Downtown San Diego Stories
After nearly three years of construction, the $26.8 million Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge, connecting Petco Park to the convention center, opened to foot traffic on Friday, March 18. The 550-foot-long suspension bridge lies at the …
During a March 16 meeting, Centre City Development Corporation's board of directors rejected a proposal from the mayor and city council to pay off $228 million in debt owed on a previous expansion of the …
It’s amazing what you find when you’re cruisin’, jes’ cruisin’. Actually, I’m threading my way up through the Gaslamp toward the bus stop at Third and Broadway. But I may be open to a snick …
On February 28, San Diego city council approved spending over $600,000 in redevelopment funds on a new leash-free dog park in downtown San Diego. The 16,500-square-foot dog park — proposed for the block bordered by …
On Saturday, February 5, at about 3:15 p.m., emergency personnel responded to a call from the Santa Fe Train Depot after a passenger fell off a train from San Luis Obispo. According to information obtained …
So, I find myself re-reviewing a Cohn restaurant because the chef has changed. And soon there will be others (such as Bo-Beau, the remake of Thee Bungalow). Yes, I’ve laid my grudge to rest. That …
At 5:19 p.m. on Thursday, January 27, after coming down the southbound 163 freeway into downtown San Diego, several cars were stopped at a red light on Tenth Avenue at A Street. Suddenly, a driver …
Late Sunday afternoon. Hungry for fish. Just got off the trolley at the Gaslamp, bottom of Fifth. I see I have a choice, har-de-har. Lou & Mickey’s, Nobu, Tin Fish. As they say, no contest. …
Hodad's, the Ocean Beach burger joint that is famous for its long lines of people waiting to dine among the surf memorabilia and license plates, is having trouble translating that O.B. vibe downtown. The slow …
The Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) is laying the foundations for a campaign to reach out to San Diego's residents and educate them on the importance of downtown redevelopment. The campaign comes three months after …
Currant has become a different restaurant since I reviewed it three years ago, with all-new management and chef. I liked it then, and once we hit the main courses, I like it now. Chef Walter …
Of all the gastropubs opening this year, Proper Gastro Pub seems to have the most extensive and ambitious menu, along with an especially rich selection of English pub-food classics, jiggered by chef Sean Magee into, …
Airport parking at San Diego International is expensive — unless you’ve snagged a free pass, that is. For most of us, it’s $4 an hour, $21 maximum for 24 hours; long-term parking (three days to …
The new Port Pavilion on Broadway Pier is causing controversy even before its public unveiling, scheduled for the weekend of December 18-19. The Port of San Diego will be hosting a celebratory open house on …
A loose dog terrorized air traffic at Lindbergh Field on Saturday, December 11th. Airport authorities alerted Air Traffic Control personnel that a stray canine was running amuck along the single runway around 5pm. The dog …
Mama's Kitchen, which has provided meals for people with AIDS and cancer for years, has lost its longtime lease at 1875 Second Avenue and the church property is up for sale. The nonprofit has a …
People upset with the handling of the Diana Gonzalez case plan to march silently from City College to the San Diego district attorney’s office on Thursday, December 9. Gonzalez was murdered at City College on …
Suite and Tender is heartily sorry for what it did when it first opened and is doing sincere penance — and doing it well. I would never have gone back, but then I phoned the …
The timeworn Hotel Sandford, a single-room occupancy facility for low-income seniors at 1301 Fifth Avenue, will soon receive long-overdue renovations. The San Diego Housing Commission purchased the building earlier this year for $6.8 million and …
The San Diego Rescue Mission opens its doors to just a few homeless women each evening. Although the facility is large and houses many men, only 50 women are allowed inside a very small area. …
On October 19, the San Diego City Council moved to further analyze the adoption of an ordinance and resolution that would authorize issuance of $13 million in “Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds” to pay for more …
You can try to love this part of town, but it’s hard. I’m at First and Ash. Land of monthly-stay hotels and parking lots. Just a stone’s throw from City Hall and its concourse, the …
On October 3 at about 8:15 p.m., San Diego police responded to a disturbing-the-peace call at the Santa Fe Depot on Kettner Boulevard. The incident occurred shortly after 8:00 p.m., when a taxi driver dropped …
Conversion of the former World Trade Center at 1250 Sixth Avenue into a “one stop” homeless center moved closer to reality October 5: the San Diego City Council, convened as the San Diego Redevelopment Agency, …
In the drizzly early afternoon of October 4, a crowd of about 50 people gathered outside the San Diego County Administration building, where the “Mad as Hell Doctors” held a rally. The Oregon-based group formed …
"Who wants kombucha?” Eli shouts as I walk into his new downtown loft around 10:30 p.m. The second-story space on the corner of Fourth Avenue and K Street feels utilitarian and bohemian — all concrete, …
