November was a busy month for new business arrivals in La Jolla, with a couple of long-anticipated restaurants opening along with other establishments. Here’s a look.

Vispring

This new luxury mattress showroom is at 7464 Girard Ave., replacing Faded Awning, which opened in 2010 and closed in January this year.

Vispring officially ushered in the new business with a grand opening Nov. 4.

The location marks “a strategic expansion into one of Southern California’s most affluent markets,” according to the business’s website. It’s one of its many expansions this year, starting with Orange County in January and New York City and Dallas in June. Additional locations are set to open soon in Washington, D.C.

The company, which sells handmade European mattresses, is celebrating its 125th anniversary. To commemorate the La Jolla opening, Vispring is offering a free Heaven mattress topper with the purchase of a mattress until Thursday, Jan. 1.

Vispring is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Learn more at vispring.com.

Hummingbird Fine Jewelry & Piercing

After a year of planning and building, La Plaza La Jolla’s newest addition is here.

Hummingbird Fine Jewelry & Piercing, a sister location to Enigma Professional Piercing Studios, offers gold and implant-grade titanium jewelry for ear and body piercings. Its focus, co-owner Evan Spencer told the La Jolla Light, is offering “a safe, comfortable and high-end experience” with high-quality jewelry and aseptic technique.

Spencer is the lead piercer and store director, joined by co-owner Didier Suarez and piercer Jenna Bee.

Hummingbird opened Nov. 14 at 7863 Girard Ave. and is slated to host a grand-opening celebration from 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6.

“We are extremely enthusiastic about the quality of our products, the level of our service and experience and the safety and care that goes into every service we offer,” Spencer said.

Hummingbird is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day but Wednesdays. Find out more at hummingbirdpiercing.com.

PopUp Bagels

Breakfast is back at 637 Pearl St., with New York chain PopUp Bagels making its local debut Nov. 21.

PopUp Bagels offers fresh-baked bagels and a rotating lineup of schmears ranging from plain cream cheese to spicy buffalo butter. Rather than offering traditional bagels cut in half with cream cheese in the middle, PopUp encourages customers to grip the bagel, rip off a piece and dip it in a cup of schmear.

PopUp Bagels replaces Breakfast Republic, which left the Pearl Street address in March as part of what a representative called a lease buyout from the property owner.

This is PopUp’s first brick-and-mortar location on the West Coast. Its expansion to San Diego was facilitated by San Diego State University graduates Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman, who secured a franchise deal with the corporate team in New York and are now planning 10 PopUp Bagels locations in San Diego County over the next five years.

PopUp Bagels is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Find out more at popupbagels.com.

Dora Ristorante

This new southern Italian coastal cuisine restaurant opened Nov. 20 at 9165 S. Scholars Drive in the Theatre District Living and Learning Neighborhood at the southwest corner of UC San Diego’s campus, across the street from La Jolla Playhouse.

Dora Ristorante comes from chef Accursio Lota and his wife, Corinne Goria, of La Jolla, the owners of North Park’s popular Cori Trattoria Pastificio.

As part of the couple’s partnership with La Jolla Playhouse, the Dora team will design prix-fixe menus and cocktails themed to each playhouse production.

Hours are 4-9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. Reservations are available at doralajolla.com.

— San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Pam Kragen contributed to this report.

La Jolla Business Roundup is published monthly by the La Jolla Light. Send your business news to staff writer Noah Lyons at noah.lyons@lajollalight.com. ♦

Khalil Mack couldn’t wait to watch and rewatch all that went haywire during the Chargers’ 35-6 loss Nov. 16 to the Jacksonville Jaguars. So, he said he began dissecting the video as the team’s bus departed the stadium for the airport and a cross-country flight home.

Mack didn’t have to do it at that moment, but he was eager to learn what he could from the Chargers’ widest margin of defeat in Jim Harbaugh’s two-season tenure as their coach. He could have waited until after the Chargers’ bye in Week 12 and used it as preparation for Week 13.

