Villa Montezuma Museum has been dead for a while. No tours, no events, no living souls walking the enchanted hallways. That changed on a recent weekend, when the Palace of the Arts (so called by …
October 19, 2021
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Stories by Leorah Gavidor
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Villa Montezuma re-opens one more time
Marine helicopter gets water to Borrego's sheep
For California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Janene Colby, the day of the bighorn sheep emergency water drop started at 1 am. In the wee hours of Saturday, August 28, Colby and two Anza …
September 28, 2021
San Diego State’s WWII letters
When the United States entered World War II, numerous San Diego State College (now University) students joined up and shipped out. Doctor Lauren Post, a professor of geography, recalled the loneliness he had felt while …
July 21, 2021
Anza-Borrego gets a lot bigger
At over 640,000 acres, Anza Borrego Desert State Park in eastern San Diego County is the largest state park in the contiguous 48 states. As of July 29 it will grow by 17,597 acres, adding …
July 5, 2021
San Diego Reader Fun issue
Breakdance with Olympic prospects Kearny Mesa/Old Town Breakdancing will be an official sport at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, and local b-girls and b-boys have been practicing breakdance maneuvers in hopes of repping Team USA. …
June 9, 2021
Can Edco get San Diego to cut food waste in half?
It used to be the Titleist golf ball factory. Now, instead of churning out thousands of non-recyclable plastic golf balls every year, the Escondido site is home to a recycling solution: the first anaerobic digester …
March 24, 2021
Spiny lobster comes back to San Diego
"It started with rumors, said Pete Halmay, seasoned urchin diver and president of San Diego Fishermen’s Working Group. At seventy-something, he’s still out getting salty almost every day. Two or three months before spiny lobster …
February 10, 2021
Jacumba hotel sold for $3.9 million
Humble Jacumba Hot Springs Hotel and Spa is one of the few places booming during Covid-19. It makes a big impact for the tiny, high desert town, population 561, where the hotel, pools, and restaurant …
August 31, 2020
National City – still up and coming
National City – a Mayor Daley-type political machine To the south of San Diego, within range of the shadows cast by the Coronado Bridge, lies National City. Frequently described as the “backlot" of San Diego, …
August 17, 2020
La Jolla – a shoreline and a mountain
What Windansea surfers said about Tom Wolfe Eight summers have drifted by since Tom Wolfe (author of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test) traveled to California to write a series on “The New Life Out There” …
July 20, 2020
National City's give-away produce stand booms
“My husband is a meat guy, and this month we went for nine days without eating meat.” Melissa and her two boys, who look about seven and nine, are waiting at the Olivewood Gardens produce …
May 18, 2020
Reader writers attempt to tone up
High on fitness Patrick Henderson Pyles Peak Corner of Golfcrest and Navajo Drives Mission Trails Cowles Mountain is a very popular, very crowded hike — especially if you’re taking it from the Golfcrest/Navajo staging area. …
March 11, 2020
Golden Hill – slowly gentrifying
19 townhomes at 32nd and C instead of park The largest undeveloped parcel in Golden Hill, once considered by the Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee as a top choice for a neighborhood park, is now …
February 17, 2020
Could Burning Man come to In-Ko-Pah?
Roadside attraction Desert View Tower at In-Ko-Pah is on the market. Rising over the steep, rocky Jacumba landscape, the 70-foot tower has been a beacon to travelers since 1928. Ben Schultz now owns and operates …
August 27, 2019
Donovan prisoners taught manners
Coming from Mission Hills, it’s a 25-mile drive south and then east on Highway 905 out to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa. After the highway ends, it’s still several miles along dusty, …
May 8, 2019
Ocean Beach seed repository now open at public library
Housed in an old card catalogue requisitioned from central library storage, the new Ocean Beach Seed Library is beginning to grow. Facilitator of the only seed repository in the San Diego city library system, Destiny …
April 8, 2019
Sinkholes in Florida Canyon targeted for quick fix
A 126-inch diameter corrugated metal storm drainpipe near the entrance to Balboa Naval Medical Center failed in late January, causing sinkholes along Florida Drive. Recent rains have caused more water than usual to flow in …
February 25, 2019
Makeover of Paradise Creek and Kimball Park
“I don’t know if you saw it before, it was not a very nice area,” said Nadia Nunez about Paradise Creek where it runs through Kimball Park in National City. Nunez is community manager for …
December 31, 2018
Shot hole beetle invades San Diego River
Native to Southeast Asia, the shot hole borer beetle is making its way along the southern Californian coast including the San Diego River Valley. Though it makes what appears to be only a minuscule hole, …
December 21, 2018
Apartments for poor come to 13th and Broadway
273 affordable housing units are coming to the East Village. On the northeast corner on 13th and Broadway, the new homes will take their place amid developments by companies that chose to pay the in-lieu …
December 7, 2018
San Diego Reader 2018 Holiday issue
You don’t have to do anything this holiday season. Despite what the song says, you don’t have to deck the halls, join the chorus, or don any sort of gay apparel. You don’t have to …
December 5, 2018
San Diego Reader 2018 winter fun issue
Drums, giants, and Mother Goose Stargazing in Anza-Borrego 652 Palm Canyon Drive Borrego Springs This year, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park was officially designated an International Dark Sky Community, thanks to years of concerted effort to …
November 7, 2018
Golf Course Drive bike lane project in motion
After years of requests by residents and riders for bike lanes and sidewalks on Golf Course Drive, the project is on the city’s map. From 26th to 28th and Date Streets, pedestrians and bicyclists can …
October 29, 2018
Golden Hill gentrification continues
The largest undeveloped parcel in Golden Hill, once considered by the Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee as a top choice for a neighborhood park, is now set to become 19 new townhomes. CityMark development acquired …
October 12, 2018
Animation and Adolf Eichmann
“Goy” is the Yiddish term for non-Jew. Like “gringo,” which means “American,” it’s not derogatory. But when Joyce Axelrod, mother of the Jewish Short Film Festival, told me about Randall Christopher’s movie on the Holocaust, …
October 4, 2018
What was that smell near Scripps?
