Hillcrest Stories
When Jacob T. came outside from his Kensington home on October 16, ready to go to work, he found his truck smeared with what appeared to be mud. After a …
Video:FEAST!: Tijuanazo makes Hillcrest part of the "Taco Megaregion"A new taco compendium regards Tijuana and San Diego less as neighboring taco towns, than as part of a sprawling taco landscape. …
Community planning group considerations are supposed to be boring. Infrastructure, environmental impact reports, traffic studies, zoning…important stuff, but also dull enough to make most people zone out. But not this …
Hundreds of threatened animal species live in neighborhoods where the city wants to build more housing and trails for humans.Where will the non-humans go?Blueprint SD, an update to San Diego's …
Hillcrest Stories
First Unitarian Universalist Church of San DiegoContact: Hillcrest Campus—4190 Front St., San Diego; South Bay Campus—970 Broadway, Ste. 104, Chula Vista www.firstuusandiego.orgMembership: 500Lead Minister: Justine SullivanAge: 61Born: Boston, MA Formation: Boston University; Simmons College-School for Social Work, …
Like a wave that's traveled thousands of miles before breaking on San Diego shores, Makai Sushi and its chef/owner Matt Oliver formed over a great time and distance prior to landing in Hillcrest.PlaceMakai Sushi3968 Fifth …
Recently, axe and machete wielders have been terrifying San Diegans—a change from last year's swords. Some neighbors are capturing videos on their Ring, Blink, and phone cameras and posting scary videos on social media to …
Many uptown inhabitants feel left out of community planning, which is now represented by Uptown Planners, a group whose voting members are mostly homeowners. The San Diego City Council’s land use and housing committee last week …
Video:COVER: Everything in Hillcrest is fleeting. First-place winner – Reader neighborhood writing contestThe raccoon was homeless and pregnant and wanted to live under my house. But since it’s really my landlord’s house, I couldn’t allow …
On February 15, the El Cajon Police Department announced that they've received more than 60 reports in 90 days of Kia and Hyundai cars either being stolen or broken into and damaged. The distress calls …
Video:TIN FORK: the uber-cool Chocolat, around the corner at Fifth and University“Please, darling. Not Chinese. Not tonight.”We’re outside the Hong Kong restaurant. The place looks fine to me — but not to the beautiful Diane. …
Before New Year's Eve, Joy Boe's black-colored Retrospec Beaumont bike was stolen from her yard in Hillcrest."It has Pee Wee Herman stickers on it and a Pee Wee-inspired lion ornament on the front handlebars," she …
The battle continues over a plan to build 19,000 new homes in Hillcrest, which hasn't seen any boost in residential densities in more than three decades.It has, however, seen such an increase in homelessness, a …
I often ask musicians about their best, worst, and weirdest experiences while performing in and around San Diego. In the case of classically-trained soprano and mezzo-soprano <a href="http://www.sandiegoreader.com/bands/victoria-robertson/">Victoria Robertson</a>, these three categories melded in one …
Two appeals of a permit for a mixed-use high-rise in Banker's Hill were heard on Sept. 28 by the San Diego city's planning commission, which voted unanimously to approve the project.The Quince Apartments at 301 …
In the last few months, there's been a slew of electronic theft reports online from all over the county — laptops, iPhones, and headphones. Some local thieves are brazen enough to steal iPhones from the …
After years of delays, Normal Street's pedestrian promenade, which began as a grassroots effort in Hillcrest in 2015, is moving forward. What was the holdup? A driveway. Hillcrest Village Square Partners, who have owned the …
I hesitate to admit this, but much of my writing is rooted in dreams. Before your eyes roll back in your head and you start struggling with whether or not to feign interest — you …
A rooftop battle over radio-frequency (RF) emissions has been won by telecom giant Verizon - for now. It's not over, say attorneys for Carole Sachs, who owns and lives in the uptown penthouse condo that …
On May 11, the Federal Department of Health and Human Services will end the Covid public health emergency. But the bureaucratic behemoth is a slow-footed beast; John Q. Public knows the pandemic ended some time …
A former Wienerschnitzel A-frame building in Chula Vista caught on fire again, marking the tenth reported blaze at a California-based Wienerschnitzel building in the last couple of years. Right before 11:30 am on March 9, …
A note from the editor: This week, we present the second of the two entries to last year’s writing contest that investigated the long-ago murder of a young woman in San Diego. Once again, the …
You’ll need to be familiar with at least two types of Mediterranean cooking appliances to understand what’s happening at FurnSaj Bakery & Restaurant. A furn may be thought of as similar to a clay pizza …
As Hillcrest considers turning its core into a historic district, gays have lost one of only two sites dedicated to the LGBQT community. The planning commission voted unanimously last week to approve a development permit …
