“Better than I expected. I’m very pleased,” said Terrill at the High Seas Hawaiian Shirt booth, inside Bing Crosby Hall, at the Covid-abbreviated San Diego County Fair. He thought most of the other booth operators …
July 6, 2021
Back to profile
Stories by Ken Harrison (RIP)
< Newer
| Older stories >
Del Mar fair goes out on a limb
Becerra moves against Otay Ranch Resort Villages
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra surprised developers, planners, and community activists when he came out against the county’s approval of the 23,000-acre Otay Ranch development, east of Chula Vista. Surprised, because starting with former Governor …
March 22, 2021
Mammoth slow-down stymies Carlsbad flights
Yet another airline hoping to fly out of Carlsbad’s McClellan-Palomar Airport may not get off the ground. Unlike the past troubled efforts by the previous failed airlines, this time it’s not for lack of passengers …
December 28, 2020
San Diego squeakers
Affirming the age-old axiom that every vote matters, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters still has 7,000 uncounted provisional ballots to tally. With 92.4% of voters using a mail-in, absentee, or provisional ballot, five …
November 30, 2020
U.S. Kids Chamber of Commerce gets mixed response in Encinitas
On weekends, in a pre-Covid world, most communities in San Diego had a drive-through electronics recycling center set up at a local school. They were free and welcomed everything; computers, TVs, microwaves, pretty much anything …
October 20, 2020
The Oceanside Zodiac murder
Little did an Oceanside historian know, when she was researching the history of the longtime exclusive beachfront neighborhood of St. Malo, that she would run across perhaps the first murder of California’s infamous Zodiac killer. …
September 14, 2020
Will paper straws factor in Encinitas mayor's race?
Now that plastic straws are illegal in Encinitas, it may be the issue that breaks voters' backs. As of August 1, a city ordinance required the elimination of plastic straws by gas stations, take out, …
August 17, 2020
Oceanside – eclecticism reigns
Homes at end of Oceanside Blvd. claim emergency The city never got approval,” says Mackin. “They just started doing it. These homeowners had carte blanche to put as much rip rap as they wanted on …
July 13, 2020
Encinitas, not a neighborhood but a kingdom
Bicyclists dominate Caltrans meeting About half of the meeting’s 40 attendees indicated they were cyclists, and will use the proposed bike lane. But even hard-core cyclists were skeptical of some sections of the proposed eight-mile …
June 29, 2020
Encinitas surfers' protest reveals other fault lines
“I’ve been crucified,” said Cardiff by the Sea resident Crista Curtis, as she surveyed what she helped to create on April 19. “I’ve had death threats. I’ve had weird men telling me they were going …
April 21, 2020
Kearny Mesa – not really a neighborhood
Giovanni's leaves cribbage fans homeless I used to come to Giovanni’s at the turn of the century when they were located at Balboa Avenue about a mile west from the I-805 freeway. I remember playing …
April 13, 2020
Santee man rescued from Mojave Desert mine
Released from University Medical Center in Las Vegas on March 27, Santee resident Randolf Blattler, 60, is lucky to be alive. Blattler spent more than nine hours at the bottom of an abandoned mine in …
March 30, 2020
Escondido and Oceanside lead race for cheaper gas
San Diegans willing to venture out from home quarantine are noticing some positives. Freeways are wide open, and the price of gas is dropping like a rock. In the traditional time of year when SoCal …
March 23, 2020
Anxious eyes on Earl Warren sports field
It seems the city of Solana Beach may have thrown down the gauntlet against the San Dieguito High School District’s plans to take over a field at Earl Warren Middle School for a multi-story administration …
March 16, 2020
Solana Beach: artists and developers
Solana Beach seeks electricity options Last month, Solana Beach announced the hunt for a service provider to help launch the county’s first local power program, which aims to curb greenhouse gases. This month, a war …
March 16, 2020
How San Diego County voted – so far
There were not many surprises in the San Diego County March 3 presidential primary elections. The biggest upset was in the 3rd Supervisorial District. UCSD professor and former Obama senior advisor, Terra Lawson-Remer, upset populist …
March 9, 2020
El Cajon's Jimmie Johnson hangs it up
It was the last professional Southern California appearance of El Cajon native Jimmie Johnson in Sunday, March 1’s Auto Club 400 race at the Fontana speedway. The record holding seven-time NASCAR series champion is tied …
March 2, 2020
Encinitas Sunset School gets reprieve
After months of public comments at school board meetings, Facebook postings, online petitions, and protest gatherings, alumni of the 50-year-old Sunset Continuation High School in Encinitas celebrated on February 27. A proposed name change of …
March 2, 2020
San Marcos – still growing
Night people of San Marcos Miss Rincon said it was her habit to spend the night in the public bathrooms at Richmar Park, at the corner of Firebird Lane and Richmar Avenue, around the corner …
March 2, 2020
Fly to Taos from Carlsbad
The Eastern Sierra town of Mammoth Lakes spends thousands of dollars each year subsidizing fares on several airlines, trying to get San Diegans to fly into the popular ski resort. However a new airline flying …
February 3, 2020
Speedway invades San Diego
