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]]>Food & Drink | Concerts & Festivals | Theater & Art Exhibits | More Fun Things to Do
Food & Drink Events in San Diego This Weekend
San Diego Ramen Festival
November 21
What better way to fight off the brutal SoCal cold than with a piping hot bowl of ramen? The San Diego Ramen Festival will offer a menu of 12-ounce selections to slurp. The festival takes place at the Handlery Hotel this Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. It also features live entertainment, local pop culture vendors, and ramen-inspired artwork. Ticket options include general admission passes ($44.52) with three ramen servings and VIP ($129.89) with perks like unlimited beer and sake samples, six ramen servings and an extra hour of admission (5 to 6 p.m.).
950 Hotel Circle North, Mission Valley
Parfait Paris 10-Year Anniversary Party
November 23
Parfait Paris is saluting a decade of decadence in San Diego by throwing a street festival packed with sweets. This Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Parisian bakery will offer an assortment of French goodies, along with bites from The Sushi Stand and drinks courtesy of Understory Bar and Hopnonymous Brewing Co. RSVPs are required for this anniversary event, with $5 admission for adults (redeemable for food and drinks) and free entry for children and teens under the age of 15.
3555 India Street, Middletown
Concerts & Festivals in San Diego This Weekend
Cyndi Lauper at Viejas Arena
November 20
Cyndi Lauper sang some of the defining hits of the 1980s and composed the beloved musical adaption of Kinky Boots. Now, on her final arena tour, Lauper is here to remind us all that “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” Tickets are on sale for $55.10 for Wednesday’s concert at Viejas Arena.
5500 Canyon Crest Drive, Rolando
San Diego Live Aid
November 21
Many San Diego families were affected by the devastating rain storms that hit the city in early January. To raise proceeds for them, three local tribute groups—All Fired Up, Supreme Legacy, and The Mamas & The Papas Experience—are throwing a special charity concert. This Thursday evening at Humphreys Backstage Live, guests will hear timeless renditions of nostalgic hits. Tickets range from $23.60 to $39.10
2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island
Theater & Art Exhibits in San Diego This Weekend
Your Local Theater Presents: A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, Again at La Jolla Playhouse
November 19–December 15
In Your Local Theater Presents…, Julliard grad Eddie can’t escape a local production of A Christmas Carol. There will be six preview performances of this world-premiere play at the La Jolla Playhouse now through Nov. 23, with tickets ranging from $30 to $72 before the show officially opens on Nov. 26.
2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla
Just Like Us at Grossmont College Stagehouse Theatre
November 21–23
Based on Helen Thorpe’s nonfiction book of the same name, Just Like Us follows four Latina teenagers who, as the children of undocumented immigrants, are impacted by the heated national debate on immigration. There will be four performances of Just Like This, as well as additional shows Dec. 5–7. Tickets for the general public are $18. This Grossmont College production will also have performances on December 5–7.
8800 Grossmont College Drive, El Cajon
Tres minutos at Jacobs Music Center
November 22
Composer Nicolás Lell Benavides and librettist Marella Martin Koch’s poignant chamber opera, Tres minutos, reckons with the devastation of sudden deportation. The title of the program is inspired by Border Angels’ initiative that grants families three minutes of reunification at the border. The Border Angels documentary Love Has No Borders will be screened before the performance, and ticket-holders can attend an artist talkback after the show. Tickets to this musical program at Jacobs Music Center Friday night can be purchased for $35 here.
1245 Seventh Avenue, Downtown
CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Theater’s joyUS justUS at Mandeville Auditorium
November 22 & 23
Created and directed by Ana Maria Alvarez, joyUS justUS is a collaborative effort between communities of color in South Los Angeles, who aim to demonstrate joy as a form of resistance. General admission is $40 and can be purchased here.
9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla
It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play at Spreckels Performing Arts Center
November 22–December 15
Beginning this Friday, the Spreckels Performing Arts Center will host an audio-centric take on a beloved holiday film, presenting It’s a Wonderful Life as a vintage radio play à la Orson Welles’ The War of The Worlds. There will be evening showings Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. General admission tickets are $32 and can be purchased here.
5409 Snyder Rohnert Park, Rohnert Park
PST ART Weekend: San Diego & La Jolla
November 22-24
Free interactive events are popping up all over San Diego this weekend as part of Getty’s PST ART initiative. PST ART Weekend: San Diego & La Jolla will include a festive art party at MCASD in La Jolla (Nov. 23), a hands-on art workshop in Oceanside (Nov. 24), the premiere of five new musical compositions derived from weather data at C You Saturday! (Nov. 23) at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Balboa Park, and much more. Best of all, most of the 20 events are free and only require an RSVP.
