Author: Kevin B. Staff Neighborhood: College Area Age: 54 Occupation: Community college instructor (Cuyamaca and Palomar College) A few Saturdays ago I helped with the community ­council’s monthly book sale. It kind of shoots the …

At about 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28, I was driving northbound on SR-125 and noticed a curious sight: traffic on the westbound 94 connector ramp was stopped, with a California Highway Patrol car parked …

On Friday, October 23, I was at the Paradise Point Hotel in the dining area that overlooks the water. A small crowd had gathered on the balcony, so I went outside to satisfy my curiosity. …

On Friday, October 23, Pauly Johnston came back to his campsite to find all his possessions gone. According to an area resident who lives in the apartments overlooking the area where Pauly sleeps, SDG&E hired …

A student reports via e-mail that on Tuesday, October 27, at the vendors’ market on UCSD’s Library Walk, she was browsing the “$2 For Everything” booth when a group of six or seven African-American high …

For the past week and a half, work on the Mission Bay channel entrance has been under way. Visitors and locals have watched a 350-ton crane capacity derrick barge with two support tugs labor at …

The curtain rose at Spreckels Theater and the guys onstage, in suits and ties, got down to the business of folk-rocking out. Monsters of Folk is Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, Jim …

La Mesa Police Lieutenant Carlos Medero says consumption of alcohol in public places is a major distraction for the city's police force. The Lieutenant points to a spike in the number of complaints of drinking …

Seven months of countywide conflicts, calamities, and curiosities, part 2.

On Wednesday, October 27, a shirtless man attacked a green waste container full of palm fronds in the 1100 block of Grove Avenue. An 11-year-old boy walking home from school with his 10-year-old cousin witnessed …

On October 24, the new 442 area-code overlay plan was implemented by the Public Utilities Commission. As a result, all local and long distance calls in the 760 area code will require the use of …

The Mariner's Cove Apartments, a complex located on West Point Loma Boulevard in the Point Loma/Ocean Beach area, lost its newest onsite property manager recently. A new management company took over and has done some …

To relieve the tedium of relaxing on the white or black sand beaches of the Big Island, let me suggest a ski trip. Most people hang their jaws in disbelief when informed there’s not only …

Recipe by Chef Bernard Guillas, executive chef, the Marine Room My grandmother was the root of this madness I would say, this passion for food. I lived with her in Brittany until I was six …

I collect vintage radios, phonographs, and jukeboxes, so I go to O.B.’s antique stores a few times a year. A few weeks ago, in the early afternoon, I went down to Newport Avenue for an …

Never be the first to arrive at a party or the last to go home, and never, ever be both. — David Brown I led David through a labyrinth of suspended fabric and into an …

Matthew: Somebody gave my eight-year-old son an Xbox for his birthday. I am afraid he will become addicted to playing it and that it will harm him and make him just sit around the house …

Fur Greed It was good to read the letter by Vivian Dunbar entitled “Good Dog” (October 22). It certainly made me feel a little better after reading the Reader's October 8 story on the inhumane …

Thirty Years AgoThis year’s KGB Homegrown album may not be rotting on the vine, but from all indications it seems to be turning a little brown around the edges. Only 175 songs were entered in …

Sombrero Peak rises head and shoulders above the southern precincts of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, its summit overlooking a hundred-square-mile expanse of rock-strewn mountains and gorges, sun-baked valleys, and shimmering badlands. Conversely, the peak …

The lights dimmed in the purple quarter-circle church, and Pastor Hitchcock appeared behind the baptismal pool situated high in the back of the Sanctuary. New congregant Catherine, clad in a white robe, stepped down into …

Alexander Dodge’s glitzy set for the Old Globe’s Sammy includes stately, showcase-windowlike structures framed by rows of blinking lights. They feature props for the scene, or people who pose, in Fabio Toblini’s classy period costumes, …

Are you having enough chances to see documentaries? I myself in the past couple of weeks missed my chances at Fuel and The Way We Get By, the latest environmental and Iraq War documentaries respectively. …

Foes of state attorney general Jerry Brown, leading the Democratic pack in the campaign for his old job as governor, have been unearthing radio shows the 71-year-old made during the ’90s, featuring controversial remarks calling …

Local musician and media-relations manager David Moye calls himself an “insensitive singer-songwriter.” Moye, 44, has worked as a reporter and an editor at the WirelessFlash, a San Diego news agency. Moye says that recent coverage …

Said ya can’t dis the homie for free/ If anyone’s gonna talk shit, it’s gonna be me “Somebody suggested that the song might not be such a good idea because I might burn a bridge,” …

