dan weisman

Blogs, Columns/Blogs, Editorial, Opinion, Rancho Santa Fe September 13, 2023

Three Dot Lounge visits Rancho Santa Fe: $20 ice cream pints, crying about the spilt Inn and foie gras lawsuits

We are going to consider a few outstanding three-dot items stripped from below, well below, today’s sundry headlines. But first, a reminder and salute about he who pioneered the three-dot way… It’s been 25 years since famed San Francisco journalist Herb Caen (1916-1997) died. For journalists and San Franciscans, Caen was a superstar. Known as “Mr. San Francisco,” his columns were a vital piece in…

Rancho Santa Fe, Surprising and Strange, The World September 13, 2023

26 years ago, Heaven’s Gate couldn’t wait

Dateline Rancho Santa Fe. March 26, 1997. A 911 call came into the San Diego Sheriff’s Communications Center. It was treated as a prank call at first. From what turned out to be a nearby payphone, the caller said something so preposterous that dispatchers took their time in relaying the information to central command. “This is regarding a mass suicide. I can give you the address,” the…

Entertainment, Entertainment/Arts, Media, Music, Surprising and Strange September 12, 2023

Is Jennifer Lopez moving to Escondido?

Is Jennifer Lopez moving to Escondido? Only The Shadow knows. However, local radio stations and the Internet were buzzing about the possibility that Jenny on the block was moving to this block. While it might be true — who knows, Donald Trump might have been president; the Cubs might have won the World Series — the rumor blasting across several local radio stations and celebrity…

Featured, History, The World September 10, 2023

Local ironworker Paul Pursley spent 10 weeks at Ground Zero following Sept. 11

Sept. 11, 2001: Local ironworker Paul Pursley spent 10 weeks at “Ground Zero” following the terrorist attack. His major complaint in the years following concerned his inability to get correct, and affordable, treatment due to the costs involved, costs that Congress finally agreed to add funding to the 9/11 First Responders fund almost 18 years later. “Ironworkers worked every day,” Pursley said. “We went on 12-hour shifts…

History, Media, North County, The World September 9, 2023

Sending in the llamas and clowns on 9/11

Sept. 10, 2001 was pretty much like any other day. That is to say honored only in its passing, don’t remember what happened. Sept. 11, 2001, as we all know, was a day seared in our personal and national memories like few others. Don’t know when the carnage began, but at my Del Dios home phones started ringing way too early in the morning and…

Blogs, Columns/Blogs, Community, History, North County, Opinion, San Marcos, The World September 8, 2023

Simply San Marcos: Clown, for world peace

(Editor’s Note: Originally published Sept. 22, 2001 in the North County Times…) Clown came to town. He was talking peace by the freeway as others spoke of war. “I’m mainly out here for world peace,” said the thin, wispy-bearded 22-year-old who blew in from a Sonoma organic farm to visit his “girl,” and child in Ramona. In case you missed Clown — his nom d’pax…

Escondido, Food, History, Restaurants July 12, 2023

Crab Fever Express steams into old Champion’s space

Crab Fever Express, so-called, rolled without fanfare into downtown Escondido on Monday, July 10, with nary a whisper into the historic building home for decades to Champion’s Restaurant followed by a spectacular if ill-fated run as Rosie’s Diner. Unsullied by the vagaries of customers during Wednesday lunchtime, the sixth restaurant trying to find the charm at the 117 W. Grand Ave. building that began serving…

Breaking News, Food, Restaurants July 12, 2023

End of an era for Champion’s Restaurant

Tough to cull the sweet from the bitter on Wednesday Jan. 20, 2016 as customers at Grand Avenue’s landmark, iconic Champion’s Family Restaurant ate their last meals with tears flooding food-splashed eyes. Like the condemned with no remaining reprieve, customers bade sad farewells to all that tasty comfort food with final portions of signature corned beef hash topped off by to-die-for cinnamon rolls. Come to…

Featured, Media, Restaurants, Restaurants, Vista July 12, 2023

Tough love, bad luck. Restaurant: Impossible returns to Rosie’s Cafe for an emotional visit

(Updated Wednesday, June 3, 2020: Rosie’s Cafe, the Escondido diner featured last month on the Food Network series “Restaurant: Impossible,” has thrown in the towel for good, its owner announced in a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon. Despite the fundraising carnival that Food Network threw for owner Kaitlyn “Rosie” Pilsbury in February, she was never able to recover financially from the restaurant’s two-month shutdown during the…