When the shutdown started, I was working at a preschool in Hillcrest. I can still picture my director walking down the stairs from her office above my classroom to tell us it was time to …
Last month drivers for the Metropolitan Transit System witnessed three accidents on their bus and trolley routes. First, on October 19, at about 4:30 pm, a black-colored vehicle collided with the trolley. Then the car …
A favorite, dog-friendly coffeeshop that emerged during the pandemic has quickly grown into a three-location dog-friendly family of coffeeshops. Chiefy Café — named after its owners’ dog — opened just shy of two years ago …
“IZOLA Bakery will not exploit this local artist any longer,” reads a recent Instagram post from local singer Fre3sty13, “as they expect us to art inside their shop for free; that’s modern-day slavery… You want …
The first time he knocked, my wife and I were brainstorming dinner ideas. He must have approached cautiously, or the creaky porch would have given him away. As it was, our conversation choked to a …
The past couple months, the name of a Canadian pizza shop has stared back at me from a perpetually growing list I keep of new restaurants to try. Steveston Pizza Company started out in a …
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 …
In the greater San Diego area, you could visit three different Italian restaurants every week for a year and still not try them all. More like five a week if you include pizza counters. And …
The San Diego City Council on Monday overturned the historic designation of a small, nondescript commercial building on the southeast corner of 4th Avenue and Palm Street in Banker's Hill. Built by master architect Charles …
There are a lot of used-to-be’s on El Cajon Boulevard. The now-gentrified corner at Utah used to be a mattress store. The Red Fox Room used to be on the south side of the street. …
Editor’s Note: Aphorisms be damned, we judged Adam Gnade’s book by its cover, which was designed to look like something you’d find in the dollar paperback box in a used bookstore, complete with water stains …
Vegas lawyer and a super gift giver SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, currently welshing on paying $10 million in back rent to the city, last year came up with a free ticket worth $80 for Ninth …
The long, piercing, terrible scream that echoed through the auditorium didn’t come from the movie; it emanated from somewhere in the back of the theater, and it was alive, an entity. Here, near 37th and …
“He has a book out? I love that guy! I love that band!” Rick Froberg shows the enthusiasm of a teenage metalhead when discussing former Hillcrest resident and Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, who recently …
The Reader’s editorial staff was gratified and frequently delighted by the response we got to our writing contest: 347 non-fiction stories, 31 pieces of fiction, and no less than 199 poems. It’s good to know …
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 …
In addition to several of the will specifics, the Winnipeg newspaper article contained quotes from a Chula Vista woman who was identified as Glikeria’s friend. ‘She always had a hammer or a saw or paintbrush …
I felt as though my searching was coming to the end, that I had exhausted just about all my Ancestry leads. For the heck of it, and not expecting to find anything helpful, I Googled …
I found a couple more passport documents, one for a later trip that Glikeria made in 1919 to Sweden, of all places. And yes, there was yet another photo of her, this one less of …
It feels good to be a winner. Who doesn’t love being the best — or at least the first, or the luckiest? People congratulate you, make you feel special and singled out. And you get …
The 1950 census won’t be released until 2025, so it was impossible to follow the census trail forward any further. I figured the only more current record I would find on our couple was their …
Flash forward eight years to a couple of months ago. Harry L. and Keria Rogers jump into my mind as Lynne and I are poking through one of my old family lines on Ancestry. I …
After my wife Lynne and I had bought each other subscriptions to Ancestry.com, I had a ton of info about people at my fingertips. (Am I really one of the only people who actually misses …
It’s one of those evenings. I’m in The Studio in Hillcrest with my friend Eric. He’s introducing me to his friend, the artist Elisabeth Sullivan. And straightaway, I’m mesmerized by this painting of hers. It’s …
It’s the colors, here in this neighborhood that’s celebrating with tacos and beer and lots of noise, half a block from 5th and University. “Escandalo!”, a gal’s singing again and again. It looks like a …
Pernicano’s in Hillcrest was a popular eatery for years, especially for sports celebs. Colorful owner George Pernicano owned three percent of the San Diego Chargers (seven percent originally). His restaurant closed in 1985, and has …
“Let’s go Japanese,” says Chris. “You mean chopsticks?” asks Erik. “Not really my thing.” There are four of us standing around here, dithering by the DMV in Uptown. It’s 4:30 pm. Chris calls his buddy …
Major nonprofit thrift stores in San Diego have been around for decades. Then along came Covid and took its toll. Two longtime San Diego Rescue Mission thrift stores (North Park and City Heights) closed down. …