Beck, the Strokes, and the Pixies have all played UCSD’s 4700-capacity multipurpose RIMAC arena. The school is looking for a concert promoter to take over RIMAC and run it the way Live Nation handles SDSU’s …

Family Wagon have a new EP they’ll be playing and selling October 31 at Side Bar’s Acoustic Halloween show, while the Robin Henkel Band is bringing in a horn section for the release of Steel …

When Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off his Terminate Violence campaign at an L.A. news conference in March, he was especially proud of the jazzy free shirts handed out to the crowd. “I said that I …

GOP congressman Brian Bilbray used his Twitter feed to tout his mention last week in a USA Today story about a successful bill he’d authored to qualify three-wheeled vehicles for federal research funding, the main …

I saw Shonen Knife sometime around ’94, and I remember this odd feeling that I was playing out a role that had been written for me by hipsters who didn’t really know what they were …

It was close to midnight, and there was an old guy out on the street scrubbing plastic restaurant floor mats. The restaurant was closed. I said hello, we made eye contact, and then he said …

It’s weird that right on the border here, we’re so slow to catch up with the rest of the country on real Mexican cuisine. We’ve got lots of “Mexican” food but hardly any Mexican cuisine, …

Halloween is the ideal holiday because, at least in this country, it isn’t about anything in particular. You have no obligation to be with family or church. No set rituals that have to be observed, …

On a blustery afternoon, just down the road from a Mission Valley lot that’s already advertising Christmas trees, costumed sign bearers point the way to a recently opened Halloween store. Every October “they just pop …

Walking among the Mayan ruins in Tulum, Mexico, gave me a deep feeling of connection with the ancient people who built this city. Architectural history and the stunning beauty of the Caribbean join hands at …

Yearn to climb atop some huge red rocks? Need a bit of psychic guidance or attunement of your aura? Looking to spark your creative instincts? Artists, nature lovers and those with a metaphysical bent flock …

“Where all cars are taxis, and all women are whores.” This raucous response to the frequently posed pre-trip question, “So what does Cuba mean to you?” understandably stood out the most. The “cigars” reply was …

Liverpool's Echo and the Bunnymen present their 11th studio album, The Fountain, which is their fifth since reforming in 1997. In a career spanning 30 years, singer Ian McCulloch states that this one's the bands …

For sophomore set Welcome Joy, I wondered if Seattle trio the Cave Singers’d stick with the electro-folk of 2007’s Invitation Songs. Turns out they need the beeps and warbles like Kojak needs aftershave. Some lady …

The six-piece eclectic folk group the Mumlers’ second full-length album, Don't Throw Me Away, is a blend of multi-instrumental blues, soul, and rock that features glockenspiels, organs, and harmonicas. The organic feel of the Mumlers' …

A few months before the Summer of Love (a long way from San Francisco, though) in a living-room-sized space above Sixth Avenue, Tim Buckley is 8 years, 3 months, and 23 days away from the …

The Canyonview East pool on the UCSD campus is back in operation eight weeks after a steam explosion in the main filter control room. In late August, a heat exchanger failed, allowing pressurized steam to …

On Tuesday, October 20, a budget workshop for the San Diego Unified School District was held in Kearny Mesa. District officials estimated the deficit for the 2010–'11 budget to be $100 million. This does not …

Portland lo-fi folk act Blind Pilot stopped into the Casbah for their third and final San Diego tour date in support of debut full-length 3 Rounds and a Sound. The show was their first in …

People often conjure up images of the 1965 riots when thinking of the Los Angeles neighborhood Watts. Hopefully, after visiting Watts Towers (or “Nuestro Pueblo,” as its creator Simon Rodia originally referred to it), people …

Getting to New York City from the West Coast remains a reasonable flight, even with changes in air travel. Once there, Manhattan offers beautiful fall days in the city. On a recent trip in mid-October, …

Kauai, the oldest of the Hawaiian Islands, is a treasure overlooked by many travelers to Hawaii. It trails Oahu, Maui and the big island as the first choice for most tourists, but it’s a worthy …

Kurt and Tony are friends who travel together for safety. At night they sleep in one of San Diego’s many “cubbyholes,” as the homeless call the spaces behind bushes and buildings. Kurt Wiley said he …

Two-hundred Taxi Libre taxistas descended upon the Servicio Médico Forense (forensic medical service) on Friday, October 23, to give support to the family of a taxi driver murdered while cruising for fares Wednesday afternoon. The …

Several immortal memories remain from my long residency in University City. They are crimes, and they stand out in my mind like landmarks, among them a double murder, a car bomb, an arson, and a …