A popular Midwest brand of convenience stores and gas stations is quickly making a play into the competitive San Diego County market. Late last month, Speedway, headquartered in Ohio, acquired six stations in the area; …
January 13, 2020
Why these nine Encinitas restaurants are closing
What’s happing to restaurants on Encinitas’ El Camino Real? In the last two months, eight restaurants have closed in the ten blocks between Encinitas Boulevard and Leucadia Boulevard. The latest being on November 25. The …
December 9, 2019
Jeremy Blakespear too soft for San Diego's Bicycle Coalition
Jeremy Blakespear who lives in Encinitas, says he'd like to see more people getting out of their cars and using bikes for recreation and better health in protected bike lanes. His advocacy has caused him …
November 4, 2019
The Joshua tree farm in Mission Beach
Three years ago, one of architect Bob Craig’s friends moved up to Joshua Tree in the high desert east of Palm Springs. Several hiking visits with his friend, into the Joshua Tree National Park, named …
October 14, 2019
Bicyclists dominate Encinitas Caltrans meeting
Encinitas locals had their first opportunity on October 7 to see an upcoming master plan for a mid-city bike lane to run east of I-5, the entire length of the city, from Manchester Avenue in …
October 14, 2019
How Saudi Arabia affects San Diego gas prices
It seems President Trump was correct in his assumption that the Saudi Arabia oil field bombing would not send the world’s gas prices into a tizzy. The U.S. is now the world’s largest exporter of …
October 7, 2019
Julian – chock full of history
Appellate court turns back Hosking's fake cattle ranch Inhabitants of Julian who oppose the development of 1416 acres of local back country have a newfound victory to celebrate. An appellate court has reversed the decision …
October 7, 2019
Why Encinitas wants to ditch Sunset High
As the campus of Sunset High School in Encinitas was scraped to the ground over the summer, the school board of the San Dieguito Union High School District is considering a name change when the …
September 10, 2019
Cardiff's Torrey Pine comes down amid suspicions
“It wasn’t supposed to come down,” say Cardiff by the Sea activist opposing the August 26 removal of a 70-year-old, 65-foot Torrey Pine tree at Cardiff Elementary School. The tree was planted by school children …
September 2, 2019
Jacumba – the far edge of San Diego
A quiet street and an old hotel Jacumba is a kind of living ghost town out in southeast San Diego County, on the Mexican border, in what’s called, the Mountain Empire district. It has come …
September 2, 2019
The China effect on San Diego's recycling
When the Chinese government announced last month that they no longer want to buy mega-tons of America’s recycling waste, it may have been the final blow to a collapsing recycling industry, forcing the closing of …
August 26, 2019
Ken Harrison and the Reader
Harrison has written freelance submissions for the Reader since 2009. Harrison's favorite stories he wrote for the Reader: Towers Land in North County Beachgoers are noticing the changes on the sand at Seaside, Cardiff Reef, …
August 24, 2019
Bonsall – suburbia's edge
Lilac fire survivor comes to the races On December 7, 2017, horse trainer Joe Herrick said, “Hell came to town.” Herrick was was involved in trying to rescue 450 thoroughbred horses caught in the raging …
July 15, 2019
2016 holds record for Del Mar Fair
Like the scarecrow without a brain, this year’s Oz-themed San Diego County Fair had individually cataloged hundreds of lost and found items. The most unusual lost item? “A gold grill with diamonds in it,” said …
July 8, 2019
Gas tax bump sends 15 San Diego stations above $4.30/gallon
Gas prices in San Diego County were supposed to go up on 5.6 cents a gallon on July 1, due to a new gas tax. Some stations didn’t get the memo. As of midday July …
July 1, 2019
Bed bugs in Leucadia?
Warning . . . Crime is coming to Leucadia. Robbery. Prostitution. And worse yet . . . an infestation of bed bugs. That’s according to a two-week-long protest by a construction union. Carpenters Local 619 …
June 28, 2019
What Vons, Albertsons, Ralph's customers will do
Thousands of retail clerks in Southern California, workers for Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions, and Ralph’s grocery stores, overwhelmingly approved their union to organize a strike, if needed, in the near future. Their union’s contract with the …
June 26, 2019
Morena Blvd. on 1970 film footage
Recent Facebook postings of old films shot on major San Diego streets take viewers on a trip into the 1970s. The films travel the entire length of a roadway; showing road alignments, classic cars, businesses, …
June 17, 2019
Suspect in quadruple murder of Fallbrook family convicted
After the mysterious 2010 disappearance of the McStay family of Fallbrook, Charles Ray Merritt, 62, was convicted of the quadruple murder on June 10 in a San Bernardino County court Joseph McStay, his wife Summer, …
June 11, 2019
Leucadia – funky no more
La Costa Ave. missing time capsule found In the 1970s, Encinitas sheriff’s deputies would make the Leucadia rest area one of their first stops in their morning patrols, to kick out squatting hippies and camping …
June 10, 2019
Birthplace of skateboarding – Encinitas and Carlsbad
It started in 1974 at the Bahne surfboard manufacturing shop on Westlake Drive in Encinitas, and quickly spread to a street known as Black Hill in La Costa. Within a few years, skateboarding was a …
May 21, 2019