Category: Ocean Beach

By Ed Harris

My experience as a former District Two Council Member and Lifeguard taught me that most of our elected officials do not represent the communities. They spend their careers pleasing special interest to ensure they get donations for their next office. When deciding who to vote for please follow the money. The other candidates in this race are already indebted to special interests. They are getting ads paid for by committees and parties who spin the truth. When you are flooded with campaign mailers take a look at the bottom to see who funded it. Then you will know who will own that candidate. Mandy is the real deal. She’s not bought and paid for by special interests.

She hasn’t sold out our neighborhoods, our coastline, or our community values for political favors or insider backing. She’s independent, she’s authentic, and she’s exactly the kind of leader we need at City Hall right now.

We do not need another rubber stamp politician.

USS F-1 Submarine Sank in 1917 After Collision During Training Exercise, 19 Crew Members Lost

By Pia Gray / Futura / May 12, 2026

A research expedition off the coast of San Diego has captured the most detailed imagery ever recorded of the USS F-1 submarine. The World War I vessel sank in 1917 following a surface collision during a training exercise, taking 19 crew members down with it. Operating 1,300 feet below the surface, researchers used advanced deep submergence technology to document the site with precision, providing a clear window into a century old naval tragedy.
Locating the relic

The USS F-1 has occupied the seafloor west of Point Loma since its sudden sinking eight days before Christmas. While a Navy submersible initially spotted the rough location of the wreckage in 1972 during an unrelated search, a close-up survey remained impossible for decades due to the extreme depth. A joint expedition by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the US Navy finally resolved the mystery by deploying deep sea submersibles directly to the site.

By Jacob Mitchell

I am a fourth generation San Diegan and the son of an Olympian. My life has been defined by the idea that if you play by the rules and put in the work, you deserve a fair shot at the podium, but if you look at San Diego today, you’ll see a city where the playing field is tilted.

We are currently governed by a system that treats residents as a revenue source and institutional developers as the only viable solution to our problems. I am not a politician, as a chemist and an MBA candidate, I don’t believe in vague talking points; I believe in data, systems, and accountability. It’s time we stopped managing San Diego through headlines and started managing it for long term results.

Housing: Bridging the Generational Divide

The most pressing issue facing our beach communities is the housing crisis. State policy mandates a certain number of new homes San Diego needs to build in 9 year cycles. Currently, the City’s response to the mandate is to drop development fees for corporate entities and hand out subsidies for hyper-dense projects that lack community oversight.

I hear two very different, yet equally valid, fears in our district.

UPDATE: Police identified the suspect, 29-year-old Charles Fluker, as the victim’s brother.Just around midnight Monday, May 25, an unidentified man was stabbed in the parking lot near the Barons Market off West Pt Loma, following an altercation with another man.

Police Officers arrived to find a guy with stab wounds. He was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest for treatment but died after arrival, police said.

The person suspected in the stabbing left the scene in a vehicle. Hours later, around 4:45 a.m., police arrested the suspect at a home in Linda Vista.

By Jillian Butler

Every Memorial Day weekend, the Point Loma and Ocean Beach Peninsula community pauses to remember the men and women who never returned home from war. Against the backdrop of sweeping ocean views and rows of white headstones overlooking the Pacific Ocean, residents, veterans, and military families gathered at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Point Loma can trace its military history back to the late 18th century when the Spanish sought to build a fortress opposite Coronado Island. In 1852, the southernmost point of Point Loma was given to the United States Army and named “Fort Rosecrans”, after Major General William Rosecrans, a Civil War Era union soldier, and later California Congressman. In 1932, Fort Rosecrans was registered as a California Historical Landmark.

During the two World Wars, Point Loma became a key strategic point. The United States military erected numerous bunkers, fire-control stations, and radio stations. The area was equipped with long-range coastal artillery batteries, an underground railroad to carry ammunition to the batteries — rendering the region a crucial coastal support zone. Additionally, the area served as a bastion for anti-submarine warfare.

By Will Baker

Portuguese flags rippled in the wind this May as one of San Diego’s tightest-knit communities continued a long-standing annual tradition with the 116th Point Loma Portuguese Festa do Espírito Santo.

Centered around the U.P.S.E.S Portuguese Hall, the Festa opened Friday, May 22nd with a flag-raising ceremony and continued throughout the weekend. Those three days saw hundreds of community members come together to celebrate their heritage, creating a unique cultural space in the heart of Point Loma. Traditional food, folk dancing, and beautiful regalia all contributed to the rich atmosphere of this year’s Festa, the latest iteration of the oldest ethnic European religious celebration in San Diego.

Saturday night was marked by a procession from the chapel (or capela) adjacent to the Portuguese Hall to the nearby St. Agnes Catholic Church. Resplendent in their dresses and suits, the young people of this year’s Festa court followed the Festa 2025 Queen as she carried the crown up the Avenida de Portugal to St. Agnes, where they attended a recitation of the Holy Rosary before returning to the Portuguese Hall, where a nighttime bazaar was in full swing under a large canopy housing hundreds of guests. The bazaar, open both Friday and Saturday night as well as the majority of Sunday, featured traditional Portuguese food such as malassadas and linguiça alongside a fantastic dance performance by the Grupo Folclorico Mar Bravo Casa dos Acores de Himar.

