What was first thought to be a meth-lab explosion at the Heritage Inn in the Midway District on the morning of January 30 is now being reported as a different sort of drug-related disaster that …
January 31, 2013
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Stories by Gail Powell
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Midway District’s Heritage Inn explosion unrelated to meth
Robb Field skate park crasher was asleep
A barricade and orange cone mark the point of impact from a van that went flying over a fence surrounding Robb Field Skateboard Park on Tuesday morning, January 15. San Diego police have declared that …
January 19, 2013
Mall cops chase off unwanted habitués of Glasshouse Square
As recently as last summer, Glasshouse Square Shopping Center, located in the Midway District, was home turf to many shelter-challenged individuals. Many customers and patrons were turned off by the presence of vagrants who would …
January 12, 2013
San Clemente, No Car Necessary
Halfway between San Diego and Los Angeles is the charming coastal town of San Clemente, CA. Somewhat akin to San Diego in its wholesomeness, San Clemente also boasts beachside ambiance without the pretensions commonly found …
January 2, 2013
Drive-thru at SDG&E payment center closes willy-nilly
The San Diego Gas & Electric payment and customer service center at 436 H Street in Chula Vista has a habit of closing their drive-thru bill-payment window on the side of the building unannounced. Mothers …
January 1, 2013
Starbucks coffee machine swiped at Fashion Valley mall
During the days leading up to Christmas, employees at the Fashion Valley mall's undersized Starbucks pulled out their new Verismo coffee machine and demonstrated its coffee- and espresso-making abilities for passing patrons and customers. On …
December 31, 2012
Palm Patrol gathers downed fronds in Midway District
What many locals refer to as the “Palm Patrol" was out in force on Thursday morning, December 27, scouring the streets of the Midway District and Ocean Beach for palm fronds that litter the streets …
December 27, 2012
House fire above garage in Point Loma
Christmas Eve was not a festive time for residents of a Sunset Cliffs home in Point Loma. A smoky fire was reported just after 2 a.m. on December 24 at a home located on the …
December 25, 2012
Two water-pipe breaks in two days in Midway District
The weekend before Christmas 2012 was not kind to water pipes (or traffic) in the Midway District. Two incidents of burst pipes and localized flooding occurred: one along Sports Arena Blvd on Saturday, December 22, …
December 24, 2012
Bieber tickets lead to police action in Midway District?
San Diego police descended on the Stonewoood Gardens apartments, located on the 3800 block of Midway Drive (where it intersects with Sports Arena Boulevard), early on the morning of Wednesday, December 19. Four police cars …
December 20, 2012
Redevelopment of Fourth Avenue Professional Center in Bankers Hill
The Fourth Avenue Professional Center in Bankers Hill is no more. Boarded up and overgrown with weeds, the Spanish-style building with a clay-tile roof will soon be remodeled into a condo complex in the Park …
December 18, 2012
Chris Isaak a-crooning, ladies a-swooning
The “Chris Isaak Christmas Show” rolled into town for two nights at the Belly Up in Solana Beach. The Stockton, California, native and swoon-worthy crooner charmed a sold-out crowd with an energetic set that ranged …
December 14, 2012
Tiny Talkeetna, Alaska
A short jaunt north of Anchorage, Alaska, is the quaint town of Talkeetna, considered the jumping-off point for climbers looking to tackle Mt. McKinley. Talkeetna suddenly swells in size starting in April through July. That's …
Midway shopping center’s spiky trees with soft name
Some people at the Vons shopping center at 3645 Midway Drive are puzzled by an odd-looking tree that is growing along the driveway behind Fantastic Sam's. Some mistakenly identified it as an avocado tree. This …
December 1, 2012
Harsh Words for RV Driver at Liberty Station
Motorhomes are quite unwelcome on at least one street in Liberty Station. In fact, if you park your RV on Truxton Road, the street in front of Vons and Trader Joe’s grocery stores, a security …
November 30, 2012
Beauty Restored in Ocean Beach
The scraggly-looking display of succulents along the sidewalk at the foot of Santa Monica Avenue and Abbott Street have been spruced up. The little corner area near the Ocean Beach Lifeguard Tower has the San …
November 30, 2012
Ocean Beach Grocery Store Won’t Close Until End of Year
The Apple Tree market in Ocean Beach recently won a brief reprieve from their scheduled November 27 closure. The longtime grocer located at 4949 Santa Monica Avenue “will now be open until December 31, 2012,” …
November 29, 2012
Extreme Value Retailer to Open…Soon
A chain-link fence, lots of scaffolding, and a face-lift now separate would-be shoppers from the soon-to-open Point Loma Grocery Outlet in Midway Towne Center. "Point Loma Grocery Outlet is coming!” read a recent company Facebook …
November 23, 2012
Church Chips in to Maintain Ocean Beach Skatepark
If the Ocean Beach Skatepark is looking a little less ragged lately, you can thank Newbreak Church in Ocean Beach. The newly opened church on Cape May Avenue has a volunteer gardening group that gets …
November 22, 2012
Romney Protest in the La Jolla Sand
Approximately 50 activists reportedly left a message in the sand for Mitt Romney on Saturday, October 20 in La Jolla. With the days counting down to the presidential elections, some politically inclined beachgoers wrote out …
October 21, 2012
