Stories | Feature Stories
Pretty in PB
By Maggie Young, Published Aug. 13, 2008
I'm wearing a denim skirt that shows off my legs, the one part of my body I actually like. I'm doing my best to walk gracefully in the black wedged heels I bought last summer. I've ...
Unforgettable: American Icarus
By Jeff Smith, Published Aug. 13, 2008
AMERICAN ICARUS: LINCOLN BEACHEY LOOPS THE LOOP (Part One) Lincoln Beachey was one of America's first superstars. By 1915, the daredevil stunt pilot had performed before more people than anyone in history. An estimated one ...
Beach Booze Banter
By Josh Board, Published Aug. 13, 2008
"January 9, 2008, is a day that will live in infamy," says Terry Brickman, a beachgoer I talk to in early April about the day the beach booze ban went into effect. I am surprised ...
Unforgettable: The American Invasion Published July 30, 2008
THE AMERICAN INVASION: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF APOLINARIA LORENZANA (Part Six) On July 29, 1848, the USS Cyane navigated through the thick kelp outside ... More Post a comment
Unforgettable: Rampage Published July 23, 2008
RAMPAGE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF APOLINARIA LORENZANA (Part Five) Apolinaria Lorenzana lived for around 90 years. Born in Mexico City in the early 1790s, ... More Post a comment
She Really Was a Fashion Plate Published July 23, 2008
In 1930, the San Diego yellow pages were as yellow as an egg yolk, the white pages listed the occupation of every customer, and the ... More Post a comment
Unforgettable: La Beata: The Sisters’ Sad Fate Published July 16, 2008
LA BEATA: THE SISTERS' SAD FATE (Part Four) By the time she was 45, Apolinaria Lorenzana had nursed numerous cases of syphilis at the San ... More Comment (1)
What a Drag It Is... Published July 16, 2008
“We’re 52%!” the sign read. It was being held aloft by a very young man with unkempt hair grown past his ears and a sparse ... More Comment (1)
Unforgettable: The Jamul Incident Published July 9, 2008
THE JAMUL INCIDENT: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF APOLINARIA LORENZANA (Part Three) In the spring of 1837, Apolinaria Lorenzana left her duties at the mission ... More Post a comment
Unforgettable: La Beata Published July 2, 2008
LA BEATA: THE LIVES AND TIMES OF APOLINARIA LORENZANA (Part Two) September 1, 1834: the Mexican brigantine Natalia makes an unscheduled entry into San Diego ... More Post a comment
I Was Hoping It Would Come to Fists Published June 25, 2008
March 11, 2008 — It’s past noon at the Round Table Pizza in the Price Center at UCSD, and there are three groups of young ... More Comments (2)
Unforgettable: La Beata Published June 25, 2008
LA BEATA: THE LIVES AND TIMES OF APOLINARIA LORENZANA (Part One) In the spring of 1878, Thomas Savage went to Santa Barbara to record recollections ... More Comment (1)
If You Sue Me, I Can't Be Your Physician Published June 11, 2008
“The pain is in my heart. I want you to send me to a heart specialist so that I can have an angiogram and have ... More Comment (1)
Vocabulary Published May 28, 2008
Vocabulary is a word I rarely use. When I do, it is usually in the context of a word not in someone or other’s vocabulary, ... More Post a comment
I Was Speeding, But... Published May 21, 2008
People always talk about fighting traffic tickets in court. But what does it really mean to “win”? It’s not as if you won a trip ... More Comments (15)
We Love the Game of Beer Pong Published May 21, 2008
The fluorescent light from the Budweiser lamp made the cigarette smoke appear as if it were dancing in the back room of McMurphy's Pub in ... More Post a comment
Less Dense, Fewer Homeless, More Sky Published May 7, 2008
Having lived in San Diego since 1980, one would think that I would have long ago gravitated to residence in the northern portion of the ... More Comment (1)
San Diego's Urban Explorers Published May 7, 2008
DOWN IN THE DRAINS: It’s on the first sunny day after a string of rainstorms when Robert R. slides his blue SUV to the side ... More Comment (1)
The King of the Casbah Published April 30, 2008
Art Brut and the Hold Steady both want deli trays. Casbah owner Tim Mays and his manager Andrew review the contract from each band’s management ... More Post a comment
They'd Think I Had 'Roid Rage Published April 16, 2008
A friend of mine saw a guy walking two dogs downtown. He had the biggest arms she had ever seen. The guy is Paul-Jean Guillaume: ... More Comments (6)
Go Greased Lightnin' Published April 9, 2008
Paul Patrzalek’s house in La Mesa is impossible to miss: Outside in the front yard sits a 10,000-pound truck with a camper shell that looks ... More Post a comment
How Sam Became the Cooking Guy Published March 26, 2008
Sam Zien is a regular guy. He’s a husband, he’s the father of three teenage boys, and he has two dogs, an orange Labrador and ... More Comments (4)
Couldn't Be Better Published March 19, 2008
“We never had speed down here,” Verne Dodds remarked. I nodded, agreeing with my former JV basketball coach, going back 40 years and more to ... More Post a comment
It's Not Really Ink Published March 12, 2008
I walked into Body Marks Tattoo and Piercing on El Cajon Boulevard, a few blocks from the 805 and right next to a strip club. ... More Comments (4)
After They Shot Juan Published Jan. 30, 2008
Tijuana: Valentine’s Day, 1938. In the most notorious crime in the young city’s history, an all-night search by relatives, friends, and authorities ends at dawn ... More Post a comment
The Native Published Jan. 23, 2008
It was a little over a year and a half ago. I left my old, faithful, beat-up Karmann Ghia stowed in a garage in La ... More Post a comment
