Oceanside's Firewater Saloon feels unwelcome
Who has $50K to fight the ABC?
Ken Leighton 3:30 p.m., Sept. 21
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Stories by Various Authors
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Jason Aldean, Margaritaville Golf, Vista Viking Fest, Bull in a China Shop, Moon Festival
Events September 20-September 26, 2018
Jason Aldean, Margaritaville Golf, Vista Viking Fest, Bull in a China Shop, Moon Festival
Trump supporter calls out Scott Marks
Blackkklansman provided the opportunity
Diss not Donald Trump Just reading the review of the blackkklansman (“BlacKkKlansman,” Movie Reviews). Real classy. Why do you have to diss the president? I think he’s doing a pretty good job. So sad. Mike ...
Well, it's a job
Flower growers, waste managers, controlled burners, comic, old-time waitress, guy who likes bugs
Soil, water, light, and money “If you grow chrysanthemums in your garden, they’ll always bloom in the fall,” he explains. “Here we artificially manipulate them to make them bloom according to our schedule. Our biggest ...
Off the beaten path
Early online chatters, UFO seers, TJ AIDS activists, Makeda Cheatom, women bodybuilders, homeschoolers
Members of the Keyboard Nash and I and some 3000 other people subscribe ($8 per month, $3 per hour) to The WELL, a four-year-old computer conferencing system. Such a system permits an individual to sit ...
The Tannahill Weavers, The Heart of Rock & Roll, Longboard Surfing Contest, 90 Years of San Diego Tiki, FlyCasting Clinic
Events September 13-September 19, 2018
The Tannahill Weavers, The Heart of Rock & Roll, Longboard Surfing Contest, 90 Years of San Diego Tiki, FlyCasting Clinic
At first Fuchida had no regrets about Pearl Harbor
North Park scam and sexual torture of children
Fuchida’s journey I first met Stu Hedley (“Grenades, rockets, bombs, machine gun fire in San Diegans’ ears,” Cover Story, August 29). some time in the early 2000s on/around Pearl Harbor Day when my wife and ...
On San Diego's mind in early 80s
Airport re-location, Lake Murray drying up, Tijuana factories, newspaper reporters becoming flaks
Miscellaneous 9-9-18 8/13-81 airport locating 9-24-81 Hydrilla at Lake Murray* 9-17-81 Maquilas* 5-20-82 reporters become flaks 1-26-84 Calif Conservation Corps 9-4-86 Boy scouts There's trouble down the runway “For the runways alone you need a ...
Unique San Diego people
Lefty Adler, Jerry Herrera, Jack Orr, two Russian emigres, the king of Moonlight Beach
You are looking at a free man “The sea boundary of the Soviet Union in the Far East was known to me. I knew that . . . Japan is far, and North Korea extradites ...
Fun Home, 50 Short Hikes, Greek Festival, Kidpreneur Expo, Murder By Death
Events September 6-September 12, 2018
Fun Home, 50 Short Hikes, Greek Festival, Kidpreneur Expo, Murder By Death
Harmony Grove danger, scooter danger
Letters from concerned readers
Builders’ fire sale Its all about money and property taxes!( “San Diego builds itself into danger”, Neighborhood News, August 24) To continue to build after half of the state of California has burned, do we ...
So Eighties
Long arm of the FBI, plastic surgery, behind scenes at San Diego Rep, San Ysidro as step-child, UCSD artists against art, bizarre churches of San Diego
The long arm of ABSCAM reaches San Diego At 5:15 the morning after his return to San Diego, the phone rang in Gulve’s home. At the other end of the line the emir’s familiar voice ...
Personal stories from 30 years ago
Staying the night at rescue mission, jumping from S.D. tall buildings, crazy friend, marrying for joke, Zen Buddhists, suddenly rich
Gimme shelter: all this for a cot and a meal Someone wrapped a newspaper around one ceiling light fixture to dim the glare. I took a top bunk. Removed my hat and sneakers, otherwise stretched ...