Citywide
German Expressionism at San Diego Museum of Art
Opens November 23
Starting this Saturday, visitors to the San Diego Museum of Art can explore the museum’s German Expressionism exhibition, which documents a transformative period in the early 20th century when German and Austrian artists began to rail against tradition. The show will feature paintings, drawings, and prints endowed to SDMA’s permanent collection in 2011 from the estate of collector Vance E. Kondon.
1450 El Prado, Balboa Park
More Fun Things to Do in San Diego This Weekend
Coin-Op Game Room 11th Anniversary
November 19
Coin-Op Game Room is taking it totally retro for its 11th anniversary bash, with an ’80s-centric, neon-themed gathering this Tuesday from 8 p.m. to midnight at its North Park location. The celebration features tunes from DJ KC Dalton, tattooing from American Gypsy Tattoo artist Sebastian Garcia, caricature art from Dianna Colina, and classic cocktails, from piña coladas to Midori sours.
3926 30th Street, North Park
Rady Children’s Ice Rink at ARTS DISTRICT
November 21–January 5
Liberty Station’s Central Promenade will once again play host to the outdoor Rady Children’s Ice Rink, with net proceeds going towards Rady Children’s Hospital’s Thriving After Cancer program. Guests can lace up their skates through January 5, beginning with this Thursday’s opening day from 4 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children, and you can purchase them in advance here.
2875 Dewey Road, Point Loma
Santee Holiday Lighting
November 22
The city of Santee offers a plethora of family-friendly activities from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. this Friday at the Santee Holiday Lighting. Held at Santee Trolley Square, this free event will feature live music by the Bayou Brothers, photos with Santa, face painting, sledding, arts and crafts activities, and of course, the tree-lighting ceremony.
9884 Mission Gorge Road, Santee
Encinitas Holiday Street Fair
November 24
Explore more than 450 local arts, craft, and retail vendors at the Encinitas Holiday Street Fair this Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This free community event also includes kids’ rides, two live entertainment stages with local musicians and dancers, and a dog zone.
Coast Highway 101 between D and J streets, Encinitas
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]]>Food & Drink | Concerts & Festivals | Theater & Art Exhibits | More Fun Things to Do
Food & Drink Events in San Diego This Weekend
Chefsgiving at Pendry San Diego
November 14
Several of the city’s finest chefs will serve up an early Thanksgiving feast this Thursday at Pendry San Diego’s Provisional Kitchen, Cafe & Mercantile from 6 to 9 p.m. NBC San Diego reporters Joe Little and Audra Stafford host Chefsgiving, an event in which local chefs will prepare dishes like duck carnitas, lobster mac n’ cheese, and dark chocolate truffle torte (see the full menu here) with wine pairings from The Prisoner Wine Company. Tickets for this 21-plus dinner are $150 per person, which includes a $30 donation to the San Diego Food Bank.
425 Fifth Avenue, Gaslamp
Bikes & Beers San Diego
November 16
This Saturday, push your pedals to the max for an ice-cold reward at AleSmith Brewing Company. At Bikes & Beers, cyclists can take a GPS-guided tour of San Diego, with a choice of a 15-, 30- or 45-mile race out and back with refreshments and rest stops along the way. Upon their return, riders can enjoy an afterparty featuring live music, games, raffles, and pint glasses full of beer. Ticket options range from $30 to $85 for Bikes & Beers.
9990 AleSmith Court, Miramar
World Naan Festival
November 16
The Encore Event Center hosts the second annual World Naan Festival from 12 to 4 p.m. this Saturday. Attendees can enjoy six naan tastings and several samples from each food vendor, along with cooking demonstrations and competitions, live music, henna design, and cultural dance performances. Tickets are $25 for adults and $5 for kids ages 3 to 12 years old.
8253 Ronson Road, Kearny Mesa
Fall Artisan Market & Wine Tasting Fest
November 16
This Saturday, the Mission Bay Beach Club will welcome local retail and artisan vendors and winemakers for the Fall Artisan Market & Wine Tasting Fest. The free market will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with live music and plenty of chances for holiday shopping. The wine fest takes place from 2 to 5 p.m., and a $40 ticket gets you samples of 15 wines.
2688 East Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay
Concerts & Festivals in San Diego This Weekend
Rainbow Kitten Surprise at the Rady Shell
November 12
At a Tuesday night show at the Rady Shell, alt rockers Rainbow Kitten Surprise will perform tracks from Love Hate Music Box, the band’s latest album. Madi Diaz, whose new album Weird Faith features the countrified banger “Don’t Do Me Good” with Kacey Musgraves, will open. Tickets for Tuesday’s concert start at $74.60 and can be purchased on Ticketmaster.
222 Marina Park Way, Embarcadero
Valley Arts Festival
November 16
Celebrate Oceanside’s indigenous community at the annual Valley Arts Festival at Heritage Park, put on by the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians of the Luiseño Nation from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Friday. This year’s festival features an educational kíicha, the traditional dome-shaped shelter of the Luiseño people. Friday’s entertainment will include Native American drumming, blues, and storytelling, as well as interactive community murals, dancing demonstrations, and activities like rock and gourd painting, basket weaving, and jewelry making.
