I Tried It: Scuba Diving

Fall Arts Preview presented by SDFC Playmakers

September

Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World

Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art

Now through Jan. 10, 2027

Sift through over 200 photographs, sketches, letters, and costumes from “The King of Vogue,” who photographed World War II, modernized royal portraits, and created the aesthetic for 1920s socialites in London.

Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea

Natural History Museum

Now through Feb. 28, 2027

Walk through an 18-foot whale ribcage (and a couple dozen other marine-creature sculptures) made entirely of plastic bottles, flip-flops, lighters, rope, and other plastic detritus found on the beach in the Nat’s 3,000-square-foot second-floor gallery.

Forging a Legacy: 15 Years of Landmark Acquisitions

San Diego Museum of Art

Now through May 31, 2027

Part of SDMA’s centennial, “Forging a Legacy,” highlights artists from the past (Picasso, Monet) and modern day (Hugo Crosthwaite) who contributed to the museum’s collection.

ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year

Fleet Science Center

Now through 2027

See the stars (without the smog) at their best from the winners of the world’s largest astrophotography competition—all in the Fleet Science Center’s new basement gallery, specifically dimmed to let the cosmos shine.

Begin Again

The Old Globe

Sept. 6–Oct. 11

From the 2013 silver screen to this year’s The Old Globe stage, you can “Begin Again” (again) with a world-premiere musical adaptation featuring new songs—courtesy of Train—and a story overflowing with hope.

Dear Evan Hansen

Cygnet Theatre

Sept. 9–Oct. 4

“On the outside, always looking in…” marks the emotional crux of the Tony-, Grammy-, and Emmy-award winning musical coming to the Cygnet Theatre.

Kumeyaay Comics by the Kumeyaay Visual Storytelling Project

Museum of Us

Opening Sept. 12

Learn the history of the Kumeyaay Nation from the perspective of the members themselves in an immersive exhibit inspired by graphic novels “Our Past, Present, and Future,” and “Beyond Gaming.”

Good Night, Oscar

North Coast Repertory Theatre

Sept. 16–Oct. 11

During Oscar Levant’s appearances on “The Jack Paar Show,” he explained his reality with mental illness—the institutionalizations, electroshock therapies, nothing was too taboo for him. “Good Night, Oscar” takes us backstage in the raw moments before his 1958 television appearance.

Visiones Nocturnas: Queer Nightlife in Contemporary Art

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

Sept. 19–Jan. 10, 2027

A disco ball isn’t just a disco ball. It’s a symbol of where queer communities can finally exhale and be their fullest selves. “Visiones Nocturnas” uses paintings, sculptures, textiles, performances, photos, and videos from Latin American artists to explore what’s at stake when nightclub lights shut off.

Silent Movie Mondays

Balboa Theatre

Sept. 21, Oct. 26, Dec. 7

Guest organists from across the country will come to the Balboa Theatre to accompany a new silent film for each performance. This year closes out with The Headless Horseman (1922), Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1920), and a holiday triple feature of Laurel and Hardy films.

Oh, Mary!

Civic Theatre

Sept. 29–Oct. 4

“What if Abe’s assassination wasn’t such a bad thing for Mary Todd Lincoln?” was the question that inspired Cole Escola’s play “Oh, Mary!” In the production, Mary Todd desperately tries to return to the cabaret stage, but her husband (President Lincoln in the midst of the Civil War) keeps getting in the way.

October

Payare Leads Strauss’ A Hero’s Life

Jacobs Music Center

Oct. 3–4

Conductor Rafael Payare opens the San Diego Symphony’s 2026-2027 season with a three-part concert featuring composers Sofia Gubaidulina, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Richard Strauss.

Emily–No Prisoner Be

Baker-Baum Concert Hall

Oct. 8

Two dozen of Emily Dickinson’s poems are turned into songs—composed by Pulitzer Prize winner Kevin Puts and performed by Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato—for a one-night-only exploration of love, loss, loneliness, and mortality.

Ripcord

The Roustabouts Theatre Co.

