A bump on the head could kill Chris O'Rourke Here at Windansea Beach in La Jolla, surfers prefer the Vespa motor scooter for solo transportation. This is a low, fat motorcycle that you'd be crazy …
June 17, 2023
Back to profile
Stories by Steve Sorensen
< Newer
| Older stories >
Best surfer to come from Windansea in years
Who's behind Encinitas' Swami's?
Inside the Self-Realization Fellowship The temple sits on the bluffs at the southern edge of Encinitas, perched beside the ocean and the community like a kind of 25-acre transplant from India, uprooted halfway around the …
June 10, 2023
Overnight at San Diego's Full Gospel Rescue Mission
Scalding shower, green nightgown, beans and rye cocktail bread, and an offer from older man to "keep him company" I know I was supposed to stay overnight at the City Rescue Mission on Saturday. An …
June 5, 2023
In-Ko-Pah’s Desert View Tower, the edge of nowhere
Party at the snakes' place The joke is that nobody is from here, because we are on the edge of nowhere, but, sure as snake’s teeth, the right kind of folks will settle just about …
April 10, 2023
The last of Highway 101's eucalyptus grove
Leucadia funk-removal machine to start up soon Leucadians rallied against the issues of the day on Coast Highway, a proposed 7-Eleven, a drive-thru Jack in the Box, and the terminus of proposed Highway 680 — …
January 16, 2023
Hallucinogen provides key to rock art at La Rumorosa
Editor: The following feature stories appeared in the interior pages of the Reader in the 1970s and 1980s and have just been converted to digital form. The Kumeyaay rock art at Hakwin Hakwin is an …
October 1, 2022
Surf legend Mike Doyle steals board design from Encinitas
Mike Doyle Bud Browne asked him to be the star of the movie he was filming that winter, of course Mike agreed, and later, when it was shown in civic auditoriums back in California, Mike …
July 24, 2022
Inside Child Protective Services
Sometimes Child Protective Services works “When I got back to Stepping Stones from Vista Hill, I decided, ‘Okay, this is it.’ All the people there were the only friends I had. I got in drug …
July 11, 2022
I hike the San Diego River from its source
River run The river twists and winds even more. I’m trying to go south by heading east, then west. There are places where walking down the river is the only way to go — on …
July 9, 2022
Devil's Peak – a mysterious Baja mountain
The Devil's Peak Other climbers, some of them my mentors, told me about a mysterious mountain in Baja California that had acquired a reputation much larger than its actual size. The mountain was barely over …
July 4, 2022
Bitten by rattler deep in Baja mountains
Snakebite Bob recalls, “I was getting pretty good mouthfuls of blood for a while, then everything seemed to coagulate.” Less than three minutes had elapsed since the time of the bite. He substituted the waist …
June 19, 2022
Sure, I'll take a violin from San Diego to Poland
The Warsaw connection Suddenly a man about his age stepped from the shadows, introduced himself as Stashik, and took from him the centuries-old Italian violin. At this point, John Ratajkowski might have stepped back an …
June 6, 2022
The city-owned land east of La Jolla disappears
How San Diego lost its pueblo land Most of the 2000-odd acres proposed for sale in 1963 would go to Irvin Kahn’s University City Corporation. Kahn had holdings all over the city’s north, but they …
May 29, 2022
San Diego reporters become PR agents
Twist and Shout There are a lot of reasons for reporters to take up public relations. The prospect of making more money is one. A good journeyman at the Union or the Tribune these days …
May 9, 2022
Wahrenbrock's Book House, Chino's vegetables
A Long Shelf Life Valverde unburdens a perspiring white-haired man loaded from waist to double chin with titles about World War II. He says to Valverde, I'm just kinda reminiscing about my war.” Waiting in …
February 12, 2022
Jamul townies vs. Indians, Santa Ysabel honors Steve Ponchetti
Jamul Residents Wage Indian Blood Battle over Gaming Site Back in 1963, Shipek says, the Jamul band asked her to assist them in establishing their California Indian ancestry. “I took oral histories from some of …
January 8, 2022
Bombs emerge in Carrizo Impact Area, the happy little town of Bombay Beach
Risky Wasteland Because the ordnance littering the Carrizo Impact Area was dropped from planes, a lot of it imbedded itself in the sand as far as 30 feet down. Over the years, the earth has …
December 25, 2021
San Diego Hell's Angels, truck kills bicyclist near Pringle and Kettner
Where the Bikes Are I noticed one guy playing pool using a broom as a cue. He looked as if he might have been an extra in a movie with a title like Chainsaw Rapists …
December 12, 2021
Luis Urrea daydreams of San Diego, Oklahoma girl spends summers on Bonair Street
Homeboy on the RangeAfter school, 1965: Spring. Wearing my idiotic St. Jude’s Academy uniform. My bright red sweater calling vatos and homeboys from miles around to come kick my ass. I had a crew cut …
December 4, 2021
Stuck on Russian ship in Ensenada, in Baja for the eclipse
Ship of Fools “She poured wine for all of us. I picked up a glass and raised it in a toast and said, ‘Nostrovia ... Gorbachev... Nostro-via.’ The place erupted. The damn first engineer comes …
November 28, 2021
Mike Doyle, Rusty Preisendorfer, Skip Frye, Chris O'Rourke
Wave Gangsters Socially, Van Artsdalen became a marked man. His reputation as a brawler traveled beyond the predominantly white population of La Jolla to tougher neighborhoods. Butch had already proved himself among the few black …
November 14, 2021
The hated game warden, the essential weatherman