220 Peyri Drive, Oceanside
Cowboy Bebop LIVE
November 15
Despite running for just over two dozen episodes at the turn of the century, Cowboy Bebop is one of the most enduring anime series of all time, with an international fan base, widespread acclaim, and even a live-action Netflix adaptation. Now, the intergalactic journeys of the Bebop’s bounty hunter crew will be soundtracked live by the 14-piece Bebop Bounty Big Band. As the animated adventures play out on the big screen at The Magnolia this Friday, the jazz ensemble will breathe even more life and love into a franchise that’s somehow still on the rise. Tickets start at $59 for this performance.
210 East Main Street, El Cajon
Concerts at Gallagher Square at Petco Park
November 15 & 17
Though the nights are getting a bit frostier, outdoor concert season is still in full swing at Gallagher Square. On Friday night, rock bands Thrice and Manchester Orchestra will revisit their classics. Then, Sunday evening, Becky G will warm up the night with her Latin pop hits. Tickets for Friday’s show are on sale for $63.70 while tickets to Sunday’s performance will cost you at least $104.
100 Park Boulevard, Downtown
Punk in the Park
November 16
Spend your Saturday jamming out to SoCal punk rockers at Snapdragon Stadium’s Punk in the Park. Several regional bands will take the stage throughout the day, including Streetlight Manifesto, Manic Hispanic, and headliners The Offspring and Pennywise. VIP festivalgoers will enjoy prime stage views, plus exclusive food, bars, and access to a seated lounge. Tickets for Punk in the Park range from $88.50 to $753.15.
2101 Stadium Way, Mission Valley
Painting by Roberto R. Pozos
Theater & Art Exhibits in San Diego This Weekend
Misery at Tenth Avenue Arts Center
November 14–December 7
In this stage adaptation of Misery, one of Stepen King’s most unsettling stories, an author finds himself in the clutches of a superfan who “rescues” him from a bad car wreck and sequesters him in her remote cabin. The Backyard Renaissance Theatre Company will preview the show through Nov. 22, followed by opening night on Nov. 23 at Tenth Avenue Arts Center. Tickets are $40.
930 Tenth Avenue, East Village
Trans Diaries at Diversionary Theatre
November 15–16
For two nights at the Diversionary Theatre, a group of five trans and nonbinary artists will share personal stories on stage for Trans Diaries. Joshua Gershick and director Shakina Nayfack lead a cast of returning and debut performers for the production’s fifth year. See Trans Diaries this Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; you can make your free reservation to attend here.
4545 Park Boulevard, University Heights
Tiny Beautiful Things at Scripps Ranch Theatre
November 15–December 8
Based on Cheryl Strayed’s real-life “Dear Sugar” anonymous advice column, Tiny Beautiful Things is a tearjerker about grief, trauma, and making it through tough times. This production, originally adapted by Nia Vardalos from Strayed’s book of the same name, will run for 13 shows. Tickets range from $29 to $35.
9783 Avenue of Nations, Scripps Ranch
Roberto R. Pozos at Centro Cultural de la Raza
November 15–December 22
Tepatitlan native and longtime San Diego resident Roberto R. Pozos’s newest painting exhibition will grace the walls of Centro Cultural de la Raza beginning this Friday. Pozos is known for his vibrant logo designs, as well as his contributions to the murals of Chicano Park. The opening reception for his exhibition is this Friday from 6 to 9 p.m.
2004 Park Boulevard, Balboa Park
More Fun Things to Do in San Diego This Weekend
Under the Stars: A Festive Autumn Evening at the SD Air & Space Museum
November 14
Guests at the San Diego Air & Space Museum’s “Under the Stars” evening will get an exclusive look after-hours this Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. The event will feature access to the museum’s Above and Beyond exhibit with space artifacts, private docent tours, live music from Gladish Night, and a buffet dinner. Tickets are $55.20 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
2001 Pan American Plaza, Balboa Park
Lightscape at the San Diego Botanic Garden
November 15–January 5, 2025
Every year, the San Diego Botanic Garden’s annual Lightscape installation creates an illuminated winter wonderland amid the usual natural flora. Those who want to see the installation will have the choice between value, off-peak and peak days, each with different ticket prices. This weekend, value tickets for non-members are available for $26 (adults) and $16 (children ages 3 to 12 years old).
300 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas
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]]>The post Meet Fairmont Grand Del Mar’s Only Permanent Guest appeared first on San Diego Magazine.
]]>Then, Rosinsky came to roost in San Diego in 2012, building her nest in a most unusual location: the Fairmont Grand Del Mar.
