www.SDNEWS.com � Volume 11, Number 10San Diego Community Newspaper GroupSan Diego Community Newspaper GroupSan Diego Community Newspaper Group OCTOBER 2010

DOWNTOWN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERSee Program inside

The San Diego City Council voted last month toinitiate amendments to the current review processfor large hotel projects downtown. If enacted, hotelprojects of 100 rooms or more in the Centre City,Marina and Gaslamp Quarter districts will be sub-ject to an additional layer of review — and the CityCouncil will have the final say on whether hotelprojects are developed.

Currently, the Centre City Development Corpora-tion (CCDC), a nonprofit redevelopment agency cre-ated by the city, reviews and approves hotel pro-jects downtown. Under the present setup, the CityCouncil is only responsible for projects that fallunder certain guidelines. A change to the currentreview process would ultimately transfer the powerof approval from the CCDC to the City Council.

Council President Ben Hueso and Councilwom-an Donna Frye initiated the proposal in June 2009to make the City Council more responsive andaccountable to the public — particularly to low-wage service industry workers.

By transferring the review process from theCCDC to the City Council, project labor agreementsmay mandate that hotel workers be union mem-bers, increasing their wages and benefits.

“It has been shown that hotels in downtown pro-vide average incomes below the $35,000 level, atwhich persons are unable to find housing which isaffordable to them,” said Theresa Quiroz, co-chairof San Diego Affordable Housing, in a letter to theCity Council.

Cynthia Lopez, a hotel worker in downtown SanDiego, said, “for too long we have been left out ofimportant decisions made by the CCDC that impactour lives. Today, we are proud to stand up to devel-opers and corporations who want to keep thingsthe same.”

A joint coalition, including CCDC, DowntownSan Diego Partnership, San Diego Regional Cham-

BY MARIKO LAMB | DOWNTOWN NEWS

New crop of ‘trees’ go up near harborAmong the sculptures being installed for Urban Trees 7 are (from left) “The Spectrum of Time” by Garrett Goodwin, “Pooper Schooner” by Neal and Tiffany Bociek,“Red Palm” by Jeff Zischke and “Ask the Fish” by Stephen Fairfield. COURTESY PHOTOS

For the seventh year in a row, the PublicArt Department at the Port of san Diegois installing 30 new tree-like sculptures

along Harbor Drive as the Urban Trees 7 pro-ject gets underway.

The project started as a way to give localartists an opportunity to display their work onpublic property while adding to the ambianceof the waterfront.

“The first year we did it, it was so popular,”said Port senior public relations specialist Mar-guerite Elicone. “It got worldwide attention. Itwas written about in a publications in Paris.”

Since that inaugural installation, the UrbanTrees program has been going strong.

Every year, the 30 sculptures are taken downto make way for a fresh batch of forestry.Although some of the pieces are tree-like in

their designs, others encompass very differentforms. One sculpture that received a lot ofattention last year was the “Popcorn Chicken”tree, which looked like a huge movie-theaterstyle box of popcorn filled with rubberchickens. Each tree has its own theme,based on the artist’s interpretation, whichcan vary from abstract to borderline out-rageous. The Urban Trees project hasbecome something local artists and enthusi-asts anticipate eagerly.

To make it all happen, the Public Art Com-mittee first sends out a call to artists who canthen send in a small model of their proposeddesign for approval. Although many artists arelocal, they can come from all over. If accepted,artists receive $2,500 for supplies and then it’sup to them to complete the project. The com-mittee also supplies a 12-foot pole for support,but it’s up to each artist to decide how big the

tree will be — as long as it’s deemed safe. “We consider this a pretty good deal eco-

nomically,” Elicone said. “It’s a small price topay for all of the positivity it brings down to thewaterfront and all the activity and enjoymentthey provide.”

The new tree sculptures are being installednow through Oct.14 with a dedication cere-mony set for Oct. 28 in front of the B Streetcruise ship terminal.

So, what happens to the massive structuresonce their year is up and they’re removed? Atthat point they go back to the artists and theycan do whatever they want with the sculptures.If people are interested, they can purchase thetrees which range from $9,000 to $40,000. Inthe past, businesses have purchased the struc-tures as well as a few individuals.

For more information, visit www.portofsan-diego.org or call (619) 686-7246.

BY LEE CARNELL | DOWNTOWN NEWS

Big projects facebroader review City Council vote puts labor

union, hotel developers at odds

SEE HOTELS, Page 4

Haunted happenings are occur-ring all over this month. From thecity’s biggest block party of the yearto one of the spookiest haunted hous-es in the nation, downtowners aresure to have a frightening good timethis Halloween.

Dos Equis XX Monster Bash

San Diego’s biggest Halloweenblock party is back! Hundreds of cos-tumed partygoers will once again fillthe outskirts of the Gaslamp Quar-ter on Seventh Avenue between Mar-ket and J streets and on IslandAvenue between Sixth and eighthavenues for the annual MonsterBash. The madness begins on Satur-day, Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. and lasts untilmidnight. The evening’s entertain-ment lineup, including 10 DJs, threebands, and Monster Bash’s famed$3,000 costume contest, are sure tobring a plethora of creatures out tothe streets. If that isn’t enticingenough, attendees will be chilled tothe bone by tantalizing superhero go-

go dancers atop fully stocked bars,the first-ever all-girl DJ Sexy SlumberParty, and dance performances byLady Gaga’s “Little Monsters.”

The party doesn’t stop when theclock strikes 12, either. Monster Bashwristbands also serve as tickets for foodand drink specials and entrance intothe area’s hottest nightclubs. Ticketsare $25 in advance and $30 at thedoor. To purchase tickets in advance,visit www.sandiegomonsterbash.comor call McFarlane Promotions at (619)233-5008. Partygoers must be 21 orolder and have a valid ID to enter.

Haunted HotelOnce the doors creak open at the

Haunted Hotel, there is no turningback. The Haunted Hotel is locatedon the corner of Fourth Street andMarket in a 130-year-old building, sothe eerie mood is set already. Guestsare welcomed into the hotel by thefaint sound of cackling and buzzingchainsaws. Things start getting crazyas soon as visitors step foot into theelevator that takes them several floorsbelow. An asylum full of clowns withchainsaws and a subway station

waiting room where zombies like tohang out are just some of the fright-ening sights inside the hotel. If thedot room doesn’t send dizzy visitorsfor the exit, a creature with a chain-saw certainly will.

The Haunted Hotel is open from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Sundays, Wednes-days, and Thursdays, and 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays untilOct. 31. Organizers suggest buyingtickets online to avoid the ticket boothline. General admission into the hotelis $15 on Sundays, Wednesdays andThursdays, and $17 on Fridays andSaturdays. The hotel is not recom-mended for children under 10, womenwho are pregnant or visitors who havea heart condition. Tickets are availableonline at www.hauntedhotel.com.

Halloween Family DayNo tricks. Children 17 and under

get in free to more than a dozen muse-ums in Balboa Park for this year’s sec-ond annual Halloween Family Day onSaturday, Oct. 30, with the purchaseof an adult ticket. Treats will be in theform of hands-on activities, crafts,special tours, storytelling and many

other free goodies at participatingmuseums from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Children can get up close withcreepy crawlies at the Reuben H. FleetScience Center, build and decoratetheir own glow-in-the-dark ghostlysteam engine at the San Diego ModelRailroad Museum, or go on a spookytour in the San Diego Museum ofMan’s Egyptian mummy collection.

Children and adults alike can enjoythe special prizes given away through-out the park, including passports toBalboa Park, “Grinch” tickets at theOld Globe Theatre, Old Town Trolleytickets and Junior Theatre tickets.

For a complete listing of all activi-ties for the second annual Halloween

BY MARIKO LAMB | DOWNTOWN NEWS

SEE HALLOWEEN, Page 12

Revelers wearing colorful costumes such as this trio of robots will pour into the GaslampQuarter for the annual Dos Equis XX Monster Bash on Oct. 30. COURTESY PHOTO

Spooky events planned downtown throughout october

PAGE 2 | OCTOBER 2010 | SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

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Each year, the City Council is facedwith the same, old debate — where toprovide shelter and services to nearly350 homeless individuals during thewinter months. This year is no different.

The East Village neighborhood hasbeen host to one of two winter shelters,housing 200 adults in a temporary can-vas tent for three years in a row. Onceagain, the San Diego Housing Commis-sion has recommended the East Villageneighborhood — on the 1300 blockbetween F and G streets — to be the siteof this year’s Emergency Winter ShelterProgram.

Some residents in the East Villageneighborhood oppose the site, claimingthat it is a terrible marquee to have set intheir neighborhood and that they havedone their fair share for the homelesspopulation downtown.

“We have a not-in-my-front-yard atti-tude,” said David Hazan, president of theEast Village Homeowners Association,explaining that the proposed wintershelter would be located where 20,000cars pass each day to exit and enter stateRoute 94.

Year after year, the same debate overthe location of temporary winter shel-ters for the homeless fuels a demand forthe City Council to implement a longterm solution — the creation of a per-manent homeless shelter.

“Homelessness is not a seasonalthing,” said Robin Munro, project direc-tor for Downtown San Diego Partner-ship’s Registry Week, the most extensivesurvey of the homeless ever conductedin San Diego.

“I don’t think temporary shelter is thesolution. I think permanent, supportivehousing is the solution with some sort of

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Permanent homeless center still fueling debateBY MARIKO LAMB | DOWNTOWN NEWS

Downtown’s World Trade Center building is the proposed site for a permanent homelessshelter. MARIKO LAMB | Village NewsSEE SHELTER, Page 4

NEWS4 OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

ber of Commerce and San Diego Region-al Economic Development Corporationcame together during a press confer-ence on Sept. 13 to oppose the proposedchanges out of fear that it will have direconsequences on San Diego’s economy.

Gary London, president of the Lon-don Group — a realty advisory firm —was recently hired by the joint coalitionto study the economic impacts of thecity’s proposed review change, and pre-sented his findings during the Sept. 13press conference. His analysis was alsoprovided to the City Council prior to thecouncil’s vote last month.

In his analysis, London detailed the

potential fiscal and economic impactsof the proposed ordinance, and con-cluded that the development and oper-ation of a 300-room hotel would not befeasible using union labor, thus com-promising the development of 12 hotelscurrently proposed in downtown SanDiego.

“These hotel rooms won’t be devel-oped,” London said. “If these hotelrooms won’t be developed, it places thethird phase of the Convention Center injeopardy.”

London also emphasized the impor-tance the Converntion Center’s expan-sion holds for the city’s revenue-generat-ing events such as Comic-Con.

Although Comic-Con organizershave agreed to continue holding theconvention in San Diego after their con-

tract expires in two years, they havebeen concerned by the lack of hotelspace and moderately-priced hotelrooms to accommodate the more than140,000 attendees.

“This is a job-killer, pure and simple,”said District 2 City Councilman KevinFaulconer, who represents the down-town area. “My biggest concern is thatthe council placing conditions on pro-jects will drive hotel developers fromSan Diego and into other cities.”

Faulconer voted against the initia-tive on Sept. 14.

Although the first step toward shift-ing approval for hotel projects to theCity Council is under way, the debate isnot over yet. The ordinance will likelyreturn to the City Council for review inDecember.

HOTELSCONTINUED FROM Page 1

package put together to help people getjobs and other benefits,” she said.

Although she called the winter shel-ters a “necessary evil” for now, Munrourges the city and county to push for-ward with a permanent solution.

On Oct. 5, the City Council voted toapprove a proposed Exclusive Negotia-tions Agreement with ConnectionsHousing L.P. to rehabilitate the SanDiego World Trade Center (SDWTC)building into a permanent homeless ser-vice center and housing facility. Thecouncil further approved exclusive nego-tiations with the city of San Diego forsite control of the SDWTC and acquisi-tion of its adjacent parking structure forfuture development of the facility.

Connections Housing L.P., a limitedpartnership developer with PeopleAssisting the Homeless (PATH), willwork with the city in an estimated $31million project to convert the SDWTC,located at 1250 Sixth Ave., into a one-

stop service homeless center, completewith a medical clinic, job training, 150interim housing beds and 75 permanentsupportive housing units.

The council held a special Redevelop-ment Agency meeting Tuesday after-noon, took public testimony, heard fromthe agency and voted 8-0 in favor of theproposal.

Few people disagree that there is aneed for a permanent shelter in SanDiego. The dividing point is, again, overits location. Business owners, residentsand council members do not want theshelter in their district out of fear that itwill denigrate the image of their neigh-borhood and business environment.

Adding to concerns from local busi-ness owners in the area about how thehomeless shelter may affect their busi-nesses, is the fact the World Trade Cen-ter building also sits across from Kinder-Care Learning Center, a child day careprogram, which may make parentswary as well.

Supporters of the plan hope to havethe homeless service center running by2012.

SHELTERCONTINUED FROM Page 3

This site in the 1300 block between F and Gstreets is the recommended location of theEmergency Winter Shelter Program tent.

MARIKO LAMB | Village News

More than 240 volunteer commu-nity members and civic leaders sur-veyed 738 homeless individuals in450 blocks of downtown during theweek of Sept. 14 to 24 to identify themost vulnerable homeless individu-als sleeping in the streets. Here iswhat they found:

Health:275 (37%) were found to have health condi-tions associated with a high mortality risk.

218 (30%) reported a dual diagnosis of mental illness and substance abuse

245 (33%) reported a history of substanceabuse alone

95 (13%) reported signs or symptoms ofmental illness alone

558 (76%) reported at least one behavioralhealth issue

Age: 187 (25%) were over 55 years old; the old-est respondent was 85 years old

34 (5%) were under 25 years old; theyoungest respondent was 15 years old

The average age of the vulnerable populationis 45

The average age of the non-vulnerable population is 52

Veterans:183 (25%) were veterans

132 (72% of veterans) reported being honor-ably discharged

Years homeless:The average years homeless for the vulnerable population is eight years

The average years homeless for the non-vulnerable population is four years

150 (20%) reported being homeless for oneyear or less

Potential health- related cost reductions:Inpatient hospitalization and ER visit coststotaled more than $25 million annually for134 people, approximately $186,000 perperson

Permanent supportive housing costs approxi-mately $23,000 per person

There is potentially a $12 million cost reduc-tion if 134 people were housed

For a complete listing of Registry Weekresults, visit www.sdcleanandsafe.org.

Registry Week results

SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS | OCTOBER 2010 | PAGE 5

PAGE 6 | OCTOBER 2010 | SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

2010 Alonzo Award winners announced

The Downtown San Diego Partner-ship announced the recipients of its48th Annual Alonzo Awards, whichhonors people, projects and programsthat have helped revitalize or renewthe downtown region in the past year.

This year, the Alonzo Awards recog-nizes James Dawe, recipient of theFounders Award; St. Vincent De Paul,recipient of the Humanitarian Award;San Diego Convention Center, recipientof the Sustainable Business PracticesAward; and San Diego Symphony,recipient of the Distinguished Alonzo.

Other Alonzo Award-winnersinclude Channel 4 San Diego, ProcopioCory Hargreaves & Savich LLP, SanDiego Library Foundation, Ten Fifty BStreet and the San Diego Chargers.

