion that we’re making something to be displayed for sale so that someone can collect it,” says Robyko Sanchez. ...
Arm candy
Purses worn in San Diego
“You're never too fat for a new purse.” ― Nia Vardalos I gained a couple of pounds over the holiday season. As a result of my refusal to go up a dress size, I have ...
New drinks for Sycamore Den, problems with cocktails as such
Winter menu has some successes, but it also illustrates the growing problem of high-minded bartenders and the bars that employ them
In addition to Sycamore Den’s decision to get a few bites of food on the bar menu, the Normal Heights cocktail lounge with the beards-and-shotguns flair has a new series of winter cocktails ($9) rife ...
Sycamore Den, part one: the food
Normal Heights cocktail bar expands the menu to include meat and cheese boards
“Sycamore Den got food!” That was the rumor, anyways, that the Normal Heights hipster-centric cocktail lounge, styled after a dreamy and favorable vision of the 1970s where men were men, had augmented its menu with ...
Not really church music
“The number could be off by a few in either direction, but I think it’s been around 520.” Carey Driscoll says he’s lost count of the number of shows he has produced over ten years ...
AMSD: Unplugged unplugged?
No pews for you
A new pastor plans to remove the pews at United Methodist Church in Normal Heights so he can interact more with congregants. But, no pews means that Carey Driscoll will have no seating for his Acoustic Music San Diego audiences. So, he’ll end the ten-year-long series of shows.
St. Didacus Catholic Parish
The thought of celibacy was painful and confusing
Father Michael Sinor of St. Didacus Catholic Parish says he “ran away from the idea of being a priest. I didn’t think I could be celibate.”
Blood, Sweat, and Spit: Memories of Adams Avenue Theater and the Rock Palace
A quarter-century after the concerts at Adams Avenue Theater and the Palace, a blogger imagines an entryway streaked with the scuff of Doc Martens and cigarette butts; blood, sweat, and spit in the hall; the pit, swinging fists and bodies, a stage bomb, a swan dive from the balcony...
The Chargers-Mariposa ice cream connection/disconnection
C.J. Spillman likes it; Malcolm “Coldstone” Floyd goes elsewhere
Dick and Anna, the owners of Mariposa Ice Cream in Normal Heights, were worried. Chargers wide receiver Malcolm Floyd had just caught a pass and had his neck rammed back into his shoulders by a ...
Soda, swine, ice cream & beer
Beer floats traditional and avant garde at Soda & Swine
I’ll admit it. When I heard the founders of Neighborhood, Craft & Commerce, and Underbelly were opening a place where the menu would be revolve around meatballs and apple pie, I had my doubts. Meatballs…good. ...
Enchanted by Normal Heights
Of all the neighborhoods in San Diego I’m the most enchanted by Normal Heights. They put on a hell of a festival with Adam’s Avenue Unplugged in April and the Adam’s Avenue Street Festival in ...
Polite Provisions' Ocean Side
While Noble Experiment is the worst kept secret among San Diego saloons, its sister ship, Polite Provisions, has a number of secrets yet to be discovered. “Here at Polite Provisions,” says bartender Aaron Zieske, “we’re ...
Normal Heights’ “sewer line project from hell” addressed
Police also attend peaceful but rowdy meeting
On the evening of June 26, about three dozen people from the neighborhood around 33rd Street in Normal Heights finally learned the details of what one resident called "the sewer line project from hell.” Five ...
Justin Fry opens "Fractured Navigation" at Artlab Studios
Neon skulls and portraits of assholes artistically "booby trap" Fry's paintings.
We spend every dime on our costumes
Some don't do it for the money.
Interviews with women of the San Diego burlesque scene/business.
Festival Fashion: Adams Avenue Unplugged
Adam’s Avenue unplugged is one of San Diego's best festivals. Each year they offer an ample line-up of talented and unique musical acts. On April 27th at 2:30pm, Actor John C. Reilly was accompanied by ...
Council votes to settle with Academy of Our Lady of Peace
Normal Heights school wins fight with city
Four years ago, when the Academy of Our Lady of Peace began planning to add classrooms and parking to its Normal Heights canyon-top campus, the high school found itself fighting the city and its neighbors ...
