OB Rag

Recent closures and management changes highlight challenges facing local musicians and student communities

by Ashley Bueno Leon / The Daily Aztec -SDSU / October 20, 2026

Independent music venues across San Diego face uncertain futures as leasing issues, ownership changes and closures reshape spaces that act as community hubs for local musicians and showgoers.

In August and September alone, three independent music venues underwent major changes to their operations. The venues face ambiguous circumstances that have raised questions about the long-term stability of mid-size and smaller musical spaces as a whole.

Closures and lease changes
Brick by Brick, a heavy metal venue in the Bay Park neighborhood, closed its doors Aug. 13. Although the owners did not respond to repeated requests for additional comment from The Daily Aztec, the closure followed a lease dispute, according to a report by ABC 10 News.

The Bancroft Bar, a dive bar and live music venue located in Spring Valley, finalized its run in August. Its website, which once highlighted upcoming shows, now emphasizes the venue as the past home for live music and cold drinks, displaying a list of past shows from 2013 to 2026.

In Ocean Beach, Winstons Beach Club, though not completely out of the live music scene, held its final show under the Winstons name on Sept. 26 before reopening under new management, according to the venue’s Instagram.

by Ernie McCray

It seems to me
that the most bothersome aspect
regarding Donald J
talking out of his asshole
about Iran
taking out Los Angeles
and San Diego,
should be the cheers of support that rose
from his followers.

I mean there wasn’t a single boo
that escaped the lips
of the MAGA folks
this traitorous felon
was talking to
and that leaves one to wonder
how anybody,
with an ounce of love in their soul,
never mind their politics
or points-of-views
or personal situations,
can be okay

Immigration arrest near Lemon Grove nail salon has some in Vietnamese community on edge

From KPBS: On Saturday, community activist Arturo Gonzalez said he received a video from an employee who works at a business next to Peacock Nails in Lemon Grove. shows ICE agents arresting a woman described by firsthand witnesses as a nail tech. Gonzalez said when he arrived on scene, cars with immigration agents were already leaving. He said this arrest outside a nail salon marks the first time he’s seen ICE agents at businesses like this one since he started documenting arrests about 18 months ago.

“I have not seen anything like this in particular. But I have seen restaurant workers and hotel workers get picked up by ICE,” Gonzalez said. Gonzalez said he’s been documenting ICE arrests on social media with a network of community activists in the greater San Diego area.

“That same day the woman was picked up, we got a tip almost 30 minutes later that ICE was staging in the Hazard Center plaza in Mission Valley,” he said. “When we arrived to the scene we noticed the vehicles were faced towards another nail salon.”

Billionaire Stan Kroenke Is Starting with a 7-Story 223-Unit Project at Former Perry’s Cafe

By Dorian Hargrove and Andrew Keatts / Times of San Diego / Oct. 16, 2026

Billionaire Stan Kroenke, the nation’s largest landowner and professional sports team mogul, is looking to transform the Midway District.

And he’s not stopping at Midway Rising, the megaproject to redevelop the city-owned Pechanga Arena property that is on its way to a City Council vote.

His development team is nearing completion just under a mile away, across from the Old Town Transit Center, on a seven-story, 223-unit housing project.

That tower is at the site of the former Perry’s Cafe, a once-popular greasy spoon diner on the edge of Old Town. It is now the first piece of the puzzle for Kroenke’s Midway vision.

Alex Gibney’s documentary “Musk” shows a man who has delivered important innovations for the public good, and who now holds a dangerous concentration of power over our data, our democracy and our idea of what it means to be human.

By Rev. Michael J. Christensen

My tech friend Michael Dotson and I watched Alex Gibney’s new documentary “Musk” at Fashion Valley last weekend, so you won’t have to. It runs nearly four hours. It is meticulously researched and theologically provocative. Musk did not cooperate, though his father and other family members did, so Gibney uses an AI-generated avatar to speak Musk’s own recorded words. The effect is eerie, dare I say, demonic, and fitting for a film about a man who wants to remake humanity through technology.

The film credits what Musk has built, with help from administrations of both parties. SpaceX’s reusable rockets slashed the cost of reaching orbit and now carry NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. Tesla pushed the auto industry toward electric vehicles. Starlink connects rural communities and disaster zones, and it has been a lifeline for Ukraine since 2022.

But the film also catalogs promises that never arrived: a crewed Mars mission by 2024, a million robotaxis by 2020, and fully self-driving cars that are still “next year.” And it shows a growing pattern of social and political control.

From Point Loma Association Newsletter

Join the Club’s October 25 Meeting at Point Loma Assembly Hall: City Council Candidate Nicole Crosby will be our featured speaker

Sign in and socializing starts at 3:30, meeting begins at 4 PM. And be sure to mail or drop off your ballot and VOTE no later than Tuesday Nov. 3!

By Rag Staff

The San Diego Community Coalition publishes this email bulletin to keep our members and the general San Diego public informed about important Council hearings and other city public meetings.

Monday, October 19: City Council, Closed Session, 10:00 a.m.

Agenda:

Item CS-6: January 22, 2024 Flooding Litigation

Why it matters: Two years later, as 57 civil cases against the city move slowly forward, and Southeastern San Diego victims are still struggling to rebuild, we have to ask: Is City Hall better prepared for flood control when the new massive El Nino arrives?

Monday, October 19: City Council, 2:00 p.m.

Agenda:

Item S400: Confirming Appointment of Bethany Bezak to Position of City Manager (Chief Operating Officer)

It appears that the City of San Diego is getting ready to turn off the automated license plate readers. At a Wednesday, Oct. 21, council budget committee meeting, enough members voted for a proposal to rescind city approval of the use of the controversial technology and end the city’s contract to use ALPR cameras provided by Flock.

