Tales from our rich neighbor: Everything is for the locals — Chad Deal“Tijuana is a junkyard,” and nobody knows Tijuana’s junkyards better than the Sullivans. They go all night at this park — Matthew SuárezTijuana …
May 14, 2014
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News & Stories
Tales from our rich neighbor, Tijuana
Done watching San Marcos burn
5/14/14, 8 p.m. We decamped to our parents' house in Escondido partly because we were done watching San Marcos burn and partly to be with our parents in case things get scary here. So now …
May 14, 2014
Sick slabs of sound
It seems the days when surf and skate companies could be counted on to help local bands are coming to an end. Last year, Volcom folded its record label it ran for 18 years, leaving …
May 14, 2014
This Is How Lonesome Feels
The sun goes down and the sky turns dusky And everything tastes like homesick You drape the sky around your shoulders And know how lonesome feels. Every chord is minor Every light dim And if …
May 14, 2014
Red Not Marc Aliana
I’d only seen Marc Aliana playing guitar in a couple of local bands, both loud. There was a stint with Jon Goodhue, and a tribute band called the Red Not Chili Peppers, in which Aliana …
May 14, 2014
Under a blood red flag warning
5/14/14, 3 p.m. The view from San Marcos is not encouraging. It doesn't feel good either. I'm in the unincorporated area, just off Deer Springs Road, right around the bend where it becomes Twin Oaks …
May 14, 2014
Irwin and George
Qualcomm billionaire Irwin Jacobs, who recently hosted a Democratic fundraiser with president Barack Obama at his La Jolla mansion, has deserted the party machine in at least one race this year. According to campaign disclosure …
May 14, 2014
Theater 101 with Howlin’ Rain
Asked the origin of his signature stage move, combining an upstrum with a backwards stagger, Howlin Rain’s Ethan Miller specifies: “You gotta try and let yourself be natural and find some natural swing...with your playing. …
May 14, 2014
Moral popcorn
“Based on a true story” is an overused and much-abused claim, now used to gussy up everything from supernatural thrillers to backstage comedies. Belle at least has the added distinction of being based on a …
May 14, 2014
For God’s sake, man, save the puppies
When fire evacuations were ordered in the Fairbanks Ranch and Rancho Santa Fe areas the afternoon of May 13, the staff at the Helen Woodward Animal Center sprung into action. The center’s evacuation plan called …
May 14, 2014
Everybody loves Darrell
A top aide to Republican Congressman Darrell Issa enjoyed a TV star–filled jaunt from Washington to Las Vegas and back last month, thanks to the generosity of the National Association of Broadcasters. Veronica Wong, Issa’s …
May 14, 2014
Hillary is coming to town — awkward!
The 2014 BIO International Convention, to be held at San Diego's downtown convention center June 23–26, has announced that the keynote speaker will be ex–First Lady, former Secretary of State, and presumed presidential candidate Hillary …
May 14, 2014
Fevered, emotionally reportorial realism
“The stroke is just like the artist at the time he makes it.” Spanish Sojourns: Robert Henri and the Spirit of Spain, on view at the San Diego Museum of Art until September 9.
May 14, 2014
Fling that Frisbee — there's hundreds in it for you!
I have former world-champion disc-golfer, Frisbee pioneer, Carlsbad resident John Kirkland on the phone. Kirkland, 67, says, “I was there at the very beginning and I’m still doing it seven days a week. “When I …
May 14, 2014
Nothing else makes any sense for me
Membership: 45 (regular attendance) Pastor: James West Age: 57 Born: Bismarck, ND Formation: Northwestern University, Evansville, IL; Lutheran Seminary, St. Paul, MN Years Ordained: 32 San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your …
May 14, 2014
Like it was dug out of Tenochtitlan itself
It pierces the night. A sharp whistle and then a woolly hoot. First thought: train. But how come a train is running through downtown Tijuana late at night? It’s not far. I can see the …
May 14, 2014
In the footsteps of the Cahuilla
Here is your chance to walk on trails the Cahuilla used to travel between their old Santa Rosa village in Rockhouse Canyon and villages in Coyote Canyon. Although the trail is a little hard to …
May 14, 2014
Josué’s kitchen
“It was a spark,” says Andrew Sheiner, business partner at Tijuana gallery La Tentación with photographer Josué Castro. “I gave them the necessity, I didn’t give them the idea,” elaborates Castro. “I gave them my …
May 14, 2014
Zappa fest in Little Italy
“As teenagers, Frank Zappa and Lou Curtiss, owner of Folk Arts Rare Records, would scour local bargain bins for eclectic albums that would define their unique musical perspectives,” says Tom Cesarini, executive director at the …
May 14, 2014
Beer Town, MX
Ask any Santa Ana breeze and she’ll tell you, Mexicali’s known for sweltering hot summers, a relaxed, rural demeanor, Chinese food and an abandoned underground Chinatown, carne asada, outlandish music, and beautiful women (some attribute …
May 14, 2014
Gifts for grads
“My parents wanted me to travel to Europe after my college graduation, expand my horizons.”
May 14, 2014
Everything is for the locals
Seth and Alexis Sullivan don’t look like they belong in Mexico. A gringo by blood — his parents relocated to Tijuana from North Carolina and Kansas nearly four decades ago — Seth is known among …
May 14, 2014
My name isn’t Julian
“Yeah, I’ve played a few times,” recalls Sean Lennon, of gigging in San Diego. Lennon, now touring behind his new album Midnight Sun, his newest collaboration with his girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl under the name …
May 14, 2014
The many trials of Madame Tingley, part two
Human lemmings trundling up the steep cliffs of Point Loma? A mass exodus? Never had so many San Diegans been on the move at the same time. Until February 23, 1897, occasional visitors went either …
May 14, 2014
They go all night at this park
“Oh, man! You moved to a place next to Parque Teniente? That’s where the male and transsexual prostitutes hang out, robberies happen, and deported homeless people sleep,” a TJ friend informs me. For a whole …
May 14, 2014
Carjacker nabbed at edge of Fallbrook
Deputy Cruz responded immediately to scanner reports of a carjacking in progress in Bonsall. It was about 3 o’clock when he left the Valley Center sheriff’s station, 20 miles away, on Wednesday afternoon, January 29. …
May 14, 2014
Believers and unbelievers
Self-Wrongeous Answering Saul Harmon Gritz’s letter (May 1) responding to David Child’s letter (April 24) asking for a Reader section devoted to atheistic concerns. Mr. Gritz, you seem to intend to speak for atheists, but …
May 14, 2014
UCSD undocumented
UC San Diego is looking to hire a new “undocumented student support services coordinator,” to be “responsible for the planning, development, implementation, and assessment of programs and services to engage and support undocumented undergraduate and …
May 14, 2014
I have loved Tijuana
Everybody knows that Pasaje Rodriguez is shaping up to be the coolest passage in TJ. But who knew of the jewel right in its heart? Pasajes (passages) are the arcades that run from Revolución through …
May 14, 2014
Don Pedro’s bit of real Mexico
Is there any real Mexico left in the borderfied, industrialized, Spanglish north end of Baja? Oh, yes, there is. Like, right now, we’re just pulling up beside an isolated house beside the old highway, south …
May 14, 2014