Recently, several stacks of concrete railroad ties appeared in Leucadia, at the north end of Coast Highway 101 at Avocado Street. The ties are the same industrial style as the ones used by the North …

The American Pickers, Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, are coming to California, possibly San Diego, to film new episodes for their hit TV show for the History Channel. But unlike the previous eight seasons, the …

A longtime coastal farm has been sold, following the announcement that Caltrans has closed escrow on 21 acres needed for a freeway interchange on I-5. The farm, north of the San Elijo Lagoon, butts up …

In 1965, Frank and June Nuttall were camping throughout the desert Southwest with their kids in a tent trailer when they decided to travel west from Arizona on old U.S. Highway 80. After heading up …

In the shopping center at the northwest corner of I-5 and Encinitas Boulevard, Smart and Final vacated two years ago, and earlier this year, so did Petco. Both stores moved to larger space just east …

Residents of Encinitas, Del Mar, and Solana Beach may soon see a different name on the side of their fire trucks. The combined department’s name change is part of a management agreement reached a few …

During the past decade, the Camino Town & Country shopping center — at El Camino Real at Highway 78 in Oceanside, one of the busiest intersections in North County — has become dilapidated, with vacant …

Encinitas’ AAA tow-truck operation, Leucadia Towing, is losing its tow yard at the closed Pacific View Elementary School, which will soon become a city-owned arts center. The City of Encinitas has a fairly unused storage …

After floundering for years, what some locals referred to as Carlsbad's version of the Psycho horror film series' Bates Motel, the city’s last Old Highway 101 motor court–type motel has a new life. As reported …

An Escondido gas station’s price drop yesterday (January 28) means San Diego motorists can join the rest of the country in buying gas under two dollars a gallon. On January 28, at 7:00 p.m., the …

Last week, chain-link construction fencing covered with green shade cloth was placed around the Armenian Café and the two-story Surf Motel on Carlsbad Village Drive. Both are scheduled to be demolished. When he signed his …

While a restaurant remodel in Cardiff by the Sea was recently underway, residents witnessed a long-forgotten commercial artifact. Built in 1958, Cardiff’s first shopping center housed its anchor convenience store named Speedee Mart. The Southern …

Delaware North, the food and beverage concessionaire at both Qualcomm Stadium and Petco Park, is making waves again in California, in what is described as a loss of Yosemite National Park’s history. On January 14, …

When the Fresh & Easy grocery store on the corner of Cañon Street and Catalina Boulevard closed just before the holidays, the desirable storefront attracted the attention of other corporate retailers looking to expand into …

A little peace was made on January 12 at the Pacific Beach McDonald’s. Nate Nicholson was protesting the way this McDonald’s location treats the area’s homeless, including him, even if they are paying customers. He …

Felix the Fire Cat arrived at the San Diego Convention Center at 5:30 p.m. on January 11. When the doors opened early the next morning, he was #2 in line for the San Diego auditions …

What do you get when you cross one million snowbirds and desert rats, and add blocks of swap-meet junk? You get Quartzsite, AZ, in January. Starting in the fall, tens of thousands of bargain hunters …

Have you ever wanted to be a deckhand and sail on one of the old tall ships wharfed at the Embarcadero? Hoist rigs, shiver me timbers, and yell “Land ho!” from a crow’s nest? The …

Most coastal North County residents probably don’t know a piece of World War II history rests on a hilltop in Leucadia. But the residents of the Skyloft condominiums, east of I-5, do. A question to …

Repairs to the riprap rock protecting part of Cardiff State Beach’s parking lot came just in time. The project quickly went from planned maintenance to an emergency repair. After applying for California Coastal Commission permits, …

As the Reader reported on December 14, gas prices in San Diego County reached a five-month low — $2.31/gallon at an Escondido station. But prices are turning upward. At around 3:00 p.m. on December 17, …

Before first light, in the early-morning low-40s temperature, over 200 fishermen hit the opening day of trout season at Escondido’s Lake Wohlford. The December 12 opener was preceded a few days earlier with a 6000-pound …

“Now serving Pacific on Tap” was the slogan of the day December 14, when the San Diego County Water Authority announced the full operation of the largest desalination plant in the Western hemisphere. In actuality, …

As of 5:00 p.m. on December 12, the U.S. Gas station at 445 West 5th Avenue, at the corner of Centre City Parkway in Escondido, sold the lowest-priced regular gas in San Diego County. In …

Pacific Beach resident Nate Nicholson is ticked at McDonald’s. On December 10, he was protesting out in front of the restaurant at 1121 Garnet Avenue, to the honking approval of several passersby. After returning to …

On December 3, San Diego residents Jerry Black, along with his passenger Larry Gallego, crashed in Black’s Piper Mirage airplane into a field at Mammoth Yosemite Airport (seven miles from Mammoth Lakes). According to police …

