Golden Hill–based muralist and illustrator Celeste Byers reimagines one of SDM’s first covers (August 1949) with a nod to the need to clean up Mission Bay
In August 1949, the editors of San Diego Magazine reported on a massive new project: the Mission Bay Aquatic and Recreational Park, a multimillion-dollar “aquatic playground” expected to significantly boost the city’s tourist revenue. For the cover, the magazine’s first art director, Enid Miller, illustrated a dream of what the park might entail for beachgoers—a grinning, swim-capped woman skimming over the surface of the bay.
But today, sections of Mission Bay are under advisory, bacteria levels in the water hovering above acceptable health standards. Would-be swimmers (and skiers) are urged to remain dry.
We’re celebrating 75 years of SDM by asking local artists to recreate iconic covers from our past. When reimagining this drawing for 2023, Golden Hill–based muralist and illustrator Celeste Byers embraced the city’s limitless possibilities (handsome mermen instead of skis!) but couldn’t ignore the wrench in the works of our coastal bliss: millions of gallons of raw sewage flowing from spills in Tijuana to San Diego’s beaches. “I made an art piece about the sewage problem maybe 15 years ago,” Byers says. “And it’s still a problem today.”
Last summer, the United States and Mexican governments agreed to commit nearly half a billion dollars to replace crumbling treatment plants and hopefully spell an end to the pollution—facilitating a future in which seaside play is purely magic.
Amelia Rodriguez is a writer and journalist and winner of the San Diego Press Club's 2023 Rising Star Award and 2024 Best of Show Award, she’s also covered music, food, arts and culture, fashion, and design for Rolling Stone, Palm Springs Life, and other national and regional publications. After work, you can find her hunting down San Diego’s best pastries and maintaining her five-year Duolingo streak.
Each month in 2023, we’re asking a local artist to recreate one of our iconic covers from the past 75 years. For December, we tapped artist Taylor Chapin to help us recreate San Diego Mag‘s January 1965 cover. Check out her unique translation here and learn more about Chapin in the Q&A below:
Tell us about how you found your distinguished style and how you honed your skills.
The style I’m currently working in was developed during my recent time in grad school at UCSD. I’ve always been fascinated by branding and advertising, and my earlier work explored this very overtly through painting brands and products representationally.
During my time experimenting in school, I was challenged to think of new ways to explore these themes, and I had the idea of very literally covering up the products and brands I was painting with fabric so that their form was obscured. I began painting these covered forms as a way of critiquing how value is represented. This led to my current obsession of covering everything—including the human form.
I’ve always been really into pattern and detail since I was a kid, and now I’ve found ways to incorporate all the patterns I’m attracted to into my work through this act of covering the form in fabric. I’ve honed my skills over the years through countless hours of painting, and I continue to do so by painting pretty much everyday. Painting never ceases to challenge me, and I love working through the process slowly and methodically and learning more as I go.
What artists do you admire or look up to?
There’s so many artists I look up to. I’m currently really inspired by the work of Amy Adler, she was one of my advisors in grad school. I’m also really into the work of Jean Lowe, Hilary Pecis, Ken Gun Min, and Ilana Savdie, to name a few.
Tell Me About Yourself by Taylor Chapin
How do you think your art reflects the Southern California lifestyle or plays a role in the way your art comes to life?
To me, Southern California has such a specific color palette and aesthetic associated with it. I think my palette of bright and contrasting colors is very much inspired by Southern California. I also think my interest in consumption and consumerism is related to my observations and experience of living in Southern California, because it is a capital for conspicuous consumption, entertainment, and the performance of wealth and beauty. I think being in such close proximity to this type of display has heightened my fascination with our culture of consumption.
What was your big break?
I was in a group show in 2018 at Hill Street Country Club, a nonprofit arts space in Oceanside. Dinah Pollenitz, the cofounder and curator at Hill Street, subsequently offered me a solo show there in 2019. This first solo show has led to so many other amazing opportunities throughout San Diego, and I am forever grateful to Dinah for supporting my work and providing me with one of my first opportunities to show my work in an art space in San Diego.
What do you have on the horizon workwise?
I have a solo show with Quint Gallery in La Jolla in March of 2024 that I’m currently working on. I will also be doing a public mural in Pacific Beach next year, and I have a few other projects that are currently in their early stages of development.
Where can people find your work to admire or hire you?
People can check out my work on my website. I have a show up at ICA North through the end of this year. I also have a few murals around San Diego including one on the side of Warren Hall at UCSD, an indoor mural at Corner Pizza in Oceanside, and one on the south-facing side of the Leucadia Donut Shoppe. I am available for hire via the contact form on my website.
The San Diego arts struck gold in 1965 with the debut of the new Civic Theatre, designed by famed modernist architect Lloyd Ruocco.
