OB Rag

OB Historical Society Presents

Did you know that Shelter Island, which we are all familiar with, started out as a sandbar and a shifting shoal that was considered to be a navigational hazard? The Island was nearly dredged out of existence before it was ever connected to Point Loma

OB Rag Staff Report

The controversial Midway Rising project will move one step closer to being a done deal on Tuesday, September 22, when the City Council receives a closed session briefing “regarding the price and payment terms for potential long-term ground leases.”

As the Union-Tribune reported August 20, “Although not formally docketed, the proposed real estate deal between the city and the development team is expected to be taken up by San Diego’s Land Use & Housing Committee on Oct. 8, Councilmember Kent Lee, who chairs the committee, told the [newspaper].”

City Hall wants to fast-track the project, but the public must still be heard. Tuesday’s closed session agenda notes that “public testimony … will be taken during the 10:00 a.m. Council meeting.”

For San Diegans who fear that the Midway project will result in overcrowding, traffic congestion, air pollution, loss of naturally occurring affordable housing, and flood risks from a rising water table,

By Debbie L. Sklar / Special to the OB Rag

Today, it is difficult to imagine that the Point Loma waterfront once contained a federal medical complex whose job was to help keep contagious diseases from entering San Diego.

But for decades, a quarantine station operated at La Playa, on the Point Loma waterfront.

The location had a long history before the federal government arrived. La Playa was the site of the Mexican-era hide houses and one of the earliest commercial areas around San Diego Bay. By the late 19th century, however, the federal government had another concern: ships arriving in San Diego could bring contagious diseases with them.

The Quarantine Station at La Playa was established in 1888, according to the San Diego History Center’s History of San Diego, 1542-1908. Work on its buildings began in 1891, and the Marine Hospital associated with the station occupied nearly the site of the old hide houses.

The federal quarantine system was becoming increasingly important as San Diego’s maritime connections expanded.

The National Archives records describe the Point Loma station as a federal quarantine facility responsible for San Diego Bay. When ships arrived, inspectors boarded them and reviewed the voyage and the health of passengers and crew.

44th ANNUAL ADAMS AVENUE STREET FAIR
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 – 20, 2026

The 44th Annual Adams Avenue Street Fair features 75 musical acts on six stages and is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. Southern California’s largest free two-day music festival is held on 10 city-blocks in the community of Normal Heights.

By Angelo Haynes

An emergency ICE Out rally was held at the corner of Fairmount and University Avenues in City Heights in response to a recent surge in ICE raids at various K-12 schools and across the city. The event appears to have been coordinated within 24 hours among some city officials and activist groups, resulting in several hundred people appearing at the busy intersection.

The rally’s purpose appears to be an effort to bring together elected officials, faith leaders, community groups and concerned citizens to highlight the stories of recent civilians abducted by ICE. A recent spike in ICE activity and attempted arrests of minors and parents at streets near schools in the past week prompted this rally. Incidents include a young man who was chased onto City College campus and arrested by ICE, and arrests at city schools Edison Elementary, Marshall Elementary, and Hoover High School.

According to deportationdata.org, since January 2025, there have been 18,000 ICE arrests in San Diego and Imperial Counties,

By Robert Burns

I live part-time in Tijuana.  I have long shared the popular public dismay with M.T.S. and its often barely loaded big busses, limited ridership, and every rising fares.

In Tijuana public transit is provided by the private sector–not taxpayers– with fleets of single-level vans and large busses.  More of this is discussed below.

The Moovit app discusses public transit in Tijuana :

Get around Tijuana by public transit!
Traveling around Tijuana has never been so easy. See step by step directions as you travel to any attraction, street or major public transit station. View bus and train schedules, arrival times, service alerts and detailed routes on a map, so you know exactly how to get to anywhere in Tijuana.

U.S. Military and Defense Dept. Have Hidden Extent of Damage to Aircraft, Buildings and Vehicles

By Cameron Adams / Daily Beast / Sep. 15 2026 

Bombshell leaked photos have exposed the extent of serious damage to buildings, aircraft and vehicles at U.S. positions in the Middle East after punishing attacks by Iran.

President Donald Trump’s war is now in its seventh month, with no clear timeline for when it might end. The damning photos contradict Trump’s repeated claims that the conflict has been “won” and that Iran’s military has been decimated by the U.S.

The photos, leaked to CBS News by active service members on condition of anonymity, tally with an inspector general’s report released on Monday. In it, the Pentagon watchdog revealed that “hundreds” of buildings used by the U.S. and “dozens” of aircraft had been damaged or destroyed by Iranian attacks.