Bushwhacked Published Jan. 16, 2008
The Louis Almeida case should be closed. During a seven-year period in the ’80s, he took San Diego art collectors for hundreds of thousands of ... More Post a comment
Cattery Published Jan. 16, 2008
A cloud of fog hangs over the mountains as morning begins at the Friends of Cats shelter in Flinn Springs, a small community just west ... More Post a comment
Up on the Hill Published Nov. 15, 2007
Del Cerro, which is Spanish for “of the hill,” is located just off I-8 at College Avenue. Turn north onto College and there it is, ... More Post a comment
It’s Fairly Easy to Get Bored Around Here Published Oct. 18, 2007
Bonita lies in the Sweetwater Valley, nestled inside three freeways--I-805 to the west, 54 to the north, and 125 to the east. To the south ... More Comment (1)
A Marine in Iraq Remembers La Jolla Published Oct. 4, 2007
My neighborhood is a memory. I’ve been gone so long I can’t remember what’s real and what’s invented. It doesn’t matter much, I’m in a ... More Post a comment
City Heights Hell Published Oct. 4, 2007
On July15th, 1991, we moved into this house. After the last of the boxes had been delivered, we went to sleep with the windows open ... More Comments (2)
Intuition Led Her to Encinitas Published Oct. 4, 2007
The 100-degree days and the half-hour minimum commute to anywhere was beginning to suck the life out of me. I’ve always said, “Life’s too short ... More Post a comment
Borrego Springs, 92004 Published Oct. 4, 2007
Sure it was 117 degrees a few days ago and we have to drive more than an hour to buy organic vegetables or underwear. We ... More Post a comment
Everyone Plays in Pacific Beach Published Oct. 4, 2007
People here see how it all fits together — earth, sea and sun; spirit touching flesh. Where I grew up, they just hope they can ... More Comment (1)
Valley Center Name-Dropping Published Oct. 4, 2007
Eleanor Roosevelt. Betty Crocker. Wyatt Earp. Those are some of the famous names associated with my neighborhood. And then there are the celebrities: Fred Astaire, ... More Post a comment
A Name Change for Santee? Published Oct. 4, 2007
In my neighborhood, each driveway is pretty much a snapshot of the next on Halloween. Snapping fires rise from washtubs turned firepits or new Target-purchased ... More Post a comment
South Park Eden Published Oct. 4, 2007
Behind my back garden, my ex-boyfriend with the golden eyes perches like a buzzard in the house my brother-in-law built for him. I avoid my ... More Post a comment
A North Park Valentine's Day Published Sept. 27, 2007
It is 8:14 a.m. and the sun is already shining strongly through the blinds like a peeping Tom, only more annoying. Last night I tossed ... More Post a comment
Kensington, My Family's Village Published Sept. 27, 2007
It was 1971. My husband, Bill, and I were in our mid-20s and had a six-month-old baby girl named Amy. We were just a couple ... More Post a comment
Flatulent Stuffed Animals in Ocean Beach Published Sept. 27, 2007
I've been an Ocean Beach girl for eight years. All this time, I've lived the way most people in O.B. do. I've lifted my mood ... More Post a comment
La Mesa's Anything-but-Normal Avenue Published Sept. 27, 2007
Normal Avenue in La Mesa doesn't have much in common with Normal Street in San Diego. That didn't stop the Hillcrest plumber that 1 called ... More Post a comment
A Feeling of Hope in Rancho Bernardo Published Sept. 27, 2007
How do I even begin to tell you about the incredible turnaround my neighborhood has taken? I will start here. Hi, my name is Mychal ... More Post a comment
The Virgin of Mission Beach Published Sept. 27, 2007
I get these crazy dreams about her, the kind where I know I'm dreaming, so I can do whatever the hell I want. Sometimes I ... More Post a comment
Coronado Saved Me Published Sept. 27, 2007
When I was 28, and a man much too old for me had again broken my heart, I spent most of my free time in ... More Post a comment
Love Thy East Village Neighbor Published Sept. 27, 2007
My wife Beth and I moved from the quiet suburbs to an old, remodeled warehouse loft in downtown's East Village five years ago. We loved ... More Post a comment
Gilded Shams: The Great American Fraud (Part Three) Published Sept. 20, 2007
You wonder if Alfred Huntington Isham knew his last name harbored a confession of guilt. Maybe he did. But given his dim view of human ... More Post a comment
Gilded Shams: The Fountain of Youth (Part Two) Published Sept. 13, 2007
Depending on who tells the story, when Captain Charles Fitzallen sailed from Cardiff, Wales, aboard the Challenger in 1887, he had a bald spot either ... More Post a comment
Gilded Shams: Observatory on San Miguel Mountain (Part One) Published Sept. 6, 2007
They named a crater on Mars for Richard Anthony Proctor. The British astronomer (1837–1888) not only popularized his subject, he enjoyed making controversial claims: that ... More Post a comment
Laugh as Much as You Breathe Published Aug. 30, 2007
The females in my family are bastions of advice. Regardless of the subject, they assert their superior knowledge and follow up with at least three ... More Post a comment
One Weird Gig Published Aug. 2, 2007
The “bookstore” was a front room that had a few shelves of triple-X-rated magazines. A shaggy clerk charged me $2 admission (traded for eight machine ... More Post a comment
Library Love Published July 26, 2007
December 2006 Sitting in the Learning Resource Center at San Diego City College. I am among at least 100 empty chairs, many of them comfortable ... More Post a comment
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