The recipients of the awards will behonored at a dinner gala sponsored byTurner Construction, KHS&S Con-tractors, and Tucker Sadler Archi-tects at the Hilton San DiegoBayfront hotel on Nov. 3 at 5:30 p.m.For more information, visitwww.downtownsandiego.org, callSheri Snead at (619) 234-0201 or e-mail ssnead@downtownsandiego.org.

Comic-Con renews contract in San Diego

The San Diego Convention CenterCorporation (SDCCC) announced thatComic-con International has renewedits contract in San Diego through2015.

The largest comic book and populararts convention in the world has madeits home in San Diego for 40 years andis the Convention Center’s largest andmost profitable event of the year,bringing the city $162.8 million inindirect revenue last fiscal year.

Organizers of Comic-Con turneddown bids from larger venues in Ana-heim and Los Angeles, in part due to ajoint coalition by Mayor Jerry Sanders,San Diego Convention Center Corpora-tion officials, local hoteliers and busi-ness and community leaders launch-ing an intensive effort to keep thelucrative convention in San Diego.

City and hospitality leaders commit-ted to resolve Comic-Con organizers’primary concern — the lack of ade-

quate accommodation for its morethan 130,000 attendees — by ramp-ing up its efforts to expand the Conven-tion Center along six acres of bayfrontland adjacent to the current facilityand offering expanded hotel roomblocks and discounted rooms.

An economic impact study, commis-sioned by the SDCCC, revealed thatComic-Con’s contract renewal in SanDiego is expected to bring the city acumulative $488.4 million in indirectrevenue over the next three years.

Port of San Diego president resigns

Charles D. Wurster, president andCEO of the Port of San Diego,announced his resignation from theposition on Sept. 24. Wurster served37 years in the Coast Guard beforeretiring as commander and acceptingthe position as president of the agencyin January 2009. During his tenure,he initiated a strict Port budget planand led the staff on negotiations andplans for high-profile, inter-agencyprojects including the North Embar-cadero Visionary Plan and the pro-posed expansion of the San Diego Con-vention Center.

Wurster cited that it was “time tomove on” in a memo to Port employ-ees. Port Commission ChairmanRobert Vaderrama announced hisgratitude to the former President of theagency for getting the Port through atough budgetary cycle and wished himthe best in his future endeavors.

The appointment of Vice Presidentof the Administration, Wayne Dar-beau, as interim President and CEO ofthe agency was announced Oct. 5.Darbeau has worked with the agencyfor 12 years, serving in many leader-ship roles including senior director,director and vice president. He willremain on the job until a nationwidesearch for a new CEO is complete.

Downtown Partnershipwelcomes chief justice

The Downtown San Diego Partner-ship (DSDP) will welcome CaliforniaChief Justice Ronald George as a spe-cial guest to its breakfast on Monday,Oct. 18 at the Westgate Hotel.

Chief Justice George was appointedin 1991 to the Supreme Court of Cali-fornia by Governor Pete Wilson. Hewas elected in 1994 to a full term andlater appointed as 27th chief justice ofCalifornia in 1996. After a 38-yearcareer in the state court system, ChiefJustice George has announced that hewill retire in January 2011.

The breakfast will be sponsored byHiggs, Fletcher & Mack LLP, and TorreyPines Bank. Check-in begins at 7:30a.m. and the breakfast begins at 8 a.m.Tickets are $30 for members and $35for non-members. To RSVP or for infor-mation on premier table prices, callSheri Snead at (619) 234-0201 or e-mail ssnead@downtownsandiego.org.

Center renamed to honor Sheila Hardin

The Centre City Development Corpo-ration (CCDC) renamed its DowntownInformation Center in honor of formerCommunity Relations Manager SheilaR. Hardin, who passed away this April.

In honor of Hardin’s dedication toCCDC and the improvement of down-town San Diego, CCDC held a celebra-tion at the center located in WestfieldHorton Plaza on Sept. 23. The celebra-tion included a tribute to the long-timeemployee of CCDC and an unveiling ofthe information center, followed by areception.

Hardin worked for CCDC as a volun-teer for two years and a full-timeemployee for 21 yeas. She served ascommunity relations manager and

NEWS 7OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

Featuring QUALITYhandmade arts & crafts

Oct. 23, 2010 10am – 3pmAll Souls Church1475 Catalina Blvd., Point Loma

Holiday Treasures Craft Show A Benefit for the

San Diego Armed Services YMCA

THE PATRIOT FLAGMark McDonald, a fireman engineer with the Chula Vista Fire Department, standsbefore a huge flag flying from the ladder of his truck in front of San Diego’s Fire Sta-tion No. 1, 1222 First St., on Sept. 10. Known as The Patriot Flag, it stopped down-town on its way across the U.S. to fly in all 50 states. Its final destination will beManhattan, N.Y. on the 10th anniversary of the attacks against the United Stateson Sept. 11, 2011. PAUL HANSEN | Downtown News

NEWSbriefs

SEE BRIEFS, Page 9

Every San Diegan wantstheir city government to getback on the right track. Fortu-nately, most San Diegans real-ize the way to fix city govern-ment is not to give it moremoney, but to insist on reformsto well-documented waste inthe budget and unaffordablepension packages for cityemployees.

Indeed, for years voters havewisely called on city leaders toreform city pensions, cutwasteful spending and open city servicesup to competitive bidding. Unfortunately,city leaders and city labor unions have

spent years delaying, dodging andderailing reform in city gov-ernment.

Now, the politicians andlabor unions are desper-

ate — and are askingtaxpayers for a

b a i l o u t w i t hProposition D.

Prop D wouldraise city taxes bya half-billion dol-

lars — at a timewhen many San

D i e g a n s a r ealready strugglingto make endsm e e t . Wo r s e,Prop D gives citypoliticians a“blank check” tax

increase with noguarantees on how

the money would bespent. That’s why leading tax-

payer advocates and govern-ment watchdogs all oppose

Prop D.To try to lure voters into support-

ing this massive tax hike, city politi-cians and labor unions are sayingsimply “trust us.” Their campaign

advertisements go to shameful lengths —threatening layoffs to police and firefighters.

In this regard, Prop D is one of the mostmisleading propositions to make the ballot.

While Prop D is being sold by city politi-cians and city labor unions as “restoring”vital city services, not a penny of theincreased tax is earmarked for importantprograms such as police and fire services.

To the contrary, with the city’s annualpension payment increasing dramaticallyeach year, you can expect increased tax rev-enues to be diverted to the city’s financial-ly-troubled pension system rather than torestore city services.

The pension and retireehealth-care funds are morethan $3.4 billion in debt —and the true annual cost ofretirement benefits last yearwas more than $370 million— or roughly two-thirds of thecity payroll.

These costs are driven byunaffordable pension benefitpackages awarded to city gov-ernment employees over theyears — a problem that Prop Dfails to solve. City employees

can retire as early as age 50, can “double-dip” by receiving their full salary and a fullpension allowance during the last five yearsof their city service, and receive free tax-payer-funded healthcare for life — amongother perks that you will be hard pressed tofind anywhere but our city government.

San Diegans do not receive these lavishbenefit packages, but under Prop D theyare now being asked to pay more during ahistoric economic downturn to pay the billfor them.

In this regard, Prop D is essentially a“pension tax” that will be used to serviceunaffordable pensions and benefits grantedto city employees over the years.

Prop D’s proponents shamefully tout“reforms” as part of their ballot argumentsto convince voters to approve the taxincrease. However, Prop D does not requirethat any financial reforms actually beimplemented. Moreover, several of the“conditions” included in Prop D are weakand outright misleading.

While proponents claim they havealready made cuts, the truth is virtually allof the positions eliminated over the yearswere vacant. When proponents claim theyhave reformed pensions, the reality is theyhave made only modest changes for newhires — and left the lion’s share of pensionperks untouched. While they claim toembrace managed competition as part ofProp D, they refuse to commit to actuallybid out any services.

City politicians know the “conditions” inProp D are simply provided to help sell atax increase to voters. That’s why Prop Dcontains no concrete targets for actuallysaving money for city taxpayers.

Without concrete guarantees that fiscalreforms will be implemented, the city ofSan Diego will continue to waste millions oftaxpayer dollars each year. And withoutreform, it won’t be long before city leadersare back again asking for more money withanother tax increase. No on Proposition D.

— Carl DeMaio is a member of the SanDiego City Council representing District 5.

Having spent a lifetime inlaw enforcement — as a beatcop, San Diego police chiefand sheriff — I know who totrust when it comes to pro-tecting our families fromcrime. With the election thisNovember, San Diegans willbe making a decision thatwill determine the kind ofcity we live in. It’s never beenmore important than now toknow who you can trust onmatters of public safety.

For decades, the San Diego PoliceDepartment has been a national model ofinnovation and efficiency. We were lead-ers in the movement that brought aboutcommunity-oriented policing. We havebeen able to keep our crime rates low andreduce our priority-call emergencyresponse times, despite having far fewerofficers per capita, and far less resourcesthan other major cities.

But without the reforms and revenuesthat will result from Proposition D, thefuture of San Diego — and the safety ofits citizens — looks bleak.

San Diego faces a $72 million deficitnext year in its General Fund, the part ofthe budget that pays for essential publicservices like police, fire, parks andlibraries. Police and fire alone accountfor half of all General Fund spending.

If the City Council has to cut the bud-get by $72 million, it’s almost certainthat public safety will take a serious hit.

For years, the mayor, himself a formerpolice chief, and the City Council shield-ed public safety departments from budgetcuts. They did this by taking deeperreductions elsewhere, especially in parkand recreation programs and libraryhours. Overall, more than 1,400 cityjobs were eliminated.

But as the recession continued to eroderevenues, that wasn’t enough.

To close a $179 million deficit lastyear, the city had to eliminate 200 policedepartment positions, including person-nel who assist in investigations, supportour detectives and enforce neighborhoodcodes.

In that same budget, the City Councilbegan the “rolling brown-outs” at firestations that idle eight engines a day andincrease 9-1-1 response times. It alsoreduced lifeguard patrols, leaving onepopular beach without anyone to guardswimmers.

Those were difficult deci-sions, but they will pale incomparison to the ones theCity Council will have tomake if Proposition D fails.

Mayor Jerry Sanders hasmade it clear that cuts inpublic safety will be neces-sary to balance the budget.As preparation for nextyear’s budget, the policechief has been asked to pro-pose $15.8 million in addi-tional cuts. The fire chief has

been asked to propose $7.2 million inadditional cuts.

Yet opponents of Proposition D wantyou to think these threats to public safe-ty are not real.

The spokeswoman for the No on Dcampaign recently advocatedthat the city eliminate itsLifeguard Service alto-gether, claiming thatpeople who swim inthe ocean should beprepared to paythe price for theirrisky behavior.

T h e l e a d i n gopponent of PropD says it is “ludi-crous” to thinkt h at t h e C i t yCouncil wouldcut police, fire orlifeguards.

A p p a r e n t l y,this politically-ambitious coun-cilman hopesyou will forgetthat last year, theCity Council didexactly that.

Mayor Sanders,by contrast, has beenresponsibly reducing andreforming the city budget forfive years. And he says thatdeep cuts in public safety areinevitable if Proposition D fails.

The public will have to decide whoit believes.

I trust Mayor Sanders. You should, too.

— Bill Kolender retired as county sher-iff last year after more than 50 years inlaw enforcement, including 13 years asSan Diego‘s chief of police.

OPINION8 OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

PUBLISHER Julie Mannis Hoisington(858) 270-3103 x106jmannis@sdnews.com

EXECUTIVE EDITORJohn Gregory x130downtown@sdnews.com

NEWS EDITORKevin McKay x131anthony@sdnews.com

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REPORTERSAnthony Gentile x135anthony@sdnews.com

Hillary Schuler-Jones x133Hillary@sdnews.com

Debbie Hatch x142hatch@sdnews.com

ACCOUNTING Heather Glynn x103Patty Angley x120Accounts Receivable

AD CONSULTANTSMike Fahey x117Marjorie Kirby x122Michael Long x112Ashlee Manzo x123Heather Snyder x115Deborah Vazquez x118Markey Daniels x111

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PRODUCTION MGR.Casey Dean x107casey@sdnews.com

PRODUCTIONChris Baker,Anna Magulac

PHOTOGRAPHERSDon Balch, Paul Hansen

CONTRIBUTORSHillary Schuler-Jones,Charlene Baldridge, DianaCavagnaro, JohnnyMcDonald, Bart Mendoza,Neal Putnam, SebastianRuiz, Meaghan Clark, TawnyMaya McCray

OPINIONS Signed letters to the editor are encouraged. All letters must include a phone num-ber for verification. The editor may edit letters for clarity and accuracy. Letters should be 350 wordsor less. Views expressed are not necessarily theviews of this newspaper or staff.SUBMISSIONS Letters and photo submissionsare welcomed. Those accompanied by anaddressed, stamped envelope will be returned. Theeditor reserves the right to edit for clarity.DEADLINES All content must be received by5 p.m. on the Thursday prior to publication.DISTRIBUTION San Diego Downtown Newsis available free the first Thursday every month.COPYRIGHT © 2010. All rights are reserved.Printed in the United States of AmericaPRINTED with soy inks and recycled paper.Please recycle.

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S A N D I E G O ’ S P R O P O S I T I O N D

Yes on Prop D: No on Prop D:

B y B I L L KO L E N D E R B y C A R L D e M A I O

Why I support Proposition D A blank check tax increase

Bill Kolender Carl DeMaio

was highly active in the develop-ment and management of theannual San Diego MulticulturalFestival and Downtown InformationCenter until she lost her battle withcancer this year. Hardin wasdescribed by CCDC employees as a“San Diego enthusiast and a trulyinspirational person.”

Traffic signals installedat busy intersections

Major intersections in downtownSan Diego are now safer for driversand pedestrians, thanks to the com-pleted installation of six new trafficsignals.

The Centre City Development Cor-poration (CCDC), working on behalfof the San Diego RedevelopmentAgency, installed these new crossingsin response to public demands forimproved vehicle and pedestrian traf-fic, and concerns about safety atmajor intersections downtown. Thenew traffic signals are located at Mar-ket and Union streets; Market Streetand Third Avenue; Market Street andNinth Avenue; Park Boulevard andIsland Avenue, Park Boulevard and JStreet; and Front and Cedar streets inthe Cortez, Marina and East Villageneighborhoods. The total project cost$1.25 million and was fundedthrough property taxes and aSANDAG TransNet grant.

Prehistoric whale fossilunearthed at Zoo

A construction worker at the SanDiego Zoo hit something strange withhis excavator while digging for astorm water tank on Thursday, Sept.

16. The scraping sound indicatedthat the worker hit a solid objectin the fine grain sand that he wasexcavating. San Diego NaturalHistory Museum paleontologistGina Calvano was on site during theexcavation and discovered that whatthe worker had hit was actually abone. Not just any bone, it was a 3million-year-old, 24-foot-long whalefossil.

The whale skull and vertebraeappeared to be well-preserved. Thefossil will be brushed, boxed and relo-cated to the museum’s laboratory forcloser inspection.

WTCSD receives multi-year grant

The International Trade Adminis-tration (ITA) of the U.S. Departmentof Commerce granted the WorldTrade Center San Diego (WTCSD) theMarket Development Cooperator Pro-gram award (MDCP), a multi-yeargrant to encourage the use of U.S.technology for water projects in theMiddle East, North Africa and India.

