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Every city's got to have one of these kind of stores -- one of those over the top, kitschy, funny cards and gag gift/ trinket stores... preferably in the gay area of town. Babette Schwartz's is...
Every city's got to have one of these kind of stores -- one of those over the top, kitschy, funny cards and gag gift/ trinket stores... preferably in the gay area of town. Babette Schwartz's is exactly that. Here you will find a wide range of greeting cards, most of them hilarious, catty, and totally unique. Definitely not the Hallmark variety (thankfully) and very amusing. You won't see a lot of them anywhere else! You can also find those unusual kind of gifts, you know the kind you give as a quasi joke or gag gift, or that small little item that you can give to a friend to cheer him/ her up. There are funny t-shirts in the back, and Ken and Barbie dolls and anything else that might tickle your (or that lucky someone's) fancy.
Babette Schwartz is located in the heart of Hillcrest. Sometimes parking is an issue, so prepare to drive around (if you don't live in the 'hood) and bring lots of quarters.
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Oh Fry's, how I love thee, let me count the ways!
I've been to Fry's all over -- Texas, Washington, Arizona, all over California. Is it me, or did they used to have better deals? Now it seems...
Oh Fry's, how I love thee, let me count the ways!
I've been to Fry's all over -- Texas, Washington, Arizona, all over California. Is it me, or did they used to have better deals? Now it seems there products seem to be priced more or less at the same tier as Best Buy or Circuit City -- except they don't exactly have stellar customer service.
This particular Fry's is big (like all the rest) but its selection isn't as extensive as other Fry's. They also don't seem to bring in the newest stuff that quickly either, or if they do, it is off the shelf and out of the store very fast. Still, it is always fun to wander around and geek out to all the technogadgets on display.
Probably the only place where the deals can be found are with the computer/ electronic components. That is, if you are upgrading your hard drive or building your own computer, you can score some good prices. I've also found some Compact Flash and other media cards at good prices here as well.
I wish their ads came out on a normal day, like with the Sunday paper... I rarely bother to actually look at their ad unless I am already in the store.
Avoid Fry's at holiday times and on the weekends if at all possible and especially if you need assistance or help. It is already near impossible to find anyone to help you there! And if you are female, prepare to be ignored... very ignored.
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My mom lives near Monterey Park, mecca to the 99 Ranch and all large asian grocery stores. So I guess I am a little spoiled in that regard. The 99 Ranch in Clairemont Mesa is a smaller, grimier...
My mom lives near Monterey Park, mecca to the 99 Ranch and all large asian grocery stores. So I guess I am a little spoiled in that regard. The 99 Ranch in Clairemont Mesa is a smaller, grimier version of the ones you will find in LA (or northern CA or WA for that matter). The produce section is large in size, but you really have to check and double-check whatever you are buying for freshness. I can't tell you how many fruits or veggies that I have brought home only to discover that they were in pretty sad condition. I don't know about you, but the meat department there kind of scares me and I would never consider buying seafood there as it is on the smelly side.
One of the main reasons that I originally would go to the 99 Ranch is they have this particular kind of tofu I like. Unfortunately, for some reason or another, they don't seem to believe in stamping it with a freshness date and it's packaged so you have no idea how fresh it is. The other thing I make the trek out there for is the enormous sacks of rice. They used to have a bakery but it seems to have been outsourced, so now it is just trays with baked goods.
If you need help finding something or need any sort of special assistance, I can tell you right now that you might as well forget about it. 99 Ranch is not exactly going to win awards with its idea of customer service. The cashiers are usually pretty surly too.
99 Ranch has pretty good prices on its dried goods and sauces. I also pick up my "Little Schoolboy" cookies (from France) there as they are always cheapest there. It probably has the best selection of Asian foods in the San Deigo area, but that doesn't mean it's all that great. If a nicer, cleaner, friendlier store came along, I'd be there in a heartbeat.
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I stumbled upon Mitsuwa Marketplace while doing some shopping at Comp USA (apparently Japanese grocery stores are as difficult to find as a Comp USA here!). It is the only Japanese grocery store I...
I stumbled upon Mitsuwa Marketplace while doing some shopping at Comp USA (apparently Japanese grocery stores are as difficult to find as a Comp USA here!). It is the only Japanese grocery store I know of in the city. It is fairly small, but within the shop are several smaller retailers as well -- a Japanese book store, a travel agency (specializing in travel to Japan, of course...with really great deals by the way!), a stationery store complete with the requisite Hello Kitty items, and a Japanese ceramic/pottery shop.
The produce section is small, but ample. If you need Japanese eggplants or cucumbers, you'll find them here. You can find all of your pressed/ shaped fish ball type things in the frozen food section -- good for whipping up your own bowl of ramen. There are some premade goodies as well, sushi, sashimi, precooked mushrooms and tofu. The dry good aisle has all the basics of a well-stocked Asian pantry. The snack aisle naturally is my favorite, where I can always find the very delectable Men's Pocky.
In case you get hungry while shopping, there is a small restaurants where you can pick up a pretty decent bowl of noodles or gyoza.
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The Spanish Village Art Center is tucked away in the northern part of the Pedestrian Mall at Balbo Park -- sort of between the carousel/zoo area and the main drag of museums. Sometimes it can feel...
The Spanish Village Art Center is tucked away in the northern part of the Pedestrian Mall at Balbo Park -- sort of between the carousel/zoo area and the main drag of museums. Sometimes it can feel a little off the beaten path since the tourists don't seem to amble up there very often.
It is set up as a small "village" of artists and craftspeople, with small studios/ retail shops where you can see the artist(s) at work and perhaps buy some of their art. Most of the art is of the painting, ceramic or glass variety. Funkier, larger types of art like metal sculpture or wood pieces are not really represented here.
