Normal Heights Stories
Detroit quartet Protomartyr delivered a blistering set of post-punk goodness to Soda Bar. The band performed selections from all three of their albums, which the packed house lapped up like enthusiastic Rottweilers. Vocalist Joe Casey’s …
The first time I heard about the San Diego Association of Governments’ plans to significantly change the street alongside my house was at a planning-group meeting — for a different community. I was stunned for …
The Normal Heights Community Association, with support from the Adams Recreation Council (and the city's Park and Recreation Department), the Normal Heights Community Planning Group, and the Adams Avenue Business Association worked for nearly a …
Some history before the interim off-leash dog park opens next month at Ward Canyon Neighborhood Park… Ward Canyon in Normal Heights appeared on maps in 1921 as a "Deep and Steep Grade to Mission Valley," …
Mikey Belknap’s helium-spiked vocals ended up at Kids in Heat’s lead microphone almost randomly. “My brother Stan was always playing guitar in bands. I wasn’t a musician, just really into skating. I was in Texas …
Over the years, Black Sabbath has proven to be an easy mark for the creative tribute band. In a recent issue I wrote about Mac Sabbath, a bona fide tribute that, while keeping the music …
On Wednesday, July 28, 2010, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new central library in downtown San Diego, one month and 56 years after the current library at Eighth and E Streets opened in …
On Monday, October 19, the ground for the interim off-leash dog park at Ward Canyon Neighborhood Park in Normal Heights was cleared and leveled and orange temporary fencing set up. There was no official groundbreaking"ceremony, …
“We are fans of the tiki culture,” says Andy Tolley, who as Captain Coconut plays with Freddy Canoe (Rick Roessler) in TikiTronic. “We’re very retro culture. Bachelor-pad lounge mixed with space age.” It’s not Nick …
An August 26 email from District 3 councilman Todd Gloria's office to the Normal Heights Community Association provided an update on the plans for an interim off-leash dog park at Ward Canyon Neighborhood Park. A …
The nature of journalism, even food writing, is to report “news,” not “olds.” The result is that foodies and food writers will often focus on the next food trend or new eating spot at the …
Last weekend I found myself drinking canned craft beer at an underground synth-pop show in an apartment upstairs from a fabric store on Adams. People at the party seemed pretty energized and were just starting …
Normal Heights lost a coffee shop in June, then promptly gained a replacement, as the owners of Broke Girls Coffee Bar (3562 Adams Ave) sold their business, brewing equipment and all, and moved on to …
“Yes, we decided we wanted to play a show because [bassist] John Castro was gonna be in town from NYC,” Rugburns ringleader Steve Poltz revealed to the Reader about the band’s surprise reunion next Tuesday, …
Normal Heights has been waiting for an off-leash dog park for ten years, and it looks like this year it might get it. Sort of. After holding a dog-park rally in February, collecting 1200 signatures …
A day of sailing did not end well for a driver towing his boat home late Saturday afternoon on March 21. The boat sailed off its trailer and docked itself along Adams Avenue. Witness Alex …
“The spice scale is one to ten, but three is medium,” said our server. She looked to be in her early twenties, but she worked the tables in the small, crowded space with the easy, …
The Normal Heights Community Association is leading a new effort to bring a bona fide dog park to mid-city. The group is set to launch a public relations campaign in hopes of convincing elected officials …
Duck wings can suck. Compared to chicken wings, they’re scrawny, and filled with connective tissue, which makes them hard to cook. The extra fat lurking beneath the skin makes it borderline impossible to achieve the …
Believe it or not, there was a time when craft-stocked bottle shops weren’t in every neighborhood throughout San Diego. Sure, there was craft beer, even the local variety, but it took awhile for the retail …
Ever notice how groups of friends often share similar tastes in style? I ran into several groups of ladies who wore complementary frocks at the Adams Avenue Street festival. Lein Gage, Lora Mathis and Daliah …
Hats can make a creative man. Pharrell's Vivienne Westwood vintage hat worn to the Grammys has since become a Halloween costume option. Slash’ has been wearing his iconic top hat, that he famously shoplifted prior …
Former California assemblywoman Lori Saldaña held a press conference on Tuesday, September 9, highlighting "hundreds" of San Diego voters officially submitting forms to withdraw their signatures from a signature-gathering effort intended to place the city's …
“STOP, Poppa, and look!” Our four-year old daughter yelled from the backseat of our SUV. Saturdays are usually a family day, when we take our daughter for a cruise to the park or beach and …