SDM’s January ’65 cover celebrated opening night with a glam-filled illustration by artist D. Wayne “Bunky” Millsap. A packed house, all diamonds, tuxedos, and fur.
In that issue, San Diego Magazine’s Associate Editor Roberta Ridgely captured the feeling of being in SD’s newest home for the performing arts. “A theatre is the shiver of excitement that tingles through the audience at the precise moment when the curtains part,” she wrote.
To celebrate SDM’s 75th birthday, we’ve collaborated with local artists and creatives to recreate classic covers with a contemporary twist in each month of 2023. For our finale, we asked Encinitas artist Taylor Chapin for her unique translation.
December 2023 cover byTaylor Chapin
“I was interested in doing something in the style of the work that I already do, but updating the music and the space for 2023,” Chapin says. “[In] this age we live in … it’s so important to be closely linked to your identity and brand, so I was really interested in this idea of covering the figure up as a playful critique of this social media age.”
Instead of opera at the Civic Theatre, Chapin’s recreation—a real 32-by-24-inch oil painting entitled Sonic Shift—features a silhouette rock band at the new Epstein Family Amphitheater at UCSD. In place of look-at-me formalwear are anonymous patterned figures, perhaps talking about the shiver of excitement they’re feeling as the curtain lifts.
It’s easy to write our city off as merely an always-sunny hub for laid-back beach bums—thus forgetting that culture, innovation, and progress have always been baked into SD’s identity.
This cover from 1956 marries all these values. Bali Hai opened in 1952 at the dawn of tiki culture. Four years later, photographer Paul Oxley shot the three-wheeled Messerschmitt KR200 outside its doors. Designed by a German aircraft engineer, the sleek microcar broke 22 international speed records in 1955. It’s a promise of the auto technology to come, plopped in the middle of San Diegans’ favorite haunt for tiny umbrellas.
In honor of our 75th anniversary, we’re recreating iconic covers from our past. The new cover stars the same beloved Bali Hai and another futuristic, three-wheeled vehicle, the SD-grown, battery-and-sun powered Aptera.
Photo Credit: Corrine Jackson
The original cover featured an uncredited model. This time, we chose two unforgettable locals pushing our city into the future: Shavone Charles, head of global diversity and inclusion communications at TikTok, and chef Claudia Sandoval of cookbook and Master Chef fame.
They (and the other movers and shakers sprinkled throughout this issue) are proof that San Diegans are always headed towards the next big thing—we’re just doing it in better weather than most.
Jackie is a long-time freelance journalist covering cannabis, food/restaurants, travel, labor, wine, spirits, arts & culture, design, and other topics. Her work has been selected twice for Best American Travel Writing, and she has won a variety of national and local awards for her writing and reporting.
Meet ArtsConnect, UC San Diego’s Invitation to SoCal Arts Lovers
ArtsConnect brings those experiences into view, helping residents discover what they can see, hear and create at UC San Diego while experiencing the campus in a new way.
Ask most people what UC San Diego is known for, and the arts may not be the first answer. Yet this fall, San Diegans can watch Ghostbusters with a live orchestra, try their hand at glassmaking and wander among more than 20 works of public art woven throughout the university’s La Jolla campus.
ArtsConnect brings those experiences into view, helping residents discover what they can see, hear and create at UC San Diego while experiencing the campus in a new way.
Courtesy of UC San Diego | Photo Cred: Erik Jensen
“The arts are at the heart of UC San Diego’s student-centered mission and vision,” says Alysson Satterlund, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life. “Whether creating, participating in, or experiencing performances, the arts are essential to a healthy and truly fun Triton student experience.”
That invitation often begins where the arts intersect with other fields.
“Some of the most innovative work and discovery happen where disciplines don’t usually share a stage,” says Cristina Della Coletta, Dean of the UC San Diego School of Arts and Humanities. “So through our unique intersection of the arts with science, technology, and medicine, we are improving lives, physically and emotionally.
Take The Inaudible Ocean, a collaboration between Department of Music Professor Lei Liang and Scripps Institution of Oceanography Assistant Project Scientist Josh Jones. Over eight years, the pair recorded earthquakes, ship noise, whale songs and other sounds in remote underwater locations. They transformed those recordings into a live music experience that allowed audiences to hear the ocean in an entirely new way. The work premiered on campus in May and continues to evolve.
The arts also connect the campus to the global art world and diverse perspectives. Chief Campus Curator Jessica Berlanga Taylor recently curated the Mexico Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale, featuring RojoNegro, the collective formed by Noé Martínez and María Sosa. The collective will unveil a compelling new permanent installation for UC San Diego’s celebrated Stuart Collection later this fall.
ArtPower offers another easy entry point, bringing touring performers to venues including the outdoor Epstein Family Amphitheater and the intimate Loft. The nearly three dozen performances featured through its 2026-2027 season span music, dance, film, theater and conversation.
