You are more likely to be murdered by someone you know than by someone you don’t. The latest FBI statistics show that fewer than 10% of the 20,000 people who were murdered in the United …

There’s a hilltop house in Cardiff, at 959 Cornish Drive, that is not like the others in the tony seaside neighborhood. The house itself resembles a giant box, light yellow in color, with the front …

I’ve been going to the San Diego County fair for decades, and in that time, I’ve seen so many things. But one of my standout memories remains the time I was walking through the hobby …

Frank. Frank the Tank. Frank. The. Tank.Frank is the Tank — well, sometimes… Let me explain.Frank — and we’re not going to use his last name here, in order to, as they say, “protect the …

Re-Animated Records, in the heart of La Mesa’s bustling downtown “village,” is a monster of a record store — in more ways than one. It’s named after the Lovecraftian horror comedy Re-Animator, which is about …

The famed Flower Fields of Carlsbad are among the few local attractions that have actually gotten better with time. The zoo? Natural-habitat-mania has put many of the animals out of sight. Sea World? Overrun with …

All my life I’ve been infatuated with piers, maybe because it’s the closest you can get to walking on water.Photograph by Matthew SuarezOne of my fondest early memories is fishing with my dad from the …

Antique stores and malls are fast becoming antiques themselves. The famed “Antique Row” along Adams Avenue in Normal Heights, which at its peak numbered 25 stores — and gave the stalwart Antique Row Cafe its …

He brought punk rock to San Diego The patrons heading into the Spirit club shortly before nine on a recent Saturday night might have thought it peculiar that a large, paint-splattered wooden stepladder would be …

The oldest hotel murder in San Diego is believed to be that of Roger Whitaker, a gambler who was shot to death in room 309 of the historic Horton Grand Hotel which now stands at …

This lowly but common part of every city’s infrastructure, as the National Association of City Transportation Officials so eloquently states on its website, plays “a vital role in city life. As conduits for pedestrian movement …

On May 11, the Federal Department of Health and Human Services will end the Covid public health emergency. But the bureaucratic behemoth is a slow-footed beast; John Q. Public knows the pandemic ended some time …

Jeff Schafer is a 61-year-old engineer at Viasat in Carlsbad. He is married with two sons, ages 24 and 27. He estimates that over the last ten years, he’s attended over 100 concerts, featuring such …

Kevin Williams is a popular musician, based out of North San Diego County, who has played in local clubs and bars for more than 20 years. His son Reagan Williams is a musician as well, …

It was December 24, 2013, Christmas Eve, shortly after midnight. Ilona Flint was excited. She was just finishing up a long shift at the Cathy Jean shoe store in the Mission Valley mall. As soon …

Buckle Up Slide into the passenger seat and buckle up: we’re about to take a driving tour down a decidedly rocky road. Yes, California’s second-largest city will always take a backseat to Los Angeles, which …

One day in late March, I got a call from Louise Wyatt. I had just interviewed her for a story on how genetic genealogy had enabled detectives to solve the murder of her daughter Michelle, …

Murphy is an eleven-year-old, second-generation golden doodle, jet black, whom my wife and I nicknamed Velcro because he sticks to our sides. Every the morning he rubs up against my wife or me, whoever gets …

Forty years ago, in March 1982, I wrote a Reader cover story about the brutal rape and murder of a 20-year-old college student named Michelle Wyatt in her Santee condominium. Part of that story concerned …

Herb Klein — the perfect man for Helen Copley Gerald Warren, unlike Neil Morgan, is not on the list of close friends Klein named in the preface to his book, and there has been much …

Welcome to Mission Beach, where time has stood still — sort of. Unlike Downtown, Old Town, Little Italy, and North Park, Mission Beach hasn’t been made over or “reinvented.” Drive down Mission Boulevard, which bisects …

We’re all lawbreakers. Each of us. Every one of us. Ever go over the speed limit on the freeway? Then you broke the law. Walk your dog on the Oceanside Pier, or let your puppy …

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 …

The Marina District is one of San Diego’s more prestigious addresses. Once consisting mostly of warehouses and vacant lots, the 343-acre area on the west side of Downtown is now a cluster of apartments, high-rise …

A Living Cloud The next morning, I am greeted by my media escort, Penny. This is a fascinating new feature of my life — escorts. They pick you up, drive you around, provide snacks, meals, …