Oct. 8–Nov. 1

Roommate beef has no age limit. The latest play from Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire turns that experience into a comedy through retirement home roommates Marilyn and Abby and the bet between them to see who will break first and move out.

Des Canyons aux Étoiles

La Casa del Zorro

Oct. 12

Composer Olivier Messiaen has chromesthia, so for him, sound evokes a visual connotation. His work “Des Canyons aux Étoiles” brings desert rock and the night sky to mind. See what he means from La Casa del Zorro in the Anza-Borrego Desert, in this performance immersed within nature.

San Diego International Film Festival

Locations Vary

Oct. 13–18

San Diego International Film Festival salutes the silver screen for a 25th time, now with a sixth day adding extra time for parties, screenings, and movie-star tributes.

Rigoletto

Civic Theatre

Oct. 23–25

Considered one of the masterpieces from opera great Giuseppe Verdi, San Diego Opera’s “Rigoletto” sees what happens when the prurient Duke of Mantua and his sharp-tongued court jester become entangled in a fatal curse.

Grim

La Jolla Playhouse

Oct. 27–Nov. 29

When the Grim Reaper’s job becomes too…grim…and he retires after 300,000 years, his daughter picks up the family business. But when she falls for a human and finds beauty in the souls she’s meant to reap, she questions her purpose.

November

Skate Craft

Mingei International Museum

Nov. 21–May 9, 2027

San Diego is nothing without skate culture. Mingei’s “Skate Craft” portrays skateboarding as “living folk art” via its DIY roots (skateboards built in garages) and shows how that ethos shapes the future.

Summer’s penultimate weekend promises beers, zines, festivals, and many other ways to spend your free time. Those looking to eat (and drink) out can embark on the Taste of Gaslamp, explore the many eateries participating in San Diego Restaurant Week, and check out Stone Brewing’s free 30th anniversary celebration. On the festival circuit, there’s the return of both the Sessions Surf Festival and Cardiff Greek Festival to the shores of Encinitas, as well as the first-ever Alley Cat Art Fest in Downtown El Cajon. Additional experiences include Pierce the Veil’s tour finale at Petco Park, the beginning of Our Lady of the San Diego Convention Center’s citywide run, and the COMPRESSED Zine & Music Fair. 

JUMP TO: Food & Drink | Concerts & Festivals | Theater & Art Exhibits | More Fun Things to Do

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Food & Drink Events in San Diego This Weekend

Stone Brewing 30th Anniversary Celebration

September 12

It all began in 1996 with a humble San Marcos warehouse and the soon-to-be-famous Stone Pale Ale. Now, three decades and several award-winning beers later, Stone Brewing is marking its thirtieth anniversary with a free, jam-packed celebration at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station. This Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., there will be arcade games, dog adoptions, ‘90s movies, live music, a cigar lounge, craft brews, and much more. VIP tickets ($133), which come with perks like exclusive two-ounce rare beer pours, are available online.

2816 Historic Decatur Road, Point Loma

Taste of Gaslamp

September 12

Channel your inner foodie during the 30th annual Taste of Gaslamp, San Diego’s longest-running neighborhood culinary tour. This Saturday from 1-4 p.m., tasters can roam through the Gaslamp Quarter (16 blocks to be exact) for bites from over 20 participating locations, with five extra bites and sips for VIP ticketholders. Before and after the event, all attendees are invited to party with cocktails, music and even more food on the Sunbird Rooftop at AC Hotel (noon to 2 p.m.) and at the 5 O’Clock Somewhere Rooftop Bar (4-7 p.m.). Ticket options include general admission ($62) and VIP admission ($88).

Gaslamp

San Diego Restaurant Week

September 13-20

Searching for a specific cuisine? Looking for a new date night spot? Interested in a prix-fixe meal at a familiar favorite? Then consider checking out the over 120 local eateries taking part in San Diego Restaurant Week, with meals starting at $20. From Coronado’s Blanco Cocina + Cantina to Oceanside’s Piper and dozens of restaurants in between, search by price, cuisine, meal type, dietary desires, and neighborhood. Plus, patrons can enjoy seasonal ingredients by choosing dishes that feature Specialty Produce’s huitlacoche mushrooms and artisan romaine lettuce.

