Downtown San Diego Stories
The recent book See You At San Diego: An Oral History of Comic-Con, Fandom, and the Triumph of Geek Culture sets the record straight regarding how pop culture's geekiest get-together became the BFD it is …
It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of the Westgate Hotel, which takes up the bulk of a downtown city block at the corner of Broadway and Second Avenue. Opened in 1970, …
“We don’t talk a lot, but we do yell a lot,” says Jamie Dambois. Yah, for sure, there’s a lot of shouting at the screens here. Small surprise: this is the last week of the …
The Palms Hotel at 12th and Island downtown (originally known as the Bay View and reportedly San Diego's oldest continuously operated lodging) and Hillcrest's similarly rundown Friendship Hotel are being purchased by the same Newport-based …
At about 2 pm on June 21, Amanda Vazquez Defran heard a peculiar noise below her Banker's Hill home balcony. "I work from home, so I get a front row seat to a lot of …
Callie truly doesn’t want you to miss your seating time. To begin with, the East Village restaurant charges a ten-dollar-a-person deposit when you make a reservation. And you’ll need a reservation, because the swanky eatery …
Nobody seems sure when a proposed three-billion-dollar overhaul of Seaport Village may eventually break ground. But a funny thing happened as the “mega redevelopment” has inched through many years of planning bureaucracy: the forty-year-old plaza …
Lyrical Groove’s Kendrick Dial, a Dallas native, came to San Diego in 2000 with the Navy. Since then, he’s called Chula Vista, Spring Valley, Downtown, and North Park home, and noted how each district boasts …
I can’t tell you how to get here, exactly, but I’m inside Neighborhood’s speakeasy, Noble Experiment. And I can’t give you the exact name of the cocktail, but you could call it a tequila sour. …
When I wrote about it in 2015, East Village bakery Brooklyn Bagel and Bialy was the closest our city came to having a legit New York bagel shop. Meaning I might have experienced lasting disappointment …
A clatter against the window of my second-story room in Golden Hill awoke me. Then, shouts. What the hell? “Eh, Miguel.” “Miguelito.” “Barba de Chivo, levántate, cabrón.” Only Rodolfo called me Barba del Chivo, followed …
An eco-friendly way to tour San Diego. An advertising machine. A ride to the airport. Pedicabs have long had their niche in the city, but many of the businesses have been swept off the streets …
It was slated to be the loudest live music venue in the Gaslamp Quarter, residents said. So loud, the rooftop bar proposed for the Sugar Factory on 5th Avenue would have violated San Diego's noise …
Street life is coming back, and with it, scooter critics. Motorized scooters are often touted as a first or last mile link in the transit chain, and the city counts them among its mobility choices …
As the state ends its latest indoor mask mandate on Feb.15, Omicron continues to circulate. "We are still in that high transmission phase," said County of San Diego deputy chief medical officer, Jennifer Tuteur. In …
Arguably, it was incidental that a San Diego courtroom proved to be the venue where federal judicial power asserted that enough was enough in terms of Donald Trump’s child-separation policy — a decision that helped …
In December, San Diego accumulated 2.58 inches of rain at the San Diego International Airport, almost an inch higher than our city’s 1.6″ December average. “Widespread heavy rainfall and mountain snow is forecast this week, …
It’s 2022, and we’re all more or less accustomed to ordering food from touchscreens. That could mean delivery order placed from our phones, fast food order made at digital kiosks, or — thank you, pandemic …
On December 19, San Diegans and tourists alike were flustered by a 215-foot "space-age" catamaran docked near the Star Of India, across the street from the San Diego County Administration Building. "Is this a kind …
It's been more than five years since transportation officials came up with a plan to get buses and portable toilets off certain city streets. The downtown bus stopover project evolved to add a new headquarters …
Hot chocolate and Oreo pancakes might not be what my wife had in mind when she sent me off with the children in search of breakfast. But it’s a chilly morning, and we’re dining outside, …
Anthony Belcufini Animae 969 Pacific Highway Downtown “Every single night, it’s probably the top seller,” says Anthony Belcufini about Animae’s A5 Old Fashioned. “And it ties into what we do in the back of the …
Eighteen months ago, we all saw the pandemic make things tough on restaurants, a few of which never made it back. However, if we liken that to a long winter of attrition, what we’ve been …
Over a week ago, a man broke into a private train car, which former President John F. Kennedy allegedly traveled in. It was parked at the Santa Fe Depot train station. "We attempted to speak …
I’ve photographed burritos, dumplings, and egg rolls, but probably the most challenging photo I’ve ever tried to take centered on a lump of fudge. I’d ordered the rocky road flavor, hoping that the large, white …
Adult Orphans A Wednesday afternoon, hot. Half the stools at the State Hotel Deli are taken. Talk is quiet, desultory. Mama Sofia perches on her stool near the cash register, her daughter — mending again …