WTCSD will receive more than$141,000 each year for the nextthree years to host workshops, trademissions, counseling sessions andwebinars to help countries developsustainable water management solu-tions. The ITA will work with theWTCSD to stimulate the growth ofU.S. jobs in the engineering, con-struction, equipment supply, opera-tions management and finance sec-tors by developing work relationshipsin interested countries and matchingU.S. companies with internationalbuyers.

T h e I TA e s t i m a t e s t h a tt h e WTCSD, through its$425,000 MDCP grant, will gen-erate $27 million in export salesthat will create jobs in the U.S. in thenext three years.

EVENTS 9OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

BRIEFSCONTINUED FROM Page 7

Museum exhibits with a childlike spirit!

Contrary to an adult’s mind that’sconstantly calculating wins and losses, achild’s mind takes things as they are andsimply enjoys them. With Halloweenjust around the corner, this time of yearis always a favorite for kids. Downtownis also brimming with lots of fun andunique activities that are sure to bringout the kid in you.

• At the New Children’s Museum, theemphasis will be on fun as it kicks off“The Odd Ball,” a unique artist-inspiredmini-golf event on Saturday, Oct. 23.This “Putt for a Purpose” event is aclever and unconventional alternativeto a golf fundraiser. Executive directorRachel Teague said guests will have agreat time as they’ll be able to explorethe museum’s architecture and contem-porary art while weaving their waythrough an unexpected and creative col-lection of holes.

“I like to call it putt-putt challenges,”Teague said with a smile.

The event will take adults on a jour-ney through the different levels of themuseum, in a lively art and music-filledatmosphere. The nine-hole mini golfcourse offers unique hazards and scor-ing to create an experience that appealsto both amateurs and pros. There’s alsoa musical lineup that includes DJ Saul Q,San Diego’s award-winning band Rafterand indie favorite Smile Now Cry Later.

Funds raised at The Odd Ball will helpkeep kids creative with innovative stu-dio projects and hands-on artist instruc-tion.

• The Children’s Museum will alsooffer another unique day of fun on Oct.16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Move and

Groove Family Dance Jam” will feature adiverse group of dance companies thatwill perform throughout the day at themuseum and it’s free with regular muse-um admission.

The day-long shows feature all typesof dance genres including the SuperGalactic Beat Manipulators, Studio FX,Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theaterand Olio, The Show. Organizers said theywant to engage and inspire, so follow-ing the performances, families will beable to interact with the dancers and askquestions.

• And finally, the San Diego HistoryCenter is teaming up with The Old GlobeTheater on an interactive exhibitioncalled “Dressing The Part: CostumeDesign at the Old Globe.” It opens Oct.14 and runs until April 2011.

Christianne Penunuri, mediaspokeswoman for the center, said theexhibit gives a peak behind the curtain ofthe legendary theater.

“You’ll get to see how a costumetransforms an actor into a character,”Penunuri said. “There will be actual cos-tumes you can try on and then take aphoto in front of a mini recreation of theGlobe’s stage. Another unique part ofthe exhibit is a video that takes youthrough the two-week process of how awig is created.”

In addition, there will be a gala recep-tion, hosted by The Costume Council ofSan Diego History Center, to raise fundsto help support and promote the exhibi-tion. This event is Thursday, Oct. 14 at5:30 p.m.

— Marc & Darlynne Menkin are theco-owners of Where You Want To BeTours. Many of their tours and teambuilding scavenger hunts feature secretdowntown areas. www.wheretours.com

It’s allHappening!Marc & Darlynne Menkin

We want to hear from you: Find the Mojo — Check out the CarouselChallenge in Seaport Village on Friday,Oct. 8. Find an act with “Mojo” in its name,get a creative photo featuring someonefrom the show and post it on the WhereYou Want To Be Tours Facebook page.The best picture wins a walking tour for upto four through the Hidden Canyons of Bal-boa Park and Bankers Hill.

This is one of the fun costumes featured inthe History Center’s “Dressing the Part,”which opens in Balboa Park on Oct 14.

COURTESY PHOTO

BUSINESS10 OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

Seaport Village set to celebrate 30 years with waterfront gala

Seaport Village is ringing in its 30thbirthday in unique fashion Oct. 8-9.

The seaside shopping center nearthe heart of downtown is celebratingits first three decades by staging a com-petition for 30 hours. Contestants willride the village’s iconic Looff carouselfor 30 hours straight to see who thelast person riding will be. The grandprize of $10,000 is sure to keep theenduring intrigue going. Visitors areallowed to ride the carousel through-out the competition as well.

While just about every local or visi-tor has passed through Seaport at onetime or another, many probably don’trealize its history is longer than some ofits more bustling downtown neigh-bors.

“Seaport Village was downtownbefore the Convention Center, beforethe Gaslamp or Horton Plaza,” saidGeneral Manager Terry Hall. “We arekind of the trendsetters for downtown.It’s kind of nice being the first oneshere and after 30 years we’re still hereand going strong.”

Seaport Village has more than 50shops, 13 casual eateries and four fine-dining restaurants. Many of the shopsthat opened 30 years ago are still run-ning business as usual and havebecome icons of the area.

To celebrate its 30th anniversarybash, the party will include music, foodand drinks for the two-day event. OnFriday night, visitors can enjoy $1beers from 7 to 8 p.m. and $2.50 beersuntil the kegs run dry. The festivitiesrun through the wee hours of thenight until the marathon carouselcompetition ends.

Despite all of the construction andtraffic downtown, Seaport Villageremains a relaxing and calming placeto get away from it all.

“We’re our own little fishing villageright here on the water,” Hall said. “It

was built for dining and shoppingdowntown. People who came here aschildren are now bringing their ownchildren.”

Whether folks want to just go for awalk, watch the windsurfers or sea

lions, Seaport is a unique downtowndestination.

The celebration begins at 10 a.m.on Friday and ends when the carouselcompetition grand-prize winner isannounced at 4 p.m. Saturday.

BY LEE CORNELL | DOWNTOWN NEWS

Mobile Tech makes repairs easy and affordable in East Village

You broke your iPod, again. You’re notsure if it’s worth repairing or tossing.None of your friends have a clue either,and you don’t have the time to look intoit. So you toss it and head out to the storefor a new one. Here’s where Mobile Tech,a computer, iPod and cell phone repairshop, could have saved you some money.

Mobile Tech offers free diagnostics andestimates on anything from customhome theaters to Blackberries. Even bet-ter, if you decide to go through with therepairs, they will do them fast.

Mobile Tech was started in 2010 byMick Baca. Baca came up with the idea forMobile Tech after another company com-pleted repairs on his computer. The over-priced repairs and week turn around leftBaca with a bad taste in his mouth, but asweet idea in his head. Baca, an eight-yearresident of East Village, decided to set upMobile Tech in his hometown and nowfeels the community has embraced it.

“Business is growing every month,and we’re getting a lot of new customersthrough referrals,” Baca said.

Mobile Tech offers a mobile service topick up the broken item at no extra cost.Mobile Tech’s head technician, JohnnyNgo, is a former employee of Sony andhas worked in the industry for six years.

Mobile Tech aims to do effective,affordable, quick work with the utmostcustomer satisfaction.

Andrea Soar discovered Mobile Tech’s

customer service sooner just in time. Hercomputer went on the fritz just a dayafter moving to San Diego. She took it toMobile Tech for repairs figuring she’dhave it back in a few days.

“They had it back in half a day, whichwas great because my computer is, like,my third hand,” she said.

“They were really flexible with theirhours of when I could drop my computeroff,” said Shairee Collins, a frequentMobile Tech user who recommends thecompany to friends. “My computer was in

worse condition than I thought and theytook care of everything for me.”

Even if electronics aren’t causing youany problems now, Mobile Tech’s serviceis good to keep in the back of your mind.

“The average person has three to sixelectronic products,” Baca said, addingthat, eventually, some of these items willbreak down.

Mobile Tech is located at 445 10th Ave.Quotes are also available over the phoneby calling (619) 652-9900. Find moreinformation visit www.mobiletechsd.com.

BY RACHEL HATMAN | DOWNTOWN NEWS

Mick Baca came up with the idea for Mobile Tech, which offers free diagnostics and estimatesfor repairs on anything from custom home theaters to Blackberries. RACHEL HUTMAN | Downtown News

Contestants will ride the Looff carousel for 30 hours straight to see who the last personriding will be. COURTESY PHOTO

6:30am–2:30pm • 7 days a week520 Front Street • Just South of Market, Downtown

619-231-7777 • www.richardwalkers.com

with purchase of any food item of equal

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730 Market Street (between 7th & 8th)

Broken Yolk CafeThe Broken Yolk Café offers a large selection of home cooked meals in acomfortable and casual atmosphere. There are over 20 different omelets tochoose from as well as a wide variety of other breakfast favorites which in-clude pancakes, waffles and French toast. Feel more like lunch? Try one ofour juicy ½ pound burgers or one of our large sandwiches. Our generousportions will leave you full and satisfied.

Richard Walker’s Pancake HouseRichard Walker’s Pancake House, an upscale fusion of traditional and gourmetbreakfast favorites, is now open in the Marina District in downtown San Diego.Serving classic-style griddlecakes, crepes, omelets and other specialties, thispancake house is certain to become the “premier” breakfast destination forSan Diego's residents, employees and the tourist community! Open 6:30 a.m.to 2:30 p.m. 7 days a week, and if you are unable to stay and enjoy the at-mosphere, take Richard Walker’s with you as we prepare orders to go.

Panificio e Ristorante SoluntoPanificio e Ristorante Solunto has been around for over 40 years. Thename change from Solunto Baking Co is only to show that we added arestaurant for the evening. The décor has changed as well to uplift the am-biance for day and night. One of the last original family members still runsthe new transition of a landmark that made San Diego exuberant in deli-cious Sicilian style bread, cookies and pastries. The lunch portion of thebusiness still carries all the delicacies that made us flourish like sand-wiches, hot food, and pizza. Now the dinnertime has a great influence inthe Little Italy arena of great food. Hours are as follows: Monday 11AM-4PM, Tuesday-Friday 10AM-5PM, Saturday 8AM-5PM Sunday 8AM-4PMDinnertime Tues-Sun 5PM-10PM Address: 1643 India St San Diego CA92101 619-233-3506 www.solunto.biz email: solunto@cox.net

Manchester Grand HyattJust a stone crab’s throw from Seaport Village is Sally’s Seafood on the Water,a charming and sophisticated waterfront eatery. Chef de Cuisine Sarah Linken-heil’s obsession with fresh fish and bold flavors shines through in signaturedishes like the decadent Lobster Pot Pie and Smoked Tomato Cioppino. Opendaily for lunch, happy hour, and dinner. Late breakfast, served on weekends.Three hour validated self-parking at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego.

Bread on MarketDowntown's Artisan Bakery, Breads On Market is open from 7:30 to 4:00Sunday-Thursday and 7:30 to 5:00 Friday & Saturday. We are open latenight for all Padre games. Voted Best Bakery 2008 from the San DiegoDowntown News 2008 and received the Silver Fork Award from SanDiego Home and Garden. Schedule your next business or organizationboard meeting in our quaint patio or let us cater your next event. We de-liver Hot Lunch and Sandwich Special or come in and enjoy a wonderCheese Plate with a glass of wine or beer to go with our famous Rueben.For Sweet and Treats we serve Cookies, Brownies, and Package House-made Granola. Take a loaf of fresh Artisan bread home for dinner. 730 Mar-ket Street SD, 92101 (Between 7th & 8th) 619-795-2730www.breadonmarket.com

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nights in August: 8/5 - Jasmine Commerce • 8/12 - Dave Booda

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DOWNTOWN DINING 11OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

San Diego’s Mystery Café is a downtown dinner the-ater that mixes one of the local’s best-kept secrets withwit typically set aside for Warner Bros. studio lots. Onthe menu this month is “Shotgun Wedding Anniver-sary,” a recycled Mystery Cafe original that serves up slap-stick comedy with a side of double-stuffed potatoes.

Hosted at the Imperial House Continental Restau-rant, the Mystery Café performs two nights a week,leaving time for its actors to tackle day jobs at Legolandor SeaWorld. The steakhouse favorite has red leatherbooths and high-back chairs resembling classic dayslong forgotten, but it’s the perfect place for “an inter-active theater comedy show … with an emphasis oncomedy,” said Bud Godown, owner of the San DiegoMystery Café franchise. “We’re a nice four-course mealwith a fun comedy show.”

The Mystery Café, located at 505 Kalmia St., hasbeen performing since 1991, one of the longest-run-ning Mystery Cafes in the country (it’s a franchise outof Boston). Situated in the back of the restaurant, pastthe inescapable bar, with a placard all its own, theMystery Café is a vulgar-free, innuendo-rich enter-tainment experience.

“There’s nowhere else in town, in my opinion, thatworks to what we do,” Godown said.

The show begins before you’re even seated. Actors,already in character, act as maitre d’, ushering gueststo their tables before the first course is served. Ensem-

bles include anything from a wedding dress to a whitesuit and neon-striped tie.

The family-style meal is served inches away from theperformance.

“It’s all playful humor. We kind of plot ourselves asWarner Bros. cartoons with a ton of innuendos,” saidGodown, who first auditioned as an understudy andlabels himself as today’s producer/ director and “chiefbottle washer.”

“Shotgun Wedding Anniversary” follows the anx-ious bride-to-be and her fiancé, but takes a turn whenthe groom, a wealthy aristocrat who is constantlyberated by his family, is gunned down at the ceremo-ny. Instantly, the plot turns into a “whodunnit” case,complete with a Sherlock Holmes, several more victimsand one guilty guest.

Diners aren’t just members of the audience, butrather guests at the wedding and part of the show —a few vocal patrons are spotted out in the crowd earlyand get picked on for the rest of it.

“There’s a control factor that makes us differentthan other dinner theaters,” Godown said. “We getpeople involved without embarrassing them complete-ly to where they have to act out the show.”

Such is the case with “Shotgun Wedding Anniver-sary,” where actors make note of the audience andadjust their level accordingly.

Ticket prices, depending on the day of the week,typically range from $49.50 to $59.50 each. For moreinformation, call (619) 460-2200.

DINING & ENTERTAINMENT12 OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

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Family Day and a map of the park, visitwww.balboapark.org.

Haunted Trail The Haunted Trail in Balboa Park

is San Diego’s only all outdoorhaunted attraction. The trail will beopen until Oct. 31, but organizersrecommend coming earlier in the

month to avoid long waits. This terrorizing mile-long trail is no

walk in the park. The path twists andturns through gnarled oaks and twistedpines with frightening surprises aroundevery corner. A freaky toy room, a zom-bie-filled strobe light room and a schoolbus full of masked characters are onlysome of the attractions along the trailthat send visitors running for the hills.

For $5, visitors can access the blacklight maze where crazy carny folklurk in the shadows, hoping to leavea carnival of carnage in their wake.

They drive lost souls to the brink ofinsanity until they finally find theirway out of the maze.

The trail and maze is not recommend-ed for children under 10. The trail isopen Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thurs-days from 7 to 11 p.m., and Fridays andSaturdays from 7 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.General admission to the trail is $15 onSundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays,and $17 on Fridays and Saturdays. TheCarnival of Carnage maze is $5. Topurchase tickets in advance, visitwww.hauntedtrail.net.

