east village bowl & tavern open

yelp has some reviews up already for the recently-opened east village bowl and tavern. it's a sports bar plus 6 bowling lanes, with 6 more to come - sounds like fun. from the website, apparently it's owned by the same folks who run the gaslamp tavern on 5th. looks like petco fans will have a couple of nearby sports bar options after the games next season, with the opening of the fox sports grill in the hilton by the convention center too.

gaslamp chain restaurant roundup

san diego business journal covers the recent closing of trophys near petco park downtown - it's going to become the third donovan's steakhouse in san diego. they've gutted the interior of the old trophy's, going from light to dark woods, and created a large cheers-like bar. trophy's still owns half of this business venture.

interestingly, this conversion takes place even though the palm springs-based lg's steakhouse flopped on 6th downtown. that's going to become an upscale greek restaurant, exy, from the owners of the daphne's greek cafe chain.

meanwhile, rumor has it that a gordon biersch is going into icon near petco. apparently the two sides are still far apart on lease terms.

strata condos going lux rental

the folks on skyscraperpage.com are saying that strata, the intracorp condo project at 10th and market in east village, has been sold to hanover. the lot is being demo'd this week, and the project will now be luxury apts instead of condos. the units will be larger, but the cool-looking exterior will remain the same. and the same forum has rumors of a potential cosmo square revival, but we'll wait and see on that one.

we like the blight

local businesses in point loma near shelter island are opposed to a townhome project coming to their area, according to a recent union trib story. the $50 million dollar project, consisting of 47 luxury townhomes across from point loma seafoods (love the food, hate the politics - hosting rudy giuliani? come on...). some of the NIMBY quotes included "it just doesn't belong here" and "this is a working industrial area".

can one of these NIMBY folks explain why you can't mix residential with industrial? also, the "industrial area" quote came from someone blocks away from the actual site - it's not like they're being displaced. when i've driven through the area, it does seem kind of dumpy (i'll try to get over there for a pic). it's definitely caught in a time warp - like much of shelter island, it feels stuck in the 70's. and that's exactly when the boatyard in this area peaked, according to a local in the article.

another redevelopment plan that irks the townies is the proposed Kettenberg Landing, part of the America's Cup Harbor Redevelopment project by the port of san diego (shown above). this would be a continuous boardwalk along the harbor in the area. but given the big conservative turnout for rudy at point loma seafoods, i can see why the locals are opposed to any kind of change.

conservative opposition to change, largely by older folks, is mirrored here in kensington. the son of the elderly owners of kensington video railed against kensington terrace, a new mixed-use project down the street from them. what is it about human nature that makes us fearful of change as we age?

way to go jerry!

unbelievable. i had just finished berating mayor sanders for his planned veto of the san diego city council's support of gay marriage (actually, a directive to the city attorney's office to file a brief stating such). then i log on to the union tribune website to see an amazing story - that the mayor had changed his position and was supporting the brief.

there are several astounding things about this story - first, that sanders is potentially sacrificing his political career by not pandering to conservatives on this issue (sample generic wingnut soundbite from the public hearing: gay marriage is an "attack on families"). second, he publicly announced that his daughter is gay. third, the acknowledgement that he has gay staff members. i knew his spokesperson, fred sainz, was gay just by watching him on tv. so it was strange to read sainz explaining why the mayor would be vetoing the measure in the paper this morning.

i just watched sanders' statement on tv, and it is amazing - he is nearly in tears as he explains that he can't treat an entire group of people, including members of his family and staff, as less than others. it is an incredible thing to watch. it really is a positive sign of how things are changing in this country regarding opinions toward gay people. it seems that if you know one, you're less likely to discriminate against them - even if you're a republican.

on a personal note, the mayor was at our friends' civil union ceremony last year; they live next door to jerry here in kensington. before i heard the news this evening, i was cursing our gay friends who had voted for jerry, saying they got what they deserved. well, i apologize for that and am just blown away by what happened today.

finally, jerry announces his re-election campaign tomorrow. after the courage he showed tonight, he definitely has my vote.