Citywide

Concerts & Festivals in San Diego This Weekend

Buddy Guy 90 at The Rady Shell

September 11

See two generations of blues talent, and celebrate a legendary guitarist’s 90th birthday, this Friday (7:30 p.m.) at The Rady Shell. Fresh off his acting role in Sinners, Buddy Guy is coasting through something of a late career revival, and like the name of his 2018 album, it’s clear the blues are alive and well. Buddy Guy 90 continues the Louisiana native’s nationwide tour with a little help from rising blues artist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, who is 63 years younger than Guy. Tickets range from $68-$173 for this concert.

222 Marina Park Way, Embarcadero

Kamasi Washington at Music Box

September 11

Hours upon hours can be spent dissecting a Kamasi Washington record—especially 2018’s Heaven and Earth—and each listen will still surprise. Every release from the jazz saxophonist and bandleader feels like an event, whether it’s a wondrous solo project, a supergroup team-up (ex: Dinner Party, West Coast Get Down), or a contribution to projects by the likes of Kendrick Lamar, St. Vincent, and Thundercat. This Friday at 9 p.m., Washington will take his talents to Music Box along with special guest DJ Ratty. Tickets are $68 for this 21-plus concert.

1337 India Street, Little Italy

Alley Cat Art Fest

September 12

One year after the first-ever Artivál, the event is merging with the Alley Cat Art Walk, a longtime Downtown El Cajon favorite, to form the inaugural Alley Cat Art Fest. This Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., stroll through Prescott Promenade, Main Street and Arts Alley for murals, live music, food, drinks and the works of over 50 participating artists, including photography, painting, sculptures, and more. Plus, festival proceeds will go towards supporting the area’s existing murals and future public art projects in the area.

Downtown El Cajon

Pierce the Veil at Petco Park

September 12

People remember the first time they see Joe Dreamz.

Mine was a mile into the 2023 Carlsbad Half Marathon. He was standing on a speaker in the middle of the course, singing: “Hey you with the shoes, are you living Joe Dreamz?” Clearly not. I’m running uphill at 7 in the morning, I thought.

Months later, walking out of The Rady Shell, there he was again—parting the crowd of concertleavers Moses and the Red Sea style, singing the same song: “Hey you with the purse, are you living Joe Dreamz?”

Who’s this man at every public spectacle, singing metaphysical questions in a hand-altered, color-coordinating suit that would make James Brown proud and standing on a Soundboks speaker with a microphone and tip bucket?

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A few years ago, San Carlos–born, El Cajon–based Joe Dreamz wasn’t exactly living Joe Dreamz—making $5 footlongs at Subway, dealing with croissant coworkers at Costco’s bakery, and selling life insurance. After he got let go from the life insurance gig and his car broke down in the middle of a 2020 road trip in Seattle, he used his emergency savings to buy a microphone and a speaker; a self-taught musician, he pulled from the only skillset he knew to monetize. He’d set up at Seattle’s Pier 55 and ask people what their dreams were. Then, for $5, create a freestyle rap to commemorate (and hopefully activate) those dreams.

“The goal is that someone listens to a Joe Dreamz song, and they don’t have to wait until metaphorically their car breaks down before they chase their dreams,” he says.

A chance encounter with an airport worker led to a free flight back to San Diego, and Joe Dreamz came home “transformed,” he says. He started busking at the Mission Beach boardwalk, Kate Sessions Park, outside Gaslamp bars; then Padres games, farmers markets, marathons. He also hit the mic outside of Coachella this year (“Joe-chella,” he says).

It’s not a get-viral-quick gimmick; people’s lives are changing. One fan finished writing her book after a dose of Joe Dreamzpiration. Another named his own daughter Joy Dreams.

