She’s standing on the street corner at Isabella and Orange in downtown Coronado. It’s a sunny morning. Helen Locker’s dressed in red, white, and blue — flag cap, flag top, red sweater, and she’s holding …

Chris Ahrens and his Encinitas buddies had this crazy idea. “Let’s just give it away. Let’s go out to a crossroads one morning and give cash away to anyone who needs it. No strings! Like, …

Christmas Jerk I managed to avoid being homeless on Christmas Eve 1979, but just barely. Unemployed since that summer, I found a cheap flophouse on 12th and Island where 70 bucks a month got me …

In a Dickensian back room behind the tobacconists Racine & Laramie, in Old Town Plaza, Geoffrey Mogilner rifles through the contents of his high security safe. “It’s somewhere here. I would never put it on …

Kate McGrath can’t wait to get back to Paris, virus or no virus. “I live right around the corner from the Pompidou Center in a building that is partly 200 years old. I am at …

They look so glamorous: transparent geodesic domes with tables for six inside, ruby-winking wine glasses, plates of food, beautiful people laughing and dining. And these “igloos” have been billed as safe, but also warm, outside …

The USS Midway is open for business again. And down below in her bowels, lives are being lived and relived. “The only comparison with the Battle of Midway in 1942,” says this elderly gent sitting …

Just up from the shipwreck, the Shark Bait Mamas are counting down to the music they use to, uh, swim to. Dani Grady leans over and switches on a recorder. “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, …

“Property of the United States of America. Seized from the USSR Red Star Syndicate.” The solid wooden info plaque is screwed into the deck near the bow of the shipwreck. Thanks to last week’s storm, …

Border Angels "We know the kind of people we catch here. They're horrible people." The Border Patrol agent's tone was no more than blandly informative. It was 7:00 p.m. July 16, and we were at …

Greg Maness is throwing down his grape shears and selling his vineyard, just at a time when some are saying San Diego’s wine industry is taking off. “It’s a wonderful place,” says this owner of …

"Racism Lives Here,” said the sign someone planted in Jacob’s Coronado garden (He asks for first name only). It was likely picked out because he was flying a Trump flag, a yellow “Don’t Tread On …

“At 6pm, the police came. They started to kick everyone off the beach. Do it every day. But one man got up and ran. He leaps around the police vehicle, then dives into the water …

“No-one should have to feel sore at the end of the day working at a computer,” says Tiffany Caddell. She is the power behind what may be the first-ever sit-down fitness program for computer nerds …

The Ugly Trailer Park Across the Water Beauty and the blight on Mission Bay. Cityzella terrorizes humble trailer folk at De Anza Cove. By Ollie, Sept. 14, 2011 | Read full article What am I …

“Hello?” “Hello.” It’s a woman’s voice on the line. “The PATH study sent you a letter recently, letting you know that I would be calling to ask you to participate in the next interview. As …

The moment is almost here. It’s a month since my friend Kim and I plucked his garage roof of grapes, pressed, cleared the must and leaves from his “King’s ruby” grapes, and then stirred, and …

The Forgotten War Conversations with men who never forgot I do not recall putting my foot on Korean soil for the first time. I only remember the cold rain, and running, and others running with …

“Eighty percent of my friends aren’t dating,” says Brooke. “They haven’t dated for six months. They’re scared to do it.” “I don’t want to date now,” says Ben. “I mean I do, but...” “I’m definitely …

Angel Gomez is somewhere in the car, but it’s not him you notice. What you notice is Luna, elbow leaning casually on the open passenger-side window, pink watch on the wrist, pink shades on her …

“Can you come today?” It’s my friend Kim on the phone. “They’re red, they’re ready. They’re free wine!” He’s talking about his vast vineyard. Okay, it just covers the fencing around the deck he built …

Have we been fighting wildfires the wrong way? Because there’s a new idea spreading like, well, wildfire: that California’s native Americans had it right, and the rest of us have had it wrong. For the …

Say goodbye to 30th Street as it is “You guys are just thinking about North Park residents shopping here and eating at your shops,” she said. “You’re not thinking about the people coming from down …

Border Angels "We know the kind of people we catch here. They're horrible people." The Border Patrol agent's tone was no more than blandly informative. It was 7:00 p.m. July 16, and we were at …

Alison Tummond has devoted her swimming career to teaching babies not to drown. I met her tackling actual ocean waves here where she was cooling down after Arizona’s punishing heat. “Bode Miller’s daughter Emeline drowned, …

