Clairemont Stories
"We never got to go to McDonald's. Sometimes we were pretty hungry."
Thirty Years Ago Vince Miranda, king of the Pussycat Theaters, had blown into town and was visiting his new venture, the Backstage. It was past 9:30 p.m., time for the show, and Miranda was watching …
In June of 1965, the Evening Tribune sent a photographer to 3535 Tomahawk Lane in Clairemont. The angle of the story isn't clear today, but the assignment sheet reads: "Take photo of Lorna [Montgomery, standing, …
Editor's note: More than 600 San Diegans submitted stories for the Reader "My Neighborhood" writing contest. Ocean Beach led all communities with over 20 entries. Writers 10 to 87 years old sent pieces from as …
A boy 3-1/2 months old was the youngest homicide victim in San Diego County during the first half of 2007. The oldest was a 75-year-old woman. Both were killed by family members, allegedly, the infant …
When my friend Mike told me that he was offered a gig to announce for a San Diego roller derby team, I responded, "San Diego has a roller derby team?" I had yet to see …
Have you ever seen a party in a movie and wondered why the parties you go to are never as cool? Well, I went to a bash in Clairemont that was as cool as one …
There are no good girls gone wrong, just bad girls found out. -- Mae West Jen and I sat on the bench in the entryway to the theater. We rested our backs against a poster …
"Come, now is the time to worship," crooned the praise leader to the congregation. Then he turned his call to heaven: "Come, Lord Jesus, come." Then back to the people: "Let the pain and the …
"We have a new song today," announced worship director Janet Werdowatz. "It's a new song by Chris Tomlin called, 'Made to Worship.' We were made to worship Him -- that is our first purpose of …
Nearly everything about East Clairemont Southern Baptist's church was unabashedly midcentury Modern, from the rust-orange carpet and pew cushions to the rough-face concrete block to the space-age chandeliers to the quarter-circle shape of the place, …
Glass, stained in various shades of smoky watercolor blue -- indigo, teal, cornflower -- covers nearly all of the church's side and back walls. Here and there, slashes of red and orange catch the light, …
"A prayer before worship," read the screen at the front of the tidy church, its oak-and-white simplicity spruced up with poinsettias, garland, wreaths, and Christmas trees outfitted with gold and white ornaments fashioned along Christian …
I heard about a party for a company called CH1 Productions. As I drove to the Clairemont location, I assumed it would be in a studio, but it was a house with a RockStar Energy …
A party I went to in Clairemont had trouble written all over it. The host had a live band in a residential area, and he took down the fence separating his house from his neighbor's …
The last two years, we've seen a game of musical chefs. Now it's progressed to musical restaurants, with a mad swirl of newcomers replacing old- and not-so-old-timers. In a recent change, Cucina Italiana ("Italian kitchen") …
When I was invited to an "S & M" party in Clairemont, I didn't know what to expect. I imagined people snapping leather whips and wearing ball gags in their mouths. Approaching the party, I …
Pimp 'n' Ho parties have been popular for years. Someone asked me if I thought it was because Julia Roberts's character in the movie Pretty Woman glamorized prostitution. I think it's because of the hip-hop …
"People are depraved and are slaves to sin. God can forgive us of that sin through Jesus' resurrection," said Major Warren Dabis when asked about the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. "We should …
I went to a party last year when local author Jennifer Coburn released her first book, The Wife of Reilly. I was surprised when she had a party for her next book, Reinventing Mona, coming …
I had two parties one night that couldn't have been further apart in the music spectrum. The first was for a heavy metal band, and the second was hosted by a woman who works at …
"[As Christian Scientist nurses] we do not give medicine, take temperatures, or read people's pulses," said Betty Miller. Miller works at the Lynn House, a Christian Science nursing facility in Encinitas. The Christian Science treatment …
I spent all last summer without a lick of barbecue crossing my lips. So by late fall, the craving for the taste of smoke reached a crisis. I began a quest for new "Qs" and …
I play poker with a group of guys, and one always deals a game called Diablo. I never thought I'd hear the word outside the poker party. But when Marcy called to invite me to …
