The sandalwood is burning. Stevie Wonder’s “Innervisions”is humming. Vintage vinyl is neatly stacked under the gaze of a Grace Jones print. And the professor is very much in. UC San Diego has been operating at a different frequency since the iconic DJ, composer, and producer King James Britt arrived on campus two-plus years ago.
Britt’s lecture course, Blacktronika: Afrofuturism In Electronic Music, has lured an elite roster of speakers to his online class such as—Questlove, Honey Dijon—while birthing a club night as part of his curriculum. “Unless you go to a club and feel how the music affects your body, you haven’t experienced it,” he says.
Over his 30-year career, the Philly native has created soundtracks with Hollywood legends Michael Mann and Ridley Scott, and spun with 90s hip-hop darlings, Digable Planets.
Most recently, he curated Carnegie Hall’s Afrofuturism Festival, which doubled as research for UCSD’s forthcoming Blacktronika Festival to be held Oct. 29 at the new state-of-the-art amphitheater. During Covid, inside Warren Lecture Hall, Britt shaped a sanctuary and a satellite classroom for the global community to explore the lineage of Black electronic artists who have been integral but overlooked in the development of house, techno, and experimental music.
“Being in here got me through—it was a time to hone in on my identity,” says Britt. “The beauty of being a professor is re-learning everything I know and articulating it in a way that my students can grasp. I found my equilibrium on campus.”
How Scrojo Became One of Rock’s Most Prolific Poster Artists
The San Diego designer has created more than 3,000 concert posters over nearly 40 years for artists including the Rolling Stones and the Red Hot Chili Peppers
When he was in high school, he and his friends were trying to come up with the perfect name for their punk band that would encapsulate all their personas. Nicaragua. The Freds.
One of his friends said he was going to go by Jimmy Stacks and called it “the perfect rock and roll name.” Their names changed so much that Haskett erupted: “Fine, I’m f—ing Scrotum Joe, the true defender of the Open West.”
Their response: Wow, that’s a great name.
As a teenager, he drew chalkboards for Del Mar’s Pannikin coffee shop and would design T-shirts for surf/skate brand Life’s a Beach. He signed the shirts with his moniker, but even in punk rebellion, who wants a shirt with the words Scrotum Joe on it? “They just cut out the ‘t-u-m,’ and the next thing you know, a client referred to me as that, and it stuck,” he says.
Courtesy of Scrojo
Scrojo could have been part of a band as iconic as The Misfits—had he been able to learn the famously cumbersome bassline to The Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie.” Becoming one of the most renowned concert poster designers—someone who quite literally designed the cover of Art of Modern Rock: The Poster Explosion—is a pretty good Plan B.
“To my knowledge, he’s done more rock posters than anybody else alive,” says Dennis King, whose D. King Gallery in Berkeley, California, serves as one of the largest private rock poster collections in the world. “He’s the hardest-working guy in the poster business.”
King not only co-authored the sequel to music historian Paul Grushkin’s The Art of Rock, but he also handles distribution and sales for all of Scrojo’s work. That’s more than 3,000 different posters over nearly 40 years. (That’s over one poster each week. For four decades straight.)
For anything from boxing matches to rodeos, posters have long been used as promotional items. Toulouse-Lautrec’s famous lithographs advertised Moulin Rouge in the late 1800s. Around the same time, Hatch Show Print in Nashville was making handbills for the Grand Ole Opry.
“I propose this: Cave paintings are the first poster art,” Scrojo says.
Courtesy of Scrojo
Rock and roll posters took off in the 1960s, when the hippie counterculture era replaced conformity and suburbia. Artists like Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead used their vibrant, psychedelic prints as a form of rebellion from the mainstream. Posters were promotional, commemorative, collectible, and especially expressive.
If the name Scrojo is any indication, he doesn’t shy away from imagery that toes the line of being too provocative. He focused more on what inspired him instead of trying to be offensive for the sake of getting attention.
“Didn’t want to show it to my grandmother, but my parents were fine with it,” Scrojo says with a laugh.
“We’ve had to ask him to put a Band-Aid over a nipple every now and then,” says Chris Goldsmith, president of Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, where Scrojo started out and hundreds of his posters currently line the walls.
Scrojo spent six weeks at Otis College of Art and Design for a summer semester before drugs, alcohol, and a self-described lack of discipline prevented him from enrolling full time. Still, he taught himself concepts like text hierarchy and later found his niche at the Belly Up and in the surfing and skating world, working with brands like Quiksilver, Rip Curl, Scorpion Bay, and DGK.
