If you're like me, you dread driving through any part of Los Angeles when heading north by road. Having driven different routes at varying times on several days of the week, I’ve found it will …
February 21, 2016
United States
Pit stop in Tehachapi
In search of a party and Star Wars relics
when I glanced over the Facebook event page advertising a Star Wars cosplay convention in the dunes outside of Yuma, I automatically assumed it would be a party. I pictured spacetini-sipping Slave Leias and inebriated …
Alpha King brings home a whale
Former local brewer and reigning Brewpub Brewer of the Year Kirk McHale made a return visit to San Diego last week, and he brought some award-winning beer with him. While beer enthusiasts prepared to queue …
February 8, 2016
Road-trip Washington State's national parks
I paused on the winding Hall of Mosses Trail in Olympic National Park's verdant Hoh Rainforest. Gazing at the oddly shaped trees that seemed concocted out of an imagination meshing Tolkien and Tim Burton, I …
January 28, 2016
Quartzsite: Arizona's rock city
What do you get when you cross one million snowbirds and desert rats, and add blocks of swap-meet junk? You get Quartzsite, AZ, in January. Starting in the fall, tens of thousands of bargain hunters …
Mark Twain speaks again in St. Louis
St. Louis's aldermen voted yesterday (December 18) by 17-10 to build a billion-dollar-plus stadium to keep the Rams in the city. But the football team's owner, Stan Kroenke, has never shown any interest in keeping …
December 19, 2015
Nuvasive's eastward expansion
San Diego–based NuVasive, maker of spinal surgery devices, revealed Thursday that it has selected a site in West Carrollton, Ohio, in the Dayton area, for a manufacturing facility. NuVasive will move almost 100 jobs from …
December 13, 2015
New Orleans and its food museums: a foodie pilgrimage
Banned for ninety-five years in the United States until 2007, absinthe has garnered almost a century’s worth of mystique as a drink responsible for festive delusions. But such mystique is no match for the knowledge …
December 10, 2015
The Queen Mary's Sir Winston's smoking deck
There is no smoking on the Queen Mary. Signs are posted everywhere stating just that. So, when we arrived at the topmost deck to dine at the luxurious Sir Winston's Restaurant and Lounge, I noted …
November 30, 2015
Philadelphia in the rain
You can plan as much as you like for a trip, but you can’t plan the weather. That doesn’t mean you won’t still have lots of fun! It was raining buckets on my head for …
November 27, 2015
San Diego beer facing local competition in Bay Area
As popular as San Diego breweries are, few distribute nationally. Green Flash says it’s in 50 states, which means Alpine now is, too. Stone's at 41, while AleSmith's at 19 and rising. Of course, Ballast …
November 26, 2015
San Diegan’s Maui blowout takes on the Bee
The word Maui has been a longtime stain on the reputation of the California legislature, according to critics of a San Diego–based nonprofit that gets little attention in the local paper but lots of ink …
November 19, 2015
German art right before Hitler
In many of these photos, things have an existential aura of their own and seem to be observing us.
November 11, 2015
Lights, cameras, money
Mayor Kevin Faulconer and fellow San Diego politicos who seem on the verge of losing the Chargers to Los Angeles are busy plotting at least one form of revenge: a new movie-making push to draw …
November 2, 2015
O.C. Register parent files for bankruptcy — again
If court OKs it, current CEO will take over paper.
November 1, 2015