I love the smell of used books, but at the end of this month I will have to find another place to indulge in my guilty pleasure, as my favorite bookstore in Normal Heights is …

A man pretending to be a shopper robbed the Susie’s Hallmark store on Lake Murray Boulevard in La Mesa at approximately 2 p.m. on Thursday, October 22. The man had entered the gift shop and …

At approximately 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 22, a California Highway Patrol officer traveling on northbound I-5 near SR-163 observed a motorcycle driving at a high rate of speed. The officer was struggling to keep …

The Centre City Development Corporation board unanimously approved a site for an interim leash-free dog park in downtown San Diego during their Wednesday, October 21, meeting. Since June 2, a number of downtown sites were …

Oceanside resident Woodrow Higdon continues his search for additional evidence of police corruption and city council collusion. During the Wednesday, October 21, council meeting, Higdon testified before Oceanside councilmembers and says he was snubbed by …

If you live in Rancho San Diego, you may be curious as to why a fairly large “L” shape of brush was cleared from the southeast corner of open space surrounding Cuyamaca College earlier this …

On Monday, October 19, a gentleman lost five dollars in the Payquick machine at the Arco gas station located at 1817 Euclid Avenue. He went inside to report the defective machine, and both the cashier …

Residents of the Bluffs I condominium complex on Friars Road were recently reminded that coyotes frequently visit the lush compound looking for food. A notice was posted on bulletin boards with the warning to "be …

BALBOA PARK Another Perfect DayBy downtownphotoguy, June 26Today we were in Presidio Park in the morning and Balboa Park in the afternoon. We were shooting with a variety of lenses and techniques…. It seems everybody …

On Wednesday morning, October 21, at Golden Hall in the San Diego Concourse, 590 people were sworn in as U.S. citizens; among them were 17 military servicemen. The ceremony began at 8 a.m. and lasted …

Swedish psych rockers the Soundtrack of our Lives deliver their fifth studio album, and it's no understated affair, with 24 songs spanning two discs. On Communion, the sextet's soundtrack is the late ’60s, without sounding …

Late in the day on Tuesday, October 13, I stopped by the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery to visit the grave of an old friend. As I entered the side that faces the ocean, my jaw …

The spate of police killings in Tijuana may have been quelled with the detention of three suspects by the Mexican army following a shoot-out with municipal police last Saturday. The individuals, Edgar Sauceda Rodriguez, Francisco …

If I had to read it cover to cover before reviewing it, there’s no telling when I would have leave to speak of Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber. Issued on …

Several back roads, some paved and some unpaved, strike off in various directions from Ramona, each offering splendid bicycle touring that doesn’t have to include tangling with snarling traffic on major roads. Black Canyon Road …

“1 for 3” by just.chill was the most-downloaded MP3 from SDReader.com during September. Below is an interview with the songwriter. Who are the members of just.chill? Although many members of Mag Flux contribute to the …

Okay, Hope isn’t quite snockered to the gills. She’s sober enough to recognize a tight spot. In this case, literally: the cramped studio apartment of a man far too young for her tastes. Charles is …

Answer this: What kind of place gives you a big chunk of chocolate to munch with your beer? A real serious-about-beer place. Where a man can find a far-out stout. Sayer the server hands me …

Someone on the Reader website clued me in to a Las Vegas–themed party going down in North Park. I’m glad they did. The small backyard was packed with Vegas-style games and a detached room that …

The family is off to another camping excursion this weekend, and the kids’ only concern is that marshmallows are packed. They’re really all you need for nutrition, aren’t they? So, between dusting off the Coleman …

Dogface How asinine (“Off the Cuff,” October 15)! If Alan C. didn’t want his picture in the paper, you should not have used him in “Off the Cuff.” Hiding his face with a dog shows …

They call themselves the Mashtis: Itai Faierman is back with a new band after a four-year hiatus. Before he took off, Faierman spent a lot of time on the local singer-songwriter stages, combining his intricate …

The Ditty Bops’ song “Walk or Ride” starts off sounding as if it’s going to be an environmentalist-lesbian-cycling anthem. That would make sense: Ditty Bops leaders Abby DeWald and Amanda Barrett are, after all, a …

Chula Vistan David Butler, appointed the County’s interim assessor–recorder–county clerk by the board of supervisors last March, is exploring whether to run for election. On October 7, he filed a candidate intention statement with the …

Artist: Fever SleevesSong: “Maximum Castles” (from the CD Soft Pipes, Play On)Heard by: Andy Parish, City HeightsI liked it a lot. It was a little mathy but in a good way, a little screamy but …