By Lynne Miller

Ocean Beach Historical Society on May 21 hosted a celebration for Larry Zeiger’s 50-year anniversary of Musical Theater at Point Loma High School. “Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance” became a rite of passage for seniors.  Larry Zieger, often known as ‘Zeiger’, sometimes known as ‘Larmo’, moved to California and got his Masters in Film at San Diego State University.  He applied to the PhD program at USC, but luckily for us, the L.A. smog and the policies at USC changed Mr. Zeiger’s plans.

He decided to listen to the voices of professors and film experts who encouraged him to become a teacher. He stepped into the role of teacher at a time when Required Courses like English could be created, pitched and approved.  Larry offered credited English courses at PLHS  that taught film.  Students watched films, read screenplays and books about film production, wrote their own play, sometimes wrote songs, made the sets, learned to sing and dance and act, and then they rehearsed and rehearsed. Their marketing resulted in sell-out crowds and eventually to nationwide acclaim.

Zeiger’s presentation last week included a slide show that included each graduating class, from the first performance without a stage or auditorium to his 2007 swan song in a beautiful theater now labeled The Larry Zeiger Performing Arts Center.

Here’s three media reports on the candidates for District 2, including on the last candidate debate / forum, held May 14th at Paradise Point Resort & Spa. We have reports from Times of San Diego, the Union-Tribune and Axios San Diego.

Here’s Dave Schwab of Times of San Diego‘s account:

District 2 candidates Richard Bailey, Josh Coyne, Nicole Crosby, Mandy Havlik, Jacob Mitchell, Mike Rickey and Paul Suppa answered curated questions from a panel of community leaders on far-ranging issues from the city’s budget to people living out of their vehicles, homelessness, housing density, public safety and quality of life.

The Ocean Beach Community Foundation along with the Pacific Beach and Mission Beach town councils joined forces to host the event ahead of the June 2 primary election. It is the last public candidate forum before the primary, which will send the top two vote getters to a November runoff election to replace termed-out incumbent Jennifer Campbell.

A Conservancy Would Offset City’s Budget Cuts to Mission Bay; Prevent Closure of Public Restrooms

by Dave Schwab / Beach & Bay Press / May 19, 2026

Bradley Schnell has an idea for how to maintain city-owned structures and services around Mission Bay Park during these trying fiscal times: create a nonprofit conservancy.

The owner-CEO of Mission Bay Beach Club (formerly the Mission Bay Visitor Information Center) at 2688 E. Mission Bay Drive, Schnell has initiated a process to do exactly that.

Land conservancies are 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofits operating exclusively for charitable purposes and cannot distribute profits to private individuals. Their tax-exempt status allows the conservancy to receive tax-deductible donations and hold conservation easements in perpetuity.

Schnell’s effort to establish a Mission Bay Park Conservancy seeks to offset deep cuts proposed in the city’s FY2027 proposed budget.

A conservancy would accomplish a number of purposes including preventing 13 Mission Bay restrooms from closing

Thursday, May 21, 2026, at 7:00 pm, at 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., OB Joyfull, the Ocean Beach Historical Society presents: Gotta Sing – Gotta Dance! with Larry Zeiger.

Coming up is the 50th Anniversary of the first Gotta Sing Gotta Dance production at Point Loma High. Over 3,000 PLHS alums participated in this program, and many have gone on to become actors in theater, film, on Broadway – and even won Academy Awards and Tony Awards. And many have become famous musicians as well as doctors, lawyers, teachers, politicians, and lots more – but they all still sing and dance!

by Debbie L. Sklar / Times of San Diego / May 16, 2026

Mission Beach exists because of geography; it also exists because of development. The neighborhood sits on a narrow strip of land between the Pacific Ocean and Mission Bay, a coastal landform that shaped how the area could grow from the beginning.

The popular beach developed on a narrow sandy landform shaped over time by wave action, sediment movement, and shoreline processes. Unlike broader coastal plains, the geography limited expansion in both directions. The Pacific Ocean created a fixed western boundary, while Mission Bay formed the eastern edge, confining development to a narrow corridor.

In the early 20th century, the area became part of San Diego’s growing coastal recreation landscape. As shoreline access improved, Mission Beach developed as both a residential neighborhood and a seaside destination. Early on, tents and temporary structures occasionally appeared along the sand, reflecting its use as a seasonal coastal destination before full development. One of the most significant early projects was Belmont Park, which opened in 1925 during a broader era of California coastal amusement park development.

by Frank Sabatini Jr. / Times of San Diego / May 14, 2026

Former Ocean Beach resident is on a hardcore foraging adventure. He’s back with tips on how to live off the land

Not every person who adopts a healthy diet undergoes the culinary awakening that has thrust Robin Greenfield into the national spotlight.

Greenfield, 39, is an extreme forager. He eats strictly off the land, which includes at times cooking deer killed roadside by cars.

Yet his lifestyle changes extend far beyond his diet. His largely demonetized life is devoid of credit cards and bank accounts. He doesn’t own a cell phone, although he possesses a computer for managing speaking engagements and educational foraging lessons that he conducts throughout the country.