Mission Hills Stories
When San Diegans don't have parking spaces on our city streets — many, out of desperation, resort to playing games and being sneaky. Street parking spaces throughout San Diego County …
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 …
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 …
There’s a hilltop house in Cardiff, at 959 Cornish Drive, that is not like the others in the tony seaside neighborhood. The house itself resembles a giant box, light yellow …
Mission Hills Stories
As of this month, we can find the word smashburger in the dictionary, courtesy of a new edition of Mirriam-Webster that defines it as, “A hamburger patty that is pressed thin onto a heated pan or …
Oakley Hll explains The Corpus of Joe Bailey In San Diego, Corpus of Joe Bailey also made a noteworthy entrance. The book was denounced from San Diego pulpits for being too sexy and provoked Mission …
The bar at the corner of 30th Street and Adams Avenue is named Polite Provisions. The outfit that runs it, Consortium Holdings, bills it as “an ode to the extinct neighborhood institution that is the …
“Aw, man! I thought I might get to dance with some cats today!” Knowing that the man in the purple shirt is using olde-timey slang to describe males — as opposed to our furry feline …
A recent verbal altercation at a local Lucha Libre-inspired restaurant in Mission Hills was actual and not a professional wrestling skit, as many onlookers thought. "Ma'am, give me my receipt, you fu--ing bit-h .... "You …
“We’re eating British tonight, alright?” says Annie in that voice of hers. It’s been a hard day. We’ve been working together. Both beat. She’s my friend. You’d think she was my wife. But hey, she’s …
There was hardly a time in Milan Djokich’s life when he wasn’t building. He was only nine when he started carrying blocks on the construction sites worked by his father, who had himself learned masonry …
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 …
“Designed by the architectural firm of Richard Requa & Henry Jackson and built by Walter Trepte between 1929 and 1932, the ‘Bohannan Estate’ is one of Mission Hills’ most prominent estates.” Or so promises the …
On July 11, Camo, a five-year-old veiled chameleon, escaped from his indoor and outdoor cage in a Mission Hills home. "I live next to a row of Juniper trees, so he will likely climb to …
A project proposed for Presidio Park would make the historic Junipero Serra Museum more accessible to visitors with disabilities - but archeologists are afraid it will harm a site still in discovery. "Only about one-third …
The Lamplighter in Mission Hills is, in its own estimation, “San Diego’s Favorite Dive & Karaoke Bar.” This may be true, and I’ve had a good time there myself, but for the purposes of this …
Music worth saving History, geopolitics, and social sciences are my fields, but as a young boy growing up on Long Island, I was the organist of our parish and even joined the AFM in my …
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 …
Novelist Oakley Hall was best known for his Westerns, including Warlock, which won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1958. But before rising to fame, the San Diego-born writer broke out with 1953’s Corpus of Joe …
A pandemic has tested our collective love/hate relationships with delivery apps — enough at times to warrant government intervention. But before we all decide (or decide not to) return to indoor dining this spring, I …
Scoring a weekend table at a decent outdoor dining venue has become something of a post pandemic sport. Go to any restaurant with patio dining on a sunny Saturday afternoon and you can expect a …
When I covered Mission Hills’ Mr. Trustee ice cream counter on its sweltering opening day this summer, I did not anticipate revisiting the spot on a cool winter afternoon. Nor did I expect to be …
It was just one of those mornings everybody and their brother wanted donuts. Out on an early morning errand, I knew I would pass the bustling Solomon Bagels & Donuts on the way home. I …
Mission Hills United Methodist Church Contact: 4044 Lark St, San Diego 619-296-1243 www.missionhillsumc.org Membership: 50 Neighborhood: Mission Hills Pastor: Bailey Brawner Age: 26 Born: Anchorage, AK Formation: University of Montana-Western, Dillon, MT; Boston University School …
The nearly century-old estate at 2212 La Callecita in Mission Hills, once dubbed Longview Manor, “is truly a one of a kind treasure,” according to listing remarks published at realtor.com. “This architecturally significant home was …
Since dining rooms reopened with a ban on re-usable menus, a few of our city’s savvier restaurants have replaced them with tech. Rather than disposable paper menu, they encourage use of blocky, square QR codes, …
As afternoon temperatures pushed 90 last Wednesday, ice cream fans lined up in Mission Hills to be among the first to get scoops from Mr. Trustee, the neighborhood’s newest ice cream shop. Like me, they …