Lost local bands of the 60s/70s - Sandi & the Accents
"San Diego was considered creatively untouchable"
One member would later be mocked on Mystery Science Theater 3000
San Diego disparate but interesting characters
Gary Puckett, Willie Morrow, Father Luis Jaime, Herb Klein, dangerous women
The short career of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap It was the following spring that Puckett and his band reached the pinnacle. “Young Girl,” written by Jerry Fuller, was released in February of 1968 ...
Crime in 1980s San Diego
Bookmaking, porn, murder, car theft
P.S., your car is gone “Our guy finds [another] wrecked Datsun 4X4 in a junkyard, changes over all the numbers from it to the one he found in the canyon. But when he took it ...
Smokefall, the Alarm, Tuna Challenge, full moon night walk, West Coast shell show
Events August 23-August 29, 2018
Thursday | 23 Smokefall Violet is pregnant with twins. They perform a vaudeville routine and ponder their future and their father wants to run away. Was it because he told 16-year-old daughter Beauty he needed ...
Poor taste on Power Surge, wrong about margherita pizza and RBG hagiography
Happy to see tuna observer story, though
Reality gap? When Mr. Joe Deegan approached one of the parents about doing a write-up (“Power Surge San Diego’s impressive girls,” City Lights, August 8) on this team it was with the understanding that it ...
San Diego's ideal jobs
Pawnbroker, assistant vet, travel writer, teacher, home construction consultant, pastry chef
Watches and rings and people and things Pawning, generally, is something other than a lopsided contest between loansharks and the destitute. Most of Smith’s customers, he says ninety percent of them, come back to redeem ...
San Diego characters not to forget
Jack Jocoy, Raquel Martinez, Denise Carabet, Fred Schnaubelt, Ray Huffman, Kile Morgan
Del Mar's horse vet Jack Jocoy has seen it all With that big break — caring for a Derby winner — Jocoy’s career began to soar, other trainers reasoning that if Jocoy took care of ...
OK to point to Southwest as noisemaker
They have 39 percent of San Diego air traffic
An author speaks over the noise In response to the letters regarding my story “Airport Noise - From La Mesa to La Jolla” (Cover Stories, August 1): The FAA and San Diego have the ability ...
Stories you won't read outside of San Diego
Our water sources, Mission Valley flooding, both sides of tuna, who sold our land, sailors on liberty
Not with a flood but with a trickle The city’s per capita consumption of 192 gallons a day in fiscal 1981 is well above the national average of 170. Every day 17 million gallons of ...
Ace Frehley, Idomeneo, Ripcord, Burning Man at USD, Reefer Madness, the Musical
Events August 9-August 15, 2018
Thursday | 9 Ace Frehley Former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley has spent around a decade living in San Diego, where he teamed up with local singer Rachael Gordon (they got a condo together near Balboa ...
Why airport noise complainers have no case
Letters from our readers
Free to move about in noise While I sympathize with residents who have been frustrated dealing with the FAA on this issue, (“Airport Noise - from La Mesa to La Jolla,” Cover Stories, August 1) ...
Mya, Bon Odori Festival, Scootercon, Farm to bottle kombucha, Who was Atticus Finch?
Events August 2-August 8, 2018
Thursday | 2 Mya Mya is an old-fashioned R&B singer in the tradition of the female frontwomen of the Mary Jane Girls and TLC, who also infuses the more contemporary sounds of acts such as ...
Adventures you may be glad you only read about
Blueback sub duty, extreme bicycling, wildfire, smuggling into Poland, smuggling from TJ, mystery of the Gypsy Song
Aboard the Blueback "Our people need to know what the bad guys are going to sound like — if they ever become bad guys .... Excuse me,” Fargo says suddenly. “Chief, do you smell smoke?” ...
Arguments without winners
Writers vs. Padres, Famosa Slough, taxi battles, dialysis yes or no, AIDS research by Salk, Steven Miller and molestation
Foul territory “If I’m talking to some writers and Bloom comes up to listen — end of conversation,’’ says pitcher Rich Gossage. “His name rhymes with gloom,’’ says third baseman Graig Nettles. “His whole life ...