We’re the New Wardens "A gray fox is a small animal, so usually the trap breaks their leg bones, and the only thing holding them in the trap is the skin that gets pinched between …
November 7, 2021
The 1930s Depression in letters from San Diego, early hunting in Mission Valley
Depression Letters “He had been working since May at Balboa Park, cutting wood, gardening, cleaning up ravines, canyons, etc. When he was put on the Federal work card, a foreman's name was on the card. …
October 11, 2021
Sole survivor of fishing accident, the bitch of being 5'5", tried Morningstar for my schizophrenia
Nightmare of the New Hope A little cry of relief burst from him, lost in the shriek of the wind. His hands scrambled, searching for the inflate cord. The sea bounced him. Spray lashed the …
October 2, 2021
Steve Soderberg, Mike Doyle, Rusty Preisendorfer, Tom Morey
Of Wave and Camera Shaun Tomson, Larry Bertlemann, Terry Fitzgerald. Gerry Lopez, and Donald Takayama are special because of their boundless optimism, a character trait he feels is infectious. “Good surfers are the most positive …
August 9, 2021
Kate Sessions' tree man, C. Arnholt Smith's repairman
Beneath the Bunya Bunya They lived on the ranch [Scripps Ranch] for six years. He supervised teams of men in planting thousands of eucalyptuses, all together about forty percent of those that were set out …
August 8, 2021
Sky diving above Otay Mesa, roller blading at Civic Center garage
Just Flop The camaraderie among skateboarders goes beyond advanced skaters tolerating beginners and into the realm of solidarity. “Totally,” he said, “because there’s an us-against-the-world feeling. It’s the last kind of rebel-spirited outlaw activity that …
July 31, 2021
Dune buggies, the Marshal South hermit family, the human race at its worst
Are Off-Roaders Destroying Anza-Borrego? "A green-sticker dune buggy decides to drive in past the closure sign and fiddle around. There’s a camper back in there, and they have a verbal duel. The camper takes down …
July 25, 2021
El Centro gangs, Holtville High football, 115 in the afternoon at Calipatria prison
Out Here in the Middle of Nowhere “Before, gangs were racially segregated, so you had the Mexicans, the blacks, the Aryan Brotherhood, and so on. Now, the Bloods and all are recruiting across the racial …
July 19, 2021
San Diego's highway landscaping, how to beat avocado thieves
Ground Cover One of the Brazilian peppers, a 20-foot umbrella of lacy foliage, blocks an exit sign for Genesee Avenue. “Look at that sign. Kind of hard to see what it says, isn’t it? You’ve …
July 18, 2021
Reader writers get up very close to San Diego's homeless
Blood Brothers It wasn’t long before the owner of the radiator shop discovered that Rat had been sleeping in the van. But when the man saw Rat’s beat-up face and how sick he was, he …
June 27, 2021
Poverty in the unemployment line and the trailer park, tricked by San Diego panhandlers
The Skin of Their Teeth Where are the best food bargains in downtown San Diego? Five-pound packages of nonfat milk powder can be purchased at the S and F store located at 15th and G …
June 13, 2021
Mountain lions move toward San Diego suburbs, Borrego's wild horses are not mustangs
Return of the Mountain Lion In October 1983, a lion killed a domestic goat at a ranch near Julian; in November 1983, a dead lion cub was found on the road near Santa Ysabel. In …
June 12, 2021
Encinitas bolshevik beach bum, the demise of O.B. Spaceman, Bill Gookin
The Man Who Broke the Rules He worked for several months at a bakery injecting jelly into the jelly donuts. The job paid minimum wage, but it had great benefits: he could eat all the …
May 23, 2021
Been to Guatay, Buckman Springs, La Posta, Live Oak Springs, Boulevard, Bankhead Springs?
Dots on the Map Bankhead Springs is wholly owned by Helen, an 87-year-old woman who purchased it m 1939 with her husband Alvan. (The place is named after Senator John Hollis Bankhead of Arizona, who …
May 16, 2021
Beat Farmers, Norteno, Psychotic Waltz, Altamont with Lester Bangs
Birth of the Beat Farmers “Somewhere along in there, Herrera became partners with Jim Pagni, who brought in a lot of concerts in those days, and the Palace changed its name to JJ’s. Glory ended …
May 3, 2021
Wholesome and off-beat homeschooling, Helix High football, Mission Bay High reunion
The Only Kid at Whitebread Central Who Listened to Danzig Many people have asked me why I’m not in school, and when I explain that I am on home study, they want to know why. …
May 1, 2021
KKK's John Metzger up close, that Escondido sperm bank, ex-cop mercy-kills wife
White On White John put San Diego in the national news. During a taping of Geraldo Rivera’s talk show in New York, Metzger called Roy Innis, chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality, an “Uncle …
April 24, 2021
Eucalyptus transformed San Diego landscape, oleander sends me over the edge
Eucalyptus It Is The eucalyptus tree and its history are not so different from the human influx into the area. Everywhere from El Cajon and La Jolla to Scripps Ranch and South Bay, up to …
April 19, 2021
Crazies at Moonlight Beach, tyrants of San Diego lifeguards, lover of the Mission Beach plunge
The Spectacle at Moonlight Beach Not so many years ago the spectacle at Moonlight Beach was strictly a limited engagement, running approximately from Memorial Day to Labor Day. After that the set was dismantled, the …
April 18, 2021
The glorious old trolley, Pt. Loma begonia gardens, drunk Frozen Chosin vet
The glories of San Diego's trolley system The spacious trolley car carried them up Sixteenth Street and down Broadway, where at Horton Plaza they switched to the line heading up what is now Pacific Highway. …
April 12, 2021