Tiny houses are great if you’re fresh from a divorce.
March 25, 2015
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Stories by Moss Gropen
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San Diego's wishful world of tiny houses
Hysterical complaints on the city of San Diego’s website
Yapping pooches, non-complying porches, and that fowl odor. Did your neighbor rat you out or not?
March 18, 2015
Now read this if headed for malted barley along San Diego County's SR-78
“It’s not like we’re going to camp out in the parking lot of an establishment.” Lt. Eric Skaja, spokesman for the Escondido Police Department, maintains that the “Avoid the Eight on the 78” campaign isn’t …
February 18, 2015
San Diego grape growers don’t blame it all on the rain
When it comes to the California aggie scene, news headlines scream “drought,” conjuring up, at least in the minds of outsiders, sepia-toned images of impoverished farmers toiling in Dust Bowl grit. But whatever havoc has …
October 1, 2014
San Diego checks on City Farmers’ recycling practices.
“When you’re running a small business and you get this stuff in the mail, you go, like, ‘Oh, crap.’” That was the initial reaction of Bill Tall in June when he received a letter from …
September 3, 2014
Kill Devil, Twisted Manzanita, Ballast Point – pioneers of San Diego’s craft distilling movement
"Eventually there will be a face-off between distillers and the feds.”
August 13, 2014
San Diego's hustlers, jugglers, bottom-feeders
From bubble-making to the skid-row standbys, the buck must be turned.
May 21, 2014
Non-locals only at San Diego County fair
If you want to sniff an Encinitas-grown rose or pet a Ramona-bred goat, come on down to the San Diego County Fair. But if you yearn to grab an earful from the county’s best musicians, …
May 21, 2014
Scripps Ranch to Walmart: Put it in Mira Mesa
This would substantially alter the character of Scripps Ranch,” fumes Jenny Marshall, whose 15-member Save Our Scripps (“SOS”) Ranch group is determined to stop a big-box project from crashing the gates of the “Ranch.” In …
March 19, 2014
Ramona winemakers don't stand on ceremony
Ramona winemakers are a humble lot. They don’t care that Temecula gets all the limos because they have the wine.
November 27, 2013
Are the volunteers getting hosed?
County government is poised to take over the Julian Cuyamaca Fire Protection District. Whether that’s good or bad is an open question, even to those residents who are emotionally involved.
July 24, 2013
Ramona fights solar panels
Some Ramona residents don’t like at all the plan to install 42 acres of solar panels on a neighboring property…mostly for aesthetic reasons, despite assurances, promises, and revised plans from the contractor.
May 29, 2013
Apartments unwelcome
"People in apartments aren’t stable; they don’t become part of the community,” grouses G.W., who lives in La Mesa near Mt. Helix. She fears that her tony neighborhood will take a turn for the worse …
April 3, 2013
In an appy mood
“Give it a try. It can change your life,” exults Kimberly Knox, who’s convinced that Mood Watch, her new app for Apple devices, will make a palpable difference in the lives of those who fork …
April 3, 2013
What am I doing here?
Meet Buddy, an East Coast transplant, cultural chameleon, and private Peace Corpsman who knows the joy of being alive.
November 14, 2012
San Diego's guavas, jaboticaba, yang ming, chrerimoyas, figs, mangos, bananas, macademias, arava melons, tepin peppers, Thassos olives, Tahitian pomelo, Surinam cherries
Strange fruit and the unique people who grow them.
August 22, 2012
San Diego as ground zero in the fight against incivility
Beneath the high-domed ceiling of the Joan Kroc Peace and Justice Theatre, an opulent facility at the University of San Diego, a crowd of perhaps 80 convened on Monday, April 9, for what the hosts …
May 9, 2012
Poway's Wayne Branstetter, the winningest coach in California prep wrestling
“You play basketball, you play football — it doesn’t work when you say you ‘play wrestling.’” So sayeth Wayne. Who’s Wayne? That would be Wayne Branstetter, the winningest coach in the history of California prep …
February 29, 2012
San Diego's Dreams for Change lets you sleep in your car
“I’ve never been homeless before.” At least Osiris Murillo still has her car — where she and her three-year-old daughter will sleep tonight, behind the gates of a designated “safe lot” in an unsafe neighborhood. …
November 30, 2011
Clairemont couple kills lawn, plants tomatoes, passion fruit
“For my 50th birthday, I bought myself a gutter,” quips Janet Lancaster of Clairemont. She’s talking about a rain gutter, that is — the one that Lancaster and her husband Kelly installed on their roof …
September 28, 2011
Saddlehorn Ranch West in Jamul – for retired thoroughbreds
And where do they go — not after the gates spring open — but after the race is run, after all their races are run? After the society matrons’ $1000 hats are back in the …
July 13, 2011
The Case of the Wandering Charles Fries and Ivan Messenger Oils
Even if it’s at the expense of the public, the City of San Diego wants to ensure that certain employees of America’s finest city have an appreciation for fine arts — or so it seems, …
May 4, 2011
San Diego's water’s monopoly
"You want to privatize my water? This isn’t Bolivia, Pal. We’re not going to let you thieve from us so you can get a seat on the board of directors of the winning firm. Take …
February 9, 2011
Who gets parking perks at Lindbergh Field
Airport parking at San Diego International is expensive — unless you’ve snagged a free pass, that is. For most of us, it’s $4 an hour, $21 maximum for 24 hours; long-term parking (three days to …
December 15, 2010
For iPadniks, New Newsreader
