Purple gives way to pink gives way to blue. Dawn is cracking late here in the Southern Hemisphere. We’re at a tiny country railroad station at seven on this winter’s morning, waiting for the train. …
June 30, 2022
Go Abroad!
Trax Bar & Cafe: rollicking towards Wellington Central
Lyon, France: a city of sights, not just food
If Paris has its Seine dividing the city into Left and Right Banks, Lyon, France’s third largest city, is wedged in by two great rivers – the Rhône and Saône. From Paris, it’s a short …
June 26, 2022
Fed Up Restaurant & Takeaway: more paua to you
“New Season First Grade Bluff Oysters! Here we go, mate,” says Russell. “This is the one. This place is da bomb.” We’re sitting beside a small sign: “Fed Up Restaurant & Takeaway,” here in Paraparaumu, …
June 16, 2022
A Canadian Swede surfs La Jolla Shores
Are you a Local? No, I’m from Sweden but I live in Canada. How long have you been surfing? This is my 4th time surfing. I went to Portugal in 2019 and I did my …
May 3, 2022
Os Almendres: Portugal's Stonehenge
In Portugal’s southern Alentejo province, near the town of Evora, in the incongruous midst of a vast cork plantation, stands Portugal’s Stonehenge. It is called Os Almendres. Around 6,000 years ago, for no obvious reason, …
March 20, 2022
Texas gets parts of Trump's border wall from San Diego for free
Biden’s free bollards and chains The state of Texas, reportedly gaining population at the expense of California, has received another gift by way of the Golden State: a February 15 Texas Tribune dispatch reports that …
February 23, 2022
Visit the ancient clifftop hotel named after Queen Calafia
Oh no! “Rosy! Rápido, por favor!” Rosy whips around. She makes a wild grab at the gull as he’s about fly over the cliff with my Bistro Burger. The wooden rail keeps her from launching …
Three from this year’s Jewish film festival
Of special note from this year’s Jewish film festival: a trio of uniquely personal biodocs. The festival runs February 9-20. Visit the SDJFF website for more information. Eddy’s World (2020) What a joy! We open …
February 3, 2022
San Diego's freedivers have the freedom to die
The history of freediving is so rich in La Jolla that diving in its cove is akin to a Catholic visiting Rome: maybe it didn’t all start there, but that’s where it really hit big. …
February 2, 2022
“When the world is full of butterflies and sunshine again”
“I started performing music in public during my high school years and had a successful band in Cleveland, Ohio back in the 1970s called Buckeye Biscuit,” says light classical jazz guitarist Ron Franklin. “We’re mentioned …
A romantic triptych
This week finds two new home video releases from Film Movement, and yours truly still stinging from the loss of a funny broad. Joy Womack: the White Swan (2021) Accepted to Russia’s esteemed Bolshoi Ballet …
January 27, 2022
Nora Vargas attackers under sex harassment shadows
Hit piece late fees In what appears to be a much-belated post-election payoff, two Los Angeles-area Democrats forced from office amid sexual harassment scandals came up with big money in 2021 for a 2020 campaign …
Ae Southammavong levels up on Next Level Chef
Ae Southammavong says she always liked cooking. As a little kid in Laos, she learned things in the kitchen at home, and by the time she was about 10, she was helping her parents prepare …
January 26, 2022
A lesson in spices at Ban Lao Cuisine
Night has clanged down on City Heights like an emergency curtain at a movie theater. It’s easy to get lost in this gloom once you’re out of the #7 bus, but, just past Happy Bubbles …
January 20, 2022
Shirtless at Danny’s in Coronado
“Attention!” It’s midnight on Friday. A shirtless, tattooed guy jumps up onto the counter at Danny’s, the Coronado bar in which Navy Seals and other special ops types like to gather to let off steam. …
January 19, 2022