His first concert poster was for North County band Borracho y Loco, of which Goldsmith was bass guitarist. Scrojo drew an abstract version of the Belly Up’s iconic shark with colorful calypso and tiki themes.
Early on, he would craft using a pencil, pen, non-reproduction blue pencil, X-Acto knife, rubber knife, and proportion scale to create each poster, and the finished product could take a week or even longer.
Courtesy of Scrojo
“I recommend every artist coming up to do that for like six weeks,” Scrojo says. “It forces you to think about every design decision as you’re going along.”
He has since mastered vector imagery through Adobe Illustrator to the point where, depending on the level of detail needed, he could finish two projects in a day. Still, he fills sketchbook after sketchbook to blueprint.
“I liked his line in particular, and he knows how to draw, which a lot of people don’t really know how to do these days,” King says.
Scrojo would research what each musician’s merchandise looks like to get a feel for each artist’s tone and voice. Once he has his central image in mind, he focuses on what and where to place the text.
He doesn’t have one specific style, ranging his talents from art deco to psychedelic and everything in between (and outside the lines). Want a pop surrealist comic book cartoon devil with splattered paint textures, halftone dot patterns, and pure chaos? Red Hot Chili Peppers, February 1986. Want a minimalist graphic portrait with bold strokes and graffiti text? P!nk, October 2023. Want a carnival sideshow style piece with a tasteful caricature of Jeff Bridges? The Big Lebowski, August 2011.
Scrojo calls himself a jack of all trades because he can create posters for all music genres. King calls him a chameleon for his ability to adapt his voice to new eras.
Courtesy of Scrojo
“The variety of his skillset makes it possible for us to put 50 of his posters on a wall next to each other and have it look compelling, not just a bunch of the same thing over and over,” Goldsmith says.
Some of Scrojo’s favorite posters are when he feels a personal connection to the artist or the album. He has a vivid memory as a child of being trapped in a closet filled with marijuana leaves while playing hide and seek and staring at Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come” LP. “For whatever reason, as a kid, that sparked a desire to do graphic design,” Scrojo says.
Fast forward to February 2012, Cliff is performing at Belly Up. Scrojo decided to modify Cliff’s original album cover from rainbow gradient fills to classic reggae psychedelia while preserving Cliff’s striped pants and bold hat. Cliff’s manager called him and said they wanted to use it for the rest of their tour.
“We always get artists requesting that he does their posters,” Goldsmith says. “A lot of artists don’t want venues to go all rogue because they want to control how they’re being presented. With him, they’re like, ‘Let him go nuts.’”
Matt Eisenberg is an award-winning writer and photographer based in San Diego. A former ESPN editor, his work has also been published by CNN, Bleacher Report and the New York Daily News.
“Music, art, and dance are the weapon of the future,” says DJ and cultural leader Makeda “Dread” Cheatom. She would know, having witnessed their power firsthand as a collaborator of some of the most legendary stars in reggae music—and as the founder of San Diego’s Bob Marley Day and the World Beat Cultural Center in Balboa Park.
“I grew up in Linda Vista, and it was where all the people from the South and the Midwest came, ’cause they were working at the defense plants,” she recalls. “I got into reggae music, and I met Bob Marley. Later on, I produced [a show with] him. They weren’t playing his music on the radio, and I would go to the radio stations, and I would say, ‘Hey, you know, reggae music, Bob Marley.’ [They’d say,] ‘I’m sorry, we don’t know him.’
“So, I went back to school for telecommunications at City College. I got on 91X—I had a show with Demaja Lee, and we started producing reggae music, and we brought it to the clubs. Women didn’t DJ back in the day like that, but there I was. I produced Peter Tosh’s last show in California, here in San Diego—The Mama Africa Tour.
“I realized when I was very young that I was from Africa, and I wanted to learn everything about my African heritage. We didn’t have any Black or African cultural centers in San Diego. [In the late 1980s], there was a hearing [to pitch use ideas for] the House of Charm, which is now the Mingei Museum. My mother died that day, and everyone told me not to go to the meeting. But I remember my mother scrubbed all those floors—you know, she was a maid. I knew I had to win this building for my mother, my father, and all the African descendants in San Diego.
