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 …
December 7, 2022
Ocean Beach News & Stories
How Covid tore San Diego friends and neighbors apart
Homeless bootcamp at Ocean Beach.
Everything costs in Ocean Beach. If you want a cup of coffee you can buy a cup for $3 at OB Beans Coffee Roasters where they don’t usually play music too loud unless the drug …
October 26, 2022
How Ryan Hughes and Crucial Blend forged a well-rounded So-Cal sound
Musicians worry about money. They worry about gear. They worry about the van. They don’t usually worry about the horn player falling over a cliff. But to hear it from Ryan Hughes of Crucial Blend, …
October 20, 2022
San Diego glimpses: the Doors, Elvis, Grateful Dead, Kingston Trio, Beach Boys, Pearl Jam, Gary Puckett, Ritchie Valens
Buckle Up Slide into the passenger seat and buckle up: we’re about to take a driving tour down a decidedly rocky road. Yes, California’s second-largest city will always take a backseat to Los Angeles, which …
Gonzo Report: Chasing Capo Kelley, Mark Fisher, Wise Monkey Orchestra, Electric Waste Band & others at OB Street Fair
Following a two-year hiatus due to Covid-19, the OB Street Fair and Chili Cookoff returned on June 25 for the 42nd time. Fair food, street vendors, a chili cook-off, the OB Dirty Bird Wing Eating …
August 18, 2022
City's Build Better initiative aims for fee equity
On August 1, the City Council approved Mayor Todd Gloria’s Build Better San Diego, an initiative that will improve services and infrastructure in lower income communities. Last summer, the city took action on parks. This …
In defense of San Diego Comic-Con co-founder Shel Dorf
The recent book See You At San Diego: An Oral History of Comic-Con, Fandom, and the Triumph of Geek Culture sets the record straight regarding how pop culture's geekiest get-together became the BFD it is …
July 21, 2022
Watch your step today on San Diego beaches
Today, July 5, marks the dirtiest day of the year for beaches. By noon, volunteers from OB Pier to Oceanside will have collected the evidence for next year's annual beach cleanup report. And they can …
July 5, 2022
Kensington pepper tree fight moves to Ocean Beach palms
A lawsuit that would force the city to abide by its own tree protection policy was lost this month, which may make it even harder to stop the removal of other mature, greenhouse gas-trapping trees. …
June 29, 2022
Acey Deucey’s ace
Anderson Lawfer, Artistic Director at Fever Originals USA — a clearly enthusiastic and warm character, and the man who oversaw the implementation of creator Cinereal's vision for the Acey Deucey Club — says that he …
June 15, 2022
San Diego County talking more about Julian-Ocean Beach trail
The County of San Diego Department of Parks and Recreation is working to construct a seamless network of trails that will follow the route of the San Diego River from the mountains down to the …
June 6, 2022
From demon tongues and big toes to livin’ in the country
Native San Diego guitarist Dave Gilbert’s old Kiss tribute band once received a cease and desist letter from Kiss mainman Gene Simmons. He went on to play with Big Toe, whose bassist Mark Goffeney was …
June 2, 2022
Gonzo Report: Dance Space of the Grateful Dead
Electric Waste Band was ringing in the new year with sweet, rocking Grateful Dead sounds. I saw some friends of mine at a table, and headed over to say hello. But soon after starting into …
June 2, 2022
"I am grumpy before I get in the water and less so when I get out…. usually."
Local? No, I’m from Iowa. I moved here about 3 years ago for the ocean. Had you ever surfed before prior moving to San Diego? I spent one winter here before moving learning how to …
May 31, 2022
The May 18 Sunset Cliffs sink hole rescue
On May 18, a photographer was stuck inside the notorious Sink Hole below Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach. The unidentified man wearing a long sleeve grey shirt, green shorts, and a camera equipment bag entered …
May 31, 2022
Adam Gnade's love song for San Diego
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 …
BBQ House Bar & Grill: souped-up Sloppy Joe
My neighbor Kevin is a particular guy. Knows what he likes. Right now, he has a sudden urge for OB. We’re on Newport. “In this town,” he says, “they have the best burgers.” He points …
March 31, 2022
The arty, retro, sometimes eccentric world of Cow Records in Ocean Beach
“Crackles and pops?” says Greg Hildebrand. “They’re the most valuable part of vinyl recordings. They give them individuality.” Hildebrand owns one of the better-known havens of hard-to-find LPs in the county, Cow Records in OB, …
March 30, 2022
Can't get the staff to open Ocean Beach library
At the Ocean Beach library, March 13 marked an occasion no one wanted nor expected to see: the beginning of its third year of complete closure. It's a status shared by only two other locations …
March 25, 2022
Ocean Beach summer of ’79
This is a story about the summer of ‘79, but it starts a year earlier, circa mid-’78. That’s when I first drove into San Diego. Within minutes of my arrival, I was almost murdered — …
March 23, 2022