no-no cosmo: foreclosed condos

well it's official. cosmopolitan square is in foreclosure. this was going to be the tallest building planned for near the ballpark in east village (just across j street actually), but the first sign of trouble was the sales office on 6th that never opened. this looked like a really cool project too - interesting design, fire station integration, and of course, the 30+ stories, by far the tallest for that area.

i think this is the first big condo project downtown to go belly-up. probably not the last, unfortunately.

festival fest this weekend

wow there's a lot going on in san diego this weekend. the most appealing is the artwalk on the bay, which takes place in behind seaport village in the embarcadero park. come see what the bay actually looks like on the south side of the city, once you make it past the pedestrian-unfriendly frontage. apparently that's the intent of the organizers, who want the bay's natural beauty to get you in an art-buying mood, or something like that. saturday and sunday 10-4.

ocean beach has their ob jazz fest on sunday, emphasizing local musicians. looks like it's right on the main drag (newport), so that should be fun - you can stop into the black and pick up your new bong between sets.

cardiff-by-the-sea has a greek festival saturday and sunday, so if you're in north county (i'm sorry), get yourself some souvlaki.

it's the 6th anniversary of the ray at night art walk in north park this saturday night. zta gallery there is having their second annual green scene, comprised of earth-friendly art works.

it's weekends like this that i really appreciate living in a vibrant city like san diego. having come from upstate new york, where people seem to largely go shopping on the weekend, it's nice to see people out and about, enjoying their communities. with the adams avenue street fair and other festivals coming up (does street scene count anymore?), september's events ease my sorrow regarding august's departure. maybe i can change the calendar now.

royal india downtown

we had dinner at royal india on a steaming warm night sunday after i picked up jay from the airport and it was fantastic as usual. from the samosas to the masala, everything was perfect. nice to see the union tribune food reviewer feels the same way. we'll have to hit that buffet sometime...

coronado people: biggest aholes in city?

it's a town full of conservative, white, rich, retired military folks. so, california parks service, don't you even think about building 10 beach cottages on the strand just south of coronado village. because the pretentious f*cks that live in coronado cays nearby don't want the "traffic and noise" these will generate. never mind that it's "public land" that the state is trying to improve access to for the benefit of the general public (read: peasants). no, we mustn't disturb the multi-million dollar paradise the coronado cays folks have claimed for themselves with their ugly-ass mcmansion tract homes.

how much noise and traffic can 10 cottages create across a wide road from the cays? wtf is it with rich people - seriously, does your money just give you the right to tell everyone else what they can and can't do? please.

UPDATE: ok, i didn't realize people were parking their rv's in front of people's houses. i'd be complaining too if someone parked their old rusted-out white trash heap in front of my place. i assumed the cays was a gated community... they have an HOA after all.

marukai open in kearny mesa

japanese market marukai has opened in kearny mesa at the intersection of balboa and mercury, just west of 163. we stopped in today, and right now it's just a japanese version of a dollar store (named "daiso" - 1.50 and up), but there was lots of cool stuff, including all sorts of brightly-decorated cleaning supplies for the home. one weird thing was the undulating (bamboo?) hardwood floors - won't be much fun to remove all the racks and re-do that down the road. i picked up a bunch of cheap toys for my nephew and jay's neice and nephew.

according to a chowhound post, two other buildings in the same strip mall (with very difficult access due to the busy intersection there) will house a lifestyle store and a members-only market. hopefully there will be a food court in the latter that won't require a membership.

speaking of in-market japanese restaurants, after daiso we went to mitsuwa and had lunch at their noodle shop for the first time. i had a beef bowl with rice, and some cold udon noodles that hit the spot on a warm day (inside the store too). the sushi counter is a great option there too for a quick to-go meal.

after our japanese sojourn we hit the beach to escape the brutal heat (104 at the house today) and enjoyed the cool water and good waves, the best i've seen this summer. but our kearny mesa day was not done - jay had to stop at yogurt world, so i dropped into tapioca express in the same strip mall and had the best boba slushie (vanilla creme) that i think i've ever had. the place looks great inside too, especially compared to the dump of a vietnamese place the used to be there.

i remarked to jay how lucky we were to live in a city that has such a diverse population and what that means food-wise. it's a shame that, until recently, we haven't taken greater advantage of what kearny mesa has to offer in terms of restaurants... but there's plenty of time to change that.