Following a health scare in San Miguel de Allende, where she’d briefly moved after the death of her husband 15 years ago, Rosinsky was diagnosed with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), a condition that can cause excessive bleeding. Doctors at UC San Diego Health were among the top experts on the disease, so Rosinsky traveled here for treatment, taking a room at the Fairmont. Initially, she says, physicians gave her four months to live—but, following seven months on a lung medication that kept her virtually immobile, she became the first HHT patient to survive past 73. The treatment has since saved others. “God gave me work to do in San Diego: to find the cure for HHT,” she adds.
Somewhere along the way, Rosinsky realized she’d need more long-term housing. But when she informed the Fairmont she’d be checking out, she recalls, a receptionist asked, “Why? We love you here.”
“My dear,” she replied, “I can’t afford you.”
The general manager, however, suggested she make a deal—and then accepted her offer. “Welcome,” she recalls him saying. “This is your home now.”
As the hotel’s only permanent guest, she spends her days practicing pilates in her room; writing her memoirs; and dining at the resort’s onsite restaurant, Amaya, where the staff members all know her by name. “I’m the grandmother of everyone here,” she says.
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]]>The post 2024 Holiday Gift Guide: 35 San Diego Goods & Local Finds appeared first on San Diego Magazine.
]]>The holiday season is here, and it’s the perfect time to get a head start on shopping. Finding the right presents for friends and family can be tricky, but San Diego’s local shops, artisans, and makers offer something special for everyone. Whether you’re looking for kitchen upgrades for your family, a unique piece of décor for your friends, or the perfect toy for your pet, these local San Diego gifts are sure to spread holiday cheer.
I’m shopping for…
The Chef | The Socialite | The Homebody | The Adventurer | The Parent | The Local
San Diego Gifts for the Chef
They’re the designated executive chef for every holiday dinner, whipping up dishes that rival those at San Diego’s Michelin-starred spots.
Community Supported Agriculture Box, $29–39
Yasukochi Family Farms
What’s better than a single surprise? One every week. With a subscription to Yasukochi Family Farm’s CSA box, a ridiculously generous (and reasonably priced) bounty of seasonal, local fruits and veggies will land at your recipient’s door four times a month. They won’t get to choose what comes, but figuring out a menu based on the latest cornucopia is half the fun.
San Diego Etched Whiskey Glasses, $40
Apollo Emporium
Give them the world—or at least the city. With these glasses from Little Italy home goods shop Apollo Emporium, one can trace all of San Diego across a single old fashioned. Neat! (No pun intended.)
San Diego Cooks: Recipes from the Region’s Favorite Eateries, Bakeries, and Bars, $34.95
Figure 1 Publishing
Really, this new book from SDM contributors Ligaya Malones and Deanna Sandoval is just as much a gift for you—as long as your recipient is willing to share when they try their hand at homemade versions of iconic San Diego dishes like JRDN’s steamed mussels, Smokin J’s brisket chili, and Extraordinary Desserts’ lemon meringue cake.
Bourbon Vanilla Extract, $20
Bees & Teas Herbal Apothecary
Bourbon infused with real Madagascar vanilla adds complexity to holiday baked goods—as well as coffee, french toast, horchata, and other treats. The bottle comes full of whole vanilla pods, so your giftee can simply pour in more bourbon when things run low.
Puebla Talavera Mantequilla, $37
Casa y Cocina
Handmade in Puebla, Mexico and sold at dangerously-easy-to-get-lost-in North Park home goods shop Casa y Cocina, this gorgeous ceramic dish keeps butter soft, safe, and close at hand.
Chili Crisps, $18
Karanchi
Karanchi founder Nguyen Le’s favorite way to eat his addictive, garlic-studded chili crisp is atop avocado toast—but, really, there’s no going wrong here (one NYT Cooking recipe even suggests adding the ingredient to fettuccine alfredo). You can pick it up online or at local shops like Home Ec (Little Italy), Bica (Normal Heights), Tablespoon (North Park), and Wildwood Flour Bakery (Pacific Beach).
Hand-Painted Stoneware Platter, $45
Apostrophe Home
Charcuterie boards just got even more photogenic, thanks to this weighty, 16-inch stoneware serving dish from downtown’s Apostrophe Home. (Looking to shop for a set? The store sells a pretty serving bowl in the same pattern.)
San Diego Gifts for the Socialite
They get a free drink everywhere they go and can reapply their lipstick flawlessly in even the smokiest vintage restaurant mirror.
Milano Slim Crossbody Bag, $110
Mavis by Herrera
Local Mavis Herrera works with artisans in Mexico to produce this stylish bag made from recycled plastic. It’s sized just right to hold a phone, wallet, key, and a hand cream or lip balm (without being so big it becomes a receipt graveyard).
Lucia Strand, $557 & Saltwater Strand, $123
Ordoñez Le
Handmade in SD, Ordoñez Le’s beaded necklaces add a delicate pop of color and the alleged energy-balancing powers of gemstones. They’re all cute, but we’re partial to the Lucia (with two hands to rep your friendship) and the Saltwater (featuring a shell charm for beach-loving besties).
