Creative creatures brew in El Cajon
Behind the pizza spot, across from the Ross
Ian Anderson 5 p.m., Feb. 20
Tijuana
Fight Club: Las Pulgas
Fleas flee concert by Grupo Codiciado
Las Pulgas is “el mejor lugar para bailar (the best place to dance),” according to their slogan. It is known as one of the bars that sell the most beer in all of Latin America; ...
Tijuana is a meth
1,800 federal police and army try to fix it
“¡Dame un peso!” frantically demands a homeless woman by aggressively knocking on car windows that stop in one of Tijuana’s busiest corners on Calle Segunda. Most drivers ignore her, shake their heads nervously, or move ...
Two years of Mayor “The Feet”
MATA: Murders and Assassinations in Tijuana Again
“Human rights are for humans who do right” became the catchphrase of Tijuana’s mayor, Juan Manuel “El Patas” (The Feet) Gastélum Buenrostro, referring to the caravan of migrants. The news anchor for Univision, Jorge Ramos, ...
Caravan reporters invade Tijuana
“It is our duty to inform the people"
Chingue su madre todos esos Hondureños.” those were the first words I heard spoken over a loud speaking as I approached the area where the caravan of migrants arrived, Sunday, November 18th. The source of ...
Tijuana desensitized to violence
Next to Calle Sexta party area
“That was the scariest part, I walked by and didn’t even feel a thing,” commented my friend Luisa, after posting that there was a shooting in Calle Sexta in front of a popular bar on ...
What makes the border fence work
No escape field, see-through, razor wire
“Assault a U.S. law enforcement officer – expect to be held accountable,” said chief border patrol agent Rodney Scott in a press release November 3. On October 31 a federal jury in San Diego found ...
My Tijuana makes me happy
In 2008 Tijuana suffered 844 murders. In 2017 it was over 1600.
“Tijuana is much more than the cliches repeated by those that, carrying their prejudice, come and try to decipher it.” Those words of the late Rafa Saavedra (2013), one of Tijuana’s favorite writers, struck a ...
San Diego brewer spews dust at Telefónica
No lagers made there yet because of water filtration
When I bump into SouthNorte brewer Ryan Brooks, he’s covered in dust. The result of milling grain before a brew day, he explains. We’re on the patio of the Coronado Brewing tasting room in Bay ...
Border dirty water suits inch forward
Tijuana deficiencies laid at feet of agencies
What happens when toxic wastewater escapes cleansing, crosses an international border, picks up more pollutants, dodges treatment again, and finds its way onto beaches? Lawsuits. After decades of spills, of human and environmental health threats, ...
Tijuana filmed in Tijuana
Univision/Netflix series to appear late fall
How embarrassing! I just looked out my balcony, all hungover and disheveled, to find un chingo de gente afuera,” (an f--- of a lot of people outside), comments Lalo, my neighbor from the building in ...
The old rusty metal gate is gone
PedEast open at San Ysidro border crossing
I remember the first time I crossed the border as a pedestrian from San Ysidro to Tijuana. It was early 2010, the pedestrian entry lay on the west side of the 5. It was a ...
Photos of stingrays and eating 'em
Hundreds seen from the sky above La Jolla
On the morning of August 7, Ravean Aaron took a photo of a pod of dolphins swim through “hundreds of” stingrays from the sky above Black’s Beach. “I recently received my pilot's license and have ...
Tijuana’s most violent month in all its history
Zeta newspaper tells the details
“The violence and crime in Tijuana has exceeded its own records and has imbued terror in a society, in which authorities have been surpassed and lack any leadership.” That’s how an extensive report of the ...
VW Bus caravan makes it to Border Field
Met by VW fans across the fence
On July 29 at noon, about 75 vintage Volkswagen owners rendezvoused at International Friendship Park in Imperial Beach. This was the last stop for the Treffen: “A traveling [rear-engine] Volkswagen carnival, complete with cruises, camp ...
Afternoon at the Nelson Bar
Rantings of an ex-pat
I met a 62-year-old man at Nelson Bar in Tijuana today. He said, “I like talking to white people, you white?” Sort of, I responded. “You look white! I know everything. Ask me anything. No. ...
