La Mesa Stories
A ballot item approved in a 4-1 vote at the November 13 La Mesa City Council meeting means voters will decide in November 2014 whether medical marijuana dispensaries will be allowed in the city. Mayor …
The background photo on my brother’s iPod shows a plate of fried chicken and waffles from Roscoe’s up in Los Angeles. Before dining there, he had never enjoyed the two foods together, and he was …
Few years back, I was in a posh San Diego rehab battling wretched alcoholism. Every night, my fellow rehabbers and I would pack in the shiny white van, and head off to yet another AA …
On the afternoon of September 19, at about 4:15, a man who appeared to be in his 20s climbed onto a Caltrans signage platform above the I-8 on Lake Murray Boulevard. Police performed a traffic …
Leopard-print pool table and a temporarily dismembered mannequin at the Go Lounge in La Mesa, a part of the dive-bar scene.
You’ve probably seen Wong’s neon towers glowing along the University Avenue corridor through La Mesa. You probably mistook the place for a drug front or maybe the entrance to a theme park. The truth is …
A century after 249 East County residents voted on February 7, 1912, in favor of incorporating as the City of La Mesa, more than 150 people turned out two days ago for a town-hall meeting …
Membership: 65 Affiliation: Christian Reformed Church Interim Pastor: Adam Stout Age: 32 Born: Davenport, Iowa Formation: One year of Yucatán, Mexico, mission work; Calvin College and Calvin Theology Seminary, Grand Rapids, Mich. (2010). San Diego …
I was up early today watching for Santa Claus/The U.S. Postal Service. I have never been threatened by, or treated poorly by, a member of the United States Postal Service. I have however been accused …
According to the bartenders at the Chico, no one knows who developed the Buccaneer. Perhaps it was previous owners or the original owners, who opened the bar in 1940 and named it after the oldest …
Membership: 135 Pastor (interim): Marianna Kirwan Age: 70 Born: Chicago, Illinois Formation: Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley; Claremont School of Theology, Claremont Years Ordained: 32 San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your …
Attendance: 2400 Pastor: Ed Noble Age: 52 Born: Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Formation: California State University, Long Beach; Biola College (University), La Mirada; Talbot School of Theology, La Mirada Years Ordained: 24 San Diego Reader: How …
Last Friday, the only witnesses to a snatch-and-grab robbery outside the Fashion Kiss Boutique in La Mesa was a mannequin named Bianca...and a surveillance camera. Fashion Kiss owner Michella Dresselhuys installed a surveillance camera in …
During the first week of May, the U.S. Postal Service delivered notices informing La Mesa residents that the retail portion of the La Mesa Carrier Annex at 6055 Lake Murray Boulevard was “being considered for …
A friend who frequents the Riviera Supper Club in La Mesa once remarked that drinking in the attached Turquoise Room rejuvenates his sense of machismo. While the sentiment had never occurred to me, the retro …
Unfunded pension liability was the first issue raised at the January 20 La Mesa Town Hall Meeting held at Maryland Avenue Elementary School. Other concerns voiced by residents ranged from crime and traffic to the …
On December 14, Sydney Cicourel and members of animal activist group San Diego Stop Puppy Mills urged La Mesa city councilmembers to pass an ordinance prohibiting pet stores from buying dogs and cats from non-shelter …
Michella Dresselhuys, owner of Fashion Kiss, a ladies clothing and accessories boutique on date Avenue in La Mesa, reported to police on Friday, December 4 that between 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm a thief stole …
Protesters from San Diego Stop Puppy Mills stood outside the Pet Works store at Grossmont Center on December 4. The group, which has been protesting regularly outside of the store for nearly two years, claims …
Membership: 100 Pastor: Walter Frank Born: San Diego Formation: Pastoral training in Korea Ordained: 14 years San Diego Reader: Can you think of a sermon that flopped? PF: It was July about two years ago…. …
Robert Byron of La Mesa, who claims to be the only living direct male descendant of the poet Lord George Gordon Byron, gave us a call the other day. He sounded pleased. Although he’s known …
La Mesa's Heather McGuire bought a condo in 2006, got married the next year, and before long got into a fight — not with her new husband. She moved in with him. Her battle — …
My neighbor is a sex offender. I stumbled across this information Thursday evening. I have not been the same since. When I search my mind for the number of men like him, who have hurt …
At approximately 1:40 a.m. on March 13, La Mesa police responded to an audible alarm at an Enterprise Car Rental on the 8400 block of Center Street. Police arrived at the scene to discover that …
After a closure and retrofitting that lasted over a year, La Mesa’s Fire Station 13 will once again be fully operational; the station reopened on March 8, according to a press release. Built in the …
When construction of the two-story police station in La Mesa is completed this spring, it will be outfitted with a new radio communications system and feature upgraded radio-related technology and electronics. On Tuesday, February 9, …
