PhotosIn 2014, Reader beer writer Brandon Hernández visited Mexicali, and wrote: “Our driver, whose humor was as dry as the Baja desert, jestingly told us he was taking us to ‘Hell.’” Brandon suffered temperatures of …
August 30, 2023
Matthew Suárez is a writer, musician and photographer who worked in Los Angeles as paparazzo for Bauer-Griffin and National Photo Group (2007-2011). His celebrity pictures appeared in newspapers and magazines all over the world. For the Reader he covers music, food, border and Baja stories. He also writes in his own blog, Matingas.com. As a musician he holds a BA in classical guitar under the tutelage of O. Nicholas Raths from Saint John's University. He is also the creator of Tijuana Adventure, private tours in TJ.
Articles by Matthew Suárez
Mexicali hot as hell, but beer is worth it
Ensenada inspiration: searching for a song with Soupy Garbage Juice
I had taken Derek to Mariscos el Güero on a Sunday morning. It is one of my favorite seafood street carts in Ensenada. We had both gotten the special tostada “La Güerita” for 135 pesos …
August 2, 2023
Toros de Tijuana béisbol game: banda music, psychedelics, and Marco “el Raton” Astorga complete the night
Except for the World Series, I never cared much for baseball besides the World Series. That is, until September 15, 2016, when I discovered béisbol in Tijuana. I was with writer Justin O’Connell, Tijuana pseudo-celebrity …
June 21, 2023
Tijuana tour guide takes us to all the fish places he can find
I’ve been doing tours in Tijuana for more than 11 years. I remember my first client well. Back then, I announced my tours on Craigslist. Back then, my tours and Tijuana were much different than …
June 7, 2023
I work the taco truck of Anthony Bourdain's TJ guide
“I’m doing this guerrilla-style!” shouts Antonio Ley, also known as El Tony Tee, as I approach his taco truck. “We got kicked out because of the stupid bike lane last week, and I have to …
March 1, 2023
Tijuana's high-rises soar – and so do the rents
I moved into my first apartment in Tijuana in March of 2012. It was a nice one-bedroom place on the top floor of a three-story building in Colonia Cacho. It came unfurnished, except for a …
November 16, 2022
The Sentri pass, crossing at Otay, the annoying seagulls
In Tijuana, you ride the rollercoaster that is the city and then you wait in line to leave. The journey out of one of the most chaotic cities in the world culminates in an equally …
August 3, 2022
Matthew Suarez combs Ensenada for best seafood carts and breweries
“I always say that Mexicali is hell, Tijuana is purgatory, and Ensenada... well, Ensenada is paradise!” says Jesús “El Chino” Hernández, who runs Trophy Tacos, an experimental seafood tacos cart in a corner of Colonia …
February 16, 2022
New breweries make Tijuana unrecognizable from 10 years ago
Baja’s beer scene has grown exponentially since I first wrote about it for the Reader six years ago, and I’ve been obsessing over it ever since. Back in October of this year, at the most …
December 22, 2021