“Imagine the Spice Girls singing Beatles songs,” says bassist Nam Chi Vu of the Penny Lanes, an all-female Fab Four tribute that also includes singer-guitarist Vanja James. “I based the name after the Beatles song, …

The Lynnester has ways to make men talk. When Mark and I arrived to meet her at Iris, she was having a drink and pumping the charming manager, Edd Golden, younger brother of chef-owner Tommy …

“There seems to be a lot of folks around town who believe Superunloader is a Led Zeppelin tribute,” says band manager Jason “Yogi” Peretson. “Although they’ve been known to do a show or two of …

Del Mar investment advisor Herbert W. Morgan, nominated to the San Diego city retirement board by Mayor Jerry Sanders and confirmed by the city council in April of this year, has filed an amended financial …

Whilst wandering 200 TV channels, I came upon a United Football League game on Versus, which, by the way, is a legitimate sports network (Tour de France, NHL, IndyCar, MMA, second-tier college football, for openers). …

“So far, Deicide is the only show I haven’t been able to move up here,” says Joe Troutman, who last week walked away from his four-year job booking the Jumping Turtle in San Marcos to …

Thirty Years AgoSome years ago a modest Spanish restaurant surfaced in La Jolla. It served a creditable paella and zarzuela, but the dessert crêpes were not recognizable to either my eye or palate. When I …

[Halloween is] overrun by grown-ups who claimed it as a holy rite in the church of perpetual adolescence. — Lawrence Downes "I want to go to the party, but I don’t want to have to …

While San Diego seems to be weathering the decline in jazz better than most cities, with several venues spotlighting the genre, including Anthology, Croce’s, and Dizzy’s, singer Karin Carson considers the local scene too small …

A few years ago, after moving out of a condo in a desirable San Diego neighborhood, Jacquelyn and Dave Quinonez found themselves in a bind. Their landlord, someone Jacquelyn describes as being at first only …

Economists say the United States should export its expertise. Scam Diego is doing just that. A couple of rascals who honed their skills in San Diego are now polishing them in other cities. Alfred Louis …

Most tracks on the Best of Daygo City hip-hop compilation are exclusive to the project, a likely factor behind Jake Records picking it up for distribution through retailers, iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby. Among its …

Conservationists are suing the federal government to restore nearly 468,000 acres of critical habitat to protect an endangered sheep living in areas like Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. A lawsuit filed in San Diego on October …

Rosarito plans to launch a promotional campaign to make the beach resort a vacation center for gays. Efarid Rodriguez Carrillo is in charge of the project, modeling it on several similar “alternative tourism” projects that …

While Kobe is most commonly known for its tender, succulent cuts of beef, it’s also famous for its remarkable recovery after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995. This massive earthquake, which reduced the city to …

Follow the butterflies and fragrance of orchids to a world-class botanic garden in Encinitas. San Diego Botanic Garden (formerly Quail Botanical) is 36 acres of urban oasis, where you can connect with nature on full …

Congressman Bob Filner doesn’t want the City of San Diego to turn into another “roach-infested hellhole,” like Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the 5500-room Washington, D.C., military hospital exposed for its deteriorating conditions and tangled …

Last month on September 15, the San Diego City Council rejected two sites — an East Village warehouse and a parking lot in Balboa Park — for the annual temporary winter shelter, voting 5-2 (one …

At 2:00 p.m. on October 16, an impromptu protest and counterprotest took place on the corners of Park Boulevard and B Street, across from San Diego City College. Several congregants of a Kansas church had …

A line has been cast to get more Mexicans hooked on sardines. Strategies are being devised by the Cámara Nacional de la Industria Pesquera y Aquicole (National Chamber of Fisheries and Aquaculture) to beguile Mexicans …

Dmitri Shostakovich paid a visit to Copley Symphony Hall this weekend in the haunted form of his first cello concerto and tenth symphony. Composed after the oppressive tumults of Stalin's reign in Soviet Russia, the …

Out of Ashes is the debut album from Chester Bennington, vocalist of Linkin Park. Fans expecting the music to sound like Linkin Park, however, will be disappointed. There's no rapping, no angst-ridden lyrics screamed by …

The Decemberists create another fantasy epic through clever wordplay and complex orchestration on their latest release The Hazards of Love. Colin Meloy and company have crafted an album that out-stories 2006's epic Crane Wife. In …

At about 10:15 p.m. on Thursday, October 15, according to police radio traffic, two people were stabbed on the corner of Graves Avenue and East Madison Avenue in El Cajon. El Cajon PD stated that …