HALLOWEENCONTINUED FROM Page 1

Mystery Café serves up marriages, murders and mealsBY MEAGHAN CLARK | DOWNTOWN NEWS

Actors from the Mystery Café not only entertain audiences just inches away from their four-course meals,they strive to make each show an interactive experience with showgoers. COURTESY PHOTO

Whether a foodie or not, the Taste ofLittle Italy is sure to get the taste budsworked up and put the appetite on highalert for authentic cuisine on Nov. 3.

“What makes it unique is Little Italyhas all family-owned and -operatedrestaurants,” said Marco LiMandri, exec-utive director of the Little Italy Associa-tion. “There are no corporate entitieshere that run restaurants. The primaryfoundation of our ‘Taste’ is Italian food,but there’s a variety of other foods youcan get here at the same time.”

For the third year in a row and thesecond time this year, locals and visitorscan enjoy an array of eateries at the

Taste of Little Italy. The event will be heldfrom 5 to 9 p.m., with India Street serv-ing as a main corridor. Tickets pur-chased in advance are $35 or $40 theday of the event. This celebration of foodhas been known to sell out in the past.

Diners will receive a “passport” theycan use to partake in the delectabledelights. The restaurants stamp the pass-ports and provide a sample of their fea-tured menu item.

As patrons stroll down the streets ofthe quaint and cozy neighborhood, theywill enjoy the wafts of freshly-cookedfood, as well as the sounds of live musi-cal acts and perhaps — if so inclined —a fine glass of wine. The event takesplace on a Wednesday, so visitors won’t

have to worry about squeezing it intotheir busy weekends. Whether its a fam-ily looking to do something different or acouple pining for a romantic evening,the Taste of Little Italy is a great way totry out Little Italy’s many restaurantsfor just one price.

All of the proceeds go toward projectsfunded by the Little Italy Association.

“It fundraises for the Little Italy Asso-ciation, which then puts money intodevelopment of historical markers in Lit-tle Italy, as well as arts and culture,”LiMandri said. “We do a lot with public

art. People can walk along the sidewalksof Little Italy and learn the history.”

LiMandri said the association expectsto generate between $6,000 and$8,000 from the event.

For more information call (619) 615-1092, or visit www.tasteoflittleitalysd.com

DINING & ENTERTAINMENT 13OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

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Taste of Little Italy simmers in annual tradition BY LEE CORNELL | DOWNTOWN NEWS

Diners have an opportunity to sample the ambiance and selection of Little Italy on Nov.3 during the annual Taste of Little Italy event. Tickets are $35 in advance or $40 thenight of the event. COURTESY PHOTO

PHOTO REVIEW14 OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

LIQUID-MOTIONDancers perform a routine called “Taking the Plunge” in the fountain at Martin Luther King Jr. Park onOct. 2 as part of the Trolley Dances project at trolley sites downtown. The dancers performed six timesand had to dry out and warm up between performances. PAUL HANSEN | Downtown News

BELTING IT OUTRachel Lynn Sebastian givesit her all, singing and playingguitar for the crowd Sept.18 at Artwalk on the Bay. PAUL HANSEN | Downtown News

A BIG HITA batter connects with the ballduring tournament actionSept. 4 at the annual LittleItaly Labor Day Stickball Tour-nament held in the streets ofLittle Italy. PAUL HANSEN | Downtown News

BIRDS OF A FEATHEREvan Blem, 7, takes a close look at “Feather Harlequin,” an art piece created by Stevens Jay Carter, during Artwalkon the Bay at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Park on Sept. 18. PAUL HANSEN | Downtown News

SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS | OCTOBER 2010 | PAGE 15

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PAGE 16 | OCTOBER 2010 | SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

When Café Sevilla, the hub of Spanish food, music anddance in San Diego, opened 23 years ago, veteran flamen-co dancer Kristina Cobarrubia was there — in the

kitchen shelling shrimp. Seeing crowds overwhelm the tiny down-town tapas bar, the performer offered to pitch in to help whereverneeded. Little did she know as she traded her castanets for crus-taceans, big things were in store for her and the future of flamen-co in San Diego.

Not only would Cobarrubia go on to be a regular performer atCafé Sevilla in its “Art of Flamenco Show,” but she would be part ofa thriving local flamenco community. Also unbeknownst to her,her future husband was put to work in the kitchen that same night.

And Café Sevilla, the little cellar with a single light bulb on FourthAvenue, would go on to host more than 2 million guests, servemore than 1 million paellas — its signature rice and seafood dish —and become San Diego’s longest-running dinner theater show, con-tinuing every week since its opening 23 years ago.

That’s “Flamenco: Pasado y Presente (past and present),” whichhappens to be the title of Cobarrubia’s upcoming show Oct. 23 atSmith Recital Hall at San Diego State University.

That’s also flamenco pasado y presente for Café Sevilla, whichtemporarily closed its doors Sept. 27, but will re-open in winter2011, in a larger, more contemporary space a couple of blocksaway at 355 Fifth Ave.

“Flamenco, it’s such a powerful art form,” said Cobarrubia, whoholds her weekly classes at the Dance Connection studios in Pacif-ic Beach. “People are pouring their hearts out in front of you on thestage. It’s so musically complex, it’s mind boggling. It’s an art formthat reaches out to you on a personal level. Very few people walkaway from a show unmoved.”

Cobarrubia attributes a thriving San Diego flamenco communi-ty to the area’s strong Latin ties, a large local military presence,with servicemen who returned from deployments with Spanishwives, and close proximity to Los Angeles, another haven for Fla-menco singers, dancers and musicians.

“San Diego is really lucky in that because of its Southern Califor-nia heritage, being part of Spain and then Mexico, there’s a lot ofLatin culture here,” said Cobarrubia. “When people come to SanDiego, they’re expecting to see some of that type of flavor. It’s anatural place for flamenco to be.”

Cobarrubia began dancing ballet dancing at the age of nine. Asa teenager, after seeing the definitive flamenco dancing movie “Car-men,” she was hooked and has been dancing ever since. That wasabout 25 years ago.

“At that point I knew that flamenco was what I’d been looking forall my life,” she said.

Cobarrubia worked as assistant choreographer for the San DiegoOpera production of “Don Quixote” in 2009, “La Traviata” in 2010,and will choreograph “Carmen” in the opera’s 2011 season.

OCTOBER 2010 | VOL. 11, NO. 10

SDNEWSis now on TwitterFollow @sdnews on www.twitter.com for news, updates, events and more. Chime in and let us know what you’re thinking!

Get daily news updates at URBANLIVINGS A N D I E G O D O W N T O W N N E W S

“Malashock Thinks You Can Dance” pairs professional dancers withcelebrities in a ballroom dance competition Oct. 9 at the BirchNorth Park Theatre. COURTESY PHOTO

Fundraiser partners San Diego celebrities with

professional dancers BY CHARLENE BALDRIDGE | DOWNTOWN NEWS

Dancers with Flamenco Arana performing flamenco with passion and joy are (from left) Johanna Deleissegues, Melba Novoa and Emma Riqué.Photo by BRUCE MEYER

Dancers (from left) Justine Kozo, Melba Novoa and Darci Manzo performat the Eveoke Celebrate Dance Festival in Balboa Park.

Photo by BRUCE MEYER

While a downtown hub of flamenco relocates,a show of the dramatic dance is set at SDSU

BY LORALEE OLEJNIK | DOWNTOWN NEWS

SEE DANCE, Page 23 SEE FLAMENCO, Page 23

Flamencotakes flightFlamencotakes flight

Malashock thinks you can dance. John Malashock, that is. He is a native La Jollan and dancer who returned to San

Diego in 1984 after 10 years of touring with such moderndance troupes as Twyla Tharp.

The purpose of Malashock’s return at age 30 was to estab-lish what he thought would be a “more normal” life for him-self, his wife, Nina, and their son, Duncan. To that end,Malashock even spent a few years in the world of business.But, he said, “You know how dance is — it called me back —there was not much choice in the matter.”

The last thing he expected to do was found his owncompany.

In 1988, along came the irrepressible Malashock Dance,and ever since, as a choreographer and dancer, Malashockhas produced some of the city’s most exciting new works.

“Most people know that dance, as a profession, is for veryfew people,” Malashock said. “But dance, as expression, canbe for anybody, that there is really nothing like it. It’s hum-bling and it’s exhilarating and it teaches you things aboutyour capabilities and limitations. It is an exercise in life, noquestion.”

When the interviewer remarked how he’s grown,Malashock laughed and said, “Yeah. Older. It’s amazinghow quickly you go from sort of being the new kid to beingthe old kid.”

Celebrities and pro dancersFor the past three years at Irwin M. Jacobs Qualcomm Hall,

Malashock Dance has produced a sold-out fundraiser titled“Malashock Thinks You Can Dance.”

Having outgrown the Qualcomm facility, the event is mov-ing to the Birch North Park Theatre on Oct. 9. There are 700seats to fill (200 more), so Malashock thinks readers anddance fans must come share the fun.

Asked where the idea came from, Malashock said, “Out ofnumerous people’s heads.”

Around four years ago, he created a work titled “Fathom,”and board member Russell King brought a guest to see it.The guest was local resident and Champion Ballroom ownerMary Murphy, who at the time had become rather famous asa judge on television’s “So You Think You Can Dance.”

“We began talking and thinking it would be nice to do anevent that involved Mary and drew on her knowledge,”Malashock said.

In fact, Murphy was the onstage host at the first“Malashock Thinks You Can Dance.”

Much like the popular TV dance shows, Malashock’sfundraiser partners San Diego celebrities with professionaldancers in a friendly ballroom dance competition. Among thisyear’s celebrity dance competitors are KFMB news anchorCarlo Cecchetto, Channel 4 sports anchor John Weisbarth,San Diego Asian Film Foundation executive director Lee AnnKim and Gente Bien magazine creative director Danitza Vil-lanueva.

Project ETHOSProject ETHOS returned to San Diego

on Aug. 26 for a knockout fashion showat FLUXX, the latest multi-million dollarnightclub in the Gaslamp Quarter. Thiswas its second red carpet event held inSan Diego featuring emerging talent infashion, music and art.

Guests were able to purchase visualart and accessories at the show.

The evening began with a perfor-mance by Sophia Fresh’s “This Instant”

from the “Step Up 3D” soundtrack. DJRobb Rockwell and Ayeena provided thetunes for the evening. The fashion showpreviewed the spring 2011 collectionsof seven designers: Molly B Bikinis,Michael Mangiuno Design, CreativeFashionista, Cardi-Wrap by Kymaro,Blonde Peacock, and the show culmi-nated with “Project Runway” alumsJesus Estrada (Haus of Estrada) andGordana Gehlhausen (GOGA by Gor-dana).

Project ETHOS began five years ago inLos Angeles and is the brainchild ofJason Peskin, who is founder and CEO ofthe project. This event closes the gapbetween indie and mainstream, linkingthese talented artists with the communi-ty. Love Cures Cancer partnered withProject ETHOS for the evening. LoveCures Cancer is an organization dedicat-

ed to benefiting children with can-cer by raising awareness whileworking to find a cure. ProjectETHOS has venues in Los Angeles,San Diego, San Francisco, Portlandand Scottsdale. For information on thenext project visit www.projectethos.com.

‘Art of Fashion’The third annual “The Art of Fash-

ion” was presented by the TimkenMuseum of Art on Aug. 28 in BalboaPark. The Timken partnered with Fash-ion Careers College (FCC) and show-cased 16 students and graduates ofFCC. They interpreted fashion designsinspired by masterpieces from theTimken’s permanent collection.

Anita Crider was this year’s 2010event chair. Fashion chair was PatriciaO’Connor, who is the founder of FCC.Honorary chair was the internationalfashion designer Zandra Rhodes, whowas on hand to meet the guests. Atten-dees were able to enjoy cocktails andhors d’oeuvres while viewing the mod-els who were standing on cubes (‘entableaux’) in front of the museum’s art-work. As the evening progressed, themodels strolled through the museumshowing off the fashions inspired by theworld-class art. This gave the guests achance to meet and mingle with themodels and designers.

Proceeds from this event supporteducational programs at the TimkenMuseum of Art. This marvelousmuseum focuses on European oldmasters’ paintings, Russian iconsand American art. Admission isalways free. For more information,visit www.timkenmuseum.org

‘Second Hand Rose’The Angels of Aseltine presented

“Second Hand Rose … Memories are

Made of This” on Sept. 15 at the Town& County Resort and Convention Cen-ter. During the social hour, a boutiquewas set up with more than 1,000 resalefashion items. These name-branddesigner clothes included handbags,shoes and jewelry. Buying gently-wornclothes is a way to be ecofriendly andhelp the earth’s carbon footprint. Theshoppers all loved the great prices aswell as the fabulous fashions.

Yvonne Lindroth Silva chaired thisfun event. The luncheon and fashionshow began with a fabulous rendition of“Second Hand Rose” performed by Bon-nie Wainwright.

Carol Le Beau was mistress of cere-monies, narrating the fashion show andadding her witty dialogue. The modelsfor the runway were local celebritieswearing designer clothing such asChanel, St. John Knits and Naeem Khan.Immediately following this delightfulfashion show, all the lightly-wornclothes were for sale in the boutique.

The event was in memory of BettyMabee, who passed away earlier thisyear. Mabee was a businesswoman, aleader in the community, a world-renowned horse breeder and founding

FASHION18 OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE BUSINESSESThe Downtown News Annual Readers Choice Awards voting has begun!

This is your chance to name your favorite businesses in Downtown San Diego! Winners will be published in a special supplement to the Downtown News this

January.• Please complete at least 50% of the ballot. • One ballot per person.

• Ballots must be submitted online, or hand-delivered, by November 24th, 2010

VOTING ENDS NOVEMBER 24thCONTACT INFO (must be filled out for your votes to be counted):Name:

Address: City / Zip:

Daytime phone: ( )

RESTAURANTSAmerican Appetizer Bagel Shop Bakery Bar BBQ Beer Selection Best wine selectionBreakfast Burger Burrito Cafe / Coffee shop Catering Chicken WingsChinese Restaurant Comfort Food Deli / Cheese Shop Desserts Dinner Early Bird Special Family restaurant Fish Taco French Frozen yogurt

Greek Happy Hour Ice Cream / GelatoIrish Italian Juice Bar Late Night EateryLive Music & DancingLunch Margarita Martini Mexican Restaurant Most Romantic New RestaurantNightclubOcean View Overall service Overall Restaurant Patio dinning Pet Friendly Restaurant Pizza Place for a B-day Party Place to go on a Budget Place to People Watch Rooftop Bar

Sandwich Seafood Sports Bar Steak Sushi Thai Vietnamese Wine Bar

SHOPPING / SERVICESArchitect Art gallery Auto repair Bank Bicycle shop Bookstore Chiropractor Computer Repair Contractor Day spa Dentist Eye wear Financial PlannerFlorist Furniture store

Hair Salon Hardware StoreHat Shop Hotel Interior Design Jewelry store Men's apparel Nail SalonOptometrist / Ophthalmologist Pet hospital / Vet Pet store PilatesPlace to buy jeans Place with unusual gifts Printer Resale shop Shipping / Packaging Shoe store Tax PrepWeb DesignWomen's apparel Workout SpotYoga

VOTE ONLINE AT SANDIEGODOWNTOWNNEWS.COM

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4645 Cass St.San Diego, CA 92109

Or, vote online at

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FashionFiles

Diana Cavagnaro

Emerging talent, art-inspired creations, Second Hand Rose

SEE FASHION, Page 20

Models show off fashions from GOGA Gordana Gelhausen of “Project Runway 6” at theFluxx Fashion Show. DIANA CAVAGNARO | Downtown News

We’ve fallen into fall at last, andalong with the shorter days comelonger nights, which afford cool plea-sure as follows:

At Sushi• 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22: The San

Francisco-based Sqwonk is a dynamicand adventurous ensemble devoted to

exploring the full expressive range ofthe bass clarinet, from deep resonancesto raucous wails. Sushi ContemporaryPerformance and Visual Arts, 39011th at J Street, $10-$15,www.sushiart.org or phone (619)235-8466.