Membership: 120 Pastor: Brent Ross Age: 40 Born: Albuquerque, NM Formation: Vanderbilt Divinity School, Nashville, TN; Garrett Evangelical Seminary, Evanston, IL Years Ordained: 5 San Diego Reader: What’s your favorite subject on which to preach? …
The Normal Heights Community Planning Group last week took a confusing vote of 4 ayes, 0 nays, and 11 abstentions on whether or not to support the Barrio Logan community plan — which would finally …
The City of San Diego has removed two single-family homes from Academy of Our Lady of Peace–owned property, per a previous consent decree. The removal had been ordered to occur by May 1, 2014. The …
San Diego police say Normal Heights residents need to lock their doors and windows — a series of burglaries recently hit the normally quiet neighborhood north of Adams Avenue. The burglaries took place during the …
Tribal Baroque is in town for a handful of "prayformances" in Balboa Park near Casa del Prado Theater, on April 24 from 3-5 p.m., April 26 at 9 p.m., and April 27 from 3-5 p.m. …
I’m not a cat person — mostly due to a silvery scar on my arm that I got as a child from the claws of my neighbor’s grumpy tabby cat. Also, cats make me sneeze …
Adams Avenue Unplugged, the free music festival set for April 26 and 27 has launched a fundraiser on Kickstarter to help pay for the costs of the street fair, which takes over two miles of …
“We, as many artists, divorce ourselves in a sense, whether it’s conscious or not, from the notion that we’re making something to be displayed for sale so that someone can collect it,” says Robyko Sanchez. …
“You're never too fat for a new purse.” ― Nia Vardalos I gained a couple of pounds over the holiday season. As a result of my refusal to go up a dress size, I have …
In addition to Sycamore Den’s decision to get a few bites of food on the bar menu, the Normal Heights cocktail lounge with the beards-and-shotguns flair has a new series of winter cocktails ($9) rife …
“Sycamore Den got food!” That was the rumor, anyways, that the Normal Heights hipster-centric cocktail lounge, styled after a dreamy and favorable vision of the 1970s where men were men, had augmented its menu with …
“The number could be off by a few in either direction, but I think it’s been around 520.” Carey Driscoll says he’s lost count of the number of shows he has produced over ten years …
A new pastor plans to remove the pews at United Methodist Church in Normal Heights so he can interact more with congregants. But, no pews means that Carey Driscoll will have no seating for his Acoustic Music San Diego audiences. So, he’ll end the ten-year-long series of shows.
Father Michael Sinor of St. Didacus Catholic Parish says he “ran away from the idea of being a priest. I didn’t think I could be celibate.”
A quarter-century after the concerts at Adams Avenue Theater and the Palace, a blogger imagines an entryway streaked with the scuff of Doc Martens and cigarette butts; blood, sweat, and spit in the hall; the pit, swinging fists and bodies, a stage bomb, a swan dive from the balcony...
Dick and Anna, the owners of Mariposa Ice Cream in Normal Heights, were worried. Chargers wide receiver Malcolm Floyd had just caught a pass and had his neck rammed back into his shoulders by a …
I’ll admit it. When I heard the founders of Neighborhood, Craft & Commerce, and Underbelly were opening a place where the menu would be revolve around meatballs and apple pie, I had my doubts. Meatballs…good. …
Of all the neighborhoods in San Diego I’m the most enchanted by Normal Heights. They put on a hell of a festival with Adam’s Avenue Unplugged in April and the Adam’s Avenue Street Festival in …
While Noble Experiment is the worst kept secret among San Diego saloons, its sister ship, Polite Provisions, has a number of secrets yet to be discovered. “Here at Polite Provisions,” says bartender Aaron Zieske, “we’re …
On the evening of June 26, about three dozen people from the neighborhood around 33rd Street in Normal Heights finally learned the details of what one resident called "the sewer line project from hell.” Five …
Neon skulls and portraits of assholes artistically "booby trap" Fry's paintings.
Victoria Markovna sexifies everything. We’re warming up for class with ass-in-the-air pushups, and she encourages us to give ourselves come hither looks in the mirror while we do. Five minutes ago, when she arrived on …
A tour of San Diego coffee shops that roast their own beans.
Adam’s Avenue unplugged is one of San Diego's best festivals. Each year they offer an ample line-up of talented and unique musical acts. On April 27th at 2:30pm, Actor John C. Reilly was accompanied by …
Four years ago, when the Academy of Our Lady of Peace began planning to add classrooms and parking to its Normal Heights canyon-top campus, the high school found itself fighting the city and its neighbors …
Sometimes one mattress is not enough for one pickup truck. How about 21 of them? My neighbor rescues mattresses (and many other things) bound for landfills and donates them to folks in Mexico who can …
Shortly after 10 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16, according to neighbors, a man on Hawley Boulevard in Normal Heights called his girlfriend on the phone and told her, “I set myself on fire; call the …