‘I woke up one morning and thought, I hate looking at news on my iPad — it’s boring. I called my friend Matt Ausonio with an idea. He was gracious enough to jump in — …
October 13, 2010
Wave Energy Hits the Rocks in San Onofre
Chon Hung Kim wants to be a wave farmer, but the State of California has other ideas. “They don’t want to help guys like me.” Kim, a mechanical engineer who logged a 20-year stint at …
September 22, 2010
Escondido traffic checkpoints take families' cars
Police drunk-driving checkpoints are big business. Just ask the City of Escondido, which has been racking up profits courtesy of federal grants and an aggressive vehicle-impound regime instituted by the Escondido Police Department with the …
August 4, 2010
San Diego State college housing will ruin Del Cerro
There’s a wild place in the heart of San Diego that only a few people know about — visited by even fewer — and if San Diego State has its way, it may share the …
July 28, 2010
San Diego County Bar attacked for judge recommendations
"It’s like the Star Chamber,” quips Craig Candelore. “It’s all done in secret. And they don’t even have the authority to do it in the first place.” That’s what this local family law attorney and …
July 14, 2010
San Diego Bike & Kayak Tours lobbying of Mayor Jerry Sanders
It's not clear whether Mayor Jerry Sanders has ever paddled a kayak, but apparently, a local kayak tour company knows what it takes to float Jerry’s boat — and keep it afloat — courtesy of …
May 26, 2010
Media Hawk, April
Zero Tolerance, Few Details Apparently, some of the kids at Thurgood Marshall Middle School held a “Bring Your Guns to School Day” on Thursday, March 18, but the administrators were less than impressed with the …
April 7, 2010
San Diego goes to smart-energy meters
Chris Faust thinks San Diego Gas & Electric’s approach to installing the new, much-ballyhooed smart meters isn’t “smart.” In fact, he alleges, it’s dishonest — part of the utility’s campaign to raise rates whenever possible …
April 7, 2010
Media Hawk, March
Given the amount of ink — virtual and otherwise — flying around San Diego media-land these days, one might think that World War III had broken out at UCSD. The online NBC San Diego headline …
March 10, 2010
These San Diegans live right next to I-5, I-15, the 94
“It’s not for most people; I wouldn’t recommend it.” I asked Johnny and a selection of other freeway-side dwellers around San Diego County: With all the choices available in “America’s Finest City” (and outskirts), why …
February 24, 2010
Rockstar San Diego gaming manufacturer accused of shorting pay
‘When the people in power are completely senseless with regards to human values and their ideal is a sweatshop, you are screwed.” That’s a man who identifies himself as Brian Meidell, talking about Rockstar San …
February 10, 2010
Media Hawk, February
The Other Bureaucrats The bureaucrats at the San Diego Unified School District make too much money. At least that’s the word on San Diego Rostra, where on January 23, a blogger who calls himself “rego” …
February 10, 2010
No I.D., No Comment
Voice Growing Fainter? Numbers have taken a free-fall to 20,000–25,000 The beginnings were auspicious enough — and Voice of San Diego garnered copious praise from various media-watchers who anointed it as a model for the …
January 13, 2010
Blowing in the Wind
Conductor Robert Zelickman hopped on the podium and performed an impromptu jig — or was it the twist? With that, he fiddled with the microphone and announced the night’s first selection, “Suite of Seven Dances” …
December 16, 2009
Corporate chain stores suffer in Westfield center downturns
Window-shopping at Helzberg Diamonds in Westfield’s North County Shopping Mall, Grace, the manager of nearby John’s Fifth Avenue Luggage, says, “I’d think twice before plunking down $10,000 on a ring in this economy.” She enjoys …
December 9, 2009
Richard Eckfield's crusade to get a train stop built at Del Mar Racetrack,
"This story isn’t about me!” Richard Eckfield, who’s been on a three-year crusade to get a train stop built at the Del Mar Racetrack, is adamant. “It’s a much larger issue.” But Eckfield’s relentless dedication, …
September 23, 2009
Reader writers' favorite drinks and where they drink them
There are times, sometimes in the midst of otherwise polite conversation, when it comes out that I make my living writing for the Reader. The follow-up to this revelation is almost never “Oh, that’s right, …
April 22, 2009
Soju at Shozen & Manpo
Whenever I go to Shozen & Manpo, I drink soju, and whenever I drink soju, my wife and kids tell me it does strange things to me. I’m not sure if they’re right, but even …
April 22, 2009
San Diego treasure hunters. We're not as nerdy as you think.
It’s Monday, 5:00 a.m. at Mission Beach. Russ Gish and his son Lance have already been here an hour, sweeping the sand with a contraption that looks like a skinny, upright vacuum cleaner with a …
October 29, 2008
Kearny Mesa comes close to being our cigar district
Double-bladed, surgical steel guillotine cutter in hand, a fellow in a Hawaiian shirt slices off a little less than a quarter of an inch, and the cap falls to the floor. It’s a clean, decisive …
September 24, 2008
It’s three minutes to post before the 9th race at Del Mar, and my wallet is empty.
The unsmiling man in the Hawaiian shirt takes your money.
July 16, 2008
San Diego’s secret missile-testing sites
I never wanted to move to Scripps Ranch — not with its swarming real-estate agents and white-bread, attend-the-church-of-your-choice ethos, its compliant shrubs, its matrons in SUVs, that whole lifeless suburban drone. And where the hell …
April 2, 2008
Sweaty days in La Jolla boiler room
Cruise down Miramar. As you suck in diesel fumes and feel the ruts and gouges in the pavement cut by the incessant pounding of tractor-trailers, you’ll know the San Diego that the phone jockey knows.
June 29, 2000