But he believed it was best to begin the process of fixing all that went wrong as soon as possible, the better to prepare to face the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday at SoFi Stadium and for the final five regular-season games to follow. Clearly, something was amiss in the game against the Jaguars.

There was no time to waste. So, Mack, a future Hall of Fame outside linebacker, went right to work.

It wasn’t pleasant. It wasn’t fun. It was work.

“I was on the bus, I watched it on the bus on the way to the plane, and some on the plane,” Mack said earlier this week of reviewing the Jacksonville horror show. “So, just to talk through a lot of stuff and correct a lot of stuff and, yeah, looking forward to this opportunity, the next opportunity.”

What did Mack learn from his video study? How can the Chargers improve after hitting rock-bottom during their loss to the Jaguars?

“Just the details, fine-tuning the details,” he said.

No question, it would be a start for a team with a 7-4 record that didn’t play like a team with a 7-4 record against Jacksonville. The Chargers must get back in sync if they are to defeat the Raiders, as expected, and enter the toughest part of their schedule. The Chargers are 9½-point favorites Sunday.

“Fine-tuning the details,” Mack said again and not for the last time.

It didn’t matter that the Chargers are favored to win by more than a touchdown or that their reeling opponent was 2-9 and fired offensive coordinator Chip Kelly after its latest defeat or that the first meeting between the teams was an easy Chargers victory. Mack believed they must get it right Sunday.

“This is no different than any other week, it’s a game we’ve got to win,” said Mack, a nine-time Pro Bowl selection over his 12 seasons in the NFL.

The Chargers’ stretch run gets more difficult after they face the Raiders. They end the regular season with games against the Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos, each opponent jockeying for better playoff position.

The Raiders were the Chargers’ sole focus this week, though, and they weren’t sure what they would see from a Las Vegas team that has lost five consecutive, including a 24-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 12. The Raiders’ only wins were over the New England Patriots in Week 1 and the Tennessee Titans in Week 6. The Chargers defeated the Raiders in Week 2.

A change in offensive coordinators, with Greg Olson taking over for Kelly, meant throwing out the game plan, according to Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. He said they would approach Sunday’s game like a Week 1 matchup, focusing more on themselves than on the opposition.

“We spent the majority of the bye week looking at ourselves and then the last part of the week we started on the Raiders,” Minter said. “Obviously, you want to be prepared for the things they like (to run). We need to know where the really good players are that they’re going to feature.”

In the final analysis, the Chargers lost the battle of the offensive and defensive lines in their loss to the Jaguars. They failed to protect quarterback Justin Herbert and didn’t apply sufficient pressure on Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence while also giving up far too much on the ground.

The Jaguars rushed for 192 yards and four touchdowns on 47 attempts.

Harbaugh said Jamaree Salyer would start at left tackle Sunday, the Chargers’ third different starter as Herbert’s blind-side protector after Rashawn Slater suffered a season-ending knee injury during training camp in August and Joe Alt sustained a season-ending ankle injury in Week 9.

The Chargers also could get a boost on their defensive line if Otito Ogbonnia is sound enough to play against the Raiders. He was listed Friday as questionable to play because of an elbow injury that sent him to injured reserve after a loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 7.

“Everybody cares, everybody wants to be good at their work, and that’s what I’ve seen throughout the season,” Harbaugh said of the Chargers’ mindset coming out of the bye week. “The guys came back Monday and I couldn’t have scripted it any better. Every guy was locked in.”

CHARGERS (7-4) vs. RAIDERS (2-9)

When: 1:25 p.m. Sunday

Where: SoFi Stadium

TV/Radio: Ch. 2; 640 AM/94.3 FM (Spanish)

An unlikely supporters’ section voiced its approval for Rady Children’s Invitational Most Valuable Player Brock Harding on the way to a 74-63 TCU win over Wisconsin on Friday.

Trading the cold of Moline, Illinois — high temperature over the weekend: 33 degrees — for mid-70s outside and even hotter hoops inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion, Harding’s parents and his childhood school nurse cheered on a championship performance.