“They were arguing over this house, and I stood up there, and I knew I wasn’t gonna get that building. So, I said, ‘I just want that dilapidated old water tower [in the park],’ and everybody laughed. But I kept going to city council, and I finally got the building. It had all kinds of junk in there, asbestos. They just left me a construction dumpster, and we got the place cleaned, and we had a cultural center. All cultures are here, from Brazilian to African to Mexican, Cuban, and Japanese. That’s what World Beat is about—all of us in oneness. It’s about humanity.”
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.
Christopher Ashley is a failed child actor, a former computer programmer, and a Yale alum. He’s also San Diego’s Hal Prince. In 18 years as one of the most acclaimed artistic directors in the history of La Jolla Playhouse, he produced 20 world premieres that went on to Broadway, including Jesus Christ Superstar, The Outsiders, and the Idina Menzel–led Redwood. Now, he’s saying goodbye. It’s a formidable loss for the city’s underrated theater scene.
Following a lifetime of acting (poorly, he claims) in summer theater programs, Ashley switched to directing in high school. A successful New York theater career (the programming stint was just to pay off those Yale loans) eventually brought him to LJP in 2007. His tenure transformed the institution into a nationally acclaimed proving ground for fresh, fearless works.
Courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse Escape to Margaritaville (2017)
“In the earlier incarnations of the playhouse, there was much more of a mix of revivals and new work. I have really leaned us into new work. We’ve done [57] world premieres in my time here,” he says. “Everybody at the playhouse really takes seriously the idea of the new and the next. Being a doula to new projects is really satisfying—I get to run a theater during a golden age of American writing for the theater.”
Courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical (2023)
Central to that mission is the 12-year-old Without Walls (WOW) Festival, an annual spring showcase of site-specific and immersive performances. “We were on the leading edge of a kind of work that is starting to really take hold in America,” Ashley adds. “These shows really challenge the relationship between audience and artist. People go because they know it’s going to happen only tonight and never again. Theater offers community—[an opportunity] to come together to experience a story—and that feels more powerful in this moment than it ever has before.”
Courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse Memphis (2008)
The sentiment is especially poignant in light of Ashley’s imminent return to New York as artistic director of Roundabout Theatre Company. But he’ll never forget his time here. “It’s the main chapter in my life,” he says. “I don’t know that San Diego gets quite the credit it deserves for what a great city for the arts it is.” Thanks to Ashley, though, it’s begun to receive its fair share of star billing.
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.
Renewable energy companies building hundreds of power plants. Biotech startups using artificial intelligence to create personalized medicine for children with rare diseases. Hospitality companies quietly powering thousands of local events. Consumer brands growing from beach-town startups into national businesses. These are the kinds of companies driving San Diego’s economy today, and the businesses recognized at this year’s San Diego Business Impact Awards offer a snapshot of where the region is headed.
Hosted July 23 by San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and JPMorganChase, the second annual awards event honored four local companies for innovation, growth, and economic impact. More than 100 nominations from San Diego’s middle-market businesses were reviewed by a 10-person judging committee, with winners selected across four categories: startup, early-stage innovator, rising star, and established heavyweight.
Two-time honoree Jimbo Someck, founder of Jimbo’s organic grocery stores, also joined the event for a fireside chat on buying local, supporting emerging brands, and giving back to the community.
“San Diego’s strength comes from its makers and builders—the resilient people who endure great risks and overcome obstacles to build and scale a company,” says Aaron Ryan, San Diego Region Manager and Middle Market Banking at JPMorganChase & Co. “These awards aren’t just recognition; they spotlight the talent, grit, and innovation shaping our region’s future. By celebrating those who create and build, we foster connections and fuel the growth that keeps San Diego thriving.”
Matt Furman Photography
Building the Infrastructure Behind Clean Energy
Heavyweight honoree SOLV Energy has grown alongside the country’s rapid investment in renewable power. “It’s an exciting time for SOLV Energy as we are experiencing significant growth,” says CEO George Hershman. “The business has doubled over the last year and has almost double-digit growth since its inception.”
The Rancho Bernardo-based company designs, builds, operates, and maintains utility-scale solar and energy storage facilities. Since its founding in 2008, SOLV Energy has built more than 500 power plants.
Growth has translated directly into hiring. About 200 employees work from the company’s local headquarters, including roughly 20 interns. “Our intern program is a big part of the way that we grow our workforce,” Hershman says. “Last year, 43 percent of our interns became full-time employees. We believe San Diego is a great community to build and grow a high-tech infrastructure and technology company because of the incredible workforce—the ability to attract top talent and draw from world-class universities.”