Among the fall highlights is Ghostbusters in Concert on Sept. 25, pairing the beloved 1984 film with a live performance of Elmer Bernstein’s score. Tickets start at $35, and the amphitheater is located next to the UC San Diego Blue Line trolley station.
“Every member of our community should have access to world-class art, so we work hard to remove the barriers that stand in the way,” says Colleen Kollar Smith, executive artistic director of the Campus Performances and Events Office. “That means affordable ticket prices, and performances, voices and experiences where people see themselves reflected on stage and know they belong.”
The arts at UC San Diego are not only something to watch. The Craft Center offers public classes and workshops in ceramics, jewelry, woodworking, culinary arts and even surfboard shaping. At the new Glass Center, beginners and experienced makers can explore glassmaking through classes, demonstrations and studio experiences.
Whether you want to attend a performance, make something yourself or spend an afternoon exploring public art, there is an easy way in. And the invitation extends well beyond students and alumni.
Kollar Smith says it best: “Visit, participate, spectate or create. You’re invited, and we hope you’ll connect with us soon.”
Most doctors we know can’t fly or shoot lasers from their eyes. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t at work constantly pulling off superhero-esque feats. Because the MDs who keep us healthy typically don lab coats instead of capes, it can be easy to forget that the stethoscopes and clipboards they often rock in classic regional magazine covers (like this one from October 2009) are their own Bruce Wayne–style tools to save lives and help those in need.
In honor of our 75th anniversary, we’re asking local artists for fresh takes on retro covers. To remind us all of doctors’ daily heroics, we asked Keithan Jones, a local comic book artist and founder/owner of independent publishing company KID Comics, to recreate this past Top Docs cover, touching on many of the medical advancements and STEM-related news happening in San Diego.
Jennifer Ianni is a long-time San Diego journalist whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, PACIFIC magazine, Point Loma-OB Monthly, PB Monthly, and more. She’s a native San Diegan who loves puns, pop culture, dive bars, yoga, extra dirty martinis, walks with her dog, Luna, and hanging out with her nephew, Jay, and her niece, Siena.
Amelia Rodriguez is a writer and journalist and winner of the San Diego Press Club's 2023 Rising Star Award and 2024 Best of Show Award, she’s also covered music, food, arts and culture, fashion, and design for Rolling Stone, Palm Springs Life, and other national and regional publications. After work, you can find her hunting down San Diego’s best pastries and maintaining her five-year Duolingo streak.
Mission Beach boardwalk icon SloMo recreates San Diego Mag's August 1972 cover
August 1972 San Diego Magazine Cover
As fall approaches, it’s a good time to pause and savor the mellow of summer. Night comes quicker with each day that passes. Soon, quiet afternoons in the backyard will give way to dark evenings by the fire. Now is a time to slow down.
Nobody takes it all in quite like San Diego’s slow-rolling, suntanned philosopher, John Kitchin, aka SloMo, who you can generally find floating one rollerblade at a time down the Pacific Beach Boardwalk. A neurologist and psychiatrist, SloMo took up skating in retirement as a way to mellow out.
“Since then, I’ve been living freely,” he says. “And skating literally everyday on the boardwalk for 24 years.”
As we celebrate San Diego Magazine’s 75th anniversary, we’re reflecting on our history—blading the boardwalk down memory lane, ontology. (Though we’re doubtful that pipe will looking to past covers for inspiration and putting a modern shine on them. This month, we peek back at our August 1972 cover, an homage itself to Lippencott Magazine’s 1895 cover, dubbed “Tennis.” Here, a stately gentleman finds a moment of repose on his way to a friendly game. We assume he’s mulling over his own thoughts on the state of being, how to unravel his personal elevate his tennis skills.)
In our new version, SloMo pauses in his garden—reading, daydreaming, hidden away like the San Diego treasure he is.
“There are two things that we all have,” he says. “One is the world of objectivity. What’s back in the other world, that of subjectivity, is where dreams are.”
Growing up, Laika Nur, MD, Scripps Clinic sports medicine specialist, loved watching beach volleyball when the Association of Volleyball Professionals tour came to her hometown of Chicago. A talented volleyball player herself, she remembers sitting in the stands all day, and once, even got a couple autographs. Years later, Dr. Nur was attending a professional event focused on women’s sports, and the discussion turned to a new professional women’s volleyball league. The general manager and coaching staff for San Diego’s team, the Mojo, happened to be in attendance, and Dr. Nur took the opportunity to ask them if they needed a team doctor. Flash forward to the Mojo’s inaugural 2024 season, when Dr. Nur officially became the team physician. Click here to read more about Dr. Nur and how she incorporates lessons she learned on the court into her practice.
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