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Stories by Brae Canlen

San Diego's Elvis impersonators

He liked his peanut butter and banana sandwiches grilled in butter. He wouldn't sunbathe without an electric fan blowing directly on his body. He saw the faces of Stalin and Jesus in cloud formations. These …

October 25, 1990
Where did Chula Vista's sea turtles come from?

At the bottom of San Diego Bay, in the shadow of a huge SDG&E power station in Chula Vista, lives a colony of endangered sea turtles. They have been present, more or less, since the …

June 7, 1990
San Diego extraterrestrial sightings heat up

Allan Reta remembers October 14 as a night that was neither warm nor cool. He was standing in the front yard of his San Marcos home, holding his baby daughter in his arms. They had …

February 8, 1990
Chula Vista's Tulie Trejo knows baking contests

I AM SITTING AT TULIE TREJO’S kitchen table, watching her make gingerbread men and thinking about a story I read in the newspaper this morning. It was about a woman who allowed her boyfriend to …

December 23, 1987
Bullets escape San Diego Indoor Range

Perhaps we're overreacting, but the idea of bullets flying through the wall of the San Diego Indoor Range earlier this month disturbed us. After all, someone could have gotten hurt. As it was, only a …

October 1, 1987
Local writer rides Gray Line bus with tourist and makes notes

Rain is not good weather in which to take a bus tour of San Diego. The color of the air changes, and the crisp edges fall off trees, billboards, bodies of water. Windshield wipers sound …

September 10, 1987
Some people dismiss Stanley Tonight as inconsequential drivel

It’s hard to watch the Stanley Tonight show without asking yourself at some point, “Is this guy for real?” Talk-show hosts are odd, as a rule, and Stanley Siegel is the excess to the rule. …

May 28, 1987
Four Mary Kay pink Cadillacs in San Diego

MEN, READ NO FURTHER. THIS STORY CONTAINS THINGS YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND, things you probably don’t care about anyway. The heaviness of face cream has never been a big concern of yours, for example. Coating one’s …

March 12, 1987
Sam Spital – San Diego's successful TV lawyer

Sam Spital. He’s the attorney who advertises on television all the time, the one who asks in all sincerity if you’ve been in an auto accident lately. San Diegans may not be familiar with U.S. …

January 22, 1987
Jeff Ward – the only San Diego member of Mega

When Jeff Ward was seven years old, he could draw a map of the world from memory, correctly filling in the names of all the countries. Now that he’s in his forties, he entertains himself …

February 6, 1986
John Pernicano fights ASCAP over Cole Porter

The following objects in Pernicanos Pizza House arce red: the candles, the booths, the cloth roses, the lamps, the waitresses’ shirts and aprons, the Chianti, and parts of the pizzas. The plastic tablecloths are red-and-white …

December 12, 1985
Faye left me for Scientology

Life has its ugly little secrets, and sometimes it exposes them prematurely, before a pragmatic philosophy gleaned from age can act as insulation. One of these cruel insights: While an emptied spot in a romance …

February 21, 1985

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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