For Jeanne Volk, it was a triple whammy. “I had been teaching fourth graders for 20 years, out of the same classroom. I loved it, but I was thinking of change, about maybe starting a …

FAA okays 150 fixed wing and 115 helicopter flying from Miramar For the first time since the 1978 PSA plane disaster over North Park, the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) is changing San Diego's air traffic …

Guitar therapy “I am so bored!” says my neighbor Ellen. Blame the virus. It has stopped her from doing the things she loves, mainly pop-up lunches at food trucks, and parties. Especially parties. Get a …

“I’ve just had Covid,” says Mary Jo. Mary Jo (not her real name) is 19, fit, gregarious, embarking on college life. But it’s been a rough couple of months. She, her mom, dad, sister, sister’s …

Linda Broyles often goes to the beach, just to look. “I see the cruise ships anchored there just a mile out to sea,” she says. “It looks romantic, but I know what’s going on. On …

Complete public sleeping ban Imperial Beach has banned camping or sleeping in public with an ordinance that reaches into every last corner, from pavement to median, "including but not limited to dirt or landscaped areas." …

There’s something haunting about this sidewalk’s chalk portraits as they fade. Coronado student artists drew remarkable pictures on the concrete around the beachfront memorial for George Floyd, not far from the Hotel Del Coronado: the …

To bee, or not to bee? That is the question in bucolic Harbison Canyon. I have just made an eye-popping discovery about the Canyon — sandwiched between east El Cjaon and Alpine — and it …

“WARNING. Shark sighted. Enter at your own risk.” A silhouette of a shark drives home the point. It’s a yellow sign planted in the sand at Center Beach, Coronado, near the lifeguard tower. “Lifeguards decided …

Dan Hendrickson wants to save IB, and TJ. If they’ll let him. He’s talking about the ages-old problem of Mexican sewage overwhelming treatment plants on both sides of the border. Politicians have been throwing money …

The Forgotten War I do not recall putting my foot on Korean soil for the first time. I only remember the cold rain, and running, and others running with me. By David Burge, June 20, …

Is San Diego opening up? Last week, it sure looked like it. The scene: 10th and Orange in Coronado, 7 am. Clayton’s has just reopened its coffee window with the $1 coffees. “I ran when …

“I’m an optimist,” says Jodi Cilley. Right now, with the film industry gone dark, she’d have to be. Yet Cilley’s used to fighting above her weight. She runs Film Consortium San Diego. And right now, …

The Ugly Trailer Park Across the Water Cityzella terrorizes humble trailer folk at De Anza Cove. By Ollie, Sept. 14, 2011 What am I doing in Eastlake? I'm telling you it's a trap. And we're …

“It’s very odd, being here playing alone in your house, with no audience, even though we know they’re out there,” says Ron Wheeler. Until the coronavirus, he led one of the best-loved cover bands in …

Have you noticed how, at the governor’s COVID-19 press conferences, someone usually asks about how come unemployment benefits aren’t reaching all the people who have applied for them? The governor takes time to explain how …

The slow end of the Kalasho regime At a city council meeting in September Elia spoke publicly to Kalasho: “Ben, you need help. It hurts me to see fellow Chaldeans spiral like this. It might …

Short-term rentals thrive in East Village Is the demand for housing suitable to fill the thousands of rental units that have sprung up in downtown's East Village since the mid-2000s, and enough to sustain even …

Stay in lockdown? Not these retired police captains. It’s 8:52 on a sunny Tuesday morning, and all five of them are sitting around outside Chase Bank at Tenth and Orange in downtown Coronado. They’ve just …

Tara has come out for a smoke. It’s nine at night. Break time. Her store, Vons, is about to close. She lights up, sitting in her car. All you can see is the red glow …

“It was surprising and very exciting,” says Professor Kimberly Brouwer, who teaches epidemiology at the UCSD School of Medicine. She’s talking about the brand-new graduate class she started last Tuesday, online. “I had 27 students …

Pity the poor editors. As March turned into April, Wendy Manwarren Generes, editor of San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles Magazine (for which I have written) was trying to get the upcoming May issue to bed. “Last …

Safety first. We decide to meet electronically. Three young San Diego entrepreneurs, developing a supplement they hope will palliate some effects of the coronavirus. I want to know how they’re facing the crisis. They sound …

Anna got out of Lombardy in the north of Italy just in time. She has business here as well as there. She doesn’t want to use her last name because she sees that some people …

San Ysidro – the town that San Diego would like to forget San Ysidro’s Jack-in-the-Box sells more fast food than any other Jack-in-the-Box in California. Its Big Bear market alone sells more eggs than the …