“That was such a surprise,” Harding said of being greeted by Elizabeth McLaughlin, a nurse at Jordan/Seton Catholic Schools in the TCU guard’s western Illinois hometown. “It was great getting that sense of home in San Diego.”

McLaughlin, who apologized for her voice going hoarse from rooting on the Horned Frogs, cared for Harding when he experienced migraines as an elementary school student.

“He really suffered,” said McLaughlin, who Harding knew back in school as Nurse Buffy. “But clearly, he’s doing fine.”

Harding’s been more than fine on the basketball court for a while now. He transferred to the public Moline High School from Seton and developed into a prep sensation, winning Mr. Basketball for the state of Illinois in 2023.

He’s in an elite class with past winners of the award that include former NBA MVP Derrick Rose and current New York Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson. Adding the Rady Children’s Invitational hardware to his resume, Harding joined USC’s Javian McCollum and Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn as the first three MVPs in the tournament’s history.

And while San Diego is quite a trek from Moline, Harding performed here with the same fire that earned him Mr. Basketball in his home state. He shot 6 for 9 from the floor on the way to 16 points, dished five assists and grabbed four rebounds in TCU’s championship-game defeat of Wisconsin.

His effort on Friday followed a 19-point, 12-assist double-double in TCU’s 84-80 win Thursday over reigning national champions Florida.

“With the work this team puts in, we can really accomplish anything we want,” Harding said. “We don’t have a ceiling.”

TCU showing limitless potential in San Diego speaks to how abruptly things can turn around. The Horned Frogs opened the 2025-26 campaign with a stunning, 78-74 loss to a University of New Orleans program that finished 4-27 a season ago.

UNO dramatically overhauled its roster in the offseason under the direction of hip hop mogul and new President of Basketball Operations Percy “Master P.” Miller, but the opening-night upset was shocking nonetheless. And, according to Harding, “it was a wake-up call.”

“We thought we had a good team. We knew we’d brought in a lot of good pieces in the offseason,” he said. “But if you don’t bring your all every single night, there’s other people who want to win games, too.”

TCU lost again 11 nights later on Nov. 14, but the 67-63 setback to Michigan offered a much more positive measure of what the Horned Frogs could be. TCU has since won three straight, with its two impressive performances at the Rady Children’s Invitational. Friday’s title tilt also demonstrated the Horned Frogs’ growth in the limited time since seeing Michigan, as TCU avoided letting a halftime lead slip away to the Wolverines’ Big Ten Conference counterparts, Wisconsin.

The Horned Frogs saw a double-digit-point lead whittled to just four by intermission, thanks to the 3-point shooting of John Blackwell — who scored 30 points on Friday — and savvy playmaking by former San Diego State guard Nick Boyd.

But while Boyd finished with 15 points, he was held seven points below his season average — and 21 fewer than his eruption in the Badgers’ win Thursday over Providence. Guarded primarily by Harding, the explosive Boyd was not able to get his first shot attempt off until more than five minutes into Friday’s championship.

Harding held Boyd for just six second-half points, and TCU weathered the Wisconsin onslaught to push the lead to as many as 19 points.

In addition to his impressive statistical line, Harding was instrumental in the Horned Frogs establishing the game’s physical tone. Despite standing just 6 feet tall, the guard crashed to the glass and pursued loose balls with reckless abandon, culminating in a scuffle that earned Wisconsin’s Andrew Rohde a rally-killing technical foul.

McLaughlin, who was in town visiting family and decided to cheer on the youngster from Moline, said she couldn’t help but cringe seeing someone she knew as a youngster bumping around with opponents up to a foot taller and dozens of pounds heavier. But it’s also indicative of Harding’s game dating back to his elementary school days, and a main reason he’s “the hometown star” in the Quad Cities.

“He comes back and speaks to the kids,” she said. “He’s always been that way. He’s always been a leader.”