Complete public sleeping ban Imperial Beach has banned camping or sleeping in public with an ordinance that reaches into every last corner, from pavement to median, "including but not limited to dirt or landscaped areas." …

There’s something haunting about this sidewalk’s chalk portraits as they fade. Coronado student artists drew remarkable pictures on the concrete around the beachfront memorial for George Floyd, not far from the Hotel Del Coronado: the …

To bee, or not to bee? That is the question in bucolic Harbison Canyon. I have just made an eye-popping discovery about the Canyon — sandwiched between east El Cjaon and Alpine — and it …

“WARNING. Shark sighted. Enter at your own risk.” A silhouette of a shark drives home the point. It’s a yellow sign planted in the sand at Center Beach, Coronado, near the lifeguard tower. “Lifeguards decided …

Dan Hendrickson wants to save IB, and TJ. If they’ll let him. He’s talking about the ages-old problem of Mexican sewage overwhelming treatment plants on both sides of the border. Politicians have been throwing money …

The Forgotten War I do not recall putting my foot on Korean soil for the first time. I only remember the cold rain, and running, and others running with me. By David Burge, June 20, …

Is San Diego opening up? Last week, it sure looked like it. The scene: 10th and Orange in Coronado, 7 am. Clayton’s has just reopened its coffee window with the $1 coffees. “I ran when …

“I’m an optimist,” says Jodi Cilley. Right now, with the film industry gone dark, she’d have to be. Yet Cilley’s used to fighting above her weight. She runs Film Consortium San Diego. And right now, …

The Ugly Trailer Park Across the Water Cityzella terrorizes humble trailer folk at De Anza Cove. By Ollie, Sept. 14, 2011 What am I doing in Eastlake? I'm telling you it's a trap. And we're …

“It’s very odd, being here playing alone in your house, with no audience, even though we know they’re out there,” says Ron Wheeler. Until the coronavirus, he led one of the best-loved cover bands in …

Have you noticed how, at the governor’s COVID-19 press conferences, someone usually asks about how come unemployment benefits aren’t reaching all the people who have applied for them? The governor takes time to explain how …

The slow end of the Kalasho regime At a city council meeting in September Elia spoke publicly to Kalasho: “Ben, you need help. It hurts me to see fellow Chaldeans spiral like this. It might …

Short-term rentals thrive in East Village Is the demand for housing suitable to fill the thousands of rental units that have sprung up in downtown's East Village since the mid-2000s, and enough to sustain even …

Stay in lockdown? Not these retired police captains. It’s 8:52 on a sunny Tuesday morning, and all five of them are sitting around outside Chase Bank at Tenth and Orange in downtown Coronado. They’ve just …

Tara has come out for a smoke. It’s nine at night. Break time. Her store, Vons, is about to close. She lights up, sitting in her car. All you can see is the red glow …

“It was surprising and very exciting,” says Professor Kimberly Brouwer, who teaches epidemiology at the UCSD School of Medicine. She’s talking about the brand-new graduate class she started last Tuesday, online. “I had 27 students …

Pity the poor editors. As March turned into April, Wendy Manwarren Generes, editor of San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles Magazine (for which I have written) was trying to get the upcoming May issue to bed. “Last …

Safety first. We decide to meet electronically. Three young San Diego entrepreneurs, developing a supplement they hope will palliate some effects of the coronavirus. I want to know how they’re facing the crisis. They sound …

Anna got out of Lombardy in the north of Italy just in time. She has business here as well as there. She doesn’t want to use her last name because she sees that some people …

San Ysidro – the town that San Diego would like to forget San Ysidro’s Jack-in-the-Box sells more fast food than any other Jack-in-the-Box in California. Its Big Bear market alone sells more eggs than the …

Next month, April 25, Barrio Logan will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the birth of Chicano Park. And the surprise question? Is success bringing about the demise of this most culturally cohesive neighborhood? It’s …

“As a customer,” says Harry Ryan, “what’s your concern when you go to buy a cup of coffee?” He answers his own question. “You want to have a fresh, hot, quality brew.” Harry is one …

What is it about orchids that turns sane people into obsessed collectors and fanatics? Especially the legendary black orchid? If you look, black orchids are everywhere and nowhere. Movies such as Black Orchids — a …

“Restless and neglected, Isabel is suffocating in a stagnant marriage. An invitation to visit Jay’s resort in the hills of Tuscany sparks Isabel to imagine a life of freedom and excitement. She abandons herself in …

Jack's island: jewel of Barrio Logan Sometime this year, the city council is expected to decide whether to accept a low-ball $30,000 offer for the nearest thing Barrio Logan has to a flat iron building, …