Mattress Man picks up and delivers to Mexico
Over 20 in one load — no problem
Sometimes one mattress is not enough for one pickup truck. How about 21 of them? My neighbor rescues mattresses (and many other things) bound for landfills and donates them to folks in Mexico who can ...
“Heartbreak Bob” Reisinger found after Normal Heights house fire
A Rosie O’Grady’s regular
Shortly after 10 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16, according to neighbors, a man on Hawley Boulevard in Normal Heights called his girlfriend on the phone and told her, “I set myself on fire; call the ...
Sycamore Den's Harvey Wallbanger
If you didn’t have the good fortune of having a dad who grew up in the 1970s, then you probably know little about the glories of wood paneling, Gordon Lightfoot, and plaid-on-plaid polyester suits. But, ...
Tramp stamp your kid in Normal Heights
Bling for toddlers
While scarfing down a bean and cheese burrito at Mauricio's in Normal Heights, I noticed something peculiar amongst the kiddie vending machines occupying a small section of wall space. Wedged between the bubblegum and sticky-hand ...
Hot prowling and burglaries in Normal Heights
Victims at home asleep
Police are warning Normal Heights residents about a series of middle-of-the-night burglaries — with the victims at home asleep. The “hot prowls” all occurred in a small area of the neighborhood. "Hot-prowl burglaries are bold ...
SDG&E works on Normal Heights power outage
Sewer contractor crushes electrical cable
About 1300 people in Normal Heights went without electricity for ten hours, starting at 5 p.m. Monday, January 7, after a construction crew replacing sewer pipes crushed underground power lines at 33rd Street and Meade ...
Water main break in Normal Heights
Neighbors share buckets
Hundreds of people in Normal Heights were without water Friday night, January 4, after a water main broke at 32nd and Meade Avenue at around 4 p.m. Crews were still working to repair the main ...
San Diego Restaurants to Try at Least Once
Even if it weren’t my job to go out and look for new places to eat, I still wouldn’t be able to eat the same thing over and over again. I rarely visit any place ...
Normal Heights the New Gaslamp?
Kadan to close after ten years in Normal Heights; here come the Neighborhood (gastropub) people to take over the space.
One-Dollar Fish Taco Frenzy in University Heights
This article seeks to find value for fish taco lovers living in the San Diego Area. The Taquerias in question (El Zarape and Kiko’s Place) are often overlooked by economically casual chowers but they shouldn’t ...
Afghanistan, Love, Regret
Khaled Waleh, owner of Zia’s Afghan Café in North Park, gives the reporter his dad’s phone number in Parwan province.
Afghan Ambassadors
His one piece of advice to his son: “Don’t start a restaurant. You’ll never be able to relax.”
Afghan-inspired pizza at Zia — there will be eggplant and yogurt.
Adams Avenue Old Folker
San Diego folk music archivist/godfather steps back into the committee to organize the Adams Avenue Roots Festival.
Normal Heights Starbucks Vandalized
Vandals attempted to break into the Starbucks at the northeast corner of Adams Avenue and Felton Street in Normal Heights early Friday morning, April 6. According to a Starbucks employee named Tray, he and fellow ...
Normal Heights Elementary School Opens Playground, Sparks Protest
In accordance with a joint-use agreement signed by the San Diego Unified School District and the City of San Diego seven years ago, on March 9, the playgrounds and playing fields at Normal Heights Elementary ...
Fields at Normal Heights Elementary Open After School
Unless there is a monkey wrench thrown into the works, a joint-use agreement between the city's Park and Recreation Department and the San Diego Unified School District will allow for public access to the upper ...
Normal Heights Intersection Reconfiguration Completed
Reconstruction and reconfiguration of the Cherokee-Madison-East Mountain View-Ward Road intersections in Normal Heights was recently completed. Begun in fits and starts last summer (including a shutdown when funds ran out) in conjunction with the 40th ...
When the power goes out
Twelve hours now, the power's been out. And I'm writing by candlelight in the kitchen. The only thing technologically enhanced about this is my .7mm mechanical pencil (do I have enough lead?). I'd be writing ...