At the Old Globe• Through Nov. 7: Scott Schwartz

stages two poignant coming-of-agecomedies by Neil Simon, “BrightonBeach Memoirs” and “BroadwayBound,” alternating in repertory Tues-days-Sundays, $20-$85,www.theoldglobe.org or phone (619)239-2255 for schedule.

PERFORMING ARTS 19OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

YES we rent & sell men’sdesigner suits & sport coats

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Austyn Myers as Eugene Jerome and Karen Ziemba as Kate Jerome in Neil Simon’s “BrightonBeach Memoirs” at The Old Globe through Nov. 7. Photo by HENRY DiROCCO

SEE ARTS, Page 20

THE LIVELY

ARTSCharlene Baldridge

Sqwonk, ‘Crossing Borders’and Neil Simon comedies

member of The Angels of Aseltine Aux-iliary. The Aseltine School has been inSan Diego since 1968, and serves theneeds of emotionally-disturbed andlearning-disabled students, making itpossible for them to lead independentand fulfilling lives. For more informa-tion, visit www.aseltine.org.

Upcoming eventsOct. 15, 2010-April 15, 2011: “Dress-

ing the Part: Costume Design at theOld Globe” — San Diego History Cen-ter collaborates with the Old Globe foran Interactive Exhibit. For informa-tion, call Christianne Penunuri at(619) 820-0960.

Oct. 21: Zandra Rhodes presentsStardust Glamour Collection at theWestgate Hotel at 11:30 a.m. For

reservations call (619) 557-3655.Nov. 6: Leonard Simpson’s 10 Best

Dressed List & Fashion Show at theRonald McDonald House to benefitThe Ronald McDonald House. CallFashion Forward at (619) 508-0216.

Nov. 13: Annual Golden HangerFashion Awards Gala at the Town &Country Resort & Convention Center.For more information call (619) 275-4700.

— Diana Cavagnaro is a nationally-recognized hat designer and milliner.She has operated a fashion business for28 years, the last 18 years in theGaslamp Quarter. She has been teach-ing in the fashion department at SanDiego Mesa College for 18 years. Dianais a member of the Gaslamp QuarterAssociation, The American SewingGuild, the San Diego Costume Counciland the Fashion Group International.www.aheadproductions.com

FASHIONCONTINUED FROM Page 18

At San Diego Museum of Art• 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19: Art of

Elan’s “Crossing Borders” is inspired byLuis Jimenez’s sculpture “Border Cross-ing.” Hear Latin-American and Cubanmusic by Joaquin Rodrigo and GabrielaFrank, plus Javier Alvarez’s stringquartet, created to accompany an artinstallation in a Mexican subway sta-tion. Hibben Gallery, San Diego Muse-um of Art, Balboa Park, $20-$25 (stu-dents $10), www.artofelan.org or(619) 692-2081.

At Copley Symphony Hall• Oct. 8-10: Internationally-

renowned flutist Sir James Galwayplays Mozart’s Concerto No. 2 for Flute

and Orchestra. Also featured, theworld premiere of Marvin Hamlisch’s“San Diego,” Bizet’s “Carmen” Fantasy,and Dmitri Shostakovich’s SymphonyNo. 5 in D Minor.

• Oct. 22-24: Dvorak’s New WorldSymphony and Erich Korngold’s ViolinConcerto. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 2p.m. Sunday; Copley Symphony Hall,Seventh and B Street, $20-$96,www.sandiegosymphony.com or (619)235-0804.

At SD Repertory Theatre• Through Oct. 17: Athol Fugard’s

enchanting play, “The Road to Mecca,”about one woman’s creation ofbeauty in her back yard, directedby Todd Salovey, starring KandisChappell. 7 p.m. Wednesdays; 8 p.m.Thursdays-Saturdays; 7 p.m. Sundays;2 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays; LyceumSpace, San Diego Repertory, 79 HortonPlaza, $29-$47, www.sdrep.org or(619) 544-1000.

URBAN LIVING20 OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

ARTSCONTINUED FROM Page 19

SIR JAMES GALWAY Courtesy San Diego Symphony

A model wears Alyssa Mansfield’s design inspired by Claude-Joseph Vernet’s painting “A Seaport at Sunset.” DIANA CAVAGNARO | Downtown News

The Scott White Contemporary ArtGallery is located at 939 Kalmia St. atthe north end of Little Italy. It is an aus-tere, polished and technical-looking,gray building covered with numeroussmall stainless steel panels which arebolted to the facade. According thegallery assistant, Haley Crone, the ideabehind the lack of external “fancy frills”is to help “cleanse the visual palette” tomake for better viewing of the art inside.

The interior of the gallery space is alarge, high-ceiling, L-shaped room withwooden rafters, a cement floor andwhite walls. There is an elevating doorlarge enough for a car to drive through,lots of empty space and a “newness” or“just built” feeling, as if the construc-tion cleanup crew had just left. Thiscould be a motorcar showroom forMaserati or Ferrari, and, indeed, thisis the class and caliber of the art thatWhite, who has been in the modern artbusiness for 30 years, likes to show.White sells modern art that exempli-fies taste, class and distinction; andwhose ownership conveys the idea of“cultural capital.”

On view now and continuing untilNov. 6 at Scott White is a show called“New School Cool,” which features thepaintings of DeWain Valentine and thesculptures of Eric Johnson. This showis the update of an art movement whichbegan in the 1960s called variously“Light & Space,” “Finish Fetish” or “CoolSchool,” exemplified by artists such asRobert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, JamesTurrell and Valentine, with Eric Johnsonjoining later in the 1970s. This move-ment was characterized by a focus onperception, vision, and illusion, andmade use of modern, industrial, oftenhighly-toxic materials such as acrylic,resin and lacquers, which were used tocreate impeccably-flawless, glossy sur-faces of bright colors. The materialswere borrowed from the industries thathelped create the Southern Californiaculture of polished classic cars, hot rodsand surfboards. Now, 50 years later,Valentine and Johnson have joinedforces to showcase the progression ofthis movement and take it into the 21stcentury.

Valentine, who said he is “fascinatedwith transparency, reflection and light,”has five paintings in the exhibit, withtitles such as “Vertical Skyline 001,”“006,” and “007.” They are 6-foot-by-4-foot, made of acrylic 3-inches-thick,and sprayed with acrylic auto paint.Each has a slit in the middle to allowlight to pass behind the painting, whichhelps to create some unique visualeffects. The coloration is a subtle whitishtranslucence with a pinkish tint or huearound the edges. These are very subtleworks, with their prime value in the waylight plays on them. They could be

thought of as a slice of the sky or thesunset in the whiteness of the Antarctic.

As Valentine said, “I have alwayswished I had a magic tool to cut sec-tions out of the sky and seas.”

Johnson, who claims to “use a fullarray of auto tools and pigments,” hasnine sculptures in the exhibit. Threelook like large DNA strands, two liketwisted and swollen power boat pro-pellers and three like giant, colorful cornkernels. Each is composed of resin(sometimes with added materials) andhas a rich color and a glossy surface.Johnson’s ninth sculpture, which is thecenterpiece of the entire show, is a 121/2-foot-high black DNA strandattached to a circular base made ofresin and polyester, with the name“Pinkie of Bob,” which is a humorousreference to fellow artist Robert Irwin.

Gallery hours are Tuesdays throughSaturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For furtherinformation see scottwhiteart.com orcall (819) 501-5689.

ART 21OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

‘New Cool School’ artists exhibit at Scott White GalleryBY WILL BOWEN | DOWNTOWN NEWS

“Beauregard,” left, and “Andre,” right, are two works by Eric Johnson, who has nine sculptures in the “New School Cool” show at Scott White Contemporary Art Gallery. WILL BOWEN | Downtown News

For advertising Information, contact

Heather Snyder

(858) 270-3103 x115Fax: (858) 232-5638

heather@sdnews.com

Don’t be left out of ournext issue of the

DOWNTOWN NEWS

PAGE 22 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2010 | SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

Folklorico De La Luna will captivate audiencesFiesta De Reyes is the place “where

history lives and the fiesta lasts forev-er,” according to its slogan. History willtake center stage for three Saturdays, aseight troupes of ballet Folkloricodancers compete for the top prize at theFolklorico De La Luna.

On Oct. 16, 23 and the grand finaleon Nov. 6, dancers will be competingfor the chance to win a $1,000 grandprize.

The competition is from 1 to 5 p.m.and celebrates the traditional, livelydance of Ballet Folklorico. Each of thethree performances will feature a head-lining Latin group to complete the day’sentertainment.

Well-known local performers,Chunky y los Alacranes, will the takethe stage on Oct. 1. Trio de los Ticos will

perform Oct. 23 and widely acclaimedprofessional Ballet group Tijuan will capthe finale’s performances on Nov. 6.

Each dance troupe is from San DiegoCounty. All troupes will compete, butonly four will make it through to thegrand finale round. The history of thedance will be shared with those in atten-dance throughout the performances.

Folklorico is a folkloric ballet dance.Elegant female dancers with exquisitemake-up and beautiful hair make thepurposeful movement seem whimsicalagainst the rhythm of the music. Thedresses, when held up to show theunique foot movement, form a near cir-cle, edged by ruffles and vibrant colors.

It is referred to as the dress of Jalisco,with the “j” pronounced like an airy“h,” which rolls off the tongue.

Male dancers wear black pants and amatching wide brimmed hat. Typicallya red tie is worn, which only adds to thedrama of the choreographed dance.

The three-day event is free and opento the public.

Fiesta De Reyes is tucked away at thenortheast end of Old Town State Park,and lined with linen-colored authenticpueblo structures. It is near Wallace andCalhoun streets and is one block fromthe Old Town Trolley Station. Casa deReyes, Barra Barra Saloon and evennear-by El Fandango are three deliciousrestaurants in the vicinity. Fiesta DeReyes also boasts 16 specialty shopsopen daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

For more information call (619) 297-3100 or visit www.fiestadereyes.com ortext “Fiesta” to 53137.

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Old Town State Park will honor Dia DeLos Muertos, Day of the Dead, on Nov. 1and 2 and the public is invited to join in thefestivities that will honor the deceased.

Tradition dictates, that on the day of thedead, the living will honor those who havepassed on with altars lined with food, drink,marigolds and maybe even a gift or two forthe welcomed spirits. Bread is often one ofthe items on the altar as are colorful skulls,pictures of saints and the deceased. Bakedbreads, candles and figurines also will gracethe altar-tops.

Day of the Dead pays homage to thepresence of the dead among the living andis a colorful tribute to the California’s ownMexican heritage.

“We want to give our guests a sense oftraveling back into time,” said event orga-nizer and manager of El Fandango Mexi-can Restaurant, Marco Puente.

Numerous altars will be set-up through-out the park. More than 25 local business-es, museums, and community organiza-tions will create the traditional Mexicanaltars and offerings to the dead. Some ofthe altars will honor historic figures fromOld Town’s past.

Puente added that in addition to an altar,the entrance to El Fandango MexicanRestaurant will have floral archways in thefront and back of the restaurant to wel-come the spirits in and staff will have paint-ed faces to symbolize the spirit presence.

By 11 a.m. the altars will be ready forviewing throughout the park. Restaurantswill offer specialty food and drinks. The fes-tivities will also include poetry readingsand musical offerings as well.

The area is no stranger to spirits andghosts as the Cosmopolitan Hotel has aroom it rents out to the not so feint of heartwho do not mind the presence of a ghost ortwo. Spirits and more brave souls swarmthe haunted Whaley House as well.

Dia De Los Muertos is a true celebra-tion of life and death that speak to everyonewho has lost somebody. It serves as achance to pay homage to the spirits whohave passed and a welcome is offered to letthem know that they are still thought of.

Puente said that Old Town is the birth-place of California, a proud sentiment thatwill be visible to guests on Dia De Los Muer-tos.

A special candlelight procession fromthe Whaley House Museum to El CampoCemetery will take place on Nov. 1 at 8p.m. and the public is welcome to join. Itwill also serve as the public’s opportunity toleave offerings of their own for lost lovedones among the gravesites of the Oldtown’s earliest families.

Free, tour maps of the altars will be available and online at oldtownsandiego.org, otsguide.com or whaleyhouse.org. Print the map and thenjoin the celebration and learn about Mexi-can heritage.

Dia De Los Muertos celebrations will enchant and educate

The traditional Ballet Folklorico costumes are voluminous and colorful, and are meant to be swirled and swept while the dance is beingperformed.

ENJOY OCTOBER IN OLD TOWN

Enjoy spooky events this Halloween seasonat one of the most haunted areas in SanDiego, Old Town San Diego State HistoricPark and Fiesta de Reyes.

SÉANCE AT THE SEELEY STABLE Old TownSan Diego State Historic Park will be hosting“Séance at the Seeley Stable. MadamStolichnaya will attempt to summon “reallive” ghosts. every Friday & Saturday in Oct.and the 31st at 6 & 7:30 p.m. Adults are$10 per ticket and children 12 to 18: $5.00.Visit brownpapertickets/event/12812 or call619-220-5422.

GHOST TOURS Michael Brown leads SanDiego’s only real ghost tours. Every Thursdaythrough Sunday in October. Walking toursbegin at 9 p.m. in front of the Fiesta deReyes fountain. Adults are $19 and children6-12 are $10. Kids 5 and under free. Visit: oldtownsmosthaunted.com/

OLD TOWN THEATRE: QUOTH THE RAVEN October 16 at 12:30 p.m. and on Mondayevening, October 18, at 7 p.m. $15 foradults and $13 for students, seniors andactive military. Visit: writeoutloudsd.com/

OLD TOWN THEATRE: WAR OF THEWORLDS Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Old TownTheatre. $10 for all ages. Visit, cygnetthe-atre.com or call (619) 337-1525.

COSTUME BALL AT THE COSMOPOLITANHOTEL AND RESTAURANT The newlyopened Cosmopolitan Hotel and Restaurantis hosting the Old Town’s scariest party ofthe year. Complete with costume contests,flowing food and live music, this will be theplace to be for Halloween eve night. Hap-pening Saturday, Oct. 30 from 9 p.m. to 11p.m., tickets are $25 per person. Visit old-towncosmopolitan.com/ or call (619) 297-1874.