More than 50 individuals from activist organizations and their supporters gathered at Horton Plaza on September 19 to demand the release of Army PFC Bradley Manning. The Army intelligence analyst was arrested and jailed for …
David Ross, known as "The Water Man” and as an advocate for homeless people in San Diego, appeared at the city-council meeting on Tuesday, September 14, with a shopping cart. His aim was to appeal …
Mama said there’d be days like this, but I don’t remember anything about “weeks and weeks like this.” Normally, I’d try to save a report on food-delivery services for the rains of winter, but in …
A desperate traveler named Robin pleaded with waiting taxicab and pedicab drivers to help retrieve her phone, which she dropped down the storm drain outside the Santa Fe train station on the afternoon of September …
Back when, a dear friend used to give mix tapes as gifts: collections of favorite songs on audio cassettes. She insisted that the sequence was as important as the songs. Like a baseball lineup, it …
"All three approaches lead to concession. It is the mindset of the board to take this to concession and that is something that I am not in favor of," said San Diego cabbie Edris Wahab …
Downtown residents are celebrating a change in greenery around Fahrenheit, an East Village condominium located on the corner of Island and Tenth Avenue. After being installed approximately three years ago, fake turf placed on the …
Recently at the Cortez “hole” site (midblock between Ash and Beech, flanked by Fourth and Fifth avenues), I met with Barry Getzel, senior project manager at Wakeland Housing & Development Corporation. The aborted construction site …
Sunset’s my kryptonite. Honest. Dusk is my undoing. I’m weakest when Huey’s dipping his tootsies in the ocean. Food and drink-wise, anyway. Here at the Gaslamp trolley stop around six, I can feel the magic …
A small crowd of MoveOn.org supporters gathered at noon on August 10 at the Community Concourse to "fight Washington corruption." Speakers included Anne Hoiberg, copresident of the League of Women Voters of San Diego, and …
After Northern California’s chief district judge Vaughn Walker on August 4 ruled that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional, I contacted Robert R. DeKoven, law professor at San Diego's California Western School of Law, since he writes …
The text messages that the parents of 18-year-old Tiffany began receiving on July 24 were chilling: “i think someone was stabbed,” she texted from Comic-Con shortly after 5:00 p.m. “They have locked down hall h,” …
The Westboro Baptist Church’s planned protest at Comic-Con on July 22 was overridden by a rally against hate and intolerance. (For a background story on the church’s plans, click here.) At noon in front of …
“San Diego has a sordid history of inadequate planning and project management for big projects,” said Mission Valley resident Phil Hart. He spoke during the non-agenda public comment portion of the July 19 San Diego …
Amtrak seems to be feeling the crunch of the current recession, as I noticed on a recent trip. Every few months for the past several years, I have used Amtrak to take short trips up …
Pastor Fred Phelps and members of his Westboro Baptist Church, out of Topeka, Kansas, plan to picket San Diego Comic-Con on opening day, July 22, starting at 1:15 p.m. The religious group has made headlines …
"This is right in the heart of our financial district," said Tom Sullivan, a representative from the Irvine Company, which owns several downtown buildings, during a city hearing on the proposal to build a downtown …
On July 13, Izean Rim Jr. walked down the aisle toward the dais to address the San Diego City Council. Rim, a homeless man, knows the trek well. He often appears at council meetings advocating …
“Dizzy’s,” explains Chuck Perrin, “has always been an artist-driven space.” He offers this on a Saturday morning as an explanation for why he is setting up a stage, chairs, and sound system in the Culy …
The 500 West Hotel located in the old Armed Services YMCA building in downtown San Diego, may only have several more years of life. In March 2013, the hotel operator, a company called 500 West …
In an attempt to break the current world record for largest “bikini walk,” an estimated 200 women wearing bikinis paraded down the streets of downtown San Diego on June 27. Although they fell over a …
"You will not be coming back for additional funds? Everything is accounted for? You know the cameras are recording this?" Councilmember and rules committee member Todd Gloria asked mayoral staffer Amy Benjamin during Wednesday's hearing …
On Saturday, June 12, upward of 50 near-nude bicyclists rode a loop from Hillcrest to the courthouses in downtown, drawing attention from tourists and locals. Many of the riders wore just enough clothing to cover …
After several years of contributing to downtown blight, the huge construction hole between Ash and Beech streets (bounded by Fourth and Fifth avenues) is finally being filled. The site of the planned Atmosphere condo development …
Donna Lambert, facing seven felonies for selling marijuana to an undercover officer with a doctor's recommendation, accepted a plea deal on May 27 and will avoid jail time. Lambert's case is the third of three …
During Friday’s lunch hour, a group of about 30 demonstrators organized by the San Diego Coffee Party took to the streets of downtown, carrying signs and occasionally bursting into chants. They gathered at the park …