It was about three years ago next weekend that I got my first taste of the Corazon de Torta food truck. It was parked towards the back of the Reader’s Tacotopia taco festival, but buzz …
Last night, I placed an order for delivery from the restaurant Tender Greens. Dinner was good, but what will help sustain me in the week to come was the grocery box I ordered. For $33, …
One Saturday morning I made my way over to Mission Hills to explore M-Theory Music, the neighborhood vinyl store. Before stopping in, I walked to a quirky coffee shack a block away, Meshuggah Shack. It’s …
Over Valentine’s weekend, I went to Mission Hills to put the bottomless mimosas at Harley Gray Kitchen & Bar to the test. Waiting for my veggie omelet to arrive, I noticed two ladies who had …
Book-lovers chew the fat at the Mission Hills Library His watch tells him 6:45. This Mission Hills branch stays open tonight — it’s Monday. He slaps the book closed, reshelves it, glances to his left. …
Over Memorial Day weekend, I gathered with friends for a picnic at Pioneer Park in Mission Hills to celebrate a bit of scattered sunshine with a bit of wine. After scouting cute dogs most of …
Antonio Palma felt something or someone was driving him to visit Vietnam, a place to which he had no ties. Not knowing what awaited him and traveling to the other side of the world without …
The brewhouse at 1795 Hancock Street has produced a lot of beer for a number of breweries over the past two decades, and as of last week it's changed hands once again. Part of the …
Amazing how long since I’ve been up here in Mission Hills. I’m at the corner of Washington and Goldfinch. Pass a doorstep with a carving in it: “Welcome Back to the Gathering.” It has a …
Over the course of 25 years of handwritten correspondence with my pen pal Persephone, none had ever been returned. Imagine my confusion when my last letter reappeared a couple of weeks later, unopened and defaced …
A retired United States Marine captain is suing a restaurant in Mission Hills for hosting a ladies and non-binary-only party and for refusing to allow him access or give him drink specials that the attendees …
I don't know why football season makes me crave Italian beef sandwiches. I've never lived in Chicago, and only ever visited the Windy City in the spring. I'd blame the onset of fall weather, if …
I drive past it often — whenever I take the Washington Street exit from I-5 north to go to Mission Hills. But Il Centro Pizza e Birra always goes by in a blur. Problem is, …
God bless, John Adams. You can thank him for all the firework displays around the Fourth of July. In Philadelphia, July 4, 1777, 13 fireworks were set off to commemorate the 13 colonies. The colors …
On May 24, a city council subcommittee unanimously recommended to make $14 million available for golf course projects over the next three years. Kris Shackelford, city’s public works department, gave a one-minute presentation. The whole …
I got a press release the other day notifying me that Shakespeare’s Pub had won a contest held among 160 British-style pubs to determine who makes the best fish and chips in the U.S. My …
“We just want to do one more proper show before we get older,” says Festival of Dead Deer guitar/vocalist Michael Crain. The LA-based trio put out an LP on San Diego’s Three One G Records …
Hillcrest may soon have new parking meters as well as new enforcement hours. Uptown Community Parking District chief operating officer Elizabeth Hannon said the changes may go into effect in the spring. Established in 1997, …
At the unruly age of 16, the former Bar Dynamite bleached its mop and jutted its chin as Blonde Bar. Open since August, Blonde channels a ’70s CBGB into modern day through the punk-rock patchwork …
"There's been a lot of divisive rhetoric over the last year or so that's made people fearful, and to feel unwelcome," said John Bertsch, owner of the Meshuggah Shack coffee outlet in Mission Hills, before …
Another band that’s in lust with the pop music of the 1960s. And why not? It was good material, and most all of it distinctive. Tele Novella has been compared to the girl groups of …
They may range in size and scope, but most of the nearly 150 breweries and tasting rooms pouring across greater San Diego have at least one thing in common — their looks. Since the majority …
I thought I knew Mission Hills. After all, I’ve eaten at a couple dozen restaurants there and can rattle off recommendations like a pro. I know there’s a library serving the neighborhood, but that a …
My friend Rosa convinced me — with an arsenal of photos she’d taken of dishes, including her favorite mac ’n’ cheese — to go to the Red Door for happy hour. “The vegetables are always …
“End of an era. The neon sign is up for grabs. If interested email,” @BarDynamiteSD tweeted on August 10. A couple of weeks later, the new construction dust had barely settled inside the dance club …