Hunting Charles Manson, Roadkill on the digital highway, Pine Valley parade, Legally Blonde: The Musical, Adam Ant
Events July 26-August 1, 2018
Thursday | 26 Roadkill on the digital highway On May 31, 2017, Bay City Television (XETV channel 6) closed its doors for good. Bay City was the U.S. arm of the world’s only bi-national television ...
Think about these jobs
Undertaker, circus worker, PSA pilot, cafe cook, USDA inspector, forensic dentist, gourmet chef
The Home-going Working with a corpse, he says, doesn’t bother him. But it has never become just another routine. “If it gets that common to you, you should leave it. I treat it as if ...
San Diego characters you should have known
Al Ducheny, Steve Kelly, Larry Himmel, Sam Spital, Stanley Siegel, Ed Miller
Bad blood in Barrio Logan Ducheny is most unpopular with those who run the government-funded agencies, people such as Rachel Ortiz, who directs the Barrio Station youth program; Jess Haro, chairman of the Chicano Federation; ...
Scooter Chronicles, Nerdist House, Jennifer Spencer portraits, Newsies, Ninety Percent Mental
Events July 19-July 25, 2018
Thursday | 19 Scooter Chronicles release party The Scooter Chronicles is set during the local mod revival of the mid-1980s, spinning the tale of how one teen’s quest to buy a Vespa turned into a ...
San Diegans and the transcendent
Satan chasers, Mormons, Unarius, Black Muslims, Easter stories, and those on the verge of heaven
Satan chasers San Diego has many experts in the field of Satanism who say the county is a hotbed of Satanic activity. The hidden canyons of the back country, Ramona, Santee, Escondido, even Oceanside, are ...
What nearness to Baja brings
Sewage, smugglers, clubs on Avenida Revolucion, torture, snakebite, death near Cabo, the beauty of Canon Tajo
Shocking facts and horrifying history of Tijuana sewage In Tijuana maybe 50 percent of the houses have sewer connections. In those that don’t, the residents use outhouses or primitive septic tanks or they relieve themselves ...
Over-the-Line, AH-1 Cobra, Billy Bob Thornton, Comedian Doug Benson
Events July 12-July 18, 2018
Thursday | 12 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. “A comedy tonight.” At least Pseudolus hopes so. He’s a slave at the house of Senex, in ancient Rome.. To win his ...
Shepherd on Kubrick, warning re police commission
Letter writers dig up older stories
Duncan Shepherd flashback Alert the Guinness folks! Duncan Shepherd’s passive-aggressive, backasswards Mr. Mxyzpkik’s — Google it, kids — “praise” (Movie Reviews) for the Stanley Kubrick classic 2001 (which Mr. Shepherd actually awards four stars, while ...
Celso Piña, The Lorax, Drone-Con, Reading of Titus Andronicus, Japanese-Americans in the Gaslamp
Events July 5-July 11, 2018
Thursday | 5 King of Nortena Since 1996, Celso Piña has earned his crown as the king of modern musica norteña, bringing folk sounds into the 21st century with touches of reggae, ska, and hip-hop. ...
Spamalot, The Perfect Pickle, Poway Sportsplex Lacrosse, US Air Guitar Championship, Julian Fourth of July Parade
Events June 28-July 4, 2018
Thursday | 28 Spamalot. Ah, chivalry! When knighthood was in flower! King Arthur, the Round Table, and...what? They pretend to ride horses (while a squire clops coconuts), they sing a song about fish in Finland, ...
Mostly military heroes
Baja emergency, badly wounded in Vietnam, shipwrecked teen, Bataan Death March, Yamamoto's killer, Clairemont's savior
Somewhere Between Death and the Border “I ran over to pick the suitcase up and, yeah, Eddie was laying there, face down in this pool of blood in the sand about a foot across, laying ...