Restore Mini Set, $70
Aloisia Beauty
This set from Latina-owned, cruelty-free skincare company Aloisia Beauty is intended to provide everything your recipient needs for healthy skin—two cleansers, a gently exfoliating peel, and a moisturizing gel—in travel-ready packages.
Mahiri Lip + Cheek Tint, $38
Dehiya Beauty
Available in seven shades with names like “The Queen,” “Warrior,” and “Siren,” this oil- and shea butter–based tint from Moroccan-inspired beauty brand Dehiya adds a buildable flush of color to cheeks and lips.
Alia Argan Beldi Cleanser, $38 & Mihakka Moroccan Exfoliating Tool, $22
Dehiya Beauty
Paired with a cotton-covered, Marrakech-made, terra cotta exfoliating tool called a mihakka, this argan oil cleanser is designed to clean skin without stripping it. Plus, the packaging is so pretty they’ll want to leave it out on the counter.
I Smell Like Money Eau de Parfum, $65
Gavin Luxe
What’s the aroma of wealth? According to fragrance company Gavin Luxe, it’s vanilla and jasmine with touches of brown sugar, tonka bean, patchouli, amber, and musk.
Ring Sueño 2, $175
June Handmade
Alongside its broad collection of adorably twee leather shoes, June Handmade makes conversation-starting ceramic pieces, including statement rings that would look equally elegant strung on a necklace chain as they do on a finger.
Tortuga Gin, $100
Storyhouse Spirits
The product of a collab between East Village distiller Storyhouse Spirits and the new Omni San Diego hotel in downtown, this citrus-forward gin has notes of lemon and orange peel and lemongrass.
San Diego Gifts for the Homebody
They’ll change careers before they return to office, and they refer to their patio as “the sanctuary.”
Matcha & Bergamot Scented Candle, $24.99
Home Base Smell Good Co.
Celebrated Asian fusion steakhouse Animae burns candles from local maker Home Base Smell Good Co. in its chic bathrooms. This lightly sweet tea scent will bring gravitas to even the most cramped apartment commode.
Monthly Membership, $120
Vino Disco Wine Club
Send natty wine straight to their door with this subscription. San Diegan Erin Callahan curates four organic, biodynamic, and small-batch bottles every month—along with a playlist that matches the vibes.
(@perroyarena)Secret Keeper, $85 & Chimenea Incense Burner, $85
Perro y Arena
Tijuana-born artist Socrates Medina Ahearn produces playful, functional, and gorgeous ceramic pieces like a mini chimenea that directs plumes of incense smoke upward and a coyote-head box for storing small objects (and secrets). You can find his work at outposts in SD and TJ, including the Mingei International Museum’s onsite shop.
Moss Art DIY Kit, $45
Euflora
There are few things a homebody loves more than a plant… except maybe a project. This kit is both in one. Recipients can spend a happy afternoon or two arranging and gluing preserved moss and lichen in a wood frame to create evergreen art.
Club Time Warp Sun Catcher, $60
Apollo Home
Available at Apollo Home, this sun catcher from California artist Club Time Warp adds funky hippie sensibilities to any space with poured resin, crystals, and stones on a macrame rope.
San Diego Gifts for the Adventurer
They show up to work with wet hair and a too-big-for-a-Monday smile from a morning surf sesh.
Kelly Slater: A Life of Waves, $55
Rizzoli
San Diego–born surf photographer Todd Glaser has spent more than 15 years capturing 11-time World Surf League champion Kelly Slater in and out of the water. The duo explore that archive in this new coffee table tome sure to inspire any grom.
The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean, $19
Penguin Random House
Local author Susan Casey takes readers into the deep, talking with oceanographers and marine geologists and biologists about the alien creatures and strange landscapes that exist where light can’t reach.
Leopard Shark Mug, $118
Ludvik Handcrafted
Ludvik Handcrafted’s one-of-a-kind mugs are functional works of art depicting marine critters like green sea turtles, bat rays, and leopard sharks—La Jolla’s most beloved annual visitors.
Rainbow Turkish Cotton Towel, $18–80
Citizens of the Beach
Upgrade their ragged beach towels with a soft, Turkish cotton variety in a fun print. Local company Citizens of the Beach sells these linens on Amazon, on Etsy, and at pop-up markets around town.
Roy Lichtenstein MCASD x Slowtide Beach Blanket, $80
The Shop at MCASD
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego partnered with San Diego towel brand Slowtide to produce this eye-catching beach blanket (with a water-repellent lining) based on legendary pop artist Roy Lichtenstein’s Mirror #4, a piece on display at the La Jolla arts institution.
Original Surf Wax, $3
Horny Toads Surf Wax
A Pacific Beach native launched this surf wax company in 2020, naming it after his father’s surf club (members Hank Warner and Mike Lovell went on to craft sought-after boards and fins). The watermelon-scented wax makes a great stocking stuffer.
