City Heights Stories
First up, I’m not an early-morning guy. But on this perfect food day, you’ve got to start at the crack of dawn. Because that’s when the dja kwai are at their freshest at Trieu Chau …
“When you’re running a small business and you get this stuff in the mail, you go, like, ‘Oh, crap.’” That was the initial reaction of Bill Tall in June when he received a letter from …
Determined to tackle something more adventurous, I find my answer in Vietnamese porridge.
As of last summer, the stretch of El Cajon Blvd. between Highland Avenue and Euclid is officially known as Little Saigon. Unofficially, it's long been known as the best place to go in search of …
“The San Diego Experimental Guitar Show started out as an event that included all of my noise-artist friends,” says host Sam Lopez in anticipation of the event’s fifth annual incarnation at the Soda Bar on …
You don't think of "Asian" and "salad" in the same breath. But here I am up in the wilds of 47th street, heading behind a garage/tire shop. Looking for a low building with the sun-faded …
The new year is kicking off with a herd of earworms, including the debut full-length from jazz-funk dancehall drifters Mafard, whose first single, “Finger Lickin’ Chicken Pickin’ Mexican,” has been stirring the controversy pot. An …
“The number could be off by a few in either direction, but I think it’s been around 520.” Carey Driscoll says he’s lost count of the number of shows he has produced over ten years …
Here’s another late-breaking young-band-on-the-rise alert: TV Ghost. I can say this even though they started in 2006 because each of their albums has sounded a little different. They grew up as musicians in the garage-punk …
How some graffiti vandals became graffiti artists, thanks in part to City Heights’ Writerz Blok art park.
El Cajon Business District to honor San Diego musicians with its new banner project. Beryl Forman marketing manager for the district, says she’s had no trouble getting local musicians involved.
Ongoing conflict between San Diego Unified School District and residents next to Hoover High School: stadium lights were installed with bond money and no environmental impact report. A judge ruled that the lights should remain off for now. Nevertheless, the district plans to install stadium lights at Crawford and Point Loma high schools, as well as Kearny, La Jolla, Lincoln, Mira Mesa, Mission Bay, San Diego, and Scripps Ranch.
“We have the sweetest bananas in the world growing in Somalia. We Somalis have a sweet tooth.”
"Josh Kantor." Michael Giblin, the Parallax Project bassist, checks in with the Reader to talk about his side project, a band called the Split Squad that includes Eddie Munoz (Plimsouls), Clem Burke (Blondie) and Keith …
Suqar, beer, ukun for breakfast? That's the choices here at Fatuma, the Somali place up in Little Mogadishu, in City Heights. Guy behind the counter says “suqar” is ground beef, “beer” is liver, and “ukun” …
Tower Bar owner Mick Rossler chooses the Lumps as the first band on his Tower Bar Records label.
Ed snags a free beer, gobbles among gobblers at Nate’s Garden Grill, on the same property as Bill Tall’s City Farmers Nursery
A history of the clubs that have inhabited 3519 El Cajon Boulevard since 2001 (Little Equity, Zombie Lounge, Silver Dragon).
Bobby Chocolate pulls up his socks and waits for his friend Jimi to complete his ride down the rail in the skate corridor of the City Heights Community Center walk next to Rosa Parks Field. …
The empty shelves inside the Chula Vista Gun Store (in mid-February) make it hard to tell the place sells guns at all. Last December, the amplification of the gun-control debate sent buyers rushing to this …
On an early morning walk to the bus stop on University Avenue, I happened to notice a green box attached to the fence. In the alleyway on Polk Avenue, between Wilson and 36th, I found …
Hasno Ali, 46-year-old owner of East African Cuisine, has to struggle to make money at San Diego’s farmers’ markets.
If you’re not ready for Tijuana, try El Uno Bar in City Heights.
Even if it weren’t my job to go out and look for new places to eat, I still wouldn’t be able to eat the same thing over and over again. I rarely visit any place …
The demolition of an auto shop in East San Diego brings optimism and worry.
Homeless Sexuals frontman Davit Buck promotes Dollar Shows at at the Soda Bar.
Try your luck at the Thai-Lao-Chinese-Vietnamese 777 Noodle House in City Heights.
