so long april

the first bloom of the season is usually the best, and this april was no exception. while the average high temps were much cooler than normal (and the 10th of the last 11 aprils to be below normal), there was plenty of sun for the plants to soak up. now it's time for the may gray...

where the dogs rule downtown

jay and i went downtown for the first time in a while and started off with a burger at brian's eatery, then stopped into the recently opened java jones, where i enjoyed a hazel nut vanilla cappuccino. the sun on the patio felt great, but it looks like it will be blocked by the towering mark condo to the southwest in the winter though. i'm really impressed with this cafe - the most plush leather furniture and hardwood flooring i've seen.

freshly caffeinated, we were off to the park at petco park, where we sat on the grass and watched the dogs play. there had to be over 10 dogs there, with their owners chatting. there was a close call where one of the dogs, chasing after a ball, almost wiped out a small kid fielding grounders from his dad on the children's diamond. but it was very enjoyable to soak up the sun, pet some friendly dogs, and enjoy living in san diego.

mondo gelato

after our visit to the park at the park, and getting stuck for 20 minutes while streets were closed off for the filming of a saturn commercial, we ran into a great new gelato place in the fahrenheit building just north of the ballpark. mondo gelato has a clean, modern design, interesting art work on the walls, cool modern furniture, and delicious gelato. jay had scoops of pistachio and white chocolate, which he said were fantastic. i sampled the soy chocolate gelato, which didn't taste very good, but the berry sorbet was delicious, and the soy cappucino gelato was a nice contrasting flavor. two scoops run about $3.

hotel indigo coming to downtown

hotel indigo is coming to the lot shown above at 9th and island. another "hip/cool lifestyle hotel" - it will have plenty of competition with hotel solamar, ivy hotel, sofia, keating and hard rock all being built or completed...

kensington terrace

yes, it's another project with "kensington" in the name. for reference, we already have kensington grill, kensington video, ken theatre, kensington place (condos), kensington vine, and san diego coffee, tea and spices at kensington. this one's a whopper though - say goodbye to the overpriced gas at the corner gas station on marlborough and adams and the burned out house two doors down. the entire block is being razed for a new mixed-use project named kensington terrace, and it sounds pretty impressive.

the first floor will be comprised of retail space, the second floor for offices, and the third floor "penthouse condos". there will be townhouses too - something new for around here. it's really going to fill out that part of adams avenue, hopefully with some interesting retail. the developer says he plans to fit the character of the neighborhood, and the architect, allard johnson and associates has done some distinctive projects in san diego, including the very cool-looking hamilton row in normal heights.

we had heard about the project a while back from one of the local realtors, rex downing. prior to that, the son of the owners of the decrepit kensington video complained about high density projects coming to kensington, which makes me ask, what's wrong with high density projects along adams ave? isn't that smart growth? there's already a hugely successful one across the street from the new project. he also complained about having to contribute to a proposed maintenance district fund to improve the look of adams ave. given that the owners of kensington video are too cheap to even put a new coat of paint on their dump, it's no surprise that they led the fight against having to spend another dime of their hard-earned rewind penalty profits on something so frivolous as how the sidewalk in front of their business looks.

kensington vine

this new wine bar opened around the corner from our house a few weeks ago, and it looks to be a hit - every time i walk by in the evening there's a good crowd. unfortunately jay's not a wine drinker, so we haven't stopped in, but i'll try to get over there with some fellow imbibers and provide some details. it's a huge improvement over what used to be in this mini strip mall (a shoe store), and it's kind of exciting to have a restaurant around the corner from the street you live on. the place looks great, too - patio seating, good lighting, and a big wall of wine bottles on display.

green tomato restaurant closes

green tomato in kensington has closed. we ate there a few years back and weren't overly impressed; more recently, friends reported the same, along with some pretty bad service. while the front bar area room had an interesting design, the main dining area was pretty bland. i guess they were going for a traditional french look, but it just didn't appeal to me. hopefully any new owners will give the place a make-over.

in the morning (hot chip remix) - junior boys

the part starting around 6:30 into the song is amazing....