The blue flame dances in and out of focus. The Green Fairy sparkles in front of my eyes. I can feel her hypnotizing me. I’m seeing seven veils, I’m thinking “Scheherazade,” “Salome.” My eyelids are …
On Sunday, April 25, 2021, Taylor Kahle and her date had dinner at Basic Bar & Pizza in East Village — just “Basic” to locals. They ordered Mashed Potato Bacon pizza and a couple of …
It’s just after noon on a Thursday at Escondido’s TJ Tacos. The place is surprisingly uncrowded, with only about six people in line for the taco stand’s signature adobada tacos, a spicy blend of marinated …
So how has the Gaslamp fared through covid? Walking up Fourth around Market, got to say, not too well by the looks. Lot of doors closed, patios empty, and the ones that are open, not …
Alex Ramos The Smoking Gun 555 Market Street Downtown On a bustling corner of the Gaslamp Quarter, I’m chatting with The Smoking Gun’s bartender Alex Ramos, who tells me to give the Smith ‘n Wesson …
The windows rattle when the trolley rolls past. Which isn’t surprising, given how the shape of the building is defined by the way tracks curl east coming out of Santa Fe Depot. They carve an …
The opening of the Rady Shell at the Jacobs Park featuring performances on the Una Davis Family Stage is imminent. As one might surmise from all the titles surrounding the Shell project, the San Diego …
In the Gaslamp, Fifth Avenue is still closed to traffic five evenings a week, including most of the day Saturday and Sunday. This has been happening since August, part of a bid to keep restaurants …
“It’s pandemic Armageddon, downtown,” says Jess. She’s the general manager here. She’s just brought out my poutine. “We’re hanging on by our fingernails.” Armageddon? She’s talking about the number of homeless people who come by, …
“Let’s go fishing! I’m at the South Embarcadero. You can rent poles for $5 and buy bait and eat hot dogs and watch Huey sink into the West, all at the same time!” “Where are …
On Thursday night, a few minutes before sunset, I found a parking spot at 13th and G Streets in East Village, and called upstairs to let them know I had arrived. From the sidewalk I …
It wasn’t long before the pandemic started that I first heard of Spoiled Vegans. At the time, the small business had been a pop-up business, serving plant-based breakfast sandwiches and waffles within an East Village …
Gaslamp Quarter. People wary. Streets empty. Seagulls fighting over scraps. One place crowded: breakfast joint on 6th and J. It’s blossoming in sky-blue umbrellas and rosy pink chairs. And busy! Really surprising at this time, …
We did not go to the waterfront in search of beef jerky. We thought we’d enjoy a nice stroll along the San Diego Bay Walk, maybe grab something from the Tuna Harbor Fish Market, held …
We were told that happy hour specials would only be available at the bar. Fair enough: the bar area is large and stylish, and still within view of the boats and harbor. However, I was …
The city has stopped paying rent on 101 Ash St., but the asbestos-riddled building has sat empty for months, posing a new problem. Vacant buildings are at high risk of vandalism, fire and theft. And …
Oktoberfest is canceled in 2020 — that is, the massive, more than two-week-long Munich beer drinking festival that’s taken place since 1810. The spirit of the event has survived the pandemic, however, and a number …
A mixed-use project approved by the planning commission on Thursday will fill some gaps in downtown's East Village. But in some ways, the modern 9G tower resembles an earlier era. 241 new dwelling units in …
I missed out on the first iteration of Animae. I was traveling when the lavish, 5.5 million dollar restaurant hosted a media preview, and was still tucking away pennies to splurge on a high-end dinner …
If there's one thing communities around San Diego Bay agree on, it's hotels. They are view-killers, pedestrian blockers, tourist malls. Yet the Port wants more. When the San Diego Unified Port District, which oversees the …
Argentina? El Salvador? Empanadas? Pupusas? What’s the difference? I’m wandering, wandering, and wondering as I wander. I’ve just come down from City College. Had this crazy notion that their cafeteria might be open. What I …
Why do I always get these cool vibes here? I mean, it’s an area that can be a little scrubby, around 6th and B downtown. Lots of people hanging around the 5th Avenue trolley, specially …
The restaurant business, as Bette Davis once said about growing old, ain’t no place for sissies. The hours are long; the profit margins, razor-thin. Customers are notoriously fickle, and a few bad Yelp reviews can …
As professional sports leagues attempt in fits and starts to restart their respective seasons, one thing is clear: there won’t be any fans in the stands. So if you want to see live baseball in …
There are a handful of parties grabbing breakfast on the narrow patio of East Village’s location of local breakfast and booze chain, Breakfast Republic. But restaurant dining is kind of nerve-wracking right now, so I …
“Be ready for the gas grenades!” yells a protester. Seconds later: boom... boom... boom. “The sun just went down and everyone’s getting violent out here,” says Arturo Gonzalez into his phone’s microphone. “Look at how …