On the morning after one of those record-breaking cold nights this past January, Mike Rasmusson checked on his charges. Rasmusson supervises the Kate O. Sessions Balboa Park Nursery -- the city facility where many of …
May 24, 2007
News & Stories
Balboa Park plantsmen's vision for a green future
Flood, Kearny Mesa
Denomination: associated with the Baptist General Conference Address: services held at Kearny High School, 7651 Wellington Way, Kearny Mesa, 858-268-2330 Founded locally: 2005 (as independent entity) Senior pastor: Matt Hammett Congregation size: 1600 Staff size: …
May 24, 2007
A Late '20s Or Early '30s Model A Ford
The sketch includes features of the "Ford Emergency Car" available or outfitted at Stubbs Motor Company, 1145 India Street. Stubbs became Bay Shore Ford, which became Center City Ford. The dealer moved to Clairemont Mesa …
May 24, 2007
Monks with Sticks
If it weren't for baseball, many kids wouldn't know what a millionaire looked like. -- Phyllis Diller M onths ago, when a friend of mine who lives in L.A. told me she wanted to plan …
May 24, 2007
Clutter-Organizing Service
My college friend Bernice was impressed with my feng shui research and spent the past week trying to rid her home of excess clutter, making way for feng shui. "I am such a packrat," she …
May 24, 2007
Domestic Irritation
Post Title: The Mama Mafia If there's one thing I've learned from the Mafia and the Supernanny, you gotta demand respect. It's the key to effective parenting. So when my three-year-old spit on me, I …
May 24, 2007
The Tiara Chronicles
'I wanted an organized way to document the music I see," says Rosey Bystrak, who chronicles, lists, and discusses all things music and San Diego on her blog, sddialedin.com. "I'm an Internet addict," she says. …
May 24, 2007
The Reader's Eye on Television
If there is an opposite of "hip," I am the embodiment of it. All people have an amount of hipness in them, even if it's the tiniest drop. A staid soccer mom may enjoy the …
May 24, 2007
Art and the Machine
'I didn't see how a program without vision might be able to handle color until about 20 years ago," says Harold Cohen, professor emeritus of visual arts at the University of California, San Diego. Cohen …
May 24, 2007
Ocean Beach
Name: Mike Chious Home: Downtown Vehicle: Custom Dune Buggy Surfing: Ocean Beach From the desert to the beaches, wherever Mike Chious drives his custom dune buggy, a crowd of guys gathers. "My friends are trying …
May 24, 2007
Undercurrents
Awhile back, I wrote a feature about D.J. Sullivan, who has taught acting in San Diego for 40 years. I couldn't let her get away without some thoughts on her favorite topic: subtexts. "You see …
May 24, 2007
Dimitrios Kyranas in Athens, Greece
Flashback Yesterday afternoon I looked at photos of my high school graduation. After going through them, I could not help proceeding to the album's following chapter -- my first days as an undergraduate student. The …
May 24, 2007
Sanders wants his chief operating officer Ronne Froman to investigate Sunroad
Whenever Mayor Jerry Sanders tries to pull a rabbit out of a hat, he comes up with a skunk. Or a rat. The mayor's confession last week that he and his aides erred in letting …
May 24, 2007
Waterman David Ross gets stabbed at 18th and Commercial
David Ross, known as "the Water Man," was doing what he does every day in the ghetto, sometimes twice a day, and that is distributing water, purchased at his own cost, to the homeless -- …
May 24, 2007
How Julie Dubick, got close to Mayor Sanders
Early last summer, as the battle over the Sunroad Enterprises office tower near Montgomery Field was taking shape at city hall, another potentially high-stakes contest was unfolding a few blocks away at the federal courthouse. …
May 24, 2007
Lynn Renee Hijar as San DIego's protocol officer
With Mayor Jerry Sanders mired in all manner of controversy, from Sunroad's office tower to his draconian cutbacks of public services, keeping a "protocol officer" on the payroll might seem superfluous, but apparently somebody's got …
May 24, 2007
Customized
"We ended up making an illegal amount of wine in my garage - something like ten barrels."
May 24, 2007
The Damage Done
"Chris Austin single-handedly tried to wreck my business, vandalized my warehouse, [and] stole over $1500 in band equipment," says promoter Willie Carter (a.k.a. Tuckerson) via e-mail. "He pulled a knife.... He slashed my car. I …
May 24, 2007
White-Boy Reggae Is Over
Tomorrow marks the 11th anniversary of the death of Sublime front man Bradley Nowell. Gadfly singer/guitarist Tommy Dubs says, "People are basically jacking the whole Sublime sound and style, and that sucks." He says Sublime …
May 24, 2007
And Then There Was None
A rumored deal in the making could spell the end for San Diego's last major independent local concert firm. La Mesa--based Viejas Entertainment, which is a division of Viejas Enterprises, currently books Humphrey's Concerts by …
May 24, 2007
Metalheads Open to Slagging
"The fact that some people view us as knuckle-dragging metalheads is unfortunate," says Mower front man Brian Sheerin. While "harder and faster" is the general rule with most rock groups, Mower is heading in the …
May 24, 2007
Jewel Asks Stranger to Kiss Posterior
"Jewel lived in her car, so she should know the rules," said Ashton Kutcher, introducing a new Punk'd segment last month. Jewel's boyfriend Ty Murray sets her up by moving an orange parking cone that …
May 24, 2007
Music Lovers Mar Hendrix Concert
Thirty-eight years ago today, the Jimi Hendrix Experience played one of its final gigs at the Sports Arena. Ticketless fans rushed the doors en masse, resulting in local headlines the next day reading "Police Arrest …
May 24, 2007
Waiting Games
How many lines have you stood in this month? Last month? Last year? What do you do while you're waiting? Think about sex? Hate the people in front of you? Think about sex? Replay a …
May 24, 2007
Lowriders and Lowlifes
Tony turned 40 over a year ago. I was cleaning out my car and found the notes from Tony's party under the seat. I went to my computer and discovered that I still had the …
May 24, 2007
He pulls the bottle from the bag, replaces it, and lowers his head on two upraised thumbs.
Sitting in William Heath Davis Park, diagonally across from the Horton Grand. It is, I imagine, like a patch of old, un-drowned New Orleans here in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter. You can't pass it without …
May 24, 2007
Lumpy Coffee
Yo, Matt: Me and the boys here in Corporate Hell are pondering the Mystery of the Powdered Coffee Creamer. When I sprinkle the sinister powder on top of my hot coffee, it kind of coagulates …
May 24, 2007
Pee-tunias
Hi, Matt: My friend has the unique habit on certain beer-drinking occasions and/or golfing events of urinating in public. He says the trees and the flowers, well...they "like it," that human urine is a "positive" …
May 24, 2007
Grasshoppers and Goats
The grasshoppers lie in a golden pile. Their little barbed legs point every which way. Their torsos look like mini accordions stretched back on one side, their bellies greeny-pale with dark red stripes."You don't want …
May 24, 2007
Bear Flat in the San Gabriel Mountains offers a perch for viewing bighorn sheep.
Barely a mile's walk from the little community of Mount Baldy (at the base of 10,000-foot-high Old Baldy, or Mount San Antonio), you can be sitting on a rock, communing with nature, feet dangling in …
May 24, 2007