Developing Medicine One Patient at a Time
Startup honoree La Jolla Labs is tackling one of medicine’s biggest challenges by developing personalized RNA therapeutics for patients with rare diseases—many of them children with neurological disorders like ALS. Using proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, the biotech company develops treatments tailored to each patient’s specific genetic mutation.
CEO Tamar Grossman says the recognition reflects how far the company has come despite limited resources. “We’re honored to be recognized for our ability to change and save patients’ lives and turn our lean startup into a clinical company with very minimal resources,” she says.
Grossman credits San Diego’s concentration of research institutions—including UC San Diego, the Salk Institute, and Scripps Research—with creating a pipeline of talent and collaboration. “San Diego is one of the world-leading centers for technology, genomics, and RNA therapeutics,” she says. “We have over 30 RNA therapeutics companies here, and we support each other and help with anything related to drug discovery.”
She says that collaborative spirit extends beyond formal partnerships. “You can walk around Torrey Pines, go into a café, and find colleagues from the industry and have an ad hoc conversation,” Grossman says. “That’s something very unique to San Diego.”
While Snake Oil Venue Company may not be a household name, chances are many San Diegans have attended one of its events. The early-stage innovator honoree has expanded from beverage catering and mixology consulting into venue management, operating Julep Venue in Mission Hills, Bramble Bay Venue in Imperial Beach, Vesper Venue, the Chapel at Liberty Station, and five outdoor venues throughout Liberty Station—more than 500,000 square feet of event space altogether.
“We do a lot of launch parties for corporations and new products,” says CEO Mike Esposito. “I really like working on the entrepreneur side of things, where new businesses are entering the San Diego market and looking to make a splash.”
Snake Oil has executed more than 16,000 events, employed more than 1,000 people, and partnered with more than 900 local vendors, including caterers, florists, photographers, entertainers, and other hospitality businesses. The company also works with many of San Diego’s nonprofits, museums, and cultural institutions. “We get to celebrate people’s most important moments,” Esposito says. “Whether that’s a wedding, celebration of life, or quinceañera, we’re fortunate to be involved in the community in so many different ways.”
Matt Furman Photography
Growing a Beach-Town Brand into a National Business
Rising star honoree ALOHA Collection is proof that a simple idea can grow into a thriving company. Founded by two roommates who wanted a better way to carry wet swimsuits after a day at the beach, the lifestyle brand has grown into a business while maintaining strong year-over-year growth.
Now headquartered in Carlsbad, ALOHA Collection employs more than 100 people and operates its California flagship store in Encinitas, which is slated for a remodel. With roots in Hawaii, the company is known for its lightweight, splash-proof travel bags that have become a familiar sight on beaches in San Diego and beyond.
“‘Aloha’ is part of our name, but it’s also how we move through the world,” says CEO Lynna Barnard. “It’s how we show up for people, the way we travel, the way we give back.” Since day one, the company has maintained a 5 percent giveback to Hawaii conservation efforts, contributing millions of dollars over the years.
“I think what’s so inspiring about ALOHA Collection, and the founders in particular, is when you dream big, those dreams can come true when you work hard and trust in the universe,” Barnard says. “It’s inspiring to be a role model for other people wanting to start businesses from humble beginnings. Start small and watch it grow.”
Together, businesses like these form a cornerstone of San Diego’s economy—not only through the jobs and revenue they generate—but through the local workers they hire, vendors they support, and investments they make in the region. Their growth doesn’t happen in isolation; it ripples outward, strengthening the broader business community and the people who call San Diego home.
December is somehow already here, and San Diego is closing out the year with one last festive hurrah. As 2026 peeks around the corner, the city is glowing with holiday theater productions, twinkling light displays, cheerful concerts, and end-of-year celebrations. From Santa Runs and over-the-top boat light shows to local makers markets and family-friendly festivals, there’s no shortage of fun things to do in San Diego this month. Whether you’re chasing holiday cheer, planning weekends with visiting family, or looking for the best festive events in San Diego this December, you’ll have no problem filling your calendar before the ball drops.