Now, he’s working on the upstart “Tell Me Your Dream” podcast and DREAM Week in local schools, where each day represents a step toward achievement (D is destination day, R is reason day…). He doesn’t want inspiration to reach you only after hearing a song or watching a video: He believes in this message so much that he literally got DREAM tattooed onto his forehead.

“It’s on my face, so people have no choice [but to see it],” he says. “I’m a local celebrity here, so everywhere I go, people ask me for pictures. In every selfie, the message goes along for the ride too.”

You come home from your first day of school and your parents ask, “Did you make any new friends?” Maybe trading Lunchables or sharing a pack of Oreos helped you break out of your shell to strike up a conversation. Maybe you saw your classmate wearing a Padres hat and asked if his favorite player was also Fernando Tatis Jr. Maybe you’re a natural extrovert who has no problem inviting your entire class to your birthday party.

Making friends is an entirely different beast as an adult. You’re trying to balance your health, work, finances, family, and your sanity. And on top of that, a social life? Impossible.

Being a part of a bigger community—like a rec sports league—helps, but we all need intimacy. Witnesses to the exciting, mundane, shameful parts of our lives. Turns out, men don’t have that as much as women do, and the consequences of this are dire. Roughly 1 in 6 men say they have no close friendships, according to a 2021 American Perspectives Survey. Suicide rates in men are nearly four times higher than they are in women, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Those numbers are even higher for men above 55, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2023).

In Carlsbad, Men’s Shed helps older men build friendships as the group contributes to construction projects across North County. “Men get lonely,” says Glenn Bernard, one of more than 20 members of Men’s Shed in Carlsbad. “This is a good way to bond, socialize, share skills, and have something to do that’s worthwhile. Purposeful.”

What started in Australia in the 1990s has grown into an international nonprofit with more than 3,000 chapters worldwide, including one that meets at Carlsbad By The Sea Retirement Community. Haley DiDonato, director of life enrichment at Carlsbad By The Sea, established California’s first and only public chapter in 2023. Members (aka Shedders) meet twice a month to discuss their projects and get to work.

They’ve built bikes for the local Boys and Girls Club, a raptor shed at the Agua Hedionda Lagoon, a small birdhouse outside Front Porch Gallery, and a gazebo at St. Michael’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, to name a few.

Trade experience isn’t required. David Gilson, the group’s leader, was a pharmaceutical consultant before he retired. Rich Greenamyer is a retired engineering duty officer who built ships in the Navy. When John Gardella wasn’t working sales at Dupont, he woodworked projects for his family at home.

“Men are so tied up in their work all their life,” Gilson says. “Their identity was their job. Suddenly, you retire on Friday, and on Monday they don’t remember you. Now what?”

Marital status also affects how men interact with the community around them. Some Shedders joined because their “wives encourage [them] to be in Men’s Shed, to get out of the house for a couple hours every couple of weeks,” Gardella says. For some widowers in the group—such as Gilson, whose wife passed away eight years ago—Men’s Shed provides a sense of purpose and place. The outings Gilson organizes breaks up the monotony of staying at home with his dog. A 2024 study in the National Library of Medicine says widowers feel long-term levels of loneliness (higher levels than widows), and they were less likely than widows to form new connections after loss. This group is changing that.

The appearance and function of male friendships have been spotlighted since the 300s BC, when Aristotle discussed them in Ethics. Fast forward to the 19th century, and these dynamics have transitioned from heroic friendships—ones built on loyalty and nobility—to ones that better symbolized the Romantic Age: more affectionate in written language (like writing letters to each other) and body language (like draping their arms around one another). By the end of the 1800s, 1 in 3 American men belonged to a fraternal organization.

But when World War II brought a homophobic “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” suspicion around male bonding, friendships between men became more stoic. It wasn’t common for men to talk about their feelings with each other.

In 2026, though, we’re sharing our feelings. Dads Corps, a nonprofit organization through Social Advocates for Youth San Diego, offers classes, resources, and supportive services to fathers. Twice a week for six weeks, fathers practice how to actively listen, learn how to better communicate, and gain more skills that help them in their parenting journeys.