An accident involving a man in a wheelchair and two vehicles occurred on Tuesday afternoon, October 13, near the entrance to the central library. The man attempted to cross Tenth Avenue at E Street against …

More than two years after Congress approved funding for a new federal courthouse in downtown San Diego, the contract for the $295.7 million project was awarded to Hensel Phelps Construction of Irvine. On October 1, …

If you're planning to visit the Grand Canyon, you should check out Sunset Crater National Monument as well. Sunset Crater is just 30 minutes north of Flagstaff, Arizona on Highway 89. The crater was formed …

“I wandered lonely as a cloud/ that floats on high o’er vales and hills/When all at once I saw a crowd/A host, of golden daffodils” If these words spark your romantic imagination and thoughts of …

This morning, October 14, a maintenance worker at Chollas Lake discovered a Muscovy duck clinging to life — it had been shot five times with a crossbow. One of the arrows had pierced its head. …

It’s six o’clock in the evening on July 21, and the brilliant blue of the late-afternoon sky over San Diego is bleaching at the edges as the sun moseys toward the horizon, throwing the downtown …

According to a press release from the San Diego office of the Customs and Border Protection agency, two Mexican nationals involved in human smuggling were apprehended by CBP officers early Tuesday morning, October 13, about …

On Sunday afternoon, October 11, hours after a stabbing was reported to the Oceanside police, a 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. On Saturday evening, the victim and the …

Enjoying the lush scenery and fair but humid weather, we rounded a tight mountainous curve on the way to Carib Territory. A small blue Toyota popped into sight coming from the opposite direction, fast. We …

Apple Days are here! Apple pie tasting is an art I could get used to, especially if the pies are baked in Julian, a historic mountain town famous for its apple orchards and home-baked pies. …

New Orleans is the most unique city in the country. Having grown up there, I may be biased when I say that, but I believe the evidence is apparent. The music — primarily jazz and …

The troubled economy may not be affecting concert ticket sales of top-draw bands, but what about acts on the local level? When I posted the question online as to how San Diego bands were weathering …

The no-nonsense climb (2200 feet of elevation gain) to Bedford Peak, one of the principal summits along the Santa Ana Mountains’ “Main Divide,” is both physically demanding and scenically rewarding. The latter is especially true …

A former executive of the Scottsdale cryonics company where baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams’s body is frozen launched a pay-per-view website with gruesome decapitation photos to raise money for his legal defense. “To be …

Thus far, the La Jolla Playhouse’s season has been forgettable. In Terrence McNally’s slight Unusual Acts of Devotion and Claudia Shear’s not-ready-for-prime-time Restoration, the sets — for good or ill — were more memorable than …

Thirty Years Ago Jean-Pierre Gorin first came to San Diego, and specifically to UCSD, in 1973, as a whistle stop on a college lecture tour in the company of Jean-Luc Godard, with whom he collaborated …

Hi, Matt: Do baby monkeys also keep their parents up all night crying and wanting milk and stuff? What’s the deal with crying babies? Wasn’t it bad for cavemen to be super tired during the …

The standard line on A Serious Man, and I see no reason to deviate from it, is that this is the Coen brothers’ most “personal” work to date. To be sure, the brothers have never …

I was walking my dog around University Heights and saw a party setting up at a house near Adams Avenue. I dropped my dog off and headed back over. I walked in and a few …

The Beauty Of A People What a beautiful story told by Steven Sorensen (“Please Don’t Tell Anyone That Old Surfers End Up Here,” Cover Story, October 8). His observations on the Mexican people, their values …

Everybody knows that Democrats and Republicans are barely speaking these days. But two political scientists at the University of California at San Diego are statistically quantifying this mutual contempt: “Political polarization is at a post–Civil …

I’ve been called flaky. But hey, this is flaky. Who woulda thought? Eating a pastry-covered curry pie for breakfast in a converted condo in East Village? Here’s how it happened: I was wandering hopelessly around …

The U.S. Grant Hotel, completed in October 1910, is one of the city’s grandest old hotels. Its signature restaurant, the Grant Grill, is equally historic. For its first 90-some years, it was a clubby, old-fashioned …

Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified demeanor assumed by a proctologist immediately before he examines you. — Unknown "Are you sure you don’t mind if I eat in front of you?” I asked, as I moved …

Call Me Alice is in the final stages of completing their new CD How Motivation Killed the Man, scheduled for release this fall. At least, that seems to be the plan. The San Diego techno-goth …