I wish that the artists were a little more cutting edge, as most of this is the sort of of the "craftsy" camp (lots of wind chimes, candle holders, mugs, paintings of flowers etc) -- the type that will offend no one. In fact, I am not really sure where exactly the "real" artist studios are in San Diego now that I think about it. Spanish Village and a few galleries here and there might be as close as you can get to it in San Diego.
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The Museum of Man is a bit unusual insofar as it is an anthropological museum. So its exhibits are wide-ranging and usually very interesting -- delving into ancient and not-so-ancient civilizations...
The Museum of Man is a bit unusual insofar as it is an anthropological museum. So its exhibits are wide-ranging and usually very interesting -- delving into ancient and not-so-ancient civilizations and cultures. One exhibit I remember in particular was the gruesome one on torture devices. We saw it on a lark (for some reason we thought it would be amusing), but seeing all of the devices and reading the descriptions really made me ill and affected me profoundly. An ongoing permanent exhibit that I recall is "Footsteps Through Time" which shows you human evolution -- it isn't particularly compelling, I wish they would make it come to life a bit better. "Ancient Egypt" does a better job of this, although it could definitely use some more information about mummies!
I love their new concept of "Tower after Hours." Basically they adopt a country or culture for the evening, and bring it to life with food, drink, dance and music. I believe it takes place on Thursday nights, so you can treat it like a really hip, culturally aware happy hour.
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The Museum of Art is located within the pedestrial mall area of Balboa Park, in a charming building. On certain Tuesdays of the month, you can visit it for free.
The gallery space is fairly...
The Museum of Art is located within the pedestrial mall area of Balboa Park, in a charming building. On certain Tuesdays of the month, you can visit it for free.
The gallery space is fairly small, and the exhibits do not rotate very often. On the upside, this means that it is a very manageable gallery, meaning you don't feel overwhelmed by too many works of art, or feel the need to rush through it in attempt to see everything.
This is not a modern art museum -- the most "modern" of pieces is from the early 20th century, with most of the art work collection dating much farther back than that. There is a fairly large religious painting section upstairs.
Architecturally speaking, the building is beautiful -- wide, open and very grand. There is an outdoor sculpture garden as well. The museum store has interesting books and souvenirs as well.
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We recently had an early morning flight to catch. We whipped open the trusty yellow pages (apparently, not so trusty) and randomly picked a taxi company that said it accepted credit cards. ...
We recently had an early morning flight to catch. We whipped open the trusty yellow pages (apparently, not so trusty) and randomly picked a taxi company that said it accepted credit cards. (Naturally we thought all taxi companies are the same, but I guess we were gravely mistaken.) We informed the person who answered the phone that we would be paying by credit card, and she said that was okay and that she would alert the driver.
Our taxi showed up in a timely way (good marks for that) but the driver did not even open the door or assist us with our bags. When we got to the airport, we handed the driver our credit card and he sneered at us and refused to take it. We explained that we informed the dispatcher about our payment method, that she said she would tell you, and furthermore, your own company's ad states that you accept credit card. The driver gave us complete attitude and said he guessed that he would accept it, but that it was "going to take awhile." He deliberately tried to sabotage the credit card machine, and then stalled for about 10-15 minutes, feigning problems with the credit card to further waste our time, meanwhile huffing to himself.
Afterwards, we called the taxi company back to inform them about their driver's rude behavior. The person who answered the phone couldn't have cared less and did not even apologize for the rude service and the deliberate delay.
We will not be using USA Cabs ever again: poor service, and an even poorer attitude!
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House of Heirlooms in in this weird building sort of in that no-mans-land between Hillcrest proper and then the portion that is closer to Park AVe. The building itself looks like an antique and is...
House of Heirlooms in in this weird building sort of in that no-mans-land between Hillcrest proper and then the portion that is closer to Park AVe. The building itself looks like an antique and is a bit creaky. They have a nice selection of wood antique pieces, all with very reasonable price tags. Upstairs is one "annex" where they have markdowns and then across the alley is another annex. You can find a lot of great deals here -- antique lawyer style bookshelves that I've seen going for over $1000 in other places are only a couple hundred here, for example. If you are the kind who likes hanging antique stained glass from your windows, they have a good range to choose from here, and it's usually about half the price here. They also offer very inexpensive delivery service if you buy any larger pieces.
The staff is very friendly and will hold items for you for pick up later (they held something for me almost a month, no problem). Unlike a lot of "antique" shops, there isn't garage sale junk here, or things that look as if they were rescued from your parent's basement a decade ago. They also have a small area where you can park (in the aforementioned alley), so you needn't plug quarters into the meters out front.
The only downside is that the inventory here doesn't change very often.
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After sampling some of the local pizza joints, I have to say that my expectations were already quite low by the time we tried out our neighborhood pizza place.
The location of this restaurant...
After sampling some of the local pizza joints, I have to say that my expectations were already quite low by the time we tried out our neighborhood pizza place.
The location of this restaurant is perfect -- right at the corner of a usually bustling intersection in South Park. You can sit by the window and watch the neighborhood's ebbs and flows.
We tried a basic pizza to test the waters -- mushroom and pepperoni. Non-pizza items (pastas) on the menu were rather pricy for the place -- more like an upscale restaurant's prices...but this place has plastic cups. The waitstaff was very polite and service was prompt. Our pizza arrived and we were dismayed to see that they used canned mushrooms. For an almost $20 pizza, that is kind of a travesty. The sauce didn't taste homemade and the pizza dough was so-so. It wasn't inedible but it was no gourmet pizza. Rather disappointing.
This place seems to be expanding and/or remodelling, so we're hoping that they perhaps get a new chef too. We could really use some more good restaurants in South Park.
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