It took four hours for City of San Diego Public Utilities Department workers to respond to a water-line break at a La Jolla business in September 2014. During that four-hour window, amid numerous calls and …
May 22, 2015
La Jolla Stories
Four hours to find the shutoff valve?!
Unafraid of death, in fear of pain
A lawsuit filed in a San Diego court last week seeks confirmation of the belief that existing state law and the constitution of California provide legal cover for doctors who assist terminally ill patients in …
May 21, 2015
Ride wild surf movies at San Diego Surf Film Fest 4
It appears as if the San Diego Surf Film Festival has hit a happy reef. The annual event has become so popular that, after three years of calling Bird’s Surf Shed their home base, SDFF …
May 20, 2015
Hillary's big fat San Diego payday
With the purchase of the city's daily newspaper by Chicago-based Tribune Publishing — owner of the Los Angeles Times — San Diego may be fast on its way to becoming a frequent campaign stop for …
May 18, 2015
Sorry, the retaining wall won't be pretty
A city project to rebuild a collapsing retaining wall along Torrey Pines Road in La Jolla will proceed, no matter how much the La Jolla Planning Association apparently dislikes the renderings. Two members of the …
May 15, 2015
Is jazz the new rock?
Is jazz the new rock? Yes and no. Some of jazz culture will forever remain mired in the 1950s, which the industry will support by design not unlike radio’s ultracautious love for tried-and-true music like …
Texas-sized b.s.
Alfred Louis "Bobby" Vassallo, former La Jollan and inveterate name-dropper, has confessed to wire fraud and will be sentenced August 24. He pleaded guilty in federal court in Santa Ana in April. The Texan blew …
May 8, 2015
La Jolla fabulist earns what he deserves
James Yiu Lee, a La Jolla resident, was sentenced yesterday (May 4) to 78 months in prison for defrauding investors of $10.5 million through online trading. Lee told potential clients that he was a certified …
May 5, 2015
Billions of dirty ore dollars
Called the Grants Uranium District, a dusty stretch of New Mexico's San Juan Basin near Gallup has the potential to make billions of dollars for a wealthy La Jolla family and its heirs. But first …
May 4, 2015
Largest shark in La Jolla
The return of the prehistoric-looking sevengill sharks to La Jolla Cove can be safely witnessed by humans. Sevengill sharks migrate to the cove every spring and can be seen by swimmers and divers in water …
April 29, 2015
High on the chai
Vanilla, coffee, chilies…they’ve all had their time in the sun and their time in the fermenter as en vogue beer additives. Some were pretty obvious go-withs, while others (like, say, scorpion peppers and breakfast cereal) …
April 18, 2015
SeaWorld releases 22 rescued and potty-trained pups into La Jolla Cove
Statement from SeaWorld Director of Wildlife Rehabilitation Lindsey Lyon: "When SeaWorld was called upon to rescue over 650 marine mammals from Southern California beaches this year — including over 400 sea lions, far more than …
April 18, 2015
House poor, data rich
In the fourth quarter of last year, the median home price in San Diego hit $430,000 — 59 percent higher than the 2009 bottom but still below the $500,000 peak of 2005. Kelly Cunningham, economist …
April 16, 2015
Boom purveyors' pollution in light of day
San Diego has had 111 fireworks events since 2011, when the state water-quality control board began requiring permits — not including SeaWorld's maximum of 150 a year, which are counted under a different permit. Most …
April 10, 2015
La Jolla’s Catania restaurant rolls out Italiano beers
“Everybody’s doing the local beer thing, so we’re going another direction.” This was my introduction to the beer menu at Catania, the coastal Italian spinoff of the restaurant group comprising Whisknladle and Prepkitchen. Despite this …
April 10, 2015
Samples at the Symphony
The San Diego Symphony is offering a pay-what-you-want sampling of next year's season. The orchestra will be performing sections of the 2015-2016 season. There will be an open bar. I mean, the bar will be …
April 7, 2015
What did the bacteria say to the cigarette?
Researchers at UC San Diego and the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System have found a population whose health actually improves when exposed to cigarette smoke: deadly, antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly …
April 3, 2015
Look your recommendation in the eye
When some food- and wine-loving college friends visited La Jolla recently and asked for restaurant recommendations, this whole I Write About Feasts thing meant I really needed to be on point. This would be no …
March 31, 2015
Mainly Mozart starts its engine
Mainly Mozart is giving two Spotlight Series concerts this weekend in two enticing locations. The music is a transcription of Bach's Goldberg Variations for string trio. The concert is at the Scripps Research Institute on …
March 24, 2015
Ché Café sit-in is a bust
“We won’t go easily.” Raquel Calderon and about 50 other Ché Café volunteers were on hand at 5 a.m. for a meeting at the Ché building to discuss Miranda rights, anticipating the arrival of the …
March 24, 2015