Recipe by Jack Jaroen, executive chef, Lanna Thai I grew up in Bangkok with three siblings. My mom was always in the kitchen preparing and cooking for us. At dinnertime, we all helped out in …

UCSD’s budget crisis has claimed the glitzy job of Stacie Spector, the school’s associate vice chancellor of university communications and public affairs. Deputy communications director in the Clinton White House and deputy campaign manager for …

“I played a song in my after-school dance class, a job that I had for five years [and] this song mentioned the name ‘Christ,’ ” says former Lemon Grove arts teacher Kathy Villalobos. “This name…seemed …

Before Barry Manilow plays the Sports Arena on Sunday, October 18, “Barry’s fan club shows up at 11 a.m. to decorate his dressing room.” Security must be manning hallway doors by 3 p.m. because “Barry …

Canes is finished. After 13 years, Eric Leitstein, owner of the beachfront venue that hosted artists such as Prince, Linkin Park, Maroon Five, and Snoop Dogg, has been informed that his lease will not be …

Where do politicians turn when they need a spot of cash? In the case of the Democratic Party of San Diego County, to Advance America, “one of the nation’s leading payday loan companies” that has …

Last week, controversial J. Craig Venter, millionaire, self-styled master of the human genome, and UCSD alumnus who maintains a handsome home in La Jolla, received the prestigious National Medal of Science from Barack Obama at …

Sit down and pour yourself a big cup of melancholy, and while you’re at it, set some extra places at the table tonight for panic, desolation, and a dark and hellish nightmare or two. That …

My wife is a practical Midwesterner and doesn’t have a lot of patience for songs that go on for more than three minutes. If we’re playing a CD in the car and a guitar solo …

Crunch. Uh-oh. Patrick backed into my best friend’s car. I rang up Eddie Martin, owner and master technician at the Dent Devils (619-726-6767, thedentdevils.com), a paintless dent-removal shop. “People think of us as ‘the body-shop …

While San Diego’s homeless people wait for the City to provide winter shelter, they need, among other things, to go to the bathroom. And there are precious few places to do it. Anyone who meanders …

On October 31, 1869, the First Baptist Church of San Diego dedicated its church bell, a prize awarded by city father Alonzo Horton for being the first Protestant Church to complete an edifice in the …

Carnival Cruise Line has opted to suspend docking the Elation in Ensenada, starting next April. The company rep stated that the cruise line “no longer felt welcome” at its longtime port of call, as communicated …

Perth, Western Australia’s capital, is about as far away from Sydney as San Diego is from Miami (over 2,000 miles). The city breathes casually with just over one million residents strolling through its small city …

Palawan is the Philippines’ last frontier. Tourism has yet to penetrate this elongated island located southwest of Luzon, a paradise for tourists. Setting foot on Palawan, you’ll find yourself in a landscape of lush Jurassic …

On Friday, October 9, in order to minimize the risk of a repeat of last mid-December's devastating flooding in the Tijuana River Valley, the City of San Diego Stormwater Management Department began removing tons of …

On Saturday, October 10, a motorcycle going east on West Point Loma Boulevard clipped a car that had pulled out of the underground parking lot of a condo complex on the north side of the …

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) presented San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit System with the 2009 Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award at its annual meeting on Tuesday, October 6, in Orlando, Florida. “The APTA Award …

The naked and tortured body of a state tax employee, Rogelio Sanchez Jimenez, was found hanging from a bridge over the free road to Rosarito Beach on Friday morning at 6:00 a.m. A huge traffic …

Unicorn-turned-Islands front man Nick Thornburn (aka Nick Diamonds) is a busy man. In the past two years the Canadian musician has released four albums: Human Highway's Moody Motorcycle, Reefer's Life Narcotic (with L.A.'s Bus Driver), …

Authorities in Ensenada rescued three big sea turtles from certain death this week, according to the daily Frontera. The turtles had spent days imprisoned in a lavatory, their flippers bound with twine. The migratory marine …

The roofs over eight parking spaces at the McDonald’s restaurant on Garnet Avenue are covering soon-to-be-operational ChargePoint stations from Coulomb Technologies, Inc. (coulombtech.com). The charging stations will be open to all drivers of plug-in vehicles. …

To improve the traffic capacity and relieve heavy drive-time congestion, road construction has begun on Palomar Airport Road between Armada Drive and Paseo del Norte (just west of Legoland and south of the flower fields). …

Not long after the New Year, my friend and neighbor here in Zacatitos, Marilyn Z, sent me an email saying that, at 81 years of age, she had lost her battle with cancer and had …