“When dads have kids, they lose their friends because it’s all about just the baby, the mom, and the family,” says Dads Corps director Laura Soto. “When they come to our classes, they get comfortable being able to share their struggles. It does reduce the isolation and help normalize them in that struggle.”

For dads who are new to San Diego, the program helps them navigate their way around the city. For single dads, they can meet other fathers who are raising children the same age to set up playdates. Oftentimes, dads graduate from their cohort and return to volunteer and mentor new attendees.

The program is as therapeutic as it is active. Group facilitators teach dads about healthy relationship practices, answer questions about how they can be more consistent in their children’s lives. It also hosts fishing trips, barbecues, and community service events to let dads practice their learnings with each other outside a classroom.

“It’s about acknowledging that we need to be heard about the concerns that we don’t ask help for as fathers,” says Jorge Narvaez, alumni manager at Dads Corps. “We live in a society where fathers have to look through crevices—go to a bar, go to a barbershop, go to all these different places—just to have interactions with other people. It feels like we finally, as dads at this program, have a space for us to talk.”

But some men don’t want to only talk about their inner selves; they also want to talk about books. For Ronald Alsop, the New York City Gay Men’s Book Club was a place for him to meet local bibliophiles when he lived on the opposite coast. There was no equivalent in San Diego—until he started it in 2019. He created the Mission Hills-Hillcrest Gay Men’s Book Club as a way to meet other men and talk about authors like James Baldwin and Edmund White.

Whether it’s Andrew Holleran’s fictional coming of age Dancer from the Dance (the first book the club read) or George Chauncey’s non-fiction novel Gay New York, the books Alsop chooses share a common thread: Each carries some connection with gay culture.

“Traditionally, gay men were depicted in books in a tragic way,” says Alsop, who is also a freelance writer. “In more recent years, there’s been a more positive spin on it, a more wholesome outcome.”

Alsop initially promoted the group by putting flyers around the neighborhood bars and in Uptown News. He was nervous before the first meeting, afraid no one would show up. Now, there are roughly 35 people on his email blast, and the monthly meetups regularly see 12 to 15 people participate.

“The discussion’s always lively,” Alsop says. “I think it’s a way to get to know people better.”

Throughout the county, because of these groups, people are reading books (its own win, these days) and creating community. Dads and their children are getting invited to birthday parties from their fellow fathers. And in Carlsbad, some Men’s Shed meetings are taking place at Hennessey’s Tavern down the road over brunch. As friends.

Imagine being the song continuously getting skipped on the playlist. Not because no one wants to hear you, but because you never quite fit the moment. For years, San Diego has been that song on the touring circuit. Artists who have outgrown intimate clubs but aren’t yet filling  arenas and stadiums have often passed us by, heading north to venues better suited to the size of their show. San Diego wasn’t missing the audience, it was missing the room.

That’s all about to change.

On August 17, Live Nation Entertainment announced plans to transform the historic Wonder Bread Building, which it purchased in June for $16.8 million, into a 4,000-capacity indoor venue slated to open in fall 2028. The new space will host music acts as well as private, corporate, and community events. 

Currently, San Diego’s concert landscape jumps quickly from intimate clubs like the Casbah, Winston’s, and Belly Up to larger theaters, amphitheaters, arenas, and stadiums. What’s largely missing—particularly downtown—is a modern indoor room built specifically for roughly 4,000 concertgoers. This leaves a gap in mid-size venues for touring acts that land stages like the Hollywood Palladium or Boston’s MGM Music Hall at Fenway. 

“We are filling a void in the market,” says John Schalk, Live Nation’s Vice President, San Diego Market. “There are other venues in town, but this […] building is just something that doesn’t currently exist.” Although SDSU’s Cal Coast Credit Union Amphitheater serves the 4,000-capacity range, its outdoor, fixed-seating arrangement isn’t as versatile as the proposed Live Nation project. 