"freshman orientation" at filmout san diego

our friend bruce, who runs obelisk bookstore in hillcrest, had some free passes for filmout, the gay film festival over at the ken theatre. we walked over for the 5:30 showing of freshman orientation (imdb has it as "home of phobia"), which unlike most gay film festival movies i've seen, was quite good. the writing in particular was extremely funny, and rachel dratch and john goodman had hilarious cameos.

browsing through the filmout guide (their web site seems to be down right now) showed lots of interesting films, and short movies too. one that we recognized was peking turkey, about an asian-canadian and his partner announcing their engagement over a thanksgiving dinner at the former's parents house. it was on logo television recently in a short films special.

it's great to be able to walk to a movie theater, especially when it puts on film festivals. we stopped in for a coffee at kensington coffee on the way home, and it was packed with folks who were out enjoying the cool, clear evening.

saigon vietnamese restaurant

saigon is a cheap vietnamese restaurant just south of our house on el cajon blvd, and we dropped in tonight with our friend david. i couldn't believe it had been 3 years since i'd been, given it's so close and how good the food is. my pho was full of tasty meat and noodles in a big bowl, and was only $5. we also had some chinese sausage rolls and spring rolls. jay got a big rice dish and took half home, while david had a massive bowl of vermicelli noodles and egg rolls, which he also doggy-bagged. given the price and quality of food, this might be one of the better eating deals that i've experienced. while the restaurant is nothing great to look at, it's much better than the car dealership that preceded it at this location.

dim sum at jasmine

the allure of clairemont mesa's vast asian restaurant selection drew us up there again today, this time to jasmine. the line wasn't too bad and once we were seated the food carts were stocked and steadily available. we gorged on various shrimp dishes - the ones with sesame seeds on the outside, and others with a fried coating. we also had and pork buns and meatballs. can't get enough of this place - so many items to choose from, and all are full of unique, satisfying flavors. i think we had about 6 or 7 different dishes and our total bill was still under $30. if you haven't been to jasmine and you like asian food, you must get to this place. but don't wait until late in the lunch hour, else you'll be stuck with a dwindling selection of food from the few carts still in action.

yogurt world

we topped off our lunch with a delicious cheap dessert at yogurt world just up convoy from jasmine. it's a self serve place with lots of different flavors, alas only one (berry) for the lactose intolerant like myself. it was quite good; jay's pistachio was also a treat. i love all the toppings you can add, including fresh fruit. then you throw it on the scale on the counter and pay your $3 (in my case). the place has a cool minimalist/modern design too, for a hole-in-the-wall yogurt shop.

district 117 gallery

this new gallery above baja betty's on university in hillcrest opened thursday to 300+ people and lots of good abstract art. we stopped in this afternoon and met one of the artists, jose fuentes, whose work i really like. i ended up buying an interesting piece (pictured above) from the other "main" artist, isabel fueyo, in part due to the more affordable price. but all of the art is reasonable compared to the elevated prices most local art (deservedly) fetches. check out their website for lots of great pieces. they'll be featuring other artists and adding more of their own work too, all at prices that are hopefully within reach.

chicano park day

we finished up our afternoon by stopping by chicano park in barrio logan under the coronado bridge in barrio logan for chicano park day. the lowriders were a real highlight as can be seen above. it's amazing the amount of work that their owners put into them. the paint, the stereos, the hydraulic kits - all with such attention to detail. the low rider bicycyles were a hoot too. one lowlight was the speaker who put down the police at the event - it was interesting to see their reaction to that one. but i was psyched to finally get down to chicano park after having driven over it to coronado for nearly 10 years now.

tajima japanese restaurant

stopped by the new tajima on the way home from work today. this is the one on mercury that opened late last year; there's another one on convoy that we ate at a while back which was quite good. i know clairemont mesa doesn't count as urban san diego, but there too much good asian food up there to ignore it.