Approximately 250 people were evacuated from the 419-room Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine Wednesday morning, October 7. Smoldering cigarette butts ignited towels on a housekeeper’s cart in a hallway on the fourth floor. A …

Authorities have arrested three Tijuana teenagers for allegedly killing a man who refused to pay a prostitute for services, the Baja California attorney general said in a statement issued on Tuesday, October 6. Sulivan Ibarra …

Two male transients robbed another male transient of his pants in the Best Buy parking lot on Fletcher Parkway on Sunday, October 4. “Typically, the kind of crimes we see for transients are drunk in …

In the Vista court on Friday, October 2, a Los Angeles man pled not guilty to multiple counts of identity theft and grand theft stemming from his arrest at the Valley View Casino. Judge Hockett …

Reality In Writing I was crying (laughing) over Diva’s column this week (Diary of a Diva, October 1). Me being “Mom” to Barb and Stephanie’s actual mom, I knew of these antics but would allow …

My friend Christian Cullen was telling me a story of how he was robbed in his apartment at dead-blank, carotid-artery range by two inept assailants with a .45. They mistook Cullen for a major marijuana …

Recipe by Gerald Warner, executive sushi chef, Café Japengo Cooking is a family thing for me. We live in a cul de sac, so sometimes the neighbors come over, too. A lot of times, I …

As my eyes adjusted to the half-light of the church and my ears absorbed the happy boom of the band, I thought, is that the theme from Friends? It was. A little ways into the …

Tranquil Mine Canyon and its several tributaries slash deep into the Pinyon Mountains of central Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Day after day, year after year, the parched ravines and boulder-splintered hillsides lie open to the …

Local acoustic picker Jim Earp went to the annual Walnut Valley Music Festival in Winfield, Kansas, this year and came home with honors. Earp says he tied for fourth place in the International Finger Style …

“I moved to Paris to pursue my own music as a composer,” says San Diego singer-guitarist Nick Norton (a Park Tradition, Honest Iago), who last year was awarded a scholarship by the European American Musical …

Though it says it is hard up for money to fund the daily workings of government, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors is looking for a new lobbyist to influence affairs in the murky …

Thirty Years AgoDear Matthew Alice:While standing in the license-renewal line for an hour and a half the other day at the Department of Motor Vehicles, I realized that this chore is one of our society’s …

You simply wish to nip over to France for a couple, three weeks, prior to the full-on rush of prize-hunters in the year’s final quarter, and you find on your return that new movies by …

When the Andy Warhol Museum decided recently to hire a band to write a soundtrack for Warhol’s famous silent-film screen tests, it couldn’t have picked a more appropriate act than Dean & Britta. Watching the …

Ken Carpenter doesn’t look like a dramatic lead. Soft-spoken, bespectacled, a slight humble stoop in the shoulders, the 57-year-old’s a successful insurance salesman in Lincoln, Nebraska. He’s been with one woman for the past 40 …

“And now for a special live report from the border, here’s our border-affairs reporter, Ed Bedford. Ed?” Cue Ed: “Yes, Cindy. I’m actually standing on the border. One foot on either side, my right planted …

Electro-dance-punky quartet the Attack!! was founded in 2008 by singer-guitarist Ivan Tamayo (Kiss Me Katelynn, Suspect Jones) and drummer Bryan Famous (London Ghost Show). After playing their first gig at L.A.’s Viper Room, they were …

Starting on October 9, Little Italy venue Anthology will join forces with KPRI (102.1 FM) to broadcast a live, two-hour music show, Homegrown Fridays Live. Airing from 10 p.m. to midnight, additional concerts will take …

When As Tall as Lions played the Casbah this summer, Dan Nigro told the audience that he’d been waiting 27 years (basically, his entire life) to rock the Casbah. “It was a joke, you know? …

Artist: Derren RaserSong: “Home in This Direction” (from the CD Home in This Direction)Heard by: Jason B., Normal HeightsThe song had a lot of warmth and immediacy to it. It was almost like he was …

Politics is a year-around game, and the San Diego congressional delegation is busier than ever collecting money for next year’s reelection races. But sometimes it takes a bit of detective work to find out where …

The City of San Diego has formed a “multi-department Mass Care and Shelter Planning Committee” to put together a plan to use Qualcomm Stadium during disasters such as the October 2007 wildfires. According to a …

Comic Woody Allen once postulated that murderers should be given the death penalty before they commit the crime, thus sparing the life of the victim. That’s typical of Woody’s wild imagination, but it’s no wilder …

Nathaniel Hawthorne once wrote, of a garden, in his 1854 collection of stories Mosses from an Old Manse: “I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep contemplation …