Courtesy of Fever Candlelight: Christmas Carols on Strings
Concerts & Festivals in San Diego This Month
Mariachi Sol de México at Balboa Theatre
December 4
Latin Grammy nominee José Hernández leads Mariachi Sol de México for a festive, family-friendly fiesta featuring classic mariachi tunes and beloved holiday hits at the Balboa Theatre in downtown.
In the San Diego Bay Parade of Lights, the floats literally float—80 boats will traverse the bay, decked out in dazzling lights and Christmas décor, for the viewing pleasure of more than 100,000 attendees.
Candlelight: Christmas Carols on Strings at Star Theatre
December 19
Score serious romantic brownie points by treating your sweetheart to a Christmas concert by candlelight. A string quartet at the Star Theatre in Oceanside will serenade audiences with instrumental versions of “O Holy Night,” “Joy to the World,” and other favorites.
Noel Noel at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
December 19–21
The San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Master Chorale, and Children’s Choir will all take the stage at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park for Noel Noel, three nights of Christmas tunes and cheerful sing-alongs.
Photo Credit: Johann Milio
Theater & Art Exhibits in San Diego This Month
Balboa Park December Nights
December 5–6
Enjoy free access to the Mingei International Museum and the Japanese Friendship Garden, paint mini figures at the Comic-Con Museum, pick up handmade ceramic gifts at the Institute of Contemporary Art, and meet Santa Claus at the Automotive Museum as part of Balboa Park December Nights.
Spend an evening in a magical world of sugar plum fairies, leaping nutcrackers, and villainous mice with the Golden State Ballet’s breathtaking performance of The Nutcracker at the San Diego Civic Theatre.
Photo Credit: 3Pix Studios
More Fun Things to Do in San Diego This Month
Nitro Circus at Pechanga Arena
December 6
Action movies not quite high-stakes enough for you? Head to Pechanga Arena for Nitro Circus, a heart-pumping display of gravity-defying tricks from fearless motocross, skateboard, and scooter athletes.
Think of the Del Mar Fairgrounds’ Coastal Christmas as winter’s answer to the county fair—the family event features a sparkling holiday light trail, an ice-skating rink, a wine walk, a kids’ zone, and more.
San Diego Santa Run
December 13
If St. Nick needed a few doppelgängers to help him hit every house on Christmas Eve, he’d simply need to head to Pacific Beach, where more than 40,000 participants will don his iconic suit for the San Diego Santa Run, the city’s silliest 5K.
Gaslamp Pet Parade
December 13
Get your furry family members outfitted in ugly sweaters or elfin attire and join the annual Gaslamp Pet Parade. Afterward, animals and their owners can head to the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter for free photo ops, fun games, and a costume contest awards ceremony.
November is here, and San Diego is buzzing with events and activities to kick off the holiday season. From community street fairs and local 5Ks to the 250th anniversary celebrations of the Navy and Marine Corps, there’s no shortage of things to do in the city this month. Sports fans can catch the Rady Children’s Invitational, one of San Diego’s hottest sports events, while art lovers can enjoy La Jolla Playhouse’s new play and the Coronado Island Film Festival. With so many exciting San Diego events in November, there’s something for everyone before Thanksgiving and the holidays arrive!
Photo Credit: James Tran San Diego Food + Wine Festival
Food & Drink Events in San Diego This Month
San Diego Food + Wine Festival 2025
November 7–9
Celeb chefs, James Beard Award nominees, and local culinary innovators lend their star power to the San Diego Food + Wine Festival’s stacked lineup of events across the city, including an epic grand tasting on November 8 at the Embarcadero Marina Park North.
Bikes & Beers San Diego, a 15- to 45-mile cruise through the county (with plenty of refreshment stops), begins and ends at AleSmith Brewing Company in Miramar. Relax after your ride with a couple of pints, included with your registration fee.
Photo Credit: Kambria Fischer Celebrating Women
Concerts & Festivals in San Diego This Month
San Diego Magazine‘s Celebrating Women 2025
November 5
The county’s movers and shakers will gather at downtown’s UCSD Park & Market for Celebrating Women, an evening honoring local women leaders across industries. Expect empowering speakers, networking and professional development opportunities, women-owned pop-up shops, tasty hors d’oeuvres, and plentiful drinks.
Back for its 10th anniversary, the Coronado Island Film Festival is a glamorous five-night celebration with premieres, parties, red carpets, and culinary pairings, plus a short film exhibition.
Encinitas Street Fair
November 23
The annual Encinitas Holiday Street Fair kicks off winter festivities with live music, local vendors, and twinkling décor along the 101 South Coast Highway.
