San Diego Free Press

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Field of View: Traveling the World via the Map and Atlas Museum of La Jolla

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Thanks to a suggestion made by our SD for Free columnist, my dad’s birthday was blissfully easy to plan this year. We decided to go to the Map and Atlas Museum of La Jolla and were able to arrange for a private tour — completely free of charge.

The museum is housed within the Merrill Lynch building on Fay Avenue, and is estimated (they won’t disclose the actual number) to showcase a collection worth around eight figures. It is made up of mobile walls and an elaborate hanging system that allows for changes to be made depending on the exhibit.

The museum is the brainchild of Michael Stone, a local philanthropist with an insatiable love for cartography and a desire to share it with the world.

The best part of the whole tour is guide Richard Cloward, a retired U.S. Navy captain without whom we would’ve been done in 20 minutes and wouldn’t have understood a fraction of what we were seeing. As it was, we ended up staying almost two hours — and there was still so much to learn.   [Read more…]

The Curtain Closes on Birch North Park Theatre?

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The intersection of 30th Street and University Avenue is the physical center of North Park, as well as the hub the commercial and cultural activity in the neighborhood.  In the early 1900s this corner earned the moniker of “Busy Corner“, a title that would be fitting today as well.  Standing at Busy Corner throughout the years would give a clear view of the many changes that have occurred throughout the decades since the first homes and businesses appeared in the first decade of the 1900s.

In 2012, after filing for bankruptcy, the Lyric Opera  sold the mortgage note on the property to David Cohen, owner of the West Coast Tavern that is housed in the front of the theatre building.  Mr. Cohen is now trying to foreclose on the Lyric Opera and take ownership of the building.  A hearing on the issue took place before Judge Margaret Mann in downtown San Diego on Wednesday, February 27th, but no ruling was issued and the case will be continued on March 7.

Pending a decision in court there are many possibilities for the future of the space but no clear direction.   [Read more…]

Dying for Free

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Dying for free

In the familiar comfort of your home, with your own family,

No No No cost of doctors and hospital fees,

No strangers, no logistics, no legal-ease,

Just old age, if you please, natural as can be,

Just dying for free.

“My body is old, and you can’t fix me, so just let me be, with my old tv…

Just dying for free.”

More inside….   [Read more…]

Alma Rodriguez: The ‘Little Napoleon’ Behind Queen Bee’s Art and Cultural Center in North Park

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Alma Rodriguez’s childhood nickname was “Little Napoleon.”

At first glance, the obvious reason is her just more than 4-foot stature. But after a conversation about how she came to be the queen at the Queen Bee’s Art and Cultural Center in North Park, it’s her determination and self-proclaimed “need to be in control” that earns her the title.   [Read more…]

The Dove and the Cockerel: Chapter 25

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Colin continued running to the corner, then turned back to Kettner Boulevard. He saw a blue Ford Bronco driving south on Kettner as he reached the corner. There appeared to be only a Hispanic driver. The Bronco was too far away to read the license plates. He mentally filed the information. He was looking for a black man and a white woman.

He slowed to a jog as he continued up Kettner, looking into the fenced yards and parking lots of commercial buildings. As he passed a gap between two warehouses he stopped to look. Under the harsh glare of the security lights, he could see two figures among the debris at the other end. The first was sitting slumped with his back against the wall. The other was lying on his back.

Colin stepped away from the entrance to the passageway. Pointing his pistol toward the figures, using the corner of the warehouse for cover, he surveyed the passageway. He waited several seconds looking for any movement, listening for any sound. Although he could see no movement from the figures, he could hear a faint mumbling. Nothing else stirred in the corridor.   [Read more…]

Downwardly Immobile

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By Bob Dorn    

When a criminal maniac forced me off the road last December, and then rammed my 1996 Saturn on the drivers’ side with his Toyo 4-Runner he couldn’t have known that his craziness was going to make one thing clear: I have to make a choice between having a car or having a place to live.

I can’t have both.

It’s the first time this white guy born during WWII has had to face this reality since he was in his early twenties, in college. I’ve paid the rent or the mortgage and driven mostly beaters since the early 60s. In the mid-70s I even paid cash for a new Fiat 128. Its body rusted, and valves repeatedly burned, so I walked away from it less than four years later. But I was living in Cardiff, by the sea, where the life was made of privilege and entertainment was just outside the front door.

