I thought I knew Mission Hills. After all, I’ve eaten at a couple dozen restaurants there and can rattle off recommendations like a pro. I know there’s a library serving the neighborhood, but that a …
October 5, 2016
News & Stories
I Thought I Knew Mission Hills
Status Ché
Jorge Arriaga, guitarist with hardcore band Frontside, is a volunteer with the Ché Café Collective, which oversees UCSD’s food café and music venue. He attends the Monday-night meetings when the Collective decides which shows get …
October 5, 2016
The Dick and Margaret show
Before she became a PBS news star, Margaret Garrard Warner was a reporter in the 1970s at the San Diego Union, the newspaper owned by wealthy Republican Helen Copley and run by editor Jerry Warren, …
October 5, 2016
Jump into a viper pit of ramen noodles
Wow. Downtown. This scuzziest part of Broadway, around Fifth, is suddenly taking off. Guess the facelift started with the opening of the park at Horton Plaza, but now eateries are opening one after the other, …
October 5, 2016
Movie recommendations from a monster maker
Why not revisit a Hitchcock classic for October? Psycho and The Birds are amazing, but for me Strangers on a Train (USA, 1951, Warner Brothers) is the most haunting Hitchcock film! Poor polite tennis player …
October 5, 2016
Yum: grape ice cream and liquid meats
Dear Hipster: Why is there no grape ice cream? #lifeslittlemysteries. — Cici A surprising glut of insane theories surrounds the nonexistence of grape ice cream. Believe none of them. Corporate America (responsible for all but …
October 5, 2016
Jake Loban — from punk to Americana
The first show Jake Loban played as an Americana artist? A dive bar in El Cajon. “There were more prostitutes outside than people inside,” Loban says. A few years later, in February 2016, Loban played …
October 5, 2016
Is Proposition X a black hole?
The Infrastructure PAC of the Associated General Contractors has been giving heavily to back some controversial school bond measures around San Diego County appearing on November’s ballot — with one glaring exception. On September 15, …
October 5, 2016
First prayer in Congress
Be Though present O God of Wisdom and direct the counsel of this Honorable Assembly; enable them to settle all things on the best and surest foundations; that the scene of blood may be speedily …
October 5, 2016
Add some Phantoms to your day
Victor Penalosa has played multiple instruments in a number of area bands, with a partial list including the Burrito Brothers, the Melanies, Sidewalk Scene, Riot Act, Unruly Bangs, Baja Bugs, Got it Covered, ADD/C, the …
October 5, 2016
Dressed down and real movie recommendations
Ambition pushes the character I play in Peerless and the characters in Little Miss Sunshine (USA, 2006, Fox Searchlight) are certainly driven to extremes. The ensemble of characters in Little Miss Sunshine all has their …
October 5, 2016
Soma gets wet
After 30 years as an alcohol-free establishment, Soma, the all-ages rock venue that played a role in launching local bands Blink-182 and Pierce the Veil, just hosted its first show serving beer. Soma owner Len …
October 5, 2016
Get in the Peñasquitos Creek riparian zone
The Trans-County Trail is one of several regional trail systems being developed in San Diego County. The Regional Trails Plan includes a total of nine trails that will eventually provide significant north-south and east-west trail …
October 5, 2016
The Birth of a Nation is passionate but careless
The Birth of a Nation — director, star, and cowriter Nate Parker’s take on Nat Turner’s failed slave uprising — may be a sadly timely movie. That certainly seems to be the point behind Mrs. …
October 5, 2016
Old Globe’s October Sky is sermon on stick-to-itiveness
If you decide to see the Old Globe’s October Sky, take your seat early. Kevin Depinet’s set has the composition and texture of a quality painting. A massive half-circle hovers over the stage. It’s what? …
October 5, 2016
Overlooked retro concepts
Dear Hipster: I get why hipsters love to recreate awkward family photos from the 1980s and why they love ugly Christmas sweater parties. I dig it when they play records at home. In fact, I …
October 5, 2016
What would Cousteau think?
The self-contained underwater breathing apparatus became available to the public in the mid-1950s. But not until it was pitched and sold to over 100 syndicated markets was the popular show Sea Hunt picked up by …
October 5, 2016
Pumpkins to carve, pumpkins to eat
October in San Diego continues the transition between summer and winter crops, so everybody’s breaking out the winter squash. While gourds aren’t something we automatically think about in terms of organics, winter squash is actually …
October 5, 2016
Díos Mio, I’m bleeding. Got to move, out of sight.
Rainbow de Amor Someone’s amigo Someone’s son Someone’s novio Out having fun Someone’s hermano Someone’s wife Someone’s primo Enjoying life Dancing and singing Fill the room Until terror strikes With a thunderous boom Díos Mio …
October 5, 2016
Peter Sprague's guitar knows no genre
Peter Sprague alone on the small stage is enough. But double down by putting the show in an arts venue where there is no bad seat, and add Leonard Patton, Nina Francis, and Gregory Page …
October 5, 2016
7500 Africans and Haitians without money or housing in Tijuana
Tijuana is no stranger to desperation. Vagrants, junkies, and deportees are ubiquitous in the streets. Stopping at traffic lights often means shooing away a sinewy street-twitch, scheming to wipe down your windshield with a filthy …
October 5, 2016
Blackwater crash recovery
“As of now, all the songs we were ready to record had to be rewritten musically,” says frontwoman Syren Franco, whose Jamul-based Blackwater Prophecy was recording their second album earlier this year, a symphonic rock …
October 5, 2016
Susan Davis, queen of the London freebies
Democratic congresswoman Susan Davis of San Diego’s Kensington neighborhood was once one of the House of Representatives’ most-traveled members, thanks to a bevy of nonprofit, corporation-supported foundations eager to provide her with free trips abroad, …
October 5, 2016
Theatrical, dark, and detailed
I just finished watching BBC’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (United Kingdom, 2015, BBC). I have a soft spot for fantasy and science fiction. Plus I’m playing a sort of witch with magical powers in …
October 5, 2016
A variety of perspectives
Correction In our 2016 burger issue, we incorrectly stated that Rocky’s Crown Pub is supplied by Jensen Meats. In fact, Rocky’s is supplied by Central Meat & Provision. — Editor Average IQ In response to …
October 5, 2016