Bill Tall smells like sawdust and dirt. He reminds me of my father. Bill always wears the same thing: a green City Farmers Nursery T-shirt, yellow suspenders that look like measuring tape, and jeans. At …
In March 2005, Darnell Johnson bought a one-bedroom condominium on a quiet, dead-end street in City Heights. He never imagined he’d be forced to fork out $50,000 to keep his home from falling into the …
“A few years ago, there was talk in certain music publications about the death of the guitar,” says Sam Lopez, curator of the San Diego Experimental Guitar Show. “Notions were made that this archaic instrument …
Last Sunday, while jogging up Wightman Street through City Heights, I had to avoid five piles of dog crap, seven fecal smears, and one brown lumpy puddle — all on city sidewalks. These numbers do …
Boasting a weekend happy hour from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., Last Call’s slogan entreats you to “Go ugly early.” And while easily dismissed as another sketchy El Cajon Boulevard hole, Last Call proves to be …
On a hot Friday evening in late August, Jennifer Bernal and Jamila DeCarli sit at the kitchen table in their 998-square-foot home on the rim of Fox Canyon in City Heights. Their two small dogs …
Membership: 400 Pastor: David Weber Age: 56 Born: Hampton, Iowa Formation: University of Laverne, Laverne; Concordia Seminary, St. Louis Years Ordained: 9 years San Diego Reader: What is your favorite subject on which to preach? …
In a recent Vanity Fair article, Groupon founder Andrew Mason is described as “the type of guy who comes up with wild ideas that often have no beginning or end, and then lets them rip.” …
“I vowed long ago never to move east of route 805!” my friend C.C. admonished me when I told him I was looking for an apartment in an affordable area. My first choice was North …
Say the name Lisa Fasulo in a San Diego tattoo shop and you may get blank stares from shop owners, employees, and hangers-around. Mention the Learning Channel’s one-hour reality-style television program about Fasulo’s tattoo school, …
Ukrainian-born stonemason Sam Kolivayko, 48, has spent the past two months building a series of stone pilasters at the junction of the City Heights and Talmadge, on the northeast corner of Fairmount and Meade avenues. …
The seven members of San Diego‘s Redistricting Commission met on May 2 in City Heights. In 2008, City of San Diego voters approved Proposition D, which established a “strong mayor” form of government. Voters also …
After first hearing Interrobang’s set at O’Connell’s a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but suspect occult affiliations. The quartet sounded like Tortoise loosely covering Jobim tunes for a traveling freak and medicine show somewhere …
“What if you had just 15 minutes to evacuate, looking around your apartment or house, trying to quickly decide what you will take, how overwhelmed would you be, knowing you couldn’t return for 10,000 years?” …
Three years after the last cars rolled out of the showroom at Pearson Ford in Mid-City, a plan to fill the empty lot, located at El Cajon Boulevard and Fairmont, has finally surfaced. On Wednesday, …
Michael Sprague, a City Heights homeowner, addressed the San Diego City Council on March 29 about his experience with the San Diego Housing Commission. Sprague, who served as chairman of the City Heights Area Planning …
Last month, 30 women graduated from the Home Childcare Program organized by Horn of Africa and the International Rescue Committee, two non-profit organizations in City Heights. The 27-hour program consists of 15 hours of state-mandated …
Built in 1927 as San Diego’s second Bank of America, the building at the corner of University and Van Dyke in City Heights changed over from Nancy’s Pub to Black Cat Bar last month. High …
On Saturday, March 5, City Heights residents protested governor Jerry Brown’s plan to abolish redevelopment agencies. The rally, organized by the Fox Canyon Neighborhood Association, took place in Auburn Park, a site chosen for its …
Soda Bar opened in late 2008 at the former City Heights location of dubious dive Chasers. Set between a car lot and a Mexican herb shop on El Cajon Boulevard, the bar hosts local and …
It came to me four or five years ago as — surfacing to catch my breath — I looked up from a steaming bowl of pho: there were more non-Vietnamese patrons having lunch in this …
At the sound of a dinging bicycle bell, the children at Lulu’s Montessori in City Heights run to the screen door overlooking Van Dyke Avenue and shout, “Bolis! Bolis!” For some of the tiny tots …
José Lopez, president of the Fox Canyon Neighborhood Association in City Heights, started a letter-writing campaign to lobby city-council members to support a grant proposal that would address a problem corner at 50th Street and …
Don Kvashay appeared before the San Diego City Council on September 28 to find answers on how to deal with an unidentified drainage pipe that falls inside his property line. Kvashay is the owner of …