Michael Vilkin owned a huge vacant lot in Olivenhain, right next to a house John Upton was renting. On the morning of March 28, 2013, Vilkin drove up to the 2.6-acre lot on Lone Jack …

Mac “The Communists in San Diego had a little cell that was trying to take over the Journal. A general called me up one day; ‘Do you realize you have three Communists in your editorial …

The Lost Roads of San Diego In 1944, the land between Midway Drive and Sports Arena Boulevard (then Frontier Street) became combed with the short streets of a wartime housing project. After the war, transients …

Roommates from Hell I walked outside to the storage door. I pushed on the door and opened it. I saw the rope around John’s neck and John’s face looking at me. I screamed and ran …

Back in 1897, Mayor Samuel Black of Columbus, Ohio, vowed to crack down on a new menace that appeared to be taking over his city’s streets: bicycles. He called reckless bicyclists “evil” and blasted “scorchers,” …

At the time of his disappearance six years ago, Skylar Gregory Peterson Tosic was employed by the county of San Diego as a caregiver for his mother’s fiancé, a popular Escondido musician known as Ukulele …

Notes from Underground Most of the paper's staff lived in the Door commune in a Victorian House on Albatross Street that rented for $295 a month. In late 1973 they were asked to move by …

Best Friend to Joshua Trees Is there anything to be done about the plight of the Joshua tree? While state and federal agencies dither over whether the imperiled desert dweller deserves endangered species protections, one …

Dear Dick: The San Diego Union, Evening Tribune, and Nixon: A Romance in Letters Nixon to Copley: “The ride down and back in your spic-and-span new plane, the superb dinner which you hosted jointly with …

We’ve all heard about how home prices in San Diego have never been higher, and that demand is so great that homes for sale typically get multiple bids and wind up selling for more than …

The house at 2719 Chestnut Avenue in northeast Carlsbad sits on a tract of land once used for tomato farming. The tract is a neat, well-kept neighborhood that is home to a mix of young …

It’s just after noon on a Thursday at Escondido’s TJ Tacos. The place is surprisingly uncrowded, with only about six people in line for the taco stand’s signature adobada tacos, a spicy blend of marinated …

Karina Martinez is 32 and a native of Oceanside. She was born and raised in the Los Arbolitos neighborhood, just west of where El Camino Real meets Mission Avenue. She has four children, who are …

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 …

The Deadly View from Sunset Cliffs “We used to average about a hundred calls a year,” he says, “but in 1986 it was down to sixty-nine, and in 1987, there were only forty-three.” These figures …

The Evil I Do Not Intend Dravecky raised some eyebrows that month when he appeared with Eric Show and Mark Thurmond at a John Birch Society booth at the Del Mar Fair. Back home in …

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. …

Nicholas Friesen is a 38-year-old native San Diegan – he grew up in Southeast – who has been working in used record stores all his life. “I’ve got this 10,000-hour thing going for me,” he …

What Happened? A Pioneer Family's TragedyWhile Beatrice and Eric were talking about packing up and going home, the phone rang. It was Dan Bridge, his father’s old friend and a childhood friend of Walter Harper. …

When Dick Nixon Came to Town San Diego entrepreneur Arnholt Smith, one of Nixon’s earliest supporters, remembered a melancholy evening in the early ’60s when Nixon was holding a meeting and asked him to get …

It was a showdown like no other. The battle over whether aggressively to enforce the state’s ban on outdoor dining was the biggest brouhaha to hit Carlsbad in five years. Impassioned pleas and stern rebukes; …

UCSD, Big Money, and the Ball Club When Gray Davis appointed Padres owner John Moores to the Board of Regents of the University of California, Dynes said, “I’m really looking forward to working with him…I’m …

The zoo I remember is the zoo that I miss. When I was a kid, my mom used to take me to the zoo every Saturday, after German school at the nearby Grace Lutheran church …

It’s a sweltering Saturday in August, oven hot, and I should be at the beach. Instead, I’m waiting in line to be allowed into Beat Box Records, a cool little used record store on Logan …

Trump is a racist, his critics charge. He’s a clown. He’s a narcissist, a blowhard, an asshole. He’s despicable, deplorable, and so (as Hillary Clinton said four years ago) are his supporters. “I’d rather vote …