Photo Credit: Sophy Hooland Working Girl at the La Jolla Playhouse
Theater & Art Exhibits in San Diego This Month
Working Girl at the La Jolla Playhouse
November 1–December 7
La Jolla Playhouse’s world-premiere adaptation of the Oscar-nominated 1988 rom-com Working Girlgets a musical boost from an industry icon: Cyndi Lauper, who wrote the lyrics and score.
Bibbidi, bobbidi, ballet—Cinderella trades her glass slippers for pointe shoes in a dazzling dance adaptation of the classic fable at the San Diego Civic Theatre.
Hit your step goals and support breast cancer research while you’re at it. The San Diego arm of the nationwide Susan G. Komen More Than Pink Walk will take participants on a 1.5- or 2.5-mile stroll through Balboa Park.
Ride the Point Fundraiser
November 8
Altruistic athletes pedal five-to 62-mile routes in Point Loma each year for Ride the Point, a fundraiser for pancreatic cancer research held in honor of late cyclist Jim Krause. Afterward, explore a wellness-focused expo at Oggi’s in Liberty Station.
Silver Strand Half Marathon
November 9
The Silver Strand Half Marathon leans into the seaside setting of its 13.1-mile, 10-mile, and 5K routes between Coronado Island and Imperial Beach with aloha-print participant shirts, surfboard-shaped medals, and a post-run beach party featuring live music and beer.
Rady Children’s Invitational Basketball Tournament
November 27–28
For its third year, the Rady Children’s Invitational heads to its new home at the Jenny Craig Pavilion at the University of San Diego, a bigger stage for this showdown of top college hoops.
Sloane Moriarty is a rising Junior at the University of California, Berkeley where she studies English and Education and writes for the Daily Californian newspaper. When she is not at a coffee shop doing work, you will find her in front of a bowl of pasta and a good book.
If you’re anything like us, it can be easy to get so caught up in taking care of everyone else, that your own needs get lost in the ether. But while this may be a cliché, that doesn’t make it any less true: You can’t give your best self to other people unless you’re taking care of yourself.
Sometimes, that looks like stopping in for your regular acupuncture or chiropractic appointment. Other days, it means giving your body the fresh, organic fuel it needs to truly feel and function at its best. And some other times still, it involves leaving your responsibilities behind for a weekend to pamper yourself at an incredible resort and spa.
Only you can decide what your truly need. We’re just here to help you find the best ways to get it.
Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa
Island living meets desert luxury at the Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa in Indian Wells. When you step onto the 11-acre property, you’ll be surrounded by sweeping view of the Santa Rosa Mountains with olive trees and fragrant citrus groves decorating the grounds. In other words, everything about this relaxed but refined resort is primed to help you let go of the stress from home and enjoy easy sun-soaked days and gorgeous starry nights.
The rooms blend calming, woven textures with Tommy Bahama’s signature tropical prints and feature private lanais, making it easy unwind the moment you walk in the door. If you book one of the four Villa Suites, you’ll be treated to exclusive Tommy Bahama furniture and unique personal touches to further that feeling of instant ease.
At the award-winning Spa Rosa, the expert team will help reset and recharge your body and mind using methods and rituals inspired by the desert. The 12,000-square-foot retreat includes outdoor soaking pools, eucalyptus steam rooms, and outdoor cabanas, as well as massages, facials, and body masks—all aimed at creating a day dedicated to you. We’re particularly partial to the Day Long Escape, an indulgent all-day affair of CDBs soaks, renewing scrubs, life changing massages, and transformative facials.
Following your treatment, continue the experience with a meal on the patio at Grapefruit Basil. We love the Hamachi Crudo, a light, citrus-forward dish featuring premium yellowtail, house-made ponzu, creamy avocado, and fresh seasonal garnishes.
Whether you’re strolling the gardens, relaxing beside its saltwater pools, or indulging in a restorative treatment, you’ll be able to escape in style and relax in luxury at the Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa.
Healcove Chiropractic
There’s no shortage of ways to stay active in San Diego—but if you really want to enjoy everything the city has to offer, you’ve got to make sure you’re giving your body its tune-ups. Enter: Healcove Chiropractic. The board-certified chiropractors and wellness professionals at Healcove are experts at addressing that stage where you’re not injured, exactly, but you’re not at 100%, either. Maybe you’re feeling a bit tense or stressed out. Or it could be that you’re not quite moving the way you want to. Sometimes, it’s just that the accumulation of days, weeks, or even years of daily strain is starting to take a toll. No matter what stage you find yourself at, the Healcove Chiropractic team can provide integrated, preventative care centered on long-term, science-backed approaches that ensure you can always stay active and live the life you want to live pain-free.
