La Jolla News Nuggets: Scripps Pier Walk, fines fundraising, Restaurant Week, more

Sunset Scripps Pier Walk to return to La Jolla in September

Guests will be invited onto the typically closed Scripps Pier in La Jolla for a 90-minute guided adventure starting Saturday, Sept. 20.

The Sunset Scripps Pier Walk offers a handful of activities — such as scooping plankton, dissecting squid and getting the lowdown on cutting-edge shark research — as the sun sets over the coast.

This year, tours will feature highlights from the Scripps CO₂ Program, showcasing the latest in ocean monitoring and climate science from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Guests must be 9 or older to participate. Tickets range from $30 for Birch Aquarium members to $35 for bundle packages and $40 for individual passes.

To find out more, visit aquarium.ucsd.edu.

Meditation classes launched to help pay ‘Slow down’ fines

To help her pay the fines she accrued during a “Slow down” campaign in Bird Rock, resident Nicole Hadfield is launching a series of donation-based meditation classes.

The classes are planned for 6 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays at Mindfulness La Jolla at 5745 La Jolla Blvd. in Bird Rock. The recommended donation is $30. To reserve a spot, call or text 858-831-8396.

In 2024, Hadfield spray-painted the words “Slow down” on the streets around her home, including La Jolla Boulevard, in an attempt to get drivers to reduce their speed.

The city of San Diego dispatched crews to cover the paint with slurry or patching. Because of the cost associated with that, Hadfield was arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism, leading to fines and legal fees.

After her arrest, she switched to writing her messages in chalk. She also was barred from using chalk, and then created stickers to place on street signs and posts, utility boxes and more throughout the Bird Rock business district.

Restaurant Week to feature six La Jolla establishments

Six La Jolla restaurants will participate in the upcoming San Diego Restaurant Week, which runs Sept. 14-21. They are Duke’s La Jolla, George’s at the Cove, Haidilao San Diego, Sea & Sky La Jolla, The Grill at Torrey Pines and Brockton Villa.

The annual Restaurant Week, presented by the California Restaurant Association, typically features more than 100 dining establishments across more than 30 neighborhoods.

Restaurant Week menus include multi-course lunches starting at $30 and dinner menus starting at $45.

Tickets are not required, but organizers highly recommend making reservations to guarantee seating.

To explore the full list of restaurants, visit sandiegorestaurantweek.com.

A delicious — and odd — new series

Are there unusual or exciting dishes being offered in La Jolla that you believe deserve more attention? If so, tell us about them!

We’re seeking food with peculiar ingredients, unique backstories or things you usually don’t see on a menu.

Email your recommendations to noah.lyons@lajollalight.com and we may write about them in future editions of the Light.

Prospect Street commercial property may become a house

An application has been filed with the city of San Diego to convert a commercial property on Prospect Street in La Jolla into a house.

The project would turn a 6,555-square-foot commercial structure at 836 Prospect into a single residence, including a basement and a junior accessory dwelling unit.

No architectural alterations to the front of the building are planned, and all historical elements will be preserved, according to the applicant team. Proposed modifications are limited to the interior, including the addition of the ADU.

A decision on the proposal will be made by city staff without a public hearing.

San Diego issues recreation needs assessment and survey

The city of San Diego has launched its first Community Recreation Needs Assessment, which focuses on gathering data to better understand and meet communities’ recreational, communication and financial needs, the city says.

The assessment, being conducted in collaboration with Keen Independent Research Inc., will include surveys, interviews, focus groups, virtual workshops and in-person public meetings to collect community feedback and work with local organizations.

As part of the assessment, San Diegans are encouraged to take a short online survey to gauge their thoughts about recreational activities and facilities provided by the city Parks & Recreation Department. The survey will be available at sandiego.gov/parksurvey through Feb. 28.

The assessment will be carried out in three phases, each spanning four months. City Council District 1, which includes La Jolla, will be part of Phase 3.

The assessment is tentatively scheduled to be completed in summer 2026.

La Jolla salon raises $1,000 for pet rescues

La Jolla’s Belle Sirène Salon was able to bring in $1,000 in 2½ hours Aug. 17 to support the Cantu Foundation and K9 Connection Pet Adoption, groups dedicated to aiding rescue dogs and securing critical surgeries for pets.

The sold-out event, presented by salon owner Sherri Belanger and organizer Natalie Borton, featured yoga, healthy bites, local vendors and charity promotion.

The event’s beneficiary, the La Jolla Loves Pets Foundation, praised it as “an experience where doing good feels good.”

Organizers said similar events could help businesses partner strategically, create value for guests and think local by aiding nearby causes.

UCSD doctor is president-elect of American Society for Radiation Oncology

Dr. Catheryn Yashar, a breast and gynecologic cancer radiation oncologist and UC San Diego Health chief medical officer, is president-elect of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

ASTRO represents more than 10,000 physicians, medical physicists, biologists and radiation therapists and is considered the leading organization for radiation oncology.

Yashar will assume the role of ASTRO president in September 2026.

She is a leader in advanced therapies, including intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) and brachytherapy. Those technologies allow for more precise targeting of tumors while sparing healthy tissue.

Innovations in radiation and medical oncology have enabled more effective and less harmful cancer treatments, particularly in breast cancer, according to ASTRO.

Yashar has been a driving force behind the Radiation Oncology Case Rate (ROCR) Act, which currently is before Congress and advocates reimbursement models intended to stabilize payments for patients and protect access for communities considered underserved.

Sanford Burnham Prebys scientists look at ‘zombie’ cells’ role in cancer relapse

Cancer is the leading cause of disease-related death in childhood, due in part to cancer-associated genes called oncogenes that can be found far from chromosomes in cell nuclei on ring-shaped DNA inside tumor cells.

Circular extra-chromosomal DNA elements (ecDNA) are pieces of DNA that have broken off normal chromosomes and then been wrongly stitched together by DNA repair mechanisms. This phenomenon leads to circular DNA elements floating around in a cancer cell.

“We have shown that these ecDNAs are much more abundant in solid pediatric tumors than we previously thought,” said Lukas Chavez, an associate professor in the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at La Jolla-based Sanford Burnham Prebys.

Additionally, cancer cells with many copies of the MYCN oncogene on ecDNA grow quickly but are more easily destroyed by chemotherapy. Tumor cells with fewer copies of the oncogene ecDNA enter a zombie-like state known as senescence, in which they persist but no longer divide to make new cells. These “zombie” cells are unaffected by chemotherapy and can be reactivated a year or two later, triggering the cancer to relapse.

Thus, researchers tried to explain why a common form of pediatric cancer called neuroblastoma often is treated successfully with chemotherapy but is prone to relapse in several years.

The researchers demonstrated that combining standard chemotherapy with a secondary therapy able to target senescent cancer cells led to dramatically improved outcomes in tests on mice with neuroblastoma.

Ultimately, Chavez said, “our goal is to translate these scientific advances into more effective therapies and lasting cures for children with brain cancer.”