Cozy Reversible Jacket, $222
All That Apparel
Local entrepreneur Jody White turns deadstock fabrics into sustainable clothing like this reversible jacket. Giftees can wear the playful print on the outside and the cozy fleece inside for foggy coastal mornings and then flip for a subtler look while running errands.
San Diego Gifts for the New Parents
They somehow manage to wrangle twin newborns and three rescue pets into matching sweaters for a holiday card photo that’s not leaving your fridge… ever.
Insulated Dog Water Bottle, $28 & Persimmon Classic Leash, $37
Cookies & Co.
Make hikes on San Diego’s many dog-friendly trails safer and more stylish with goodies from local pet company Cookies & Co.: a sturdy leash in an eye-catching hue and a metal water bottle that pups and their people can both drink from.
Nooee Pet Cave, $86.99 & Speckle & Spot California Dog Toy, $18.99
Decker’s Dog & Cat
The hardest part about shopping for pet-centric presents at Decker’s Dog & Cat’s La Jolla and Clairemont outposts? Deciding what to choose from their massive inventory. For kitties, may we suggest a sleek, easily cleanable bed? Puppies, on the other hand, will dig a squeaky toy paying homage to the Golden State.
Maison Rue City Blocks & Gems Set, $80
Palomita
SD–based kids’ company Palomita curates stuff for children that’s sustainable, artist-driven, and—maybe best of all—so pretty that parents won’t mind when it ends up scattered all over the living room. Case in point: Maison Rue’s cute wooden houses, which help toddlers develop fine motor skills as they slide pretty lucite blocks into window-like cutouts.
Vintage Youth Sweater, $40
Timshel
Charming University Heights shop Timshel vends new and antique homewares, locally made jewelry and accessories, and vintage fashion, including retro knitwear for little ones in a range of kid-friendly colors.
Yellow Linen Striped Shorts, $32
The Milk Crew
A linen-viscose blend makes these soft shorts from kids’ clothing brand The Milk Crew comfy and durable for beach days, play dates, and trips to The New Children’s Museum in downtown.
Custom Charm Jewelry, $65–$350
Raiz
Portraits of kids and pets are the most common subject on mom-owned jewelry company Raiz’s delicate, customizable charms, but the founders say customers get creative, requesting signatures, old photos of their ancestors, and more.
Red Cozy Things Print, $24
Cozy Made Designs
In addition to jewelry and custom invitations, menus, temporary tattoos, and more, San Diegan Kara Gil vends cute art prints, like this nursery-ready compilation of comforting doodles, on her site Cozy Made Designs.
Gifts for Any San Diegan on Your List
Neighborhood Ornaments, $15–25
WTF Mary
Local designer WTF Mary laser-cuts mini versions of San Diego’s iconic neighborhood signs and transforms them into holiday ornaments. Sure, a star on the top of the tree is classic, but repping your ’hood amid the Santas and sparkly baubles? Way cooler.
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]]>The post La Tiendita Highlights Latina Chefs & Bakers Through Pop-Ups appeared first on San Diego Magazine.
]]>A bunch of San Diego’s most innovative Latina bakers and other makers have banded together to form a culinary collective called La Tiendita, throwing pop-up events at places like Home Ec and Friends of Friends (two business which also operate in shared spaces—I’m sensing a pattern here). Organizer Veronica Enriquez says she first got the idea in 2022, when Carynn Pinckney, owner of Home Ec, invited her to provide baked goods to a fundraiser for abortion access.
“The vibe of all these people getting together and doing something that was important to all of us—it was like a high,” Enriquez says. She’s worked in restaurants and kitchens for years, currently as the pastry lead at Born & Raised. But she didn’t have an outlet for her own creations, and she knew plenty of other Latinas in the same situation. So, riding that high of the first event, she asked Pinckney to provide space for her and eight other Latinas to showcase their stuff. La Tiendita was born in 2023.
The goal of La Tiendita is to cultivate community and connect like-minded Latinas who tend to be outnumbered in male-dominated kitchens. Even the name reflects the tight-knit nature of the group. “It literally translates to the little shop … but it also means your family-owned neighborhood corner store,” she explains. “Everyone goes to that corner store to pick up their milk for the day. It’s very family-oriented, community-oriented.”
And the family is definitely growing. “Every single time, it gets bigger and bigger,” Enriquez laughs. Makers like Vanessa Corrales (SPLIT Bakehouse Vegan Bakery), Arely Chavez (Michimichi), Helena Quesada (Hell Yeah Helena), and Yajaira Cody (Badu Eats) make up the current roster of 14 creators who now have five events under their belts. The next one isn’t slated until October, but Enriquez they’ll do them as often as they can squeeze them in between their full-time jobs. But for now, her goal is twofold: keep growing and keep inspiring.