This starts by providing truly individualized care. Every patient can expect a thorough 60-minute consultation session that includes a posture and movement screening. This allows the team to develop a completely personalized plan. That plan might include chiropractic care, acupuncture, or massage therapy, as well as functional fitness training, vibration and sound therapy, and Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization, a clinical rehabilitation method that retrains the body’s stabilization systems. Whatever the team recommends, you can be sure that it’s tailored to meeting your body’s needs today and the future.
There’s a reason that San Diego Magazine named Healcove the “Best Chiropractor in San Diego”—don’t wait until you’re struggling with an injury to find out why. Book an appointment today for holistic, integrated care that helps ground and heal your body before it reaches a crisis point.
Juice Holler
West Coast wellness culture meets the community feel of Southern Appalachia at Juice Holler. Juice Holler’s menu consists of made-to-order smoothies and smoothie bowls, as well as grab-and-go cold-pressed juices, wellness shots, salads, and more. It operates from the blissfully simple premise that fueling up with food and drink that’s guilt-free and good your body should be simple, accessible, and, above all else, delicious. And if you haven’t yet made it out to the Encinitas café, which opened just this year, let us be the first to tell you: Juice Holler delivers on each and every of these fronts.
We love the Supercharger smoothie, a mood-lifting and body-fueling option made with banana, almond butter, blue spirulina, maca, grass-fed whey protein, raw cacao nibs, medjool dates, and coconut milk. We’re also partial to the Thrive Alive smoothie bowl, where avocado, mango, sea moss, spirulina, mint, coconut milk, and agave are mixed and topped with coconut, chia seeds, strawberry, mango, and chocolate drizzle. The wellness shots include the Detoxifier, a cleansing blend of kale, cucumber, lemon and spirulina, plus a shot specially designed to fight inflammation (named, fittingly, Anti-Inflammation). Probiotic overnight oats, lemon turmeric bars, and strawberry shortcake chia pudding are other standouts on the grab-and-go menu.
Much of the vibe feels beachy North County chic—think green tile with orange and pink accents, grounded with greenery and natural wood—but Juice Holler founder Kelly Sergott, a longtime Encinitas local, has also enfused the space with her Kentucky roots. In Appalachia, a holler is small valley between hills and mountains, where nature reigns, community is king, and nourishment comes right from the land. At Juice Holler, Sergott has created a holler for the busy modern times, using local ingredients to create a spot for people to come together and enjoy fresh, fast, feel-good fuel for their day.
Everwell Acupuncture
We’ve all had that experience with a medical professional where we’ve felt rushed, ignored, or misunderstood—and ultimately, like we didn’t get the answers that we needed. But at Everwell, the holistic acupuncture practice located in Solana Beach, the care team wants to transform your understanding of what healthcare can look like.
Patients at Everwell experience care rooted in intentional listening and radical empathy—and trust us, those aren’t just corporate buzzwords. This place actually puts those ideas into practice. You will always be given the time you need to tell your story— initial in-take appointments are two hours long—and you can rest assured that your story will be believed. Every single question and concern will be addressed by a dedicated practitioner who wants to find the specific solutions that work best for you, and you’ll receive care that’s aimed at healing the body, mind, and spirit.
Everwell’s highly trained, doctorate-level practitioners blend evidence-based acupuncture with the practice of classical Chinese medicine. (If you’ve never tried acupuncture before or aren’t sure if the team will be a fit, we’d highly recommended Everwell’s complimentary 20-minute consultations.) Research shows that by stimulating specific points on the body, acupuncture activates a natural healing response in the body, helping to restore balance, regulate the nervous system, and improve overall wellbeing. This allows the practice to address an incredibly wide range of conditions from chronic pain and autoimmune disorders to digestive issues, from stress and burnout to headaches migraines, fertility and postpartum struggles, hormonal imbalances, sleep concerns and more.
At Everwell, you can expect to feel heard, trusted, respected, and cared for. This is a space that doesn’t want to be just another healthcare provider you visit; it wants to provide patients with dedicated partner who will be there for their entire health journey.