since this is an izakaya style restaurant, there's lots of small, inexpensive dishes, meant for casual dining and as an accompaniment to your after-work imbibing. i started off with some of the best miso soup i've had, and for my cold appetizer entrees, i had the shark fin with plum sauce and a cucumber dish. both were unique in flavor and a great warm up to my main dish, a pork and soba noodle plate, pictured above. jay had the kaarage, which was a delicious fried chicken dish, gyoza pork dumplings (tasty and light) and a california roll. there were several additional items on the menu that we want to try, but i did recognize the cold octopus dish, which was quite chewy and good at the old tajima. and if you're up late and need your ramen fix, remember tajima's open til 3am!

caring for environment, public = "elitist"

environmental groups join together to stop development of an "irreplaceable wildlife habitat" north of escondido by millionaire land owners. the millionaires' lawyer, who i'm sure is quite wealthy himself, had this to say about those hippie environmentalists who might actually be looking out for the public and the environment:

“Guejito is prepared to give a very substantial portion of the property to public access, but we're not prepared to give up everything or sell it at a devalued price to elitist environmental groups,” Hank Rupp, lawyer for the Rodney Co., said yesterday.

according to wikipedia, an elitist includes someone of great wealth whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously. given that mr. rupp is telling us what his clients are going to do with their land - which is part of the public domain - it's ironic that mr. rupp chooses to use this term, when he and his clients are in fact the elitists.

"it doesn't benefit me"

continuing on today's apparent theme of selfishness, there's an enlightening article on lagging recycling rates in san diego. money part:

Beyond the bureaucratic hurdles that must be leapt over, Solomon's morning experience shows that not all members of the public are rabid recyclers. At one stop, a man confronted her.

"Why should I do this, when I don't see anything beneficial to me?" he asked. A small dog yap-yap-yapped behind the man.

Solomon: "What about your children and grandchildren?"

"Ehh," the man said dismissively. "This is not going to kill them."

unfortunately, this guy sums up the prevailing wisdom of many conservatives: why do anything if it's not beneficial to you?

jake esquire: sexist pretentious fuck

i came across san diego-based jake esquire's blog while reading the reader (there was nothing else to read at the oil change place), which published a recent blog entry by him. this guy's arrogance is stunning. my favorites: referring to people at his workplace as "lower orders", the fact that he drives a porsche, how he refers to his HR manager as "burly", how he refers to himself as a "Rockstar Investor", his quote that "greed should not be considered a negative trait", among others. while i'm sure many men view women as lowly as he does, it's rare to see someone have the balls to actually tell the world he only hires women whom he wants to drill.
it's actually fascinating to have a window into the world of all the self-absorbed rich fucks who live in la jolla. whenever i need to be reminded of exactly who i don't want to be, i can just read this astoundingly selfish guy's blog. in fact, it helps me to understand why this country is like it is today - it's full of people like "jake" who only care about themselves, how much money they make, and how many posessions they can acquire, including women. it also describes your typical young republican.
while i'd love to leave a comment after another one of his pretentious posts, it seems he's removed that option, and all other contact information since his post in the reader. i wonder why?

leaving san diego at 356 mph

today's record-setting high-speed rail demonstration in france was attended by democratic california legislators who are considering this particular model for a line between san diego and san francisco. how awesome would it be to catch up to europe and actually have some high speed rail lines in california? of course the governor wants its $10 billion bond measure off the 2008 ballot, but hopefully voters will give this alternative transportation option the go-ahead. more information: california high speed rail.

b fried rice: b-ware!

b fried rice has an unmemorable name and even more forgettable food. it's been in the local community guide coupon book for a while and we finally tried it out tonight. while the young woman at the counter who gave us our pickup order couldn't have been more friendly, and it is very cheap, we were disappointed in the quality of the food. the kung pao chicken looked nothing like kung pao we've had before - it was just a spicy chicken and vegetables with an oily sauce concoction. the beef in the beef lo mein was squishy. the chicken fried rice was the best but oily enough to lubricate your car engine. and could the strip mall on adams that b fried rice is in be any more sketchy? guess it's back to el cajon blvd. for cheap eats, or the fantastic szechuan mandarin down the hill in mission gorge.

i love trulia.com

how cool are the real estate heat maps on trulia.com? this is the first time i've seen kensington separated out from normal heights (they're in the same zip code, but there's a remarkable difference between the two neighborhoods separated by state route 15). check out the link for the nifty color-coded unaffordable vs. really unaffordable color blocks. interestingly, kensington and del cerro are the only neighborhoods in their price range (really unaffordable) in that part of the city.

