Friday,
January
23, 2009 
The Wine Lover celebrates milestone
By proprietors Reuel Olin and Bob GrinchukWe’re proud (although certainly older) parents now that our little Hillcrest enterprise, Uptown’s first wine bar, is celebrating its tenth anniversary. In January 1999 when we first opened The Wine Lover, with our newly minted logo of a cupid holding aloft a glass of wine, wine bars were an alien idea in San Diego. But we thought that San Diego was ready for the kind of sophisticated yet merry experience that we’d encountered in our trips to Paris.
We created the bar in an intimate space on Fifth Avenue between University and Washington, with the idea of emphasizing a sense of romance in the decor and chose the team at Design Perspectives. They later won a coveted design award for their fulfillment of this concept, incorporating such details as an uplighted onyx bar with a dome above twinkling with fiber optic “stars” representing the millennial sky. Later we added a sidewalk café and a garden café capped with grape vines.
Throughout its history, The Wine Lover has retained the initial idea of “choice, education and fun” offering a very large selection of “flights,” tastes of wines in common for comparison accompanied by cheese plates and the like, glasses of wine at reasonable prices, bottles to go and tasting events. To inaugurate its tenth anniversary, The Wine Lover is fortunate in our brand new manager, the delightful Brandy Howd, who plans to bring a new vitality to the the familiar boite while retaining its beloved traditions. In the next few weeks, we plan to spruce up the place, give it a new look. Guests during February may celebrate with us by sampling a hand-selected glass of fine wine for $10 and enjoying a second one for just 10¢. “You’re only ten once — not to mention that the time is right for a little cost consciousness,” Ms. Howd tells us. Although many new wine bars have sprouted up since those early days, The Wine Lover looks forward to its next decade of “choice, education and fun” in a charming atmosphere. Do come visit 3968 Fifth Avenue from 4-10:30pm during the week (later on weekends) and say “hello” to Brandy.
Thursday,
January
22, 2009 
It’s easier to be hopeful now.
The images on Sunday, of Barack Obama, the son of a son of Africa, standing where King stood, with Lincoln watching on, captured so clearly that in the long course of history there are great leaps, and we intend to enjoy this one. To that end we bring you the classic—King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered 45 years ago not far from where Obama will take the oath of office. King would have turned 80 last Thursday. Were he looking on, we can only imagine what he would be thinking.
Wednesday,
January
21, 2009— Doug Kari, an inauguration
ticket holder, re: Tuesday’s “Purple Tunnel of Doom”
Tuesday,
January
20, 2009
The sun came out at noon today
Let us move forward and fix the horrible mess our United States now faces. We are fortunate to have President Barack Obama who is smart and kind and committed to serving our country which has been so profoundly wrecked by an administration who mugged our constitution, then stole what they could for their Wall Street cronies on the way out the door.Here is a plea from Michael Moore: Let’s not leave Barack Obama alone to clean up the mess. As he takes his oath today, please take one yourself — to work harder than ever to end these wars, create universal health care, save our planet, end poverty, increase knowledge and establish a true government “of, by and for the people” (instead of “of, by and for the lobbyists, the bankers and the war profiteers”).
Monday,
January
19, 2009
It’s been a long eight years, but this afternoon we finally had
the opportunity to give George W.
the boot. Over 50 tax paying citizens gathered at the foot of Newport
Avenue in Ocean Beach as the Ground
Zero Players celebrated the end of the Bush days with a cathartic
shoe hurling ceremony. People continued to arrive well after sunset
into the dark. When the floodlight battery went out, George was lit up
with TV cameras from channels 5, 6 and 10. A shoe toss at Bush was held in Washington, DC’s Dupont Circle today, too.
Sunday,
January
18, 2009— Today’s Union-Tribune
editorial re: Council President Hueso’s transparent ruse