In L.A. at an autograph and collectors’ convention, I smiled at Playboy Playmate Candy Clark as I walked by her table. She was charging $25 for her autograph. I glanced at her price list and …

“You are Crocktastic!” “Well, they don’t call me Crockalicious for nothing.” This back-and-forth at our family reunion happened between hubby Pat and sis Meg, aka Crock-Pot Queen. The Kelly home doesn’t even own a Crock-Pot. …

Trekking in Nepal involved 25 grueling vegan days of rice, lentils, mustard greens, noodles, barley stew, and boiled potatoes (and one glorious night of smoky yak steak and real mashed potatoes from the best darned …

Heymatt! I don’t know what to do. I’m only in high school, but I found a gray hair on the side of my head a few days ago. My hair is turning gray already. What’s …

“We’re not an Apple licensee, so we have to be careful how we market them,” says Digital Group Audio president Erik Groset, creator of the portable Livespeakr system, designed (but not licensed) for iPhones and …

At 2:00 a.m. on August 26, Donna Liebrich left San Diego and headed east on I-8 for the Mexican border. Mexicali, her destination, is a good two-hour drive, depending on the Border Patrol checkpoint and …

“Hay langosta aqui! Tres por quince dolares!” Ten legs jut out from a slender form. It’s dark red in parts and golden in other sections. Your salivary glands are jolted. Yes, Puerto Nuevo lobster times …

I’ve made countless artistic pilgrimages throughout Europe, but Barcelona is one of my favorite destinations. Artists love Barcelona! The Museu Picasso, set up at Picasso’s wish, is the expression of his passionate connection with the …

That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in another. — Adlai Stevenson I sidled up to David and waited for him to finish explaining his artistic …

In a foreign land, my mind frequently associates places, events or people with past knowledge. In this context, Melbourne is a San Francisco without as many hills, but with people speaking in a much cooler …

If it came down to visiting Tahoe in the winter or the summer, I’m not sure I could pick one over the other. While Tahoe is commonly praised for its impressive winters, I’d argue that …

Mykonos and Delos lie side by side in the Cyclades chain of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. They could not provide more of a contrast – yet together they provide the quintessential Greek experience. …

As 18-year-old José de Jesús Lamas Herrera walked along Virgo Street on June 28 in Tijuana’s Colonia Reacomodo Sánchez Taboada, someone walked up to him, pulled out a pistol, and shot him dead. Authorities now …

Sirens from fire engines and police cars drew the attention of numerous members of the downtown community just before 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 1. A fire alarm in Diamond Terrace, a 14-story high-rise condominium …

The County of San Diego's Department of Public Works has started work on Valley Center Road’s bridge over the San Luis Rey River, just west of Harrah's Rincon Casino. This year, the Federal Highway Administration …

A Tijuana man ended up in police custody after he allegedly went to a towing company’s impound yard on Tuesday night, September 29, and forcibly reclaimed his cherry-colored Ford. Employees of Zabad Towing said the …

France has cut a deal with the Baja California government to house a French-made robotic telescope that will track the celestial movements of a French satellite known as SVOM, which is to be launched in …

On Thursday, October 1, at the Soda Bar in Normal Heights, Los Angeles–based synthpop duo Former Ghosts played their first ever San Diego show. At some point during the band’s set, a man ran into …

Shortly after 1:00 p.m. on Friday, October 2, San Diego Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a 911 call from an apartment house at the corner of 13th Street and Grove Avenue in Imperial Beach. Three patrol …

A priest and a sacristan fought off and subdued a would-be robber at María Madre de la Iglesia parish in Tijuana’s Colonia Jardines del Rubí neighborhood on Wednesday night, September 30, according to a municipal …

At about 5:30 p.m. on October 1, cops swarmed the grounds outside Balboa Park’s Sixth Avenue bathroom across from St. Paul’s Cathedral. Soon after, a tall, thin man wearing sweatpants, sneakers, and a baseball cap …

The U.S. Postal Service has revised the list of post offices it hopes to close, sparing three San Diego locations. However, the USPS branches in North Park and Golden Hill remain on the chopping block. …

An alleged sex offender on the lam from California since 2007 was captured by Baja California state police early Wednesday morning, September 30, in front of Parque de la Amistad in Tijuana’s Mesa de Otay …

Rocking their signature red tracksuits and sunglasses Tuesday night, Datarock transformed Bay Park nightspot Brick by Brick into an electro-pop dance party. Despite the low turn out, the Norwegian duo rocked the intimate setting as …