Since June 2014, fishing-boat captain Joe Cacciola has been fighting to keep his charter sportfishing boat’s slip at the Oceanside Harbor. And since this September, he wondered each day if U.S. Marshals would show up …

Encinitas firefighter Bob Voorhees, a downtown Encinitas resident for many decades, recently took it upon himself to track down and save a piece of old Highway 101 architecture. Last month, Voorhees and several other residents …

One of Cardiff-by-the-Sea’s last farms has been sold. The four-acre former Fugimoto flower farm at the corner of Lake Drive and Birmingham Drive has sat vacant for years, since Morizo Fugimoto retired. The Fugimoto family …

It may have been 12 years in the making, but U.S. Army corporal Armando Diaz Ramos, killed in service during the Vietnam era, received a hero’s recognition on Veteran’s Day, November 11. “Mando” was not …

On November 8, 1965, TV star Dorothy Kilgallen was found dead in her five-story Manhattan brownstone. Conspiracy theorists have claimed over the years she was killed because she knew too much about President Kennedy’s assassination. …

There’s no excuse in California for low-income families not having a phone, as visitors to San Diego County’s Health and Human Services Agency offices on Union Plaza Court in Oceanside can attest. Monday through Friday, …

For the third time this year, another Coast Highway 101 building in Encinitas’ downtown is scheduled for demolition. Encinitas Smog, at 682 South Coast Highway, has lost its long-term lease, says owner Alex Stanton. He …

For the second time in as many weeks in Cardiff by the Sea, well-armed U.S. Marshals in unmarked vehicles pulled over and arrested a male driver. Both times the arrests occurred in front of San …

Last week’s homecoming was a big one at San Dieguito High School Academy. At the end of the accelerated first semester, the student body enjoyed homecoming activities and dress-up spirit days. Elsewhere on the 79-year-old …

Cardiff by the Sea’s “unwelcomed wall of ugly” has almost come down. Earlier in February, the North County Transit District suddenly placed 54 orange construction barricades along San Elijo Avenue, overlooking Coast Highway 101 and …

Opening its second annual five-week-long Bing Crosby season, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club on October 29 welcomed over 6000 fans — nowhere near the summer crowds of the regular meet, but lower attendance was reputedly …

With large “Store Closing” banners draped across the front of the La Costa Haggen Food and Drug, advertising 10 to 30 percent off, the much storied four-month expansion to bankruptcy of the Washington based-chain may …

What’s going on with Carlsbad’s Plaza Camino Real…er…Westfield Carlsbad shopping center? Last year’s name change hasn’t seemed to help. Recently, rumors have been flying around the mall’s remaining merchants and their customers. In 2013, Westfield …

Motorists driving the curvy, two-lane Highway 76 from Bonsall to I-15, with 20,000 fellow travelers per day, will soon see a light at the end of a traffic-nightmare tunnel. The old road, built in the …

Steve Amster is fighting Encinitas city hall again. In his 30 years as owner of Garden State Bagels, he has won, and lost, several battles over sign ordinances and sheriff’s department traffic enforcement. This time …

The Buena Vista Audubon Society announced this week that they have reached their fundraising goal of $1.5 million to purchase a 3.5-acre parcel on the west side of Coast Highway, on the border of Oceanside …

Arnette Eyewear, a high-end sunglasses brand popular with surfers, skaters, and skiers, quietly closed down their Encinitas world headquarters last week. The building at 444 South Coast Highway, which also served as a sales and …

Nine months after announcing the biggest move into the Southern California grocery business, Washington-based Haggen Foods is giving up, leaving 127 California, Nevada, and Arizona stores vacant and laying off thousands of workers. The closures …

Are rising post-recession real estate prices starting to crack? Yes, for high-end properties, says inland North County realtor Suzan Isber. “Three weeks ago we started noticing sellers of million-dollar-plus properties not getting their asking price. …

After 18 years of playing Texas hold ’em poker in area casinos, David Scheunemann of Oceanside recently won the biggest pot of his life. Scheunemann placed fifth in the World Poker Tour Foundation’s three-day tournament …

It’s been four months since a small strip of beach in Cardiff by the Sea became federally protected nesting grounds for the western snowy plover. The endangered birds had settled on the beachside of Coast …

Water users in Rainbow and Bonsall finally feel like they’ve defeated a Goliath. A yearlong battle has ended, thwarting a takeover by the Fallbrook Public Utility District of the mostly agricultural Rainbow Municipal Water District. …

Around 40 kids, teenagers, and parents showed up to the Del Mar Fairgrounds parking lot on September 12 to participate in “Surf the Pavement – A Resurrection of Style.” The event was held to celebrate …

On Saturday, September 19, former touring pro surfer Damien Hobgood will be joining hundreds of surfers at Mission Beach in the Hundred Wave Challenge, where participants ride 100 waves over a 12-hour period. Similar to …