Trade jobs with them?
San Diego occupations worth writing about
Like your road widened, Mister? Roads like Old Highway 80, east of San Diego, were paved with concrete; but after the war, asphalt paving was perfected. Asphalt is cheaper to lay down, which is why ...
San Diego's political animals
Maureen O'Connor, Pete Wilson, Ernie Hahn, Larry Stirling, and SDG&E
The vote is in the mail “Willie Brown is my number-one customer in politics, but I’m a Republican through and through. I’m also a businessman with 45 families to feed, and I think that anyone ...
High drama in the Reader
Rescue near Palomar Mtn., behind the lines in South Africa and Mission Beach, mother killer, gallbladder surgery, and San Diego's toughest cop
The unlikely rescue Shane heard a noise and stopped. It was a voice, unintelligible. Mike stopped too. “Tony!” they called together. They heard an answer and followed it up to where the hunter had come ...
San Diegans who suffer
Men who hit wives, San Quentin inmate, castrated man, military wives
Why men hit their wives "She was following me around the house nagging, shrieking. You could have heard her a mile away. I was going, ‘What do you want from me?’ She stood in front ...
More of most original Reader stories from early 90s
A confab of singles advisors, deepest Africa, and frying eggs on Phoenix sidewalk
Phoenix without apologies The heat is horrible — that’s why we went there, to find out, first hand, why half of Phoenix seems to descend upon San Diego in the summertime. But Phoenicians can cope, ...
How San Diegans use their spare time
Racing pigeons, tasting wine, writing romance novels, carrying concealed guns, dancing to country music
If God didn't love pigeons, He wouldn't have given them wings In the 45 minutes it took to get from Solana Beach to San Diego, he presented an overview of the history of homing pigeons, ...
Editor's picks from early 90s
Iranians on Girard, gonzo tourist, stealing employees, Budd Boetticher in Ramona
Slabs of Persia “We succeed, like the Koreans, because of the indestructible family unit, which makes a certain kind of economic growth possible. Take the carpet shops. Without families they’d disappear. But carpet stores keep ...
Stories you should not have missed
Valedictorians after 20 years, Chicanas, revenge, how New Yorkers see us, an Elvis sighting in Escondido
Valedictorians twenty years later “Probably most people who have kids would say that their ultimate thing would have something to do with their kids. But if you don’t have kids, you really have to think ...
Chinese land in Ensenada, get tossed out
Plus — sketchy trailer park, Mexican gamblers, TJ morgue, lucha libre, what Mexican maids really think
Brief Eden We didn’t see too much of the man in trailer number eight, who was supposed to be a Federale, except for the times when he would step out onto his wooden deck and ...
Colonia Rubi hides unusual artist
Plus tough drug rehab, TJ's Jews, gringos living on Baja beach, The Loud Adios, Mexican bull breeding
Baja's tough-love drug rehab “My best friend’s parents paid $10,000 to send him to a place in Arizona, which he went to for a month. He came back, and the next day he woke up ...
Overstimulated at Comic Con
plus: Where's Wildomar, Putin's Pravda, deformed seagulls, Mi vida loca, more
Overstimulated at Comic In all due respect (“WonderCon ‚“ The way Comic-Con used to be,” Neighborhood News, March 30).... 1) San Diego Comic Con International owns Wondercon. 2) Most conventions these days are going to ...
Secret San Diego arts
Art restoration, stonecutting, gourmet cooking, men's fashion, fireworks, and art realist David Baze
Balboa Park museums do surgery on masterpieces “At this point, I have removed the old discolored varnish and the old inpainting that no longer matched, but there is a residual varnish down within the interstices ...
Jobs more interesting than you thought
San Diego beekeepers, grape growers, ostrich raisers, hotline operators, apartment owners, and hotel union organizer
The cumulative hiss of thousands of wings In some years, when the desert flowers are blooming, Alan Mikolich takes his bees into the Borrego desert. But the heat can be a problem. He sets out ...