“I just want to keep giving Latinas a space and the opportunity to showcase what they can do,” she says. “It can usually be a male-dominated industry, [so] I just want to keep putting it out there and show women, You have the support. You can join in if you want. You can do this, too.”
Photo credit: Jeremy Sazon
San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events
Vino Carta To Host J. Brix Wines on Thursday, August 29
Can’t wait for local winemakers Jody and Emily Towe to open their forthcoming wine tasting room? You don’t have to—just head to Vino Carta (2161 India Street) this Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. for a Winemaker Tasting with J. Brix. Twenty dollars gets you four wines and sparkling (okay, at least bubbling) conversation. The next day is Vino Carta’s weekly Friday pizza night, with OMG-F Pizza as this week’s featured pizzeria. (It’s gluten-free. Get it?)
Ponyboy at The Pearl Hotel Launches Dive-In Movie Nights
Every Wednesday, hop in The Pearl’s pool for themed drink and bite specials from onsite restaurant Ponyboy to go with the throwback movie of the night. (Think Blue Hawaiians during The Endless Summer.) Upcoming movies include The Graduate, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Godzilla, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon—which, hilariously, will feature a “killer seafood” special of linguini and clams. Check out all the hotel happenings right here.
Beth’s Bites
- Two San Diegans are finalists in the 2024 Next Wave Awards, hosted by drinks industry media company VinePair. Erick Castro (Gilly’s House of Cocktails) is up for Drinks Professional of the Year, while Derek Gallanosa (GOAL Brewing) is in the running for Brewer of the Year. Best of luck to them both!
- I love Korean food more than any other type of cuisine—in fact, I’m eating some tonight—so I’m very much looking forward to Solsot’s arrival at 8657 Villa La Jolla Drive, Suite 103. It’s hot pot, not Korean barbecue, a nice addition to the already stellar lineup of Korean restaurants we’re spoiled with here in SD.
- Two new restaurants are coming to Westfield UTC. Coconut-centric dessert shop Melo Melo will join the mall munchie roster in October, while we’ll have to wait until November for Van Leeuwen Ice Cream. (I’m quite content making do with SomiSomi until then.)
Have breaking news, exciting scoops, or great stories about new San Diego restaurants or the city’s food scene? Send your pitches to [email protected].
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]]>The post Weevils Are Coming—CA’s Date Industry is at Risk appeared first on San Diego Magazine.
]]>His job is to destroy them.
Hoddle is an entomologist at the University of California, Riverside. We are standing in the middle of the Sweetwater Reserve in Bonita, a kind of real-life Hieronymus Bosch painting illustrating an imminent arboreal hell. It’s a palm tree boneyard. Dried-up Canary Island date palm fronds lay in heaps next to behemoth headless trunks.
The shriveled trees are evidence of a wild party: an orgy of South American palm weevils. After mating atop the palm, the flying beetles lay their eggs. The larvae hatch and eat the palm heart, becoming grubs the size of chunky man thumbs, before spinning a palm fiber cocoon and rendering the palm—even
the most sturdy and vital—terminal within months. “It’s a death sentence for the tree,” Hoddle says.
Because they’re like the cow of palms—big and meaty—the date trees are by far the weevils’ favorite. But that doesn’t mean our Mexican fan palms, the tall, lithe ones lining our boulevards, are safe. “It’s like a buffet,” Hoddle says. “The weevils will get the best stuff first, and then when that’s all gone, they’ll work their way down.”
First spotted in San Ysidro in 2011, the invasive weevils are now firmly established. They’ve already taken out more than 20,000 palms in San Diego. Now, they are moving steadily north. Hoddel believes it’s only a matter of time before they arrive in the Coachella Valley, home to a $300 million date industry. When they get there, it’ll be a palm massacre, severely disrupting date-shake life. “We are trying to get
everything ready for an anticipated invasion,” Hoddle says. It’s not just the dates many are concerned about, though.
Californian identity is deeply intertwined with the palm, for good reason—along with the Gold Rush, the palm tree was one of California’s early big wins in branding.
Palm mania started slowly, explains Donald Hodel, an emeritus horticulture advisor for the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Canary Island date palms, he says, were first brought over by mission-building padres in the late 1700s. They wanted the real-deal fronds when Palm Sunday came around.
From there, palms built up some serious nonsectarian steam. Hodel tells me that, in the late 1800s, developers used palm trees as a siren song for East Coasters, summoning them westward to seek out paradise. They planted Mexican fan palms around citrus orchards and manufactured postcards depicting California as healthy, tropical, and exotic.
After World War II, young veterans exiting the military came west for “their own piece of the pie,” which included a “postage-stamp-sized lot” with, of course, a palm planted out front, Hodel says.
“They are iconic,” he adds. “Rightly or wrongly, [palms] became associated with the upper echelons of the economic ladder.” A frond-crowned tree in your yard meant you’d made it.