On Wednesday August 1, I caught a whiff of rotten eggs. Facilities workers at Scripps and Birch Aquarium checked gas lines to verify that it wasn’t methane. After about half an hour, Scripps employees spread …
August 7, 2018
Coastal creatures captured
For the Snapshot Cal Coast, June 13-20, San Diego, a small contingent hit the beach at Scripps Coastal Reserve and another group scoured Sunset Cliffs on a bioblitz. Isabelle Kay of UC San Diego Natural …
July 9, 2018
UCSD human submarine off to England
For the first time in UC San Diego history, the school’s human-powered submarine team has been invited to participate in the European International Sub Race. In July 2018, the team of engineering undergrads will fly …
June 26, 2018
Scripps pedestrians in a hurry avoid the bridge
When a Scripps Institution of Oceanography affiliate was hit and injured while crossing La Jolla Shores Drive at Downwind Way in October 2017, staff, faculty, and students had been voicing the need for improvements to …
March 19, 2018
Highly acidic bird poop
The 39-foot-tall whale statue that greets visitors at Birch Aquarium just got a mini-makeover. Sea air, sun, chlorine, and “especially bird poop” have taken a toll on the bronze Legacy, a life-size breaching gray whale, …
February 28, 2018
Community garden to grow in National City
Old Town National City will build a community garden after more than a decade of collaboration between the city, residents, and the Environmental Health Coalition. Mundo Gardens, a “National City–grown” nonprofit, will operate the Paradise …
January 6, 2018
Grinchy city grabs rec-center funds
Back in October the city attorney’s office delivered a legal opinion that supported the city's decision to immediately appropriate recreation council funds, raised locally by each individual recreation center, and deposit the monies into the …
December 14, 2017
Scripps plagued by vehicular vandalism
The impact from a hit-and-run collision was so strong that it pushed a 1970s Chevelle, parked on La Jolla Shores Boulevard, onto the sidewalk. Owner Jeff Sevadjian said the incident occurred between 7:05 a.m. and …
December 2, 2017
A sea hare, a gulper eel, and a colony of sea pork
A sea hare, a gulper eel, and a colony of what looks like sea pork have all turned up recently on the San Diego coast, keeping local scientists busy. In early October, a beachgoer at …
November 21, 2017
Watch and hear dolphins talk to each other
“The thrill of the chase.” That might be what a dolphin is expressing as she swims swiftly in the slipstream of her male companion, as imagined by Lisa Korpos, artist behind Speculative Dolphin Theater at …
October 17, 2017
La Jolla earthquake on wheels
On September 27th, Marty Nelson, safety and environmental compliance officer at Southwest Fisheries in La Jolla, gathered his staff, along with faculty from adjacent Scripps Institution of Oceanography, to try out a magnitude 7.2 in …
October 8, 2017
City grabs Park and Rec funds
After more than 30 years of operating within the communities they serve, city recreation-center councils will no longer have the ability to decide how to spend the funds they collect. City attorney Mara Elliott’s office …
September 26, 2017
Golden Hill Park & Rec facelift
“It’s part of a transition to make the park more comfortable for families, and having shade will help,” says Park & Rec area manager Kathy Castello of the new pergola behind Golden Hill Recreation Center. …
September 18, 2017
One less market for Golden Hill
One of the two full-service grocery stores in Golden Hill, Miller’s Market, will soon close for redevelopment. Slated to be demolished, the store has been in business for over 50 years. The lot on the …
September 7, 2017
A year in an immigrant’s shirt
While crossing the border at San Ysidro, Valentina Forte-Hernandez, an unassuming and petite artist, aroused the suspicion of border agents due to the tangle of wires and circuits in her trunk. She had to submit …
May 17, 2017
Ben Lecomte prepping Discoverer at Pt. Loma for Tokyo-San Francisco voyage
Eight hours per day, 180 days, 5500 miles: that’s the length of the longest swim, to be attempted by Ben Lecomte across the Pacific Ocean from Tokyo to San Francisco. Alongside him will be his …
April 25, 2017