Last Friday, January 15, two men attempting to sell a cell phone through Craigslist met up with a prospective buyer at a shopping-center parking lot near 5500 Grossmont Center Drive. Upon inspecting the cell phone, …
Got an unusual press release last week. It began: “On Sunday, December 13, 2009, St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in La Mesa, Calif., held a legally called and conducted meeting to take its second and final …
Barbecue. It’s the only cooking smell that actually wafts through the air like a well-flung fishing line, grabs you, and hauls you in by the nostrils. I mean, there I was at sunset, hoofing it …
Residents of the southwest and southeast sections of La Mesa have been put on alert regarding burglaries that have occurred in at least 11 residential blocks since November 17. Authorities released the description of two …
A mobile-home fire in Lakeside injured a woman and destroyed her residence early Wednesday morning, December 2. The fire at Willowbrook Estate East mobile park was reported at 6:35 a.m. According to sources at the …
Word spread from foodblog to foodblog until it reached my friend Lynne, who reads loads of ’em. She emailed me: “This place sounds interesting.” The encomiums were for a newish Middle Eastern restaurant in La …
La Mesa police detectives are looking for two teenaged girls who hit a woman in the head during a robbery at the La Mesa Boulevard trolley stop at around noon on Sunday, November 29. The …
La Mesa police detectives are looking for two men who robbed a La Mesa 7-Eleven early Saturday, November 28. According to police sources, a man about 35 years old entered the Baltimore Drive 7- Eleven …
I headed to La Mesa for a 40th birthday party. The first thing I noticed was the cake in the backyard: it was shaped like a huge Patrón tequila bottle. A woman named Juana told …
Why would a one-time Nepal trekker ever want to eat Nepalese food again? Is it masochism — or is it just that Nepal casts such a powerful spell? You just know there must be better …
At about 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28, I was driving northbound on SR-125 and noticed a curious sight: traffic on the westbound 94 connector ramp was stopped, with a California Highway Patrol car parked …
La Mesa Police Lieutenant Carlos Medero says consumption of alcohol in public places is a major distraction for the city's police force. The Lieutenant points to a spike in the number of complaints of drinking …
A man pretending to be a shopper robbed the Susie’s Hallmark store on Lake Murray Boulevard in La Mesa at approximately 2 p.m. on Thursday, October 22. The man had entered the gift shop and …
BALBOA PARK Another Perfect DayBy downtownphotoguy, June 26Today we were in Presidio Park in the morning and Balboa Park in the afternoon. We were shooting with a variety of lenses and techniques…. It seems everybody …
Two male transients robbed another male transient of his pants in the Best Buy parking lot on Fletcher Parkway on Sunday, October 4. “Typically, the kind of crimes we see for transients are drunk in …
“I didn’t stay for 30 years,” says pastor Felix Villanueva of his career as a Navy chaplain. “I only stayed for 21.” Because of Iraq. “That conflict was what prompted me to retire. I was …
Last week, I attended services at a church that broke away from the United Church of Christ in 1994. This week, without meaning to, I attended services at a church that broke away from the …
As I write this, Transformers 2 has just finished taking in over $200 million in five days. One of the main characters in that film is a robot who disguises himself as a 2009 Chevy …
The secret of dealing successfully with a child is not to be its parent. — Mell Lazarus Had it not been for the unmistakable racket of a wailing child and the desperate, hushed tone of …
“Welcome home!” read the handpainted banner in the vestibule of the half-saucer church. Inside, homemade signs rose up on coat-hanger posts from the pews: “Where we love is home.” “Home is not a place, it …
When the new Gio took over the space of the old Village Garden, the charming neighborhood of La Mesa Village acquired something like a “downtown-y” restaurant, a sophisticated but family-friendly indoor-outdoor bistro and wine bar. …
“We have no suspects and only very limited information,” reports Captain Ed Aceves with the La Mesa Police Department. There is a stabbing victim, though: he was treated early Sunday morning at Sharp Grossmont Hospital. …
On Wednesday, April 22, at around 3:00 p.m., three would-be burglars attempted a residential robbery on Pasadena Drive in the Mt. Nebo neighborhood of La Mesa. According to the homeowner's son, Dave, two males and …
-1 part vodka -1 part tequila -1 part rum -1 part gin-1 part triple sec -1-1/2 parts sweet-and-sour mix -1 splash Coke It’s about efficiency. When I need to catch a buzz, I need to …
Recent commercial robberies, residential burglaries, and purse snatchings in San Carlos, Del Cerro, and La Mesa prompted a community meeting at the San Carlos Recreation Center on Wednesday, March 25. The hourlong meeting began at …
What is Golden Hill’s edgy Turf Supper Club, along with its tattooed waitresses, doing out in the wilds of La Mesa? Same as it ever was: serving cook-it-yourself steaks. And now, beyond the basic green …