See, I can’t complain. It’s been a good run to this point, except for that maniacal blow to the Saturn.   [Read more…]

The Value of Human Smuggling

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By Beryl Forman

This semester I was unable to register for any classes offered through SDSU’s department of City Planning, where I am working towards my masters degree.  As to not get sidetracked from my academic pursuit, I opened my options up to what is being taught throughout the entire University.

A friend of mine offered a few recommendations, and the one that stood out was called Culture and Society of Tijuana, an entire class devoted to Tijuana!

As an Urban Planning student living in San Diego, Tijuana has captured my attention from the day I moved here over eight years ago.

I’ve had the opportunity to write a couple of research papers and interview important people about the history of planning between our border cities and Tijuana’s public spaces.  To further my area of interest, it only seemed appropriate that I register for this class, even if it was an undergraduate course that didn’t count towards my major.   [Read more…]

20 Arrested at Mission Valley Hilton Protest over Job Security

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Twenty people were arrested Friday evening during a protest at the HiltonMissionValley hotel during a protest stemming from the refusal of management to take step to protect employee jobs during the sale of the property. Tarsadia investments is currently negotiating to buy the location.

Those arrested included hotel workers, family members, clergy and community advocates. The hotel has been the focus of organizing efforts by union advocates for months now. Employees were recently forced to re-apply for their jobs by the current owner, HEI Hotels and Resorts, a move aimed at breaking the back of a burgeoning employee organizing effort.

Employees were told by management on January 13th that they face mass layoffs. The hotel filed notice with the state of its intention to lay off workers on under the state’s WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) system run by the Employment Development Department.   [Read more…]

Internet Irony at Its Finest: Lifelock Ads at Daily Kos

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So I’m making my afternoon spin through the interwebs, looking to see if the world ended or anything. I’ve got my “list”; some mainstream media, a few lefty blogs, a couple of righty blogs and a few LOL Catz.

I’m looking for amusement as much as news. After all, it’s Friday afternoon and I don’t another news roundup column due until Monday.

There on Daily Kos, I spot the headline: It’s got  a couple of keywords that stoke my interest:

Is Rush Limbaugh’s Most Loyal Advertiser A Scam?

Clicky, clicky, I go.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – Sequestration, Implementation, Discrimination, Frustration… Compared to What?

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Happy sequestration day. 

The sky most likely won’t fall at 11:59pm tonight when President Obama signs the order implementing terms of a deal struck with Congress designed to be so odious that no person in their right mind would allow it to happen.

That should tell us a lot about the current mental state of the nation’s politicians. But it doesn’t.  The horrible deal, as it turns out, isn’t all that horrible, at least in the short run.

Guess who won’t be feeling the effects of sequestration?  From Bloomberg News:

The cuts, known as sequestration, will have no impact on the president, U.S. lawmakers and other top government officials. It is especially ironic that Congress, which has the power to avert the reductions, has nothing to lose in the negotiations, said Dan Gordon, former head of federal procurement in the Obama administration.

INSIDE: LES MCCANN, PROP H8, DISTRICT FOUR WALK-OFF, NORTH PARK GETS A PARKLET   [Read more…]

North Park’s Seven Grand and All That Jazz

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I love me some jazz. I love all music actually: Patsy Cline is one of my favorite singers of all time; Symphony soothes my mind; R & B practically raised me; Marian Anderson is a hero to me; Corridos stir my soul; I can’t get enough of that Rock and Roll and I have danced in a park to Blue Grass. But I love me some jazz.

And speaking of jazz, the other night I caught some nice sounds at a new place in town. Seven Grand Whiskey Bar in North Park. 3054 University Avenue to be exact.   [Read more…]

Desde la Logan presents March’s Las Monthly Ondas featuring: Art of Body : Body of Art – 6th Annual Día de la Mujer Exhibition at The Front

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By Brent E. Beltrán

Every March 8 throughout the world women and their male allies come together to celebrate International Women’s Day. For the sixth straight year the dedicated, hard working people at Casa Familiar’s The Front will organize an art exhibition and night of culture to honor and celebrate the artistic contributions of females in the San Diego/Tijuana border region.

As a member of the Red CalacArts Collective I had the honor of playing a minor role in The Front’s first women’s celebration. Now, as a writer, I am equally honored to help spread the word about this beautiful, annual event. Recently, I had the privilege to communicate with Leticia Gomez Franco, The Front’s Gallery and Exhibitions Director. She broke down the reason why art spaces like The Front are necessary, why it is important to celebrate día de la mujer internacional, what the local San Ysidro reaction to The Front’s work is and what makes their event so successful.   [Read more…]

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