News from Ocean Beach and Point Loma – Mid-May 2020

OB Street Fair & Chili Cook-Off Cancelled

The 41st annual OB Street Fair & Chili Cook-Off has been officially cancelled for this year. It will be held next year, on Saturday, June 26, 2021. Originally set for June 27 this year, the annual event – like many other things – had to be cancelled due to health concerns. Denny Knox, ED of the OB Mainstreet Assoc which sponsors the fair, told the Beacon:

“We had to make the call. We just couldn’t commit to signing a contract. The risk is too great. What if the City decided we all had to go back in for two weeks, and we were right in the middle of it? Plus we have less than two months to stage it. We’d never pull it off. It takes a lot of money to stage that event … and we don’t really know what the rules are going to be. How would you run a special event like a street fair if you were required to have 25% fewer people? The timing was just really bad so we said better safe than sorry.”

Some OB Businesses Have Limited “Openings”

A few OB businesses have reopened but for very limited use. Customers are blocked from entering some but can give orders to the staff inside. Surf shops, jewelry shops, flower shops, restaurants. See TV reporter Dan Plante of KUSI who lives in OB here. We should note that KUSI, the most conservative TV station in San Diego, has newscasters who daily deride Gov. Newsom’s restriction orders – even touting a former candidate who wants to impeach Newsom. The weekday newscasters call those who support Newsom as “die-hard libs.”

OB Teacher Concerned About Opening Schools Too Soon

Joanne Ensign who teaches at Ocean Beach Elementary School, says it’s a challenge teaching kindergarten, but “It’s going well. Kids are participating…. kids are doing it, they’re doing it.” But Ensign is concerned about talk of opening the schools in July.  She needs a break, she told 7NBC.

Incident of Black Woman’s Arrest at OB Makes National News

In an article on Vox, entilted, “Social distancing arrests target people of color”, the incident in OB where a Black woman walking her unleashed dog was arrested was part of the argument the author makes. More egregious incidents have occurred in New York City where 35 of the 40 people arrested for violating the social-distancing rules were African-American. One person interviewed asked, ‘why are we surprised?’

New Owners of Lucy’s Promise More of the Same

Local industry investors Todd Brown, Sean Green, Patrick Gallahue and Ryan Dhu bought Lucy’s Tavern at Voltaire and Bacon from the husband-and-wife owners Mary and Bobby Cooper earlier in the year. The Coopers have owned the place since 1994. The new owners – connected to Good Time Design (The Blind Burro, Moonshine Flats) restaurant group – promise not to make changes. The kept the entire staff. Todd Brown said, “Our intention from the very beginning was not to change anything. We just wanted to make some improvements, do some things to make it better. We thought, ‘It ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’” San Diego Community News Group

PLHS Grad and Motocross Champ Died in Rollover Crash

Motocross champion and Point Loma High School alumnus Marty Smith, 63, and his wife Nancy died in a rollover dune buggy accident in the Glamis sand dunes in Imperial County April 27. Smith was remembered fondly by fellow PLHS alumnus Jim Harvey. “My memories of Marty are 50 years old,” noted Harvey recalling, “I was 14 and Marty was 13 when we played Pony League on different teams. He was a very gifted athlete, super fast and coordinated.  He was a local legend on his motorcycle before he went pro.” Smith went pro during his senior year in high school. Smith graduated from PLHS circa 1975,

“Pop-Up” Mexican Joins OB Brunch Options

A just-launched pop-up eatery has brought a new takeout brunch option to Ocean Beach. Called Loco Lopez and run by chef Richard Lopez, it’s operating Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. out of the same Sunset Cliffs Boulevard space as Sundara Indian Kitchen, which has remained open throughout this shelter-at-home phase; with restaurants likely limited in their reopening capacity, Sundara co-founder Adam Lowe says the 38-seat eatery will likely continue to focus on its takeout business even after the dine-in ban is lifted.

Lowe approached Lopez with the offer to share the kitchen; the chef previously worked at Sundara, and has cooked in fine dining restaurants as well as local hotels like the Hotel del Coronado. Seeing a void in the to-go brunch market, Lopez created a menu of takeout-friendly dishes that includes a breakfast burrito wrapped in a cheese-crusted tortilla, a doughnut grilled cheese served with serrano jam, and bacon-wrapped hot dogs accompanied by house chips. SanDiegoEater

Woman’s Death at Midway Motel a Homicide

A woman died at a motel in San Diego’s Midway District Monday night, May 4, under what investigators believe were suspicious circumstances, the San Diego Police Department said. SDPD said Wednesday they were now investigating the death of 32-year-old Rosa Jaco as a homicide. Just after 11 p.m. on Monday, SDPD officers were called in for help by a crew with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department to a motel along the 3800 block of Greenwood Street. SDFD personnel had come to the motel to investigate a medical aid call. SDPD Lt. Matt Dobbs said medics were giving a woman CPR. As that happened, other people at the motel “were becoming disruptive” and impeding medics’ efforts to resuscitate the woman.

She died a short time later at the scene. The cause of death was not disclosed but the manner was considered homicide, SDPD said. Dobbs said that as medics were treating the woman – identified, for now, only as a 32-year-old woman – they noticed “the condition of her body was inconsistent with the information they were being provided.” As a precaution, the SDPD Homicide Unit was called to the motel to take over the investigation. The woman’s death is being considered suspicious, Dobbs said. Investigators are interviewing witnesses and trying to determine what happened to the woman. She has been identified, but police are holding off on releasing her name for now. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on this case can reach out to the SDPD’s Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. No further details have been released by officials. No one else was hurt at the motel. 7NBC

The Loma Club Reopened for Golf – Business

Point Loma’s historic nine-hole golf course, The Loma Club at 2960 Truxtun Road in Liberty Station, has reopened with daily temporary hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. To ensure golfers and staff remain safe and healthy, The Loma Club will be enforcing the following:

• Masks are required for entry;
• Disposable masks will be available for purchase;
• Golfers are strongly encouraged to book their tee time in advance online here;
• Golfers who choose to book a tee time in person, will be required to leave the premises and return for the scheduled time;
• 6 p.m. is the last tee time;
• Must stay 6-feet apart; the equivalent of two golf clubs;
• There will not be any cash transactions during this time;
• Grab and go food and drinks available.

Midway Medical Office Building Sold for $ 6 Million

A large medical office building in the Midway District just sold for $6 million. Known at the Richley Medical Plaza at 3434 Midway Drive, the 25,600 square-foot edifice was sold to an unidentified Orange County medical group. The seller, a private investor, is also unidentified in news reports. Built in 1991, the two-story building includes a 6,475-square-foot surgery center with three operating rooms, recovery area, waiting room, reception, and two restrooms, along with 65 parking spaces. At the time of the sale, the building was approximately 85 percent vacant.

Suspect in 2018 Gym Murder in Midway Arrested

A man accused of fatally shooting another man two years ago outside a gym near the Midway District and then fleeing to Mexico has been extradited to San Diego where he pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder and other charges, according to authorities. Ernesto Castellanos Martinez, 44, is accused of killing 27-year-old Alexander Mazin on Feb. 25, 2018, outside the 24 Hour Fitness on Midway Drive and Kemper Street. He also faces special-circumstance allegations that he used a gun and had been lying in wait for the victim. In addition, Castellanos — whose name appears in court documents as Ernesto Martinez — is charged with felony stalking of his ex-girlfriend throughout 2017 and into early 2018, as well as a misdemeanor charge of battery against her two weeks before the killing of Mazin, whom she had been seeing. SDU-T