STEPHANIE WHEELER FINALLY HAS HER LEARNER\u2019S PERMIT. That means she can drive as long as she has an adult passenger. Who better to fill that role than her grandmother, Starbucks regular Ande McCarren? This past week, Ande\u2019s had her share of horror stories. Stephanie\u2019s apparently a quick study, however, because Ande allowed that Stephanie had finally “turned the corner.” Jeff Dalrymple couldn\u2019t resist \u2014 “So she\u2019s up to speed? On the right track?” IT\u2019S SUCH A TREAT to be known and loved throughout Pacific Beach. A while back I was dining at China Inn when North Shores Printery owners Jay and Annette Brewer came in with daughter Addie. Jay went back outside to put a parking validation in the machine and I heard Annette say in a loud whisper, “It\u2019s John Fry. It\u2019s not too late to go somewhere else.” She was joking. I think. I FEEL LIKE BOB WOODWARD in “All The President\u2019s Men.” I keep getting cryptic phone calls. Remember the mystery girl who wasn\u2019t sure whether life was still worth living after learning that Los Panchos bit the dust and she was no longer going to be able to enjoy their hot carrots? Not long afterward, another girl called and told me the site was being remodeled and would soon open as a fish store. Took me back to That Fish Store in Pacific Plaza. Actually, I think that one was a pet store. This one may have fish that you eat. I\u2019VE BEEN VISITING THE PEOPLE\u2019S REPUBLIC OF OCEAN BEACH lately because of the very thing I\u2019ve always teased about \u2014 being stuck in the \u201960s. The good news is that, unlike Pacific Beach, there are places on Newport Avenue where you can still sit at the counter and enjoy breakfast. That got me to thinking about the places on this side of the flood control channel where I used to enjoy the most important meal of the day: Copper Skillet (now China Inn), Spyro\u2019s (Papa John\u2019s Pizza), Gail\u2019s Coffee Shop (the pharmacy at CVS Pacific Plaza), Sheldon\u2019s (McDonald\u2019s on East Mission Bay Drive), Victor\u2019s (Mission Bay Golf Course) and JR\u2019s, at the foot of Clairemont Drive. Oh, well. Time marches on. SPEAKING OF THE GOOD OLD DAYS, “Doc” Wilding called after receiving the September issue of the Pacific Beach Historical Society newsletter that talked about the conversion of Ocean Boulevard\u2019s auto lanes into today\u2019s promenade.\u00a0He loaned me some additional items, including a copy of Eve Smull\u2019s “Calendar” magazine from August 1987, which I\u2019ve shared in the October newsletter.\u00a0I especially enjoyed the advertisements.\u00a0They included T. D. Hays, (PB Shore Club), the Barbecue Pit (Bub\u2019s Dive Bar), the Canteen Club (Kono\u2019s), Ricci\u2019s Ristorante Italiano (PB Sushi), and the “Old” cafes \u2013 Ocean Beach (Your Mama\u2019s Mug), Mission Beach (The Mission), Pacific Beach (Rip Curl) and Del Mar (Chevy\u2019s in Flower Hill Mall). Oh, well. Time marches on.\u00a0 Am I repeating myself? \u2014 John Fry may be reached at (858) 272-6655 or by e-mail at mail@johnfry.com.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
STEPHANIE WHEELER FINALLY HAS HER LEARNER\u2019S PERMIT. That means she can drive as long as she has an adult passenger. Who better to fill that role than her grandmother, Starbucks regular Ande McCarren? This past week, Ande\u2019s had her share of horror stories. Stephanie\u2019s apparently a quick study, however, because Ande allowed that Stephanie had […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Now & Then","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11593,11552,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-no-images","category-opinion","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}