MOVIE NIGHT AND COSTUME CONTESTBring lawn chairs, blankets and your bravestface and enjoy a family-rated spooky movie

under the stars. The movie night will be heldFriday, Oct. 29, and Saturday, Oct. 30 at 8p.m. in the Fiesta de Reyes courtyard. Beforethe movie on Saturday, there will be a cos-tume contest for all ages featuring prizesfrom merchants in the park for the variouscategories of costumes. Admission is free.

TRICK-OR-TREAT Trick-or-treaters areinvited to come out Saturday , Oct. 30, andSunday Oct. 31. from 4 p.m. to 6:30 to col-lect goodies from participating shops andmuseums throughout the park. Admissionfor this is free.

LIVE STORYTELLING The haunting willcontinue with a live storytelling of OldTown’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow at 6:30p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 28 and at 8 p.m. onSunday, Oct. 31.

Fiesta de Reyes, Old Town San Diego State Park, WriteOut Loud, Cygnet Theater and the Old Town MerchantsAssociation sponsor the preceding events. Free parkingis available in the Caltrans parking lot on Taylor Street inOld Town after 5 p.m. on weekdays and all day onweekends. For more information about any of theseevents, visit Fiestadereyes.com or call 619-297-3100.

Nine men who personifiedadvancement in aviation will beinducted into the San Diego Air andSpace Museum’s Hall of Fame onOct. 23.

It’s the 47th year that achieve-ments in historic phases of flight willbe celebrated.

The list of honorees include actor-pilot Harrison Ford, Apollo 12 astro-naut Alan Bean, planner Joe Clark,General Atomics’ Linden Blue,Northrop Drummond’s RobertMitchell, Sensor Systems Si Robin,the late adventurer Steve Fossett, andTheodore Gildred and TheodoreEdmonds Gildred of FriendshipFlights to Ecuador.

The special guest will be Gene Cer-nan, last man to walk on the moon.

“We’re especially pleased to honorthe Class of 2010 because these pio-neers have not only pushed back thefrontiers of air and space explo-ration, they’ve also become strong,positive role models for today’syouth,” said Jim Kidrick, museumpresident and CEO. “Aviation andspace exploration, as embodied bythe people we honor in our Hall ofFame, is a metaphor for the Ameri-can pioneering spirit.”

He said achievements by suchmen should inspire today’s childrento tackle the tough science, technol-ogy, engineering and math chal-lenges which lie ahead.

The Hall of Fame includes hun-dreds of pilots, engineers, inventorsand innovators, along with adven-turers, scientists, industry leaders

and famous flying pioneers.Notable inductees have included

Jack Northrop, William Boeing,Reuben H. Fleet, Glenn Curtiss, Wal-ter Zable Sr., Fran Bera, WallySchirra, Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, T.Claude Ryan, Jimmy Doolittle Jr.,Frederick Rohr and Waldo Water-man.

Ford, winner of numerous actingawards, is a licensed pilot who, inJuly 2000, rescued a stranded hikernear his Wyoming ranch from hishelicopter. He is spokesman for the Air-craft Owners and Pilots Association tohelp promote general aviation in theU.S. transportation industry.

Capt. Alan Bean, a naval test pilot,was the lunar module pilot on Apol-lo 12 and landed in the moon’sOcean of Storms on the secondmanned lunar landing.

Joe Clark helped form AviationPartners Boeing to explore placingwinglets on 737s. Today, more than500 Boeing 737s are outfitted withblended winglets.

Theodore Gildred and ambassadorTed Gildred, inspired by Charles Lind-bergh, made solo Freedom GoodwillFlights from San Diego to Ecuador in1931 and 1986.

Linden Blue is vice chairman ofGeneral Atomics in San Diego andpast president of the Green Founda-tion (geophysics and planetaryphysics); board member of theNational Parks Foundation andchairman of the Airports and Air-ways Committee, General AviationManufacturers Association.

Nine chosen for Air & SpaceMuseum Hall of Fame

EVENTS 23OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

Though winners are determined byaudience vote, celebrity judges are BrianMalarkeyof “Top Chef ” and San Diegoradio personality Jerry Cesak. YolandaS. Walther-Meade is event chair. Hon-orary chairs are MayorJerry Sanders, Rana

SampsonandDea and Osborn Hurston.Comedianemcee is Monique Marvez.

VIP ticket holders will enjoy 6:30 p.m.pre-show cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.The competition commences at 8 andall attendees are invited to a post-show“Meet the Dancers” party with coffeeand dessert. Tickets range from $50to $150. Proceeds from “MalashockThinks You Can Dance!” benefit

Malashock Dance Education Out-reach and Scholarship programs,which serve more than 2,500 stu-dents at area schools,inBalboa Park andat Malashock’s Liberty Station studio.The Birch North Park Theatre is locatedat 2891 University Avenue, San Diego.For more information and tickets, go towww.malashockdance.org/thinksyoucandance.

DANCECONTINUED FROM Page 17

She also founded Academia Flamenco Arana and Compa-nia Flamenco Arana, the groups of pro and student dancerswho will perform with her in the upcoming show. Since 2007,she has been teaching weekly flamenco classes to all levels ofdancers in the studio on Garnet Avenue. All classes have livemusic, guitarists, and occasionally singers who drop in simplyfor the love of flamenco.

It’s this same love of flamenco that brought together acadre of flamenco artists to the closing party for the originalCafé Sevilla on Sept. 26.

“The mood was not somber at all. Everybody’s happy aboutthe new location,” said Eric van den Haute, CEO of Café Sevil-la. “But, it was [sad] leaving those walls. That 23 years. Somethat were there performed at Café Sevilla on opening night.”

Van den Haute, who has served as CEO since 1992, saidthat while the new location will have upgrades, such as an ele-vated stage, camera and screen equipment so that attendeescan better see the elaborate footwork of flamenco dancers, itwill stay true to its roots.

“We’re trying to keep exactly the same feel and conceptwith the tapas bar, restaurant and nightclub, and the flamen-co performances,” said van den Haute. “The most importantpart is we stay being the flagship of where the flamenco artistscan perform.”

In addition to dinner shows and a tapas bar, Café Sevilla willcontinue to have a sit-down restaurant and nightclub withfree Salsa lessons, live bands and DJs, and will be a larger andnewer space for flamenco and Spanish culture to grow.

And growing it is. “Flamenco is gaining in popularity. Every year it gets bigger,

has more exposure and is easier to access,” said Cobarrubia.“When I was young, I had to walk 10 miles in the snow to fla-menco class.”

Quite a feat, especially with nails in the bottom ofher pumps.

“Flamenco: Pasado y Presente” will also feature specialguest Sara Olivar, a former San Diego flamenco dancer whonow resides in London. Adult tickets are $22 in advance; $25at the door; $17 in advance/$20 at the door for children 12and under, and are available at www.brownpapertickets.com.For more information, call (619) 549-3212 or visitwww.flamencoarana.com. Café Sevilla has two other loca-tions in Riverside and Long Beach. For restaurant or dinnershow information, visit www.cafesevilla.com.

FLAMENCOCONTINUED FROM Page 17

Darci Manzo strikes a dramatic pose as she performs the motions ofa flamenco routine. Photo by BRUCE MEYER

BY JOHNNY MCDONALD | DOWNTOWN NEWS

SEE MUSEUM, Page 30

It is always beneficial to work on atravel film. They are treated as any film-ing except there is a direct benefit to SanDiego. In other words, there is somethingbeyond hotel room nights, local hiresand services used. Travel films present afree promotional film that is marketed byother cities, states and countries and wecan sit back and enjoy the tourism itattracts. Bumper 2 Bumper filmed a trav-el film in San Diego and the focus wasBalboa Park, our local museums and ourwonderful Gaslamp Quarter. And that’snot all. The crew had dinner after film-ing at Bourbon Street and they wereseen bar hopping. Additionally, theSan Diego Convention Center andVisitors Bureau hired a local produc-tion company to shoot icon locations inSan Diego for promotional opportuni-ties. The Embarcadero, the GaslampQuarter and Old Town were of specialinterest to their project.

We had several catalog shoots film-ing downtown. They don’t create asmuch impact, with usually one cameraand four to five crew people. Engineer-ing Fitness International, formallyknown as Total Gym, shot its new prod-uct catalog downtown.

The Food Network spent 15 days film-ing a cooking show called “MexicanMade Easy” in Point Loma. Fifteen localcrew people were hired and they evenhired a local chef. Sixty-eight roomswere booked for the rest of the crew.Sometimes the Film Commission will“pitch” these shows to come and filmhere. We create a sample budget with theincentives we can offer such as no permitfee, free public properties and 24/7 ser-vice. Having these kind of reality showsare good for San Diego and they are funto actually see on the Food Network.HGTV is a regular also, so we are alwayson the lookout for a project that pro-motes our local icon locations and at thesame time, at no cost to San Diego!

— Cathy Anderson is the presidentand CEO of the San Diego Film Com-mission, and film commissioner of SanDiego. Anderson has earned a nationalreputation for developing programs tofoster the growth of the productionindustry in the region, and for makingAmerica’s Finest City “HollywoodSouth” for more than 23 years.

EVENTS24 OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

Please call 858-268-3999 for more information and visit our websites:

www.sandiegobahai.org • www.bahai.org

Informal gatherings every evening of the week.

Call for more information:(858) 454-5203 • (858) 274-0178

San Diego Bahá'í Faith

9:30 am – 10:00 am 10:30 am – 12:00 pmMulti-Faith

Devotional ProgramIntroductory Talk

& Discussion

Or join us on Sunday at the

San Diego Baha’i Center6545 Alcala Knolls Dr. (Off Linda Vista Rd)

The Natural History Museumand its neighbor across thestreet, the Reuben H. Fleet Sci-ence Center, will be dealing withobjects of continuous curiosity.The museum will unveil itsexhibit on Lizards and SnakesAlive, Oct. 16, while the sciencecenter will open its second phaseof Kid City, the latter dealingwith the human version ofcrawling tots.

“The (Lizards and Snakes)exhibition teaches us about thevast diversity, from delicate geck-os to ferocious-looking ven-omous snakes,” said Bradford D.Hollingsworth, Ph.D., Depart-ment of Herpetology curatorand a major collaborator on theexhibition at the Natural Histo-ry Museum. “Lizards and snakesmake up an amazing successstory in the animal kingdom.They are no more prehistoricthan modern mammals are fromtheir ancestors.”

Others agree.“Our fascination with lizards

and snakes starts early andendures throughout life,” saidDr. Michael Hager, president andCEO of the San Diego NaturalHistory Museum. “It’s a greatfamily exhibition where curiosi-ty about nature is nourished.Teaching careful observationand learning about fascinatingstrategies for survival are keyingredients in the developmentof careers in science.”

Meanwhile, at the Fleet Sci-ence Center’s Kid City, preschool

children ages 5 years andyounger will be provided aninfant crawling stage for explo-ration, starting, Oct. 23. A vari-ety of slopes, bumps and soft sur-faces should contribute to thedevelopment of motor skills forchildren who visit.

Rubber flooring will simulateroadways and sidewalks whilecarpeted surfaces will serve asgrassy areas. An added educa-tional benefit of the new floor-ing is that it will provide anopportunity for parents to teachchildren about street safety,complete with a stoplight andother roadway warning signs.

The Kid City exhibition ismade possible by gifts and grantsfrom the Donald C. and ElizabethM. Dickinson Foundation, theNierman Family Fund at the SanDiego Jewish Community Foun-dation, the Mandell Weiss Char-itable Trust and sponsorshipsfrom ScholarShare College Sav-ings Plan and Fidelity Invest-ments and an anonymousdonor.

Noteworthy: Comprised of nearly100 works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the Baldwin M. Baldwincollection pays tribute to an extraor-dinary modern artist and one of theSan Diego Museum of Art’s fore-most patrons shown together inSan Diego for the first time in 26years. Toulouse-Lautrec’s Paris pro-vides a last-look at this first-classcollection of paintings, drawings,prints and posters before the muse-um begins a campaign to conserveand digitize these important works.

What’s happening at Balboa ParkBY JOHNNY MCDONALD | DOWNTOWN NEWS

BY CATHY ANDERSON

World-renowned orchestra set to perform in San DiegoLa Jolla Music Society will kick off its

Celebrity Orchestra Series with DresdenStaatskappelle, one of the oldest orches-tras in the world, on Thursday, Oct. 28at 8 p.m. in Copley Symphony Hall.

The “Kappelle,” founded by PrinceElector Moritazvon Sachsen in 1548, isbelieved to be the only orchestra in con-tinuous existence for more than 450years. The orchestra will perform

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in AMajor and Schumann’s Overature to“Manfred,” led by conductor DanielHarding and accompanied by pianistRudolf Buchbinder.

Classically-trained pianist and deanof graduate studies at the University ofCalifornia, San Diego, Steven Cassedy,will host “Preludes,” a pre-concert lec-ture highlighting the evolution of

Romanticism from Beethoven to Shu-mann. The pre-concert lecture and per-formance will begin at 7 p.m. and is freeto all ticket-holders.

Copley Symphony Hall is located at750 B St. Tickets to the concert are $25to $95. To purchase tickets, call the LaJolla Music Society box office at (858)459-3728 or visit www.LJMS.org.

What’s filming downtown

Travel films always beneficial to San Diego

EVENTS 25OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

Muscle cars such at this Plymouth Roadrunner will be out in force at this year’s Fifth AvenueAuto Showcase on Sunday, Oct. 10. Photo by ART BOWEN

A spectacular showcase of sleekEuropean exotics, vintage motorcyclesand cutting-edge hybrid cars will on dis-play at the Gaslamp Quarter’s secondannual Fifth Avenue Auto Showcasethis Sunday, Oct. 10 from 11 a.m. to 4p.m. More than 120 cars, motorcycles,and horseless carriages will be on dis-play on Fifth Avenue between E and Kstreets against the Gaslamp Quarter’sVictorian-style architecture.

Attendees and exhibitors can vote onthe most stunning or unique car to winthe “People’s Choice Award.”

Last year, the event drew a crowd ofmore than 10,000 people, and thisyear is expected to be even bigger. Forthe first time, the luxurious Keating

Hotel is giving visitors a chance to wina weekend VIP package. The winnerwill receive a pampered weekend pack-age that includes a one-night stay atthe hotel the night before the show,two passes for complimentaryentrance and drinks at SWAY lounge,and dinner for two at the MerK BistroItaliano on Sunday.

Avid car enthusiasts and casualadmirers alike are welcome to strollamong some of the most stunning vin-tage and contemporary automobiles inSan Diego at this free event. For moreinformation about the showcase visitwww.gaslamp.org/fifth-avenue-auto-showcase.

— Mariko Lamb

Fifth Avenue Auto Showcase returns Sunday

Experience Portugal in anafter-hours celebration

This month, San Diego Museum ofMan’s (SDMoM) Tower After Hoursseries will feature the rich cultural her-itage of Portugal from 6 to 8 p.m. onThursday, Oct. 28.

This May marked the 100thanniversary of Festa do Espirito Santo,the oldest Portuguese ethnic religiouscelebration in San Diego. Tower AfterHours will help continue the festivitiesby transforming the museum’s GrandRotunda into a center stage for Por-tuguese cuisine, music, refreshmentsand performing arts in Balboa Parkafter the museum closes.