"free hugs!"

that was what i heard as i got out of my car on university in hillcrest near starbucks on saturday. and that's just what i got from two of several friendly women - it really made my day. when i left and received my second set of hugs, i asked what they were promoting and they explained infant massage and its benefits. in fact, one of the women had just returned from near chernobyl where she was performing this service for genetically disfigured children who had been abandoned by their families. pretty powerful stuff from some truly nice folks.

more east village stuff

ok i'm too lazy to write separate posts for each of these. hopefully the pics will describe themselves above. but east village is set for a new kabob place (across from java jones on 8th), a new hipster 6-lane bowling alley on market (the eyebrows and tractor shot) called east village tavern & bowl, which just got their liquor license, and a supposed "million-dollar steakhouse" (named cowboy star? no picture, but on 9th next to the new and fun buzz clothing). just too much to keep up with. add the topped-out mark condominiums nearby, and it's really coming together on these two blocks.

java jones

we stumbled across the new coffee shop java jones (no link yet) which will open on wednesday, according to the owners who let us take a peek. the place, on eighth just north of market, looks great - beautiful hardwood floors, big doors that open onto the sidewalk and patio, plush leather furniture, and a big window to the bean-making area, similar to what you'd see in a brewpub. what a cool concept! plus they'll be open until midnight. just one of many great new additions to east village...

ivy hotel

after our lunch at bondi we bumped into a friend who lives downtown, and we walked over to check out the progress on some new projects. first, the ivy hotel, with its large rooftop deck, looks like an interesting upscale boutique hotel. hotel chatter says it will open june 1.

samuel fox lofts

the samuel fox lofts are in a great old building. doesn't look like they are replacing the old windows with double-paned ones, so hopefully the residents will be able to handle the incessant bus traffic on broadway below. but i love the colorful underside of the roof.

bondi restaurant

we had lunch today at the newly-opened bondi restaurant in the gaslamp. it was a beautiful sunny day so we sat at the curving bar that faces the sidewalk (and sun). we ordered a caeser salad, a pear salad, salt and pepper calamari, and wagyu kobe beef sliders. while our appetizer-based meal was pricey, it was also delicious. i also had a great pint of beer (a lager i can't remember the name of). they serve breakfast until noon, and announce their strong coffee and cold australian beer in hand-written messages on the windows.

inside, there are some truly cool touches - the vertical lcd screens at the bar; the clean lines of the bar area; the open, breezy feel of the front room with its two bars; the large blocky room dividers that can be moved; the strange hanging baskets also in the front room (for sitting and eating?); the funky, colorful blown glass hanging from the ceiling; and the sleek back room, where the traditional dining area is. also, the bathrooms are modern and hip, and make you wonder why it took so long for this kind of big-city quality design to appear in san diego.

we plan to return to bondi this weekend to sample their dinner menu with some visiting friends, but we'll be back more times than that, hopefully.

uptown housing survey

today's ut reports on a survey of the uptown area that identifies over 4000 historic homes. more information on the survey is available on the city of san diego's uptown survey site.

i think it's a great idea to inventory the area's historical character. when i first moved to san diego and drove through neighborhoods like clairemont mesa, i thought there wasn't much in the way of interesting housing stock - and a friend and former resident of the area agreed. yet an article in the union tribune back in 1999 that pointed out several historical (and mansion-like) properties in banker's hill got me to visit the area, and from then on i wanted to live where houses actually had character. it's encouraging that the city recognizes the unique value these neighborhoods have.