Councilmember Kent Lee was joined by Councilmembers Henry Foster III, Sean Elo-Rivera and Vivian Moreno in voting to stop using the readers, reported UT writer Teri Figueroa. Take these four plus Councilmember Stephen Whitburn — who very recently announced that he is withdrawing support for using ALPRs – and you have enough votes for the city to stop using the cameras.

The issue will have to come, of course, before the full council and Figueroa says that any vote could happen before the end of the year. With public opinion heightened on the issue, it’s very likely this being an election year that will happen. Yet, any vote would have to be sufficient to override a possible veto by Mayor Gloria; that’s a 6-3 tally.

Gloria continues to support the cameras.

Back in late April of 2024, three surfers with connections with Point Loma took a camping and surfing trip to Baja. Carter Rhoad and brothers Callum and Jake Robinson ended up in Punta San José in Ensenda. Callum lived in Ocean Beach, where his brother Jake was visiting him — both brothers are from Australia — and Rhoad, a Point Loma resident, graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University in 2014. (see 2024 Rag story here.)

Rhoad and brothers Callum and Jake Robinson were reported missing after they failed to show up at their planned accommodations, and days later they were found dead in Santo Tomas, Baja California.

Back in May, the governor of Baja California, Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda, reported that there were three people in custody as a result of the investigation into the execution-style killings. The medical examiner of Baja California said at that time that each of the victims died from a bullet wound to the head.

Now, fast forward to the present: three men were just sentenced for their murders.

Brothers Callum and Jake Robinson and Carter Rhoad.[/caption]

The Guardian / Oct. 16, 2025

A Mexican judge has sentenced three men to 158 years and nine months in prison each for the murder of two Australian brothers and their American friend during a 2024 surf trip to the state of Baja California.

This morning, Tuesday, a Rag reader was leaving one of the local dog parks and saw these signs posted illegally on Nimitz by the dog park in the OB / Point Loma area.

The signs clearly state that “Nicole Crosby stands with MAYOR TODD GLORIA.” The small print says they’ve been paid for by the Lincoln Club Business League PAC.

Why would someone place them on the sides of local roads? Who benefits? It’s not Gloria’s supporters so it must be Crosby’s opponent in the campaign for the District 2 city council seat, Richard Bailey — or else his supporters, like the Lincoln Club. He can claim denial. They can claim they didn’t put them on the side of the road.

Manchester Group Considering 400-Megawatt Data Center as Part of Navy’s Redevelopment

By Andrew Bowen / KPBS /  Oct. 16, 2026 

Rep. Scott Peters on Friday said he is opposed to the concept of building a data center at the Navy’s NAVWAR campus in San Diego’s Midway District.

For more than two years, the Navy has been in talks with Manchester Financial Group and Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate on redeveloping the site, which sits on 70 acres between Pacific Highway and Interstate 5. It currently houses the Navy’s cybersecurity operations.

On Thursday, Voice of San Diego reported the development team was considering a 400-megawatt data center as part of the redevelopment.

Speaking at a press conference Friday, Peters said the site’s location near downtown, I-5 and the Old Town Transit Center make it an ideal location for housing and neighborhood-serving amenities. Peters is a Democrat whose 50th District includes NAVWAR.

By Debbie L. Sklar

When Ocean Beach’s first school opened in 1909, the seaside community had about 100 residences. The modest two-room schoolhouse gave local children a place to learn as the neighborhood developed from a small settlement into a residential community.

Its early history includes a graduating class of one, a future neighborhood librarian, and a building renovated after a major earthquake.

Here are six details about the school’s beginnings and its place in Ocean Beach history.

1. D.C. Collier built the school

Developer David Charles Collier, commonly known as D.C. Collier, bought the land and built Ocean Beach Elementary School in 1909. Collier was a major figure in the community’s early development, promoting residential growth and helping establish transportation connections. (Editordude: actually Collier is “the Father of Ocean Beach.”) The school was part of the infrastructure needed to support families settling in the neighborhood.

According to the City of San Diego’s historical-planning documents, D.C. Collier’s original two-room schoolhouse was located at the corner of Santa Monica Avenue and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in Ocean Beach. The original building was demolished in 1923 and replaced by the current Ocean Beach Elementary School on the same site, at 4741 Santa Monica Ave., San Diego, CA 92107.

By Bill Eddy

Given the intense efforts by President Trump to disrupt the election process, it is not surprising that there is fear in the air that he will find a way to instigate violence and chaos on election day, November 3rd. After all, on February 3rd former Trump election adviser and conservative podcaster, Steve Bannon, said: “We’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November. We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again.” The next day Bannon suggested that Trump should also call in the U.S. Army. He said: “You’ve got to get around every poll and make sure only people with IDs, people … actually registered to vote and people that are United States citizens vote in this election.”

Later, Todd Blanche, when he was the deputy attorney general, said: “Why are there objections to sending ICE officers to polling places? Illegals can’t vote.” In May, 2026, Trump said he would do “anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections; we have to have honest elections.” This is surely a threat for a power grab as a great deal of research shows that election fraud is nearly non-existent—less than 0.0001 percent. The elections will be honest unless he disrupts them.

Trump’s voting restriction setbacks

A lot has happened since May. His efforts to get the Senate to pass the “SAVE America Act”—a nationwide law with many voting restrictions—has been permanently stalled in the Senate because of Democratic opposition and the filibuster (requiring 60 votes to pass).

In July he gave a primetime address to the nation warning of “shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure” and “China’s illicit acquisition of 220 million US voter files.” Yet he provided no credible evidence in support of his false claims and his disapproval ratings continued to tank.

In September, the U. S. Supreme Court denied his efforts to block mail-in voting. He then reversed his long-standing opposition and told Republicans: “Vote early, vote by mail, or vote in person on Election Day.”