I always liked that old technique of starting a story with a famous quote or song lyric that fits the subject. When I got the invite to go to a girl's Sweet 16 party, my …
I didn't get invited to a single party on Halloween. Maybe that's because it fell on Sunday and everyone had their parties on Friday and Saturday. I went to about ten different ones and figured …
A round the time of my ten-year high school reunion, two movies about reunions came out (Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and Grosse Pointe Blank). I always thought writing about a reunion would be …
Zolla Guitars 8360 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, Suite 104, Clairemont www.members.cox.net/bzolla/index.html 858-576-9655 Bill Zolla has been building custom guitars, necks, and bodies since 1979. Each instrument is built to order according to the buyer's choice of …
Sheila's Café & Bakery 4577 Clairemont Drive, Clairemont www.sheilascafe.com 858-270-0251 Sheila creates dishes everybody eats, from Italian to Mexican to ribs to fried chicken to desserts like cheesecake, but in a way that allows observant …
Mary Hicklin, Virgo Moon 5519 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard #269, Clairemont www.virgomoon.com 619-443-0518 With original pieces like "The Crack Between The Worlds" necklace, and "Jaguar Tassel," Hicklin turns beads, stones, and fossils into art, and each …
Asked where I live in San Diego, I always say “beautiful Clairemont,” because I’m a smartass and because it’s the truth. I might qualify (place, not beauty) by adding “North Clairemont,” to distinguish our geographical …
Rustic signs along some of Clairemont's major streets call attention to one of the oldest designated open-space parks in San Diego: the 900-acre Tecolote Canyon Natural Park. Using the park's network of service roads and …
Longfellow Elementary 5055 July Street, Clairemont 619-276-4206 This is the bilingual idea as it should be in a border town. Kids growing up speaking both Spanish and English with equal facility. "We're total immersion," says …
Coctelería La Playita 2121 Imperial Avenue, Sherman Heights 619-702-6059 also at 5185 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard 858-715-6773 Around 9:30 a.m., in the restaurant street inside the Farmers' Market, you'll often see a rack of well-dressed men …
A-Thuro-Clean 5663 Balboa Avenue, Clairemont 858-270-5600; 760-720-5200; 619-275-5600 A-Thuro-Clean has been cleaning up the mess in San Diego for over 15 years and can handle large and small jobs. If your house gets flooded, you'll …
Stereo Design 7260 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, Clairemont Mesa 858-573-0060 Sound does count. It's astonishing how much subtlety and sensuality good reproduction equipment can bring out, even when the sound source is an early CD or …
Sorrentino's Ristorante 4726 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, Clairemont (858) 483-1811 Why is the word stromboli familiar and yet hard to associate with food? The answer to the first is that it's an island off Sicily and …
Music Central 5604 Balboa Avenue, Clairemont (858) 279-6152 8190 Mira Mesa Boulevard, Mira Mesa (858) 578-2411 After 25 years in business, Music Central boasts one of the largest selections of sheet music in San Diego. …
Comic Gallery 4224 Balboa Avenue, Clairemont Mesa (858) 483-4853 Actually, Pokémon is passé, and pint-sized sources working undercover in county grade schools report that X-Men will be the next merchandising and Halloween costume phenom. For …
Sorrentino's Pizza and Deli 4726 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, Clairemont (858) 483-1811 In 1979, New York restaurateurs Victor and Vita Sorrentino moved to San Diego and opened Sorrentino's a year later. Why Pizza? "I'm Neapolitan," answers …
“What you have are all the Asians hanging out with each other in the cafeteria and with each other after school. We are thought of as the Asian clique, not Koreans or Filipinos or Vietnamese or Chinese.”
Mr. Alice: In beautiful Clairemont, behind the DMV on Chateau Drive, there's a strange-looking triangular building at the corner of Verley Court. It's encircled by a fence and has security screen doors at either end. …
Eastbound in the right lane of Highway 52, the San Clemente Canyon Freeway, you can look down upon a long, slender, almost unbroken swath of natural vegetation: massive sycamores, stately live oaks, climbing vines, and …
In the preface to his widely publicized "true story," Fast Times at Ridgemont High, author Cameron Crowe states that he changed the names of his characters and altered superficial details in the book's juicy account …