Does Christmas offend you? Christmas has to start with the Jews, I guess, no matter where you start. It was Jews who were killed by Herod and Jews who were chased into Egypt by him, …

At least one flower stand will be open early St. Valentine’s Day: The Flower Lady on Isabella and Orange in downtown Coronado. Shanel Albert and her partner and husband, Steve, will be up and making …

It has been hard going for John Brooks, the environmentalist candidate for San Diego’s Congressional District 53 since we talked with him last October 19th. As the elections have been getting closer, he has become …

Partly because it was International Wetlands Day last Saturday (February 1), I thought I’d do a hard-hitting investigation into how we are doing in San Diego. I got down to the Tijuana River Sloughs, famous …

Dominic the crewman throws the hawser aboard. “Clear!” he calls out. The Legend is outward bound, whale watching, 20 souls aboard. Fifteen minutes, a coffee, and a blueberry muffin later, I am climbing up to …

Was Jesse Ventura a SEAL or a UDT guy? Well, I thought, Jesse certainly looks and sounds like many SEALs I’d known during my 16 years in the Teams. But I’d never known or even …

In a couple of days they’ll be memorializing Marshall Saunders, the San Diego man who tried to save the world. I considered him a dear friend even though I knew he had hundreds, maybe thousands …

Fire, as in the monstrous mega fires we’re seeing in Australia, has been front page news for weeks. But it is also something the Kumeyaay people have been speaking out about for years. Michael Connolly …

Mafia in San Diego before World War II (first in series of six stories) “The raids, all made with search warrants, started soon after noon and were not completed until early evening. All of the …

“How’s that cliff that fell away? I ask this train employee. I’m at the Santa Fe Depot, about to board the Coaster for Solana Beach. Feeling a touch queasy after reading about the piece of …

The results are in: San Diego is a remote work city. How do I know? Kate Lister told me so. She’s a renowned tracker of how we work, and how many of us work without …

A little bit east of Eden When I was living in Los Angeles years ago, a door-to-door solicitor pitching San Diego vacations and tours showed me a brochure of local attractions. Included on the list …

This is for you, Michael It’s Saturday night at the Comedy Palace, Kearny Mesa. “You’ve got it easy.” “Oh. Do you mean the wheelchair, or the diaper?” The audience laughs. They’re tuned in to what’s …

Aggressive stingrays The morning beach looks pristine and empty, except for the white teeth of the waves, like David Hockney’s A Bigger Splash. But something has changed. Ah, yes. At the lifeguard tower, the purple …

“Whew,” says Dan Laster. He flops into a chair at the Cafe Madrid in Coronado. “Been walking?” I ask. “Riding. Bike riding.” “Around the island?” “From Canada.” “Riding a bike from...Canada? How long did that …

You could call John Drehner a Luddite, a technophobe, or just a grumpy old man. Except he’s not grumpy. Ask him to imitate anyone from Bogart to Reagan to Trump. The guy has them nailed. …

It is 4:30 on a Thursday afternoon. Sun’s rays climb slowly up the beautiful urban forest of downtown El Cajon’s 30-foot pine trees. I meander down East Main, really because I like to see the …

Mary C. was in a bit of a hurry. She parked curbside and hurried in. Next morning she came out and found a used Social Security envelope under her driver’s side windshield wiper. Somebody had …

You might say Cayla Croft comes from an accident-prone family. “My uncle broke every bone in his body, some several times over,” she says. “His name was Evel Knievel.” Knievel was the most famous stunt …

From Toro Peak to Fonts Point, barely Their plan was to start at Toro Peak, in the Santa Rosa Mountains just north of Borrego Springs, hike along the mountainous spine over Rabbit Peak and Villager …

“It’s coming! It’s coming!” The guys by the recording equipment hunch over on the platform. “You ready? Take off your hats, everybody!” “Don’t stand too close!” You can see the twin headlights blinking oddly as …

Alexander Dafnis is up a tree. “This way?” he shouts down. “No. Now it’s tilting more,” says Alejandra, the gal looking up from the wood-decked courtyard. The camphor tree, originally from China, provides dappled shade, …

Thursday night. Latin jazz jam. Border X. He’s doing flights of fancy on his alto sax. Variations on “La Malanga.” “That’s the guy running for president,” says my friend. “Another sax-playing president!” Oh yes. Bill …

“Gotta be nice now,” says Rooster. “This guy’s about to donate $5 to the cause. Me.” He’s kidding, of course. Can’t gamble on games in bars like this. We’re in the Sportsman’s Pub, Lemon Grove, …

Butt out, Clairemont, says Linda Vista "I have a lot of respect for the Clairemont planning group and the other planning groups — they're citizens like us who are investing in their community," said Howard …