Located at 171 14th Street, just a six-minute walk from Petco Park, the building carries a century of history. Architect Eugene Hoffman designed it in 1924, a year after completing the Barcelona Apartment Hotel in Bankers Hill. The landmark brick building served as a bakery and warehouse for the Southern California Baking Company before Continental Baking Company, producers of Wonder Bread, took over in the 1950s and operated there through 1988 continued at the site until 2007.

In the early 2000s, Bob and Gay Sinclair, the couple behind a portfolio of East Village properties, purchased the building. After Bob—the founder of Pannikin Coffee & Tea—died in 2011, Gay sold much of their real estate portfolio but held onto the Wonder Bread Building. Mission Brewing eventually took over the space, where it operated for more than a decade before announcing its 2026 departure.

Now, the building is preparing for another reinvention. Live Nation plans to preserve the historic bakery’s four exterior walls, red brick façade, grain silo, barrel-vaulted trusses, and skylights as part of its next chapter.

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Live Nation isn’t looking to erase its history but to celebrate it, allowing the building’s past to give the new venue some soul. “It’s really important for us that we maintain the integrity and the history of that building,” Schalk says. “There will be new construction and design elements as we go through the process to create the concert venue, but we’re working really hard to preserve it.”

Blueprint Studio, Live Nation’s in-house design and development group, and Gensler, the architecture firm behind San Diego International Airport Terminal 1 and Snapdragon Stadium, will be heading the project. The plan is to design the ground-floor space as an open, general-admission area with a premium level above with 600-plus fixed seats, in addition to box and suite sections. There will also be an additional structure built on top of the historical portion of the building (the four original walls that house the lobby) called the Vinyl Room—a Japanese-inspired hi-fi listening VIP lounge serving elevated food options.

One of the most reassuring aspects of the project is the focus on the concertgoer’s experience—specifically the “pet peeves” we all know too well: long bathroom lines, cramped exits, obstructed views. According to Schalk, one of the best things about building upon the existing structure is having the ability to consider potential obstacles and tackle them before construction begins. “I’d say we are ‘purpose building’ the entirety of the project for a music venue,” says Gensler lead project architect Garrett van Leeuwen. “As part of our design process, we do an in-depth sightline analysis to make sure that sightlines are optimized from every point and seat within the venue.” 

Circulation design is also being implemented to ease traffic flow, alongside acoustic optimization and a transformative outdoor beautification effort. According to van Leeuwen, this “public realm space” will grow the existing 14-foot sidewalk to a 32-foot sidewalk complete with plazas and landscaping. 

“This venue is for the fans. For the music lovers,” Schalk explains. The vision is intimate: “I want a fan to walk up to that building, see that red brick facade, grab their ticket from the box office, go into the lobby and see some of the history that will present itself… and feel like you entered a home.” Schalk also expressed a “keen interest in making sure that we work with the local artists, the local bands, the local musicians in town.” It’s a project that recognizes San Diego as a growing market that is hungry and ready to see a vibrant arts and culture community thrive. 

According to an analysis by Oxford Economics analysis shared by Live Nation, the venue is projected to deliver a significant boost to the local economy, generating approximately $97 million in annual economic impact and supporting 660 jobs. This also includes welcoming 316,000 fans each year—with 126,000 traveling from outside the San Diego metro area—and driving $53 million in local spending at nearby restaurants, hotels, and retail establishments. 

Considering its proximity to other major event spaces and overall busy urban areas, traffic and parking may be a concern, especially on nights of overlapping events. But in those cases, Schalk said they would work together on communication efforts; parking availability; and staggering start, end, and loading times; as well as providing easy access to designated rideshare areas. With transit stations nearby (the closest one being a 4-minute walk at 12th & Imperial), public transportation is another great option for enjoying your night out. 

There are still two years of design, construction, and plenty of logistics between now and opening night. But the bigger promise of the Wonder Bread Building is simple: San Diego finally gets a venue built for the artists who have historically passed it by. After years of getting skipped on the touring playlist, the city may finally be getting its turn on repeat.