Savor Mediterranean-style cuisineflown directly from the Azores regionof Portugal, dance to the Portuguesefolk music of fado, or simply relax andenjoy traditional Portuguese costumesand festive atmosphere in the after-hours celebration.

Tickets are $10 for members, $15for students and military, and $20 fornon-members and include entranceinto SDMoM, two drink tickets, foodtasting and cultural entertainment.

SD Ballet sets anniversary gala

The San Diego Ballet will celebrateits 20th anniversary on Friday, Oct. 22with a special performance gala atLyceum Theatre in Horton Plaza from6:30 to 10 p.m.

The performance will showcase thefinest pieces from the dance company’sdecades-old repertoire. Founding direc-tor Robin Sherertz-Morgan, a formerNew York City Ballet dancer andaward-winning director and choreog-rapher, provided the artistic directionfor the performance. Current perform-ers in the ballet company include localdancers from the San Diego School ofBallet and featured dancers from the

U.S., Russia and Japan. Alumnidancers from the company’s past willalso take part in the performance andcelebration.

The celebration party will includefood from Urban Kitchens and dessertscreated by Michele Coulon, desertier.Tickets for the event are $100 and areavailable by calling (619) 294-7378 ore-mailing sandiegoballet@aol.com.

SDG&E gives away energy-saving kits

SDG&E is helping San Diego Countyresidents save money on their energyand water bills by giving away freeHome Energy and Water Savings Kits.The kit includes a low-flow shower-head and three faucet aerators, whichwill save families more than 6,000 gal-lons of water per year. The items areeasy to install and maintain a strongpressure flow, while reducing waterusage by up to 11 percent.

Less water usage also reduces theamount of energy used to heat thewater, resulting in lower water andenergy bills. The energy-saving kitswill be available at the Balboa Park Vis-itors Center until Nov. 21.

Organizers ask that residents bringin proof of San Diego County residen-cy, but do not bring in old showerheadsor aerators. The Balboa Park VisitorsCenter is located in the House of Hospi-tality Building at 1549 El Prado and isopen seven days a week from 9:30 a.m.to 4:30 p.m.

Poets compete for prizesThe Museum of the Living Artist

will host the 3 for $300 Poetry and ArtSlam as part of its Poetry and Artseries at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 13.

This poetry/prose/visual art combi-nation slam is open to all writers,artists and performers in San Diego.Performers can choose an artwork inthe museum’s current exhibit or, forextra points, they can bring in theirown visual art that is connected insome way to their poetry.

Audience members will judge theperformances based on the poet’s per-

Upcoming eventsD O N ’ T M I S S I T !

FOR MORE EVENT INFORMATION V ISIT,

SanDiegoDowntownNews.com

SEE EVENTS, Page 30

By Nicole Sours Larson

Cats and birds together? No way!That’s the most frequent reaction

when people hear of the unique con-cept pioneered by Maria and PatrickBrinson, owners of The Purring Par-rot, the couple’s Point Loma cat andbird resort located near Liberty Sta-tion.

The cheerful resort with its whim-sically-painted cat rooms and aviary,all designed by Patrick, bears little re-semblance to dreary, old-fashionedcage-filled boarding facilities. Here,up to 15 visiting birds occupy the cen-tral aviary and adjacent canopy room,where they sit on perches and enjoyinteracting and playing with otherbirds.

Feline guests can watch the birds’antics through the glass doors of theirindividually decorated suites whilethe cats snuggle on soft beds, splashin their water fountains and chompon kitty grass. Thanks to soundproofone-way glass, the cats can see thebirds, but the birds can’t see the cats.

Merlin, Bean and Soda Pop, three ofthe Brinsons’ five resident birds, do“fly bys” past the cats’ rooms, provid-ing extra “bird-o-vision” entertain-ment. Shy or frightened cats can curlup in a hidey-hole, conceal them-selves behind drapery or climb car-peted ramps to a high perch to avoidcurious and noisy birds.

The Brinsons ensure their featheredand furry friends feel comfortable andat home. They encourage theguardians of The Purring Parrot’s

guests to bring their pet’s favoritefoods if different from the resort’s nor-mal menu — along with favorite toysand other items as reminders ofhome.

Valerie Miller’s citron-crested um-brella cockatoo (named Sydney) is aregular day and overnight boarder atThe Purring Parrot. Miller said shevalues the care, mental stimulationand socialization Sydney receives as amember of a flock of parrots.

“Maria and Patrick really have con-sidered everything. They’re so well-educated in the care of birds,” Millersaid. “Maria dances and sings withthe birds and makes foraging toysand mechanical puzzles for them.”

During a recent visit, Maria coaxedRoo, a Panama Amazon parrot, towarble his favorite song, “Twinkle,

Twinkle, Little Star,” while Mariatempted Roo’s companion, Linus (aplum-headed parakeet), with aplump strawberry and corn-on-the-cob. Both birds weekly to socializewith other parrots and overnightwhen their guardians travel.

The Purring Parrot can accommo-date up to about 45 cats and kittens in18 double rooms and three largerrooms comfortable for three to sixcats. They, too, receive at least threevisits a day, for housekeeping, brush-ing, feeding and one-on-one playtime.

“We check their litter boxes severaltimes a day,” Maria said. “The catsquickly learn from others that if theyuse their box or pretend to use itthey’ll get extra attention.”

Ragdoll regulars Lucky and Char-lie enjoy popping between the tworooms their parents reserve for them,munching on their extra nightly-baked chicken or tuna treat.

While most cats stay only a week ortwo, or come when their homes aretented for termite fumigation, theBrinsons also care for longer-termguests. A family of three — Eliza, Tessand Isabelle — are all rescue kitties.They are currently ensconced in aquiet corner suite for a five-monthstay while their parents are overseas

on a temporary assignment. Maria ar-ranges for “the girls” to send theirparents regular e-mails reporting theiractivities, along with snapshots.

“We treat this as a human hotel,”Maria said. “We refer to our residentsas our cat guests and bird guests.”

Maria said sometimes she arrangestransportation for her feline guests torejoin their parents abroad. Tom, anorange American shorthair and fre-quent Purring Parrot resident, willsoon move to Japan via Pet Moversafter his parents relocate. Recently,Maria arranged transport for anotherclient’s cat to St. Kitt’s in theCaribbean.

The Purring Parrot sells all of its catand bird amenities, from plush beds,drinking fountains and toys for cats,to perches and cages, special seedmixes and brightly colored woodenbird-toy components, all safely dyedwith human food-grade coloring. Theresort’s ebsite also features an onlinestore.

For information about lodging, catroom photos and A live-streamedaviary webcam video, visit thepurringparrot.com, or call (619)223-2326. The Purring Parrot is lo-cated at 3015 St. Charles Street, Suite D.

The Purring Parrot pampers cats, birds at Point Loma resortPETS IN THE CITY26 OCTOBER 2010

SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

More than 100,000 people areexpected to attend this year’s annualLittle Italy Festa on Oct. 10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This free event attracts visitorsfrom all over the country who want tocelebrate all things Italian, organiz-ers said. The Festa is considered thebiggest single day Italian-Americanevent on the entire West Coast.

“It gets bigger every year and itgets more popular,” said Little ItalyAssociation executive director MarcoLimandri. “We have people comefrom throughout the United Stateswho stay in hotels and make anentire weekend of it. The weather’salways beautiful in San Diego inOctober, so it gives them a reason forcoming here.”

Besides great weather, the Festaalso provides visitors an assortment ofentertainment options. Some of thesimultaneous events going on includea stickball tournament on ColumbiaStreet to crown this year’s Festachamps. Meanwhile, visitors canobserve live artists creating authenticGesso Italian drawings in a chalk artdisplay on Date Street. People wholove food and competition can check

out the first Cannoli Eating Contest,presented by Café Italia.

Interested in cooking? Learn fromInfusion Culinary and the Little ItalyMercato during a live cooking demon-stration on Beech Street. Visitors canalso test their luck by purchasing araffle ticket in hopes of winning tworound trip tickets to Italy on AlitaliaAirlines. For the 21 and over crowd, abeer and wine garden by Karl Straussis the place to relax and socialize.There will also be a children’s areaand an Italian motor sport show dur-ing the family-friendly event.

Not coincidentally, Festa takesplace during the long weekend ofColumbus Day. A lot of families withties to the area use this time as achance to travel back in search offamiliar places and faces.

“It represents a homecoming ofsorts,” Limandri said. “There are a lotold timers in San Diego and SouthernCalifornia that were either born orwent to school or were married orburied their parents here in LittleItaly. When they come back, this isthe time they come and see thechanges in the neighborhood.”

For more information, visitwww.littleitalysd.com or call (619)233-3898.

EVENTS 27OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

Annual Festa set for 10-10-10 in Little ItalyBY LEE CORNELL | DOWNTOWN NEWS

Festa participants parade through the streets of Little Italy during a previous celebration. COURTESY PHOTO

Gaslamp Locals Night to entice shoppersEvery third Wednesday of the

month, Gaslamp retailers will featureactivities and special offers to encour-age downtown residents and visitorsto frequent local Gaslamp Quartershops and liven up the district.

Businesses participating in theGaslamp Quarter Locals, Lifestyleand Design Tour will work in collab-oration with the Gaslamp QuarterAssociation to showcase their goodsand services by “activating” theirlocation. Activities at local business-es will include a Wii tournament byMurray Digital, an art exhibition byAlexander Salazar Fine Arts and CJGallery, and a free “Pilates Funda-mentals” workshop by Hot BodyPilates.

The suggested starting point forthe tour is at the Fourth AvenuePocket Park on 410 Island Ave. Fromthere, weave your way down thestreets and stop in Andaz Hotel andWine Smarties for a free wine educa-tion class or visit Bubbles … A UniqueBoutique and check out its local artistjewelry trunk show.

Upcoming Locals, Lifestyles andDesign Tour dates are Oct. 20,Nov. 17, and Dec. 15 from 5 to 8p.m. To register a local Gaslampbusiness in the Tour, e-mail Tri-cia@Gaslamp.org or call(619_233-5227.

— Mariko Lamb

For Advertising Call

Deborah Vazquez(858) 270-3103 x118

You can’t train yourself out of a bad dietHEALTH & FITNESS28 OCTOBER 2010

SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

FIT SAVVYBy Connie Cook | Guest Columnist

I know how you think. Especially onMondays as you make your way backinto the gym to sweat out all the sins ofthe weekend. The birthday dinners,happy hours and tailgate parties are sim-ply the devil in disguise. They tempt yourtaste buds and promise you instant hap-piness while blocking all avenues of rea-son to your brain.

“I’ll just work out extra hard nextweek and burn it all off.”

Well, weekend warrior, that mightsound like a great idea while you’reslammin’ down another late night sliceor two of pizza or guzzlin’ down anoth-er locally-brewed beer. But guess what,you can’t train yourself out of a bad dietno matter how much blood, sweat andtears you put out while trying.

Clean eating doesn’t mean brushingthe dirt off the Ho Ho you just droppedon the floor, nor does it mean washingthe grime off your hands before you diveinto your chili cheese fries (though youdefinitely should do both). I’d like to clearup a few food fallacies and help youunderstand the difference betweenmindful eating to fuel your body andmindless eating to deplete your cravings.

When you eat clean, you eat food thatis as close as possible to how it occurs innature, its natural state. (You eat thepotato, not the potato chip.) Once youstart changing the quality of a natural-ly-grown food by adding preservativesto extend its shelf life, or artificial flavorsto change its taste, you rob yourself ofall the nutritional value food can pro-vide and end up doing your body moreharm than good.

The more processed your food is, theharder it is for your body to digest,absorb and eliminate it. Those fast foodburritos may go down quickly, but theywill take their sweet (or not so sweet)

time making their exit and slow thingsdown along the way. Processed foods,like those hanging out in a vendingmachine, offer your body very littlenutritional value and leave your bodyfeeling sluggish and depleted. Where areyou going to get the motivation to burnoff your excessive calories when youhave the energy of a two-toed slothstuck in the mud?

You’re not going to exercise your wayout of a nutritionally-deficient bodywhen you haven’t given your body thefuel it needs to perform. Food is energy,and bad food can’t deliver good energy.Unlike a car, your body derives fuel frommore than one source. Carbohydrates,fats and sometimes proteins are yourbody’s fuel sources. Your body will usethe fuel that is most available to it — inother words, whatever you feed it. There-fore, what you choose to eat determinesthe quality of the nutrients and energythat you bring into your body.

Whether you’re sitting at your deskdaydreaming about winning the lotto,or working out in cycling class, the fuelyour body uses comes from burningmostly fat and carbohydrates. Youalmost always burn a mix of both.

How hard you are moving duringexercise is one major determinant ofwhich fuel your body will use. Carbohy-drates provide a faster energy source. So,whenever you need to do something fastor produce force, carbohydrates are thebetter fuel. Fats are favored during long,low-intensity activities. It’s not that youstop using one or the other, it’s that theratio of both shifts depending on youractivity. In more scientific terms, youalternate between aerobic (more fat-burning) and anaerobic (more carb-burning) metabolism.

So what does all of this have to do

with an overindulgent weekend? Here’sthe truth about the vodka soda you justswigged down. The main effect of alco-hol is it reduces the amount of fat yourbody burns for energy. When you drinkany type of alcohol, your body convertsthe majority of it into acetate, not fat.Some evidence for this comes fromresearch carried in the American Jour-nal of Clinical Nutrition. Eight men weregiven two drinks of vodka and sugar-free lemonade separated by 30 minutes.Each drink contained less than 90 calo-ries. Fat metabolism was measuredbefore and after consumption of thedrink. For several hours after drinkingthe vodka, whole body lipid oxidation (ameasure of how much fat your body is

burning) dropped by a massive 73 per-cent.

The study found that 95 percent ofthe alcohol you consume is converted toacetate by the liver and less than 5 per-cent of the alcohol you consume is con-verted into fat. When this happens, yourbody uses the sudden flood of acetatethat is readily available as its fuel sourceand burns that as opposed to burningfat. In essence, acetate pushes fat to theback of the queue, and then ultimatelyto your backside.

The best thing you can do for yourbody is to eat the best food possible. AtFit, we teach our members the 80/20rule: 80 percent of your body composi-tion comes from what you eat and 20

percent comes from your workouts.That’s why we created our new Food atFit program. Our members have theopportunity to purchase fresh, organicand perfectly balanced meals to helpthem meet their fitness goals.

Make the time you spend in the gymquality time fueled by quality food. Andremember, meals don’t have to come ina box to make you “happy.”

Connie Cook “C2”

Fitness Director

Fit Athletic Club

SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS | OCTOBER 2010 | PAGE 29

formance and content of the poetry.Winners of the competition will takehome $150 for first place, $100 forsecond place or $50 for third place.San Diego poet, host and DJ GillS.O.T.U. will host the poetry slam andprovide R&B, funk and soul musicthroughout the show. Wine andsnacks will be provided. Tickets are $5for non-members and signups begin at6:30 p.m.

Balboa Park celebratesCzech founding day

To help celebrate the founding ofCzechoslovakia in October 1918, theHouse of Czech and Slovak Republicsin Balboa Park will host its annualLawn Program on Sunday, Oct. 17 at 2p.m.

The Lawn Program will featureCzech and Slovak folk dance perfor-mances and music by local singersElNora Rusnak and Martamary Con-nolly and keyboardist Maura Kiczek.The performances will take place onthe stage in front of the InternationalCottages in Balboa Park.

