It has that weird feeling, like Dead Man Walking. We’re at the bar. Jimmy has got me my regular Arrogant Bastard. Tiger does a pretend growl. “That Arrogant Bastard.” Miguel the chef sits with his …
March 7, 2018
News & Stories
Orange Avenue block sold – goodbye to real Coronado
Asanga's path to perfection
What is a person who has only a single interval? It is a person who is a once-returner who reaches the end of suffering by living only among the gods. What is a person who …
March 7, 2018
Earthless sings of Black Heaven
“Heaven is thought of as this beautiful paradise in the clouds, which may very well be true, but all I see is black,” says Earthless guitarist Isaiah Mitchell of the title to the band’s upcoming …
March 7, 2018
Local journalism may not get the cash
As denizens of San Diego and Los Angeles await the pending takeover of their cities’ respective newspapers by wealthy L.A. physician Patrick Soon-Shiong, speculation is rampant regarding the future direction of local journalism. But those …
March 7, 2018
The Machine spits out 97-3 DJs
On March 1st, San Diego’s all-music station known for three years as “Energy 97-3” was “blown up,” as they say in the radio business. The upshot: there is one less local station playing the hits …
March 7, 2018
You want more chicken
Three armed guys come through the door. They’re all chunky hardbodies, wearing what look like bulletproof vests. Written across their backs, one word: PROBATION. They head for the counter. Maria, Rosana, and Carmen face them …
Oscar autopsy
Jimmy Kimmel opened by calling for a night for positivity, so I will begin my coverage of the 90th Annual Academy Awards accordingly. (Not surprisingly, threats of controversy never materialized.) Dept. of Happy Memories While …
March 7, 2018
Mayor raises big money for One San Diego
San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer, who appears to have successfully survived the worst of the downtown homeless hepatitis crisis that hit the city last year, has lately been raising big money for his One San …
March 7, 2018
Hooked on accordion
You could call this story “Just Being There.” It’s about how Matt Hensley, from Vista, went from pro skater to being a working member of Flogging Molly. “The only odd thing,” he says by phone, …
March 7, 2018
Birdman of East Village
Has anybody seen the Birdman of East Village lately? Okay, that’s just what I call him. I met Victor Vasquez, 53, taking his three birds: Sydney, 30 years old, a medium sulphur-crested cockatoo from Papua …
March 7, 2018
Easy trail near a tough golf course in Carlsbad
The Crossings at Carlsbad Golf Course was designed by Greg Nash with the preservation of habitat and the city’s trail system being an important consideration in creating a challenging course. The holes for this city-owned …
March 7, 2018
Clean up after your dog!
My friend Katie paid a visit and brought her beautiful golden retriever Molly — who, confided Katie upon arriving, “leaves mountains of poop. Let me know if you see any in your yard, and I’ll …
March 7, 2018
Communal's granola takes place of Rebecca's scones
When the new year began, South Park found itself trending downward in the coffee department. The end of 2017 brought with it the closing of longtime community hub, Rebecca’s Coffeehouse. For a quarter century, Rebecca’s …
March 7, 2018
TV on the music
The opportunities for local artists to get TV face-time just got slimmer with the news that Tonight in San Diego has suspended production. The Tonight Show–style program was most visible in February and March of …
March 7, 2018
Your new mansion has a disco with mirrored ceilings
Listing materials for the massive 14,000-square-foot estate at 2681 Idle Hour Lane, one of a small handful of cul-de-sacs tucked away west of the UC San Diego campus between the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and …
March 7, 2018
Career as rockin' tattoo artist not recommended
Mike Stobbe of North Park’s Avalon Tattoo started inking San Diego’s most famous rock stamp 25 years ago. “I did at least 100 to 150,” he says of the Rocket From the Crypt rockets he …
March 7, 2018
Original Pulp Fiction manuscript found in a Carlsbad garage
OMG: I’m holding it in my hand. A hand-typed script movie people would kill for. I just ran across it in this rare and ancient bookshop and literati haven, in an alley off Carlsbad Village …
March 7, 2018
The good old days that never were
Dear Hipster: I have been thinking about the popularity of retro stuff recently, at least from a pop-culture standpoint. To me, it seems like people remember the past as distinctly better than it actually was. …
March 7, 2018
Where the Santa Ana Freeway inherits the Long Beach
Ode to My Grecian Urns Fake, faux, ersatz and what’s more, there are two of them. Keats said the sonnet wouldn’t do. Wrong tone. No Pindarics — not the right form for philosophy. The poem …
March 7, 2018
Airbnb forcing you out?
It must be the noise — not higher rents and home prices — that people feel most strongly about. I am referring to public indignation about short-term vacation-housing rentals — Airbnb and the like. People …
March 7, 2018
Robert Chávez of Park and Rec gets fined
San Diego’s city ethics commission, suspected by many insiders of turning a blind eye to the questionable timing of political contributions given elected officials by lobbyists, has slapped its first fine of 2018 on Robert …
March 7, 2018
Letters on Normal and City Heights
Normal Hts. neon Re: “We the People of Normal Heights,” cover story. An update on the Normal Heights neon sign: Gary Weber and I met with Art Buckel and his sister Joy (Buckel) LeBus in …
March 7, 2018