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To Bike or Not To Bike? That is a good question.

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By Brigitte Taylor

I love the idea of cycling all over town and the trend to encourage people (and currently women, in particular, to ride bikes.

Ideas are great, but as a result of biking in Mission Valley, Old Town, North Park, Downtown, College Area, City Heights and various parts of the city, I definitely have a new take on what it means to share the road with vehicles. I used to ride my bike frequently until I was knocked off by a driver. Thankfully, I was not injured but after that, I limited my rides to mountain biking and bike paths where road sharing is not an issue.

I decided that it was time to start riding on city streets again last year. Riding my bike on El Cajon Boulevard, I must admit, can be daunting. Depending on where you are riding, some of the lanes are so narrow that the cars parked on the street will position a cyclist in the middle of the lane for vehicles meaning that we literally must share the same lane with vehicles. The traffic is quite rapid and, in my experience, people are fairly hasty and do not drive in a manner or speed that promotes comfortable riding of a bike in the middle of the street. I noted the streets have designated lanes for the bikes; however, these lanes are in or near the same spaces along with vehicles. While I have noted more courtesy among drivers, I still think there should be a designated area specifically for bicycles.   [Read more…]

Dark Horse Coffee Roasters – Now Open in Normal Heights

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A new entrant to the burgeoning coffee roasting scene in San Diego has opened as of Saturday, January 19th: Dark Horse Coffee Roasters in Normal Heights. Located at 3260 Adams Avenue, next to the Normal Heights Post Office, Dark Horse joins the ever-expanding array of businesses that have located on Adams Avenue in recent years. Soon to join Dark Horse will be the double-team of Polite Provisions and Soda & Swine just down the street at 30th Street and Adams Avenue.

Owned and operated by Daniel Charlson, Dark Horse features house-roasted coffee (no espresso) served in a variety of ways: french press, pour over, and cold brewed. The pour-over selections when I visited were Brazil, El Salvador, and Papua New Guinea. I opted for the Papua New Guinea pour over and purchased a mug since the shop is currently in ‘soft opening’ mode and hasn’t yet received their porcelain products for ‘to stay’ use. The coffee was good, on the dark side but not bitter.   [Read more…]

San Diego For Free: Get Lost in the Map & Atlas Museum of La Jolla

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A weekly column dedicated to sharing the best sights and activities in San Diego at the best price – free! We have a great city and you don’t need to break the bank to experience it.

Location: 7825 Fay Ave Suite LL-A, La Jolla, CA 92037 (Located in lower courtyard of building)

Free Hours: Wednesdays & Thursdays, 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month. Also by appointment for groups – call 855-653-6277

Best For: Travelers, geography whizzes, explorers, navigators, the lost

Website: mamlj.org

As the first month of a new year comes to a close you may still be thinking about (or drafting) resolutions for 2013. If those resolutions include a goal to travel somewhere the Map & Atlas Museum of La Jolla may be a good resource for you to further ponder a destination. The museum has a wide variety of maps dating from the 15th through the 20th century and is sure to inspire even the biggest homebody to sail for distant seas.

I received a copy of Maphead by Ken Jennings (of Jeopardy fame) for Christmas in early December and had just finished the book when I saw an article about the Map & Atlas Museum in the San Diego Reader. I decided I had to go and visited later that month.
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The NFL: Where Dr. King’s Dream Goes to Die

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By Dave Zirin / The Nation / January 21, 2013

As the United States celebrates the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with the swearing-in of this country’s first African-American president, there will no doubt be commentary on the great gap between ceremony and reality. It’s the gap between the public spectacle of President Barack Obama’s inaugural oath—sworn on one of Dr. King’s Bibles no less—and a country still ravaged by what King called “the giant triplets of racism, militarism and economic injustice.”

In addition to the inaugural festivities, this weekend was also marked by a spectacle that will rival or exceed the inauguration in passion and interest: the National Football League playoffs. NFL football, by a country mile, is the most popular sport in the United States. It also stands as a living monument of the distance we still must travel to slay King’s “giant triplets.” I write this, in full disclosure, as someone who follows the sport religiously, but struggles to not be blind to the politics the NFL pumps through its play.   [Read more…]

Shout-out at the PB Corral – Residents Fight for Conditional Booze Permits

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By sub-committee

The corral for easy police DUI checkpoints, and multi-other crime/infractions, from public urination and vandalism, to armed robberies and violence, (sponsored the city penal industry) due to the alcohol party ambiance that been the sustained reputation of Pacific Beach for the past 20+ years , has become the focus for a grassroots citizen protest in the form of, yes, a good old PUBLIC PETITION to request/demand the city and the state to establish local control of alcohol licensing, in the form of the “C.U.P.” (Conditional Use Permit).

