Nowadays, while the rattlers remain, steers have been replaced by SUVs, Bambi and his kin are in a witness protection program, and the ranchers have been plowed over by glad-handers who lasso real estate. If …
November 8, 2017
News & Stories
Scripps Ranch — cows gone, rattlers remain
Hepburn gleans Cary Grant's inspiration in Holiday
Holiday, starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, is a story I count on for inspiration. Grant plays Johnny Case, a finance visionary whose unconventional ideas juxtapose with the socialite family he encounters. Hepburn plays the …
November 8, 2017
Goodnight, Irenic
The Irenic, the 70-year-old North Park church building that for the past six years doubled as a 450-capacity music venue, seemed to be the perfect place for headliners who wanted an all-ages venue but were …
November 8, 2017
The fate of San Diego Sports Arena
Besides disposition of the stadium formerly known as Qualcomm, the fate of the San Diego Sports Arena, now called the Valley View Casino Center, hangs in the balance. As usual in the political netherworld of …
November 8, 2017
Yes, but will He forgive Mark Wahlberg for this?
Albert Brooks can’t get arrested in Hollywood, but sequels to star-studded, empty-headed comedies continue to flourish. Back-to-back screenings of A Bad Moms Christmas and the second movement in the Daddy’s Home saga made it a …
November 8, 2017
Tal's got serious jazz-fusion chops
Who didn’t see it coming? If you witnessed Tal Wilkenfeld in concert with Jeff Beck in the past couple of years and thought of her as the bass player, you were only partly right. Yes, …
November 8, 2017
"It tastes like when I go surfing"
Located on the 101, within sniffing distance of the shore, Open House features practically every imaginable oceanic edible — including vegetables. So it was that this al fresco eatery’s general manager Matt Handy went deep …
November 8, 2017
Dallas oilman’s blessing
Friends of SDSU, a political committee set up to collect signatures for an initiative that would turn the city-owned site formerly known as Qualcomm Stadium over to San Diego State University, is preparing to do …
November 8, 2017
Slow autobiography and Korean pseudo reality
One Mississippi is Tig Notaro’s lightly fictionalized autobiographical series that pulls no punches when it comes to real-world pain in all its internal and external forms, yet repeatedly shows how pain can be balanced by …
November 8, 2017
What’s in a restaurant name?
David Spatafore, the “visionary” and “primary owner” at Blue Bridge Hospitality, goofed with the name of his first restaurant. “We called it MooTown Creamery, and the concept was that we were going to make homemade …
November 8, 2017
Ordered the lamb, got the goat
Feel like goat again. Last time I had some was at Mercado Hidalgo in TJ, where a couple of birria joints really deliver on the chivo stew. Before that, the cluster of Somali eateries around …
November 8, 2017
Hitler bothers him
Membership: 100 families Pastor: David Madsen Age: 65 Born: La Junta, CO Formation: Cornerstone University, Grand Rapids, MI; General Theological Seminary, New York City; New York Theological Seminary, New York City Years ordained: 9 San …
November 8, 2017
Spice Pistols aim to entertain
The point of the Spice Pistols — a bunch of middle-aged rocker dudes who sing Spice Girls songs as if they were played by the Sex Pistols — is not just about gender-bending camp. ”It’s …
November 8, 2017
Dear God, I hear you knocking
A-B-C’s I learned my A-B-C’s at the ripe age of three Letters built words and words breathed life At ten I learned A’s got love from my mother — B’s lowered eyes, C’s a yelling …
November 8, 2017
San Diego Asian Film Festival: The stench burns
It’s time for the San Diego Asian Film Festival to once again take up residence at the UltraStar Mission Valley and the Digital Gym. (Festival #17 runs November 9-18, with the opening night at the …
November 8, 2017
Chi Club offers short membership
The Chi Club played its first official show at an apartment party in Ocean Beach in 2005. There would be many more gigs and lineup changes before the band called it a day in 2013, …
November 8, 2017
Councilman Cate can use campaign cash for legal, PR costs
Ever since Republican San Diego city councilman Chris Cate got into hot water over leaking a confidential city document to a lobbyist for SoccerCity, the controversial plan to privatize the former Qualcomm Stadium, city hall …
November 8, 2017
Natives under your nose
A half-acre of Old Town State Historic Park, located at the junction of Taylor and Congress streets, is a native plant landscape that focuses on coastal native plant restoration. The San Diego Chapter of the …
November 8, 2017
“It’s, like, you know, like....” — maybe this stuttering will disappear
Dear Hipster: A 35-ish man three tables down is talking a great deal to his two table mates. He begins every, and I mean every, sentence with “It’s, like, you know, like....” He repeats the …
November 8, 2017
San Diego County Gestapo drove away farmer
The House Where Nobody Lives sits out on Fuerte Drive in El Cajon. Kids sometimes visit at night to scare themselves: “Don’t come back” has been scratched into the black-and-white poster of a shirtless and …
November 8, 2017
See the Del Mar racetrack from the comfort of your home
Listing materials for the hillside estate at 2116 Balboa Avenue in Del Mar invite prospective buyers to “enjoy spectacular whitewater ocean, sunset & Del Mar racetrack views from this extraordinary seaside Villa in Olde Del …
November 8, 2017
Finnegan Blue's conga line starts to move
Anna Lee Fleming was born and raised in North Park. “I have definitely seen a transition,” says the founder/songwriter/lead singer of Finnegan Blue. “When I was first going to school my parents wouldn’t let me …
November 8, 2017
Community Choice Energy programs gaining popularity
For a decade and a half, California’s investor-owned utilities — Sempra Energy, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), and Edison International — have controlled their purported regulator, the California Public Utilities Commission. Legally, it should be …
November 8, 2017
Tenth Avenue Art Center’s Evil Dead: the Musical
My wife and I saw Tenth Avenue Art Center’s Evil Dead: the Musical this year, because Halloween. We did not sit in the front row “splatter zone,” where spectators enjoy periodic soakings in fake blood …
November 8, 2017
Solar-powered pot
The fight over what San Diego’s marijuana regulations will ultimately look like when pot goes legal in California next year continues to be a significant cash generator for local lobbyists, as evidenced by Lani Lutar’s …
November 8, 2017
Last words on “Antonia’s Last Words”
Moron Drug User Re: “Antonia’s Last Words,” cover story. Sweet! Made it Las Vegas with no plan to get home. Sweet! Hooked up with her former boyfriend for a couple of days. Sweet! Smoked meth …
November 8, 2017
Playboy editor of Elle magazine paralyzed except for one eye
Films that push the boundaries of my comfort zone tend to be more memorable and meaningful. I’ve seen these films only once, but they’ve stuck with me. Pedro Almodóvar’s La Piel Que Habito (The Skin …
November 8, 2017