OB Community Development Corporation Launches “Better OB Contest,” Calling on Residents to Share Vision for the Neighborhood

Winner to be announced October 23 at the “Get to Know the OBCDC Event” – Idea submissions due by September 30, 2026

The Ocean Beach Community Development Corporation (OBCDC) has launched their Better OB Contest, a new community ideas competition inviting residents, business owners, and neighborhood groups to submit proposals for projects that would make Ocean Beach an even better place to live, work, and visit.

The contest was introduced by Scott Therkalsen, a long-time OB resident who joined the OBCDC Board of Directors in 2024.

As he explained:

“The OBCDC has been making Ocean Beach better for more than 30 years, we’ve done everything from planting the palms lining Sunset Cliffs and funding the entryway plaza, to helping fund the expansion of softball fields at Robb Field. We recently launched a grant program that has helped fund improvements at OBE and along Newport avenue and more but we really wanted to find a way to get individual community members from OB involved.

Rag’s Editordude One of Several Chosen by Save Our Heritage Organization

From SOHO / Sept. 16, 2026

SOME PEOPLE PRESERVE HISTORIC PLACES by restoring buildings. Others preserve communities by ensuring their stories are never forgotten, their spirit never compromised.

For more than five decades, Frank Gormlie has served as Ocean Beach’s chronicler, advocate, organizer, and conscience, documenting its history, defending its character, and giving voice to the people who have shaped one of San Diego’s most distinctive neighborhoods.

Frank’s commitment to community preservation began during the social upheaval of the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1970, he founded the OB People’s Rag, which became one of Southern California’s most influential underground newspapers, providing a platform for a community determined to shape its own future. More than simply reporting events, the paper became a catalyst for civic engagement, neighborhood organizing, environmental activism, and grassroots preservation.

As large-scale redevelopment threatened to erase much of Ocean Beach’s historic fabric, the OB Rag consistently helped inform, organize, and unite residents in defense of their community. It also chronicled the movement that led to the creation of the Ocean Beach Planning Board—the first democratically elected community planning group in San Diego and among the first in California. This model continues to influence neighborhood planning today.

From SOHO

We have some very good news to share: Monday, September 14, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2576 into law!

This is an important victory for historic preservation, and you helped make it happen.

Thank you to everyone who contacted the Governor, sent emails, shared our action alert, and spoke up in support of this important legislation. Your voices mattered.

AB 2576 closes an important gap in California’s new transit-oriented housing law, SB 79. It provides protections for qualifying contributing properties within historic districts listed in the California Historical Resources Inventory Database, as well as individually listed historic resources in the inventory, when designated before January 1, 2025.

Reader Rant

This was written in response to the headlines and text below at Axios San Diego, Sept. 13.\

Hi Claire Trageser, Axios San Diego

This headline link is totally misleading, irresponsible, and infuriating:

“ Meanwhile, a 14-year-old e-bike rider was hit by a Tesla in Pacific Beach Saturday night and died. (FOX 5 San Diego)”

Here’s the pertinent info from the Fox 5 story:

“According to the San Diego Police Department, the teenager was riding a Zooz e-bike northbound on Olney Street around 9:20 p.m. when he entered the intersection with Balboa Avenue against a red traffic signal.

In Response to Claims Against the San Diego Housing Commission of Illegal Rent Hikes, Misused Funds and Lack of Transparency

To: The San Diego Housing Commission
From: The San Diego City Council

This is exactly why we advocated for giving Lisa Jones, the CEO of the San Diego Housing Commission a pay raise by the San Diego City Council pushing her salary + benefits to around $372,500 annually plus an additional $5,000 to “right size” her compensation.

We just love this quote: “We are the eighth largest city in this country, and the things we are asking [Jones] to do come with increasing complexity,”

By Claire Trageser / Axios San Diego / September 11, 2026

[Slightly edited for clarification]

AJ Miller has transformed his Ocean Beach apartment into a birthplace for what his legions of online followers are calling life-changing pizza. The pizza is crispy and extremely exclusive. He makes just 15 a week and sells out in under 30 seconds.

His pies have also become catnip for Gen Z and millennials. They’re rare, you have to be in the know to get one and he shares his pizza-making story on Instagram, where he has 114K followers.

“I think people do like what they can’t get, so the exclusivity does play into it a bit,” Miller said of his popularity.

It’s close to New York style, Miller told Axios, but his favorite is New Haven style “apizza,”