“After years of protest to the officials in both state and local agencies, including our own judicial forum, and getting no responsible answers from them to a problem that was getting worse and worse, we have decided to organize THE PEOPLE,” said Scott Chipman, one of the chief organizers of this grassroots endeavor.   [Read more…]

A Different Kind of Listening: John Cage on 45th Street

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It is only half past January and I have had it up to here, estoy harta, with the right wing rage and whining that followed the election; enough, basta already, to the manufactured misery of the fiscal cliff and debt ceiling threats that immediately shut out the voices of citizens who made their intentions and desires known in the November election. There is a ringing in my ears from the dreadful noise, and I worry about my ability to hear what is really important and stay focused. …
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Desde la Logan: Loyola University Students Experience the Community that is Chicano Park

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On a cold, blustery day in Barrio Logan’s Chicano Park my toddler son Dino and I had the opportunity to connect with some college students from Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland who were in San Diego for their annual Project Mexico trip. Project Mexico is a program of the university’s Center for Community Service and Justice.

The Center’s website states that Project Mexico provides undergraduate students with an opportunity to immerse themselves in a 10-day intense service and educational exchange with the peoples and communities of Mexicali and San Diego. During their stay in Mexico students participate in community directed projects and engage in cultural and social activities and education programs that address topics such as immigration, the environment, human rights and political and economic issues.   [Read more…]

Clybourne Park at the San Diego Repertory Theatre – A Review of the Friday Night Performance

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By Jim Bliesner

The first act of Clybourn Park, now at the San Diego Repertory Theatre is about “white flight” or “block busting” set in 1959. The second act is about “gentrification” and “new urbanism” set in 2009. In the first act a black family is buying a home in a traditionally Caucasian neighborhood. In the second act, the same house is being sold by a black couple to a young Caucasian couple moving back into the city wanting to remodel and add onto the old house. If this was San Diego the play would be called Sherman Heights or Golden Hill and cover the same period. The play is about a real phenomenon across the American urban landscape and alive today.   [Read more…]

How a Plan Comes Together Part II: Dino-Soar Float Takes Flight

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Arlene Buchmann and the La Cañada-Flintridge volunteers put the finishing touches on their entry in the 2013 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. This is part 2 of Arlene’s photo diary.   [Read more…]

How a Plan Comes Together: The Construction of a Rose Parade Float

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Ever wonder how those incredible Rose Parade floats are made? Arlene Buchmann, a graduate of Mission Bay High School, volunteers every year to help plan and construct the La Cañada/Flintridge float entry for the annual Rose Parade on New Year’s Day in Pasadena. This year she was kind enough to share some photos and commentary about how it all comes together. Enjoy!   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – 24 Things San Diegans Can Do to Honor the Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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“The time is always right to do what’s right.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

It has been twenty seven years since the first federal holiday marking the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King was observed. Like all good things, establishment of this commemorative day didn’t come without a serious effort. It wasn’t officially observed in all 50 states until 2000.

The movement for a holiday honoring Dr. King began as a union demand in contract negotiations. Congressman John Conyers introduced a bill four days after the assassination in 1968 to make the slain leader’s birthday a national holiday.

The bill would likely have died in committee, and stayed buried, had it not been for thousands of working-class Americans–most of them black, but also white, Asian and Latino–who risked their jobs over the next fifteen years to demand the right to honor a man they viewed as a working-class hero.

For those of us lucky enough to be able to celebrate holidays, this coming weekend is (or should be) different. I’ve combed through local listings in an attempt to create a comprehensive and easy to use guide for people who wish to honor the memory of Dr. King through community service and celebrations. There are activities listed here for people spanning all levels of physical ability, age and political persuasion. You can sign up for many of them with a mere click of the mouse.   [Read more…]

Free Miracles at the Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla

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By Mic Porte

Thursday, January 17, 2013 is the last “free evening”, (free third Thursdays evening 5-7pm) of the current art exposition, Behold, America!,  at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, and the place to get yourself a miracle.

Artist Paul Kos , in 1989, created a multi-media, inter-active installation artwork to surprise and delight folks of all ages.   Called “Guadalupe Bell,” his intention is to create that “aha!” moment, “witnessing the miracle” of the appearance of St. Guadalupe to the native Mexican people in 1573, to assuage the pain of the Spanish invasion.   It is always a joyful miracle when you laugh in delight, as I did, visiting the expo recently with my two nieces.  Under the watchful eye of the museum “angels”, some of the nicest museum guards you will ever meet, go ahead and ring that bell, and get your miracle moment.   [Read more…]

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