Before the Lawn Program perfor-mances commence, ethnic Czech andSlovak pastries, sausage andsauerkraut will be available forpurchase from 10:30 a.m. to 4p.m. outside of the Czech and Slo-vak Cottage, and artifacts from theCzech and Slovak Republics will beon display all day.

The House of Czech and SlovakRepublics is located in the Internation-al Cottages near President’s Way inBalboa Park. For more informa-tion, contact Daniele Laman at(619) 287-9071.

Nonprofit aims to raise$150,000 at celebration

The Seany Foundation will host its“Everything is Possible Celebration” onSunday, Oct. 10 from 5 to 7 p.m. at theSan Diego Hall of Champions, locatedat 2131 Pan American Plaza in BalboaPark.

The goal of the evening celebrationis to fill the venue with more than 200attendees and raise $150,000 for pedi-atric cancer research and patient careprojects, including Sean L. RobinsPediatric Oncology Fellowships andClinical Trials at Rady Children’s Hos-pital, Seany’s Sponsor-a-Kid Program,and Sean L. Robins Endowed ResearchFund for Pediatric Sarcoma at MooresUCSD Cancer Center.

The dinner will be catered by award-winning chef and owner JeffreyStrauss of Pamplemousse Grille, andentertainment will be provided byacoustic music duo Ruby Summer. Anopportunity drawing and silent liveauction will also take place to helpreach the $150,000 goal.

Tickets to the dinner celebration are$125 per person and $1,250 per tableof 10. To RSVP, visitwww.theseanyfoundation.org or call(800) 794-8282.

Storyteller tells spookytales for Halloween

Professional storyteller HarlynneGeisler will tell “Not Too Spooky Sto-ries” to children 5 and up at theTimken Museum of Art in BalboaPark.

For the past 30 years, Geisler hasentertained people with her animatedstories in festivals, conferences,schools, libraries, churches, communi-ty centers and museums across thenation. To set the mood for a fun Hal-loween, Geisler will bring characters to

life in slightly scary interactive talesthat are sure to entertain children andadults alike. Geisler’s Halloween storieswill be inspired by masterpieces in themuseum, where the storytelling willtake place.

Family storytelling at the museum isa fun, free way to educate visitorsabout the artwork while also preparingchildren for Halloween.

Story time will begin at 11 a.m. onSaturday, Oct. 30, and admission intothe museum will be free.

Halloween events slatedall month in Old Town

Old Town is celebrating Halloweenall month long with spooky eventsthroughout Old Town San Diego StateHistoric Park and Fiesta de Reyes.

Old Town is known to be one ofthe most haunted places in SanDiego because of paranormally-active locations such as theWhaley House and its g rounds.Fun, fr ightening Halloweenevents such as “Séance at theSeeley Stable” and walking toursthrough the Whaley House, an oldcemetery, and a haunted brothelwill take place throughout themonth.

Old Town Theatre will also presenttwo mysterious shows: “Quoth theRaven” on Oct. 16 at 12:30 p.m. andOct.18 at 7 p.m.; and “War of theWorlds” on Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. Otherevents include a free movie nightand costume contest in the Fiestade Reyes courtyard on Friday, Oct.29 and Saturday, Oct. 30 at 8p.m.; and a costume ball at theCosmopolitan Hotel andRestaurant on Saturday, Oct.30 from 9 to 11 p.m. To lear nmore about Old Town Halloweenevents and ticket prices, visitwww.oldtownsandiegoguide.com.

EVENTS30 OCTOBER 2010SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

Si Robin acquired Sensor Sys-tems in 1970 and expanded itsantenna production, acquiring mil-itary contracts for AWACS and KC-135 aircraft. Today Sensor Systemsmakes more than 250 types ofantennas used by the majority ofaircraft throughout the world.

Bob Mitchell joined NorthropDrummand after the acquisition ofTeledyne Ryan Aeronautical, wherehe had served as president. He becamesector vice president for the AerospaceSystems Division.

Fossett notched more than 116records in balloons, airplanes, sail-boats, gliders and airships. At least 60of the records remain unbroken.

MUSEUMCONTINUED FROM Page 23

EVENTSCONTINUED FROM Page 25

SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS | OCTOBER 2010 | PAGE 31

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Most people choose muscle carsor stylish roadsters for their appear-ance and performance, not neces-sarily for their gas mileage. But moresport cars are being redesigned tobe more fuel efficient, making thema stylish and more environmentallysound choice.

Sports cars are typically consid-ered gas-guzzlers. Most feature a V8engine under the hood, which caneasily take the vehicle up to the topspeeds afficionados desire. The trou-ble with V8 engines is that they tendto drink up gasoline. However, thesemodels of sports cars can make fill-ing up at the pump less expensive --which is good for the wallet and theenvironment.

• Mercedes-Benz SLK300: At 19city/26 highway, this convertible issporty, quick and doesn't eat up gas.

• Porsche 911 Carrera: This luxu-rious sports car is more fuel-efficientthan some SUVs and sedans, rank-ing at 19 city/27highway.

• Mitsubishi Eclipse: An affordableand fast sports car, the Eclipse comesin at 20 city/28highway.

• Audi TT Coupe Quattro: It's theturbo-charged 4-cylinder enginethat provides the power on this vehi-cle, enabling the 21 city/29 high-way MPG statistics.

• Mazda MX-5 Miata: Anotheraffordable and sporty ride, driverscan expect 22 city/28 highway inthis vehicle.

• Chevrolet Camaro: Camarobeats out competitors like the DodgeChallenger and Ford Mustang forthe highest EPAratings on fuel econ-omy. This muscle car's V6 automat-ic engine earns 18 city/29 highway.

Good maintenance can keep yourvehicle on the road for years to come –and keep you safer on the road. Manydrivers think maintenance equals oilchanges. In fact, most people changeoil more often than they need to butdon't rotate their tires as frequently asthey should. That's a big mistake. Prop-er rotation can add as much as 10,000miles to the life of a set of tires.

There's more you can do to keepyour vehicle operating reliably. Hereare a few tips from AAA.

• Keep maintenance records. Main-tenance records are good diagnostictools and proof you have cared for yourvehicle, which can enhance the vehi-cle's trade-in or resale value

• Run your engine for a few minutesbefore powering up the heater, air con-ditioner, wipers, and other accessories.Accelerating with a cold engine cancause premature engine failure.

• If your vehicle has fuel injection,keep the tank at least one-quarter full.Cornering with a nearly empty tankdisrupts the flow to the fuel pump.

• Look for cracks or looseness inengine belts. Broken belts are a majorreason for roadside breakdowns.

Your local AAA club also may be avaluable resource for maintenancehelp. Many clubs operate vehicle carecenters; offer annual "car check"inspections of brake fluid levels, bat-tery connections, lights, belts and

hoses by AAA Approved auto repairstaff; and provide AAA's battery ser-vice, a mobile service that tests andreplaces batteries 24 hours, seven daysa week.

For more information on vehiclemaintenance and other car-relatedissues, visit www.AAA.com.

Sports cars getting greener

Easy tips to maintain vehicle value

Auto enthusiasts don't have to pick sub-compact cars to improve gas mileage.A new breed of sports car, including the Chevy Camaro, is more fuel efficient.

COURTESY PHOTO

Downtown · “Icon”You'll be amazed at the direct views into Petco

Park from this 15th-floor, west-facing, two-

bedroom residence! Mere steps to Petco, as well

as to a multitude of restaurants and shops!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5219

Downtown · “The Mark”This super starter in East Village's most

exciting, newer community, boasts terrific

views overlooking the lush courtyard and

pool, a pristine interior, and is available for

FHA & VA financing!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5079

Downtown · “Pinnacle”You'll love this lightly-used, second-home with

14th-floor, West-facing water views! Pristine,

beautifully presented, and situated in the heart

of the Marina District, with a strong offer, it

may convey furnished!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5039

Downtown · “City Walk”This expansive, 1684 square-foot town home

feels more like a house than a condo! It enjoys

an oversize terrace, access from the street as well

as the interior of the community, and a private

corner locale!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5119

Downtown · “The Mark”Just listed, you'll love this upgraded beauty

overlooking the quiet, scenic center courtyard

and pool! May convey turn-key fully furnished

and boasts dual side-by-side parking and

storage! Sweet!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5419

Hillcrest · “Century Plaza Towers”Enjoy almost 1500 square feet of upgrades inthe area's landmark luxury high-rise hearBalboa Park! Featuring dual parking spaces andbrand new Plantation shutters throughout, thispristine residence also includes a full-size laundry room, lovely views from its northeastcorner location, and a private terrace! For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5149

Downtown · “The Grande North”Boasting unbelievable Southwest views fromthe 35th-floor, this stunning penthouse-level, 3-bedroom/ 2-bath beauty enjoys almost 1800square feet, two expansive view terraces, anddual, side-by-side parking spaces perfectlylocated on entry level! You'll want to experienceDowntown living at its best!For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5049

Downtown · “Electra”This super, courtyard-level, corner

residence boasts an oversize terrace,

approximately 1488 square feet, quality finishes

throughout, and dual parking spaces!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5189

Downtown · “Aria”Virtually new, this two-bedroom beauty atop

Cortez Hill boasts super urban views from its

prime, southwest corner! You'll love banks of

sunny windows, a private view terrace, and

dual parking spaces!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5169

Downtown · “Electra”Featuring a spacious, open floor plan with theden-wall removed to expand the never-endingviews, this spectacular, 19th-floor, Southwestcorner beauty boasts custom built-ins, upgraded lighting, hand-painted murals, and a multitude of other quality appointments. Live the good life! For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5409

Independently owned and operated of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc.Equal Housing Opportunity.

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PAGE 32 | OCTOBER 2010 | SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN NEWS

Neuman & Neuman does not guarantee the accuracy of square footage, lot size or other information concerning the condition or features of property provided by the seller or obtained from public records or other sources, and the buyer is advised to independently verify the accuracy of the information through personal inspection and with appropriate professionals.

Independently owned and operated of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Downtown · “Breeza”Brand new construction, choose from the ideal“starter” one-bedroom to the premier, southwest corner, 3-bedroom, 2-bath residencewith stunning water and bayfront views! Theheart of the community is its center courtyard,complete with a pool and spa, and scenic patiosand lush, tropical landscaping!For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5069

Downtown · “Meridian”The ideal second home or primary residence, this east-facing residence is in wonderful condition and boasts wonderful night-time viewsof the city lights and urban surroundings!Meridian is Downtown San Diego’s own “Trump Tower,” complete with service andamenities beyond compare!For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5259

1-800-221-2210www.sellsandiego.com

Before you put your home on the marketcall for a FREE Marketing Package

It’s only a buyer’s market if you BUY!When it’s over, where will YOU be living?

Are you struggling to make your payments and/or

upside-down on your mortgage? We've helped many ownersDowntown avoid foreclosure

on their homes and we can help you, too!

Call us at 800.221.2210 to discussyour options, no obligation!

Downtown · “Electra”

Downtown · “Harbor Club”You’ll want to make this lovely residence yourhome or home-away-from-home! Featuringstunning views to the South and East, it enjoysan oversize view terrace and two terrific parkingspaces near the entrance. This resort-style community is located in the heart of the Marina District.For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5109

Downtown · “Alta”Newly listed, you will be absolutely blown away

by this stunning, Southwest corner, fully-

furnished beauty with dead-on views of the

Harbor, Coronado Bridge and directly into

Petco Park! Dual parking and below-average

HOA fees! Don't delay!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5449

Downtown · “Harbor Club”New on the market, this spectacular 'bubble

unit' on the 33rd floor of the Marina District's

premier, resort-style residential high-rise

boasts a completely remodeled interior with

the finest of finishes and phenomenal,

180-degree water views!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5289

Downtown · “Watermark”Featuring dual bedrooms + a den/office and

approximately 1550 square feet, this upgraded

home features views across the courtyard to

scenic Pantoja Park! One of the Marina

District's landmark communities!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5229

Downtown · “Watermark”This well-priced residence in recently

renovated community enjoys a west-facing

orientation, a private terrace looking toward the

Old Police Quarters, and dual parking spaces!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5299

“Electra” Builder Close-OutBosa Development has selected us to markettheir few remaining luxury residences at one ofDowntown’s most unique and desirable residential communities! Boasting elegant finishes and common amenities par excellence!Take advantage of these blow-out prices today!Starting at $324,000!For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5139

Downtown · “Park Place”You’ll want to see this wonderful residence

with lovely Southwest views, dual balconies,

expansive stone flooring and an ambient

2-sided fireplace in one of the Marina District’s

most sought-after communities! May

convey furnished!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5339

Amazingly upgraded, this fabulous, Northwest

corner luxury residence on the 27th floor

features all the bells and whistles PLUS amazing

water views! Experience one of Downtown's

most unique and desirable luxury

communities!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5179

Downtown · “The Grande”You'll enjoy one of the community's most

popular floorplans with two bedrooms + a full

den, two baths, and almost 1700 square feet.

Lovely Northwest corner views to the ocean are

yours and you will love the banks of windows

taking in the vistas. Common areas are the best!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5159

Downtown · “Pinnacle”This elegant and expansive residence in the

premium Southwest corner of the

community boasts fabulous water views,

beautifully upgraded interior, dual terraces

and dual parking spaces. It doesn't get any

better than this!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5129

SALE

PENDINGSALE

PENDINGSALE

PENDING

Downtown · “Gaslamp City Square”Enjoy the vibrant lifestyle in the heart of theGaslamp Quarter, & take advantage of this greatshort-sale opportunity! Situated on the pool/courtyard level, this unique, 2-level townhomeis beautifully upgraded & presented, completewith custom paint and lighting, upgraded flooring, and a granite and stainless kitchen!For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5509

Downtown · “Porta d’Italia”The ideal 2nd-home opportunity, this top-floorpied-a-terre boasts lovely bay and Pt. Lomaviews, a granite and stainless kitchen, and lovelyfurnishings that may convey! This small, intimate community is just steps to the Villageof Little Italy with its multitude of shops andrestaurants!For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5369

Downtown · “Palermo”Beautifully located on the pool level, this dualbedroom, dual bath residence features a privatepatio, a granite kitchen, and two parking spaces!Just steps to Little Italy’s many wonderful venues, Palermo enjoys lush courtyards, a pool& spa, fitness center & secured parking! Don’tmiss this super short-sale opportunity!For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5499

Downtown · “The Mills”Don't miss this great SHORT-SALE

opportunity to own a 2-bedroom, 2-bath in a

newer community atop Cortez Hill for a bargain

price! You'll enjoy dual secured parking and a

granite kitchen!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5199

Downtown · “Acqua Vista”Newly listed, this 2-bedroom in active and

convenient Little Italy location is on the quiet

courtyard and is freshly cleaned and detailed!

Don't miss out on this super SHORT-SALE

at a great price!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5359

Downtown · “The Metropolitan”This elegant, BANK-OWNED foreclosure in

one of Downtown's most desirable luxury

high-rises will be priced substantially below any

others in the community. One of few residences

atop the Omni Hotel at the entrance to Petco

Park, the views are spectacular!

For full details in a recorded message,

call 1-800-709-1995, Ext. 5329

SALE

PENDING