Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Lawrence Osborne and the Reader

Coronado Cays, as New Yorkers see us, the Mormon temple, Tijuana's Zona Norte, bingo at Sycuan, the Mexico City-Tijuana bus

"We wanted it to stand out like the government buildings in Washington, the cathedrals in Europe." - Image by Dave Allen
"We wanted it to stand out like the government buildings in Washington, the cathedrals in Europe."

Lawrence Osborne is a British novelist who wrote feature stories for the Reader from 1992 to 1994.

His novels include The Forgiven, The Ballad of a Small Player, Hunters in the Dark, Beautiful Animals, Ana Malina.

Only to Sleep, a Philip Marlowe novel, was an NPR Best Book of 2018 and was nominated for a 2019 Edgar Award.

His nonfiction includes Paris Dreambooks, American Normal, The Naked Tourist, The Accidental Connoisseur, Bangkok Days, Poisoned Embrace, The Wet and the Dry.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Editor's picks of stories Osborne wrote for the Reader:

Suddenly it occurs to him he is not just on a small road in the middle of nowhere on the edge of Dehesa.
  • An alien's adventures in bingoland

  • Next to him, an immense pile of blue satin holds a hardened female gambler with bulbous veins on the backs of her hands and a face terrifying in its bingoed cynicism. To judge by the bitter peony mouth with its radial cracks on either side and the haunted, mascaraed eyes — which have in them the kind of worldliness one sometimes discovers in the eyes of certain dominant pigeons — bingo can certainly harden the soul. (Feb. 6, 1992)
  • San Diego — only city in the world with a teddy bear museum

  • “So you want to go to San Diego for a holiday?” the immaculate youth in the Southwick madras suit says, rolling his eyes a little and looking at me firmly to make sure I am not pulling his leg. “Fine. Actually, it’s a lovely place, in some ways. Lovely beaches, as a matter of fact, and some lovely hotels. Great zoo, too). And the deserts, of course. No, really, it’s a lovely place." (Jan. 14, 1993)
Cays entrance art. “A waterfront house on the Green Turtle? You’d have to ask next door, I think about $700,000."
  • Surreal Mormon architecture comes to La Jolla

  • Because of spiraling costs, the tiered fountain that was to have poured water into a reflecting pond south of the temple has been scrapped. And the “marble” towers turn out, on closer inspection, to be sheathed in a marble-like acrylic material called EIFS. Nevertheless, says Clyde Romney, “We have tried to create something as near perfect as possible.” (Nov. 25, 1992)
  • Coronado Cays villages have a distinctly nervous feel

  • When you turn off the road, past the uniformed fellow in his guard house and through one of the several wide gates, you have the impression of being in a suburban stretch of England’s Upper Thames or a yachting community in Bermuda. “Decked out in white jacket and pith helmet, the smiling, friendly Jamaican guard is the first indication that you’re about to enter a distinctly different world of residential living.” (Apr. 22, 1993)
  • The medieval pleasures of Tijuana's Zona Norte

  • Now, the idea of sitting at tables with cocktails while watching half-dressed boys and girls mime to Liza Minelli songs as they wade through a miasma of dried ice is perhaps a concept of entertainment that has long died out elsewhere in the world, but not at the New York Club (March 26, 1992)
  • Mexico City to Tijuana on Autobuses del Norte

  • The mechanic with the gold tassel jumps up and begins shouting at the driver and at the three helpers squatting in the cabin. He draws his finger playfully across his throat. The bus is, in any case, grinding to a halt of its own accord. It has stopped in the middle of a small plain littered with concrete drums, shreds of plastic trash, and a million warbling cicadas. (April 2, 1992)
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Nation’s sexy soldiers stage protest at Pendleton in wake of change in Marine uniform policy

Semper WHY?
Next Article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
"We wanted it to stand out like the government buildings in Washington, the cathedrals in Europe." - Image by Dave Allen
"We wanted it to stand out like the government buildings in Washington, the cathedrals in Europe."

Lawrence Osborne is a British novelist who wrote feature stories for the Reader from 1992 to 1994.

His novels include The Forgiven, The Ballad of a Small Player, Hunters in the Dark, Beautiful Animals, Ana Malina.

Only to Sleep, a Philip Marlowe novel, was an NPR Best Book of 2018 and was nominated for a 2019 Edgar Award.

His nonfiction includes Paris Dreambooks, American Normal, The Naked Tourist, The Accidental Connoisseur, Bangkok Days, Poisoned Embrace, The Wet and the Dry.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Editor's picks of stories Osborne wrote for the Reader:

Suddenly it occurs to him he is not just on a small road in the middle of nowhere on the edge of Dehesa.
  • An alien's adventures in bingoland

  • Next to him, an immense pile of blue satin holds a hardened female gambler with bulbous veins on the backs of her hands and a face terrifying in its bingoed cynicism. To judge by the bitter peony mouth with its radial cracks on either side and the haunted, mascaraed eyes — which have in them the kind of worldliness one sometimes discovers in the eyes of certain dominant pigeons — bingo can certainly harden the soul. (Feb. 6, 1992)
  • San Diego — only city in the world with a teddy bear museum

  • “So you want to go to San Diego for a holiday?” the immaculate youth in the Southwick madras suit says, rolling his eyes a little and looking at me firmly to make sure I am not pulling his leg. “Fine. Actually, it’s a lovely place, in some ways. Lovely beaches, as a matter of fact, and some lovely hotels. Great zoo, too). And the deserts, of course. No, really, it’s a lovely place." (Jan. 14, 1993)
Cays entrance art. “A waterfront house on the Green Turtle? You’d have to ask next door, I think about $700,000."
  • Surreal Mormon architecture comes to La Jolla

  • Because of spiraling costs, the tiered fountain that was to have poured water into a reflecting pond south of the temple has been scrapped. And the “marble” towers turn out, on closer inspection, to be sheathed in a marble-like acrylic material called EIFS. Nevertheless, says Clyde Romney, “We have tried to create something as near perfect as possible.” (Nov. 25, 1992)
  • Coronado Cays villages have a distinctly nervous feel

  • When you turn off the road, past the uniformed fellow in his guard house and through one of the several wide gates, you have the impression of being in a suburban stretch of England’s Upper Thames or a yachting community in Bermuda. “Decked out in white jacket and pith helmet, the smiling, friendly Jamaican guard is the first indication that you’re about to enter a distinctly different world of residential living.” (Apr. 22, 1993)
  • The medieval pleasures of Tijuana's Zona Norte

  • Now, the idea of sitting at tables with cocktails while watching half-dressed boys and girls mime to Liza Minelli songs as they wade through a miasma of dried ice is perhaps a concept of entertainment that has long died out elsewhere in the world, but not at the New York Club (March 26, 1992)
  • Mexico City to Tijuana on Autobuses del Norte

  • The mechanic with the gold tassel jumps up and begins shouting at the driver and at the three helpers squatting in the cabin. He draws his finger playfully across his throat. The bus is, in any case, grinding to a halt of its own accord. It has stopped in the middle of a small plain littered with concrete drums, shreds of plastic trash, and a million warbling cicadas. (April 2, 1992)
Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Next Article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.