Imperial Beach Murder Suspect’s Facebook Page Can’t Help
The San Diego woman identified by sheriff's deputies as a suspect in the death of 28-year-old Victor Saucedo — found shot to death at the Mariners Point apartments in Imperial Beach on October 16 — …
October 18, 2012
Ocean Beach’s Portugalia for Sale
Portugalia, the now-closed Portuguese restaurant and pub located at 4839 Newport Avenue is on the auction block. Signs promoting a "quiet auction" are posted in several places in front of the former business that was …
October 16, 2012
Fight Breaks Out at House of Blues Hives Show
The Hives, a Swedish rock band, performed at the House of Blues downtown on the evening of Monday, October 8. Toward the end of their raucous set, a fight broke out in front of the …
October 9, 2012
Fifty shades of Adam Ant at 4th&B
Eighties pop star Adam Ant finally made it to town after his rescheduled February date. Brothers of Brazil played an energetic opening set of Bossa Nova rock and then “Ant music” hit the stage with …
September 28, 2012
Twinkle Lights for Hillcrest
Earlier this month, the Hillcrest Business Association voted to approve a new project that will add some sparkle to a block of the community’s streets. The Uptown News reported that "the project to install a …
September 26, 2012
Mermaid Spotted in Ocean Beach
One of the biggest hits of the September 16 Surfrider Paddle for Clean Water event in Ocean Beach was a mermaid sighting. Mermaid Shelly hails from Carlsbad, where she has a business named Shell Tails …
September 18, 2012
Vigil for Ambassador Stevens in downtown San Diego
A group of Arab Americans held a candlelight vigil downtown at Fourth and Broadway on the evening of September 15. The event was billed as an "Emergency Vigil in Honor of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens,” …
September 17, 2012
Eastlake Church Holds Services at Seau’s Restaurant
Empty since its closure after Junior Seau's suicide in early May, Seau's restaurant, on Sunday, September 9, reopened its doors, this time as a church. Until a tenant takes over the space, Eastlake Church will …
September 9, 2012
Ocean Beach Apartment Residents Riled Over Thefts
Jonathan Chambers was arrested earlier in August for suspicion of burglary at the Mariner's Cove apartment complex in Ocean Beach. After his arrest, 10News rolled into the West Point Loma Boulevard property with a camera, …
September 1, 2012
No Window to Glaze at Point Loma Donut Shop
Winchell's Donuts in Point Loma has had an unsightly problem for a while. Channel 10 News reported on June 23 that a car had gone through the front window of the shop located at 1501 …
August 31, 2012
Rock Church to Remain at Liberty Station
Following the recent crisis in which the Rock Church was in peril of losing their Liberty Station operating permit, congregants received via email the church’s official reply to the fiasco. Chief operations officer Mark Stevens …
August 26, 2012
Circus Protest on Sports Arena Boulevard
Protesters were back in the Midway District again, but they weren’t there to stand up for gay rights or the personal views of Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy. This time protesters were upset about the Ringling …
August 24, 2012
Apartment Thief Suspect Taken into Custody in Loma Portal
With guns drawn and bearing a search warrant, a task force of law-enforcement officials knocked on the door of a West Point Loma Boulevard apartment on the morning of August 15. Taken into custody at …
August 15, 2012
Car Crashes Inside Point Loma Laundromat
Several customers washing or drying their clothes at the Point Loma Coin Laundry were lucky to have avoided tragedy on August 11. A silver Kia slammed through the glass window at around 5 p.m. A …
August 12, 2012
Dangerous/Classy Fans at Offspring’s Del Mar Show
The Offspring show at the Del Mar Racetrack on Friday evening, August 10, kept sheriff's deputies, medical officials, and Elite security guards on edge all night. A large, boisterous crowd waited for the concert to …
August 12, 2012
Hearts Heavy for Boy Struck by Truck on Rosecrans Street
There are still heavy hearts today along the 1700 block of Rosecrans Street, where on Thursday, August 2, at around 7:30 p.m., a three-and-a-half-year-old New Mexico boy was struck by a red pickup truck in …
August 5, 2012
No Kiss-In, Lots of Chicken at Restaurant Protest
The Midway District Chick-fil-A location had a long line of customers waiting to eat when I arrived for lunch at 11:00 a.m. on August 1. It took at least one hour to get inside to …
August 1, 2012
Newport Avenue Coffee Shop Reopens
The Starbucks located at 4994 Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach reopened last week after being closed for nearly two weeks for remodeling. Caffeine junkies chose other java options as the popular coffee purveyor slapped a …
July 24, 2012
Christian Evangelists Attend Comic-Con
A group of about 30 Christian Fundamentalists holding signs spread out near the Convention Center on Friday morning, July 13. While waiting to cross Harbor Drive, I struck up a conversation with Joshua, who told …
July 14, 2012
Summerland Tour Was a Bit of '90s Heaven
I heard it on NPR: "The ’90s are back...or whatever." The ’90s meaning "the birth of grunge, the commercial rise of hip-hop, a batch of ballsy female songwriters, and a few goofy one-hit wonders we'd …
July 12, 2012
Beer Bottles Banished by Locals at Bermuda Beach
Bermuda Beach, at the foot of Bermuda Avenue in Ocean Beach, attracts a variety of mellow souls who enjoy the area's natural beauty and relative privacy. But on Friday, June 22, in the late afternoon, …
June 23, 2012