Nowadays, those non-native palms are to southern California what pine trees are to Christmas. They’re culturally entrenched—which explains why governments will go to great lengths to protect them. The Encinitas City Council, for example, recently approved a $382,250, five-year plan to defend the Moonlight Beach heritage palm, which involves dousing it quarterly with insecticides, conducting regular inspections, and removing nearby infestations.
At this point, there is only preventative treatment—spraying and crossing one’s fingers—or doing nothing and just rolling the dice. Either way, the palm may die, leaving tree lovers not only bummed out but broke: A tree corpse can cost $6,000 (or more!) to remove.
It’s been tough for palm people in California. Austin Kolander, an arborist with Aguilar Plant Care and first responder on the weevil front, spends his days breaking the news to homeowners that, due to a weevil attack, there’s no hope for their beloved palms. “This woman today was so distraught,” he says. The dying palm had been planted 80 years before by her grandfather. It wasn’t just a tree to her—it was a tether to her familial history.
Luckily, a seasoned pro is on the case. Hoddle (with the help of his entomologist wife, Christina Hoddle) previously cracked the code on the Asian citrus psyllids’ decimation of California’s orange groves.
He’s now working nonstop to find an answer to this weevil problem before the impending desert date palm blitz.
A predator is helpful to get an animal population into check, but the weevil doesn’t have one in California, so Hoddle began a search. In Brazil, he found a tachinid fly, which would have inspired the likes of Hannibal Lecter. It, like the weevil, deposits its eggs atop the palms, but then the freshly hatched maggots wiggle down and entomb themselves within the weevil’s cocoon. “They eat the larva alive,” Hoddle says.
Then, they pupate, using the emptied-out cocoon as a sleeping bag.
The issue is that the fly currently won’t reproduce in a lab setting. Even if Hoddle manages it, there’s still a long process involved in green-lighting the introduction of a new natural enemy.
But there is some hope: He’s also currently testing a method he calls “attract and kill” in a 10-square-mile area that includes Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch. The process involves a hanging contraption that lures the weevils using their own pheromones—it’s like backstabbing them with their own horniness.
He points to a tiny vessel. “This is weevil pheromone aggregate.”
“What does it smell like?” I ask.
“It smells like weevil pheromone aggregate,” he says, laughing.
I bring my nose in close. Hints of musk, rust, and maybe old BandAid. Not great, but if it was a candle called Weevil Nookie, someone out there would pay 40 bucks for it.
Once the weevil lands on the trap, the insect is dosed with a puddle of potent poison. “Instead of hundreds of gallons of insecticide,” Hoddle explains, “we’d just have to put out a couple of ounces over vast areas.”
It’s still not foolproof. If it works—and, based on the numbers of weevils that have fallen for the traps so far, it does look great—and is deployed widely, the remaining Canary Island date palms will likely only have a 70 percent survival rate. But that’s far better than the 70 percent death rate so far.
The public can help the fight, as well, by reporting any symptomatic palms one observes to the University of California, Riverside’s Center for Invasive Species Research.
As we wrap up our tour of destruction, Hoddle spots a massive palm he’s been keeping an eye on for the past six years. It’s dead, with telltale signs of weevil activity. He can’t completely blame the weevils, though, he says.
Ten new insects are established in California each year, three of which become a problem agriculturally or ecologically. “Don’t blast through signs at the airport asking you to declare produce when your bags are full of mangos,” he pleads. The repercussions can be enormous: increased taxes to pay for eradication programs; higher prices for produce; more insecticides in our water, land, and bodies.
“Bugs don’t stay in your own backyard,” he says. “They spread, and then we all end up paying the price for it.”
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]]>The post Restaurant Review: Cellar Hand appeared first on San Diego Magazine.
]]>Sure, when starting any venture—business, family, cult—many would prefer a lovingly restored Victorian home, nuzzled between always-blooming jacarandas and a pint-sized lending library. We want our dream restaurant in a structure that makes people say, “I can’t believe this is a restaurant and not the home of a great person (possibly Tom Hanks) who teaches kids to read.” It’s preferable if the house is as old as possible without triggering the “historical building” designation, which causes all kinds of permitting snafus (your proposal of adding a patio will require approval from all active and former presidents of the historical preservation society and at least two Jesuses).
Or we want the opposite: a hole in the wall that turns us into a Rudy-level inspirational story, people slow-clapping and fighting back single tears with each dish we manage to serve (see Little Lion Cafe or Banh Thai). Or an industrial warehouse whose years as an auto shop or meth lab gives it a “once gritty, now liver-moussed” je nes sais quoi (Juniper and Ivy, Ironside Fish & Oyster).
Cellar Hand is the rare spot where you can close your eyes and point at a menu item and still end up happy.
What few of us put on our dream boards is the middle ground—the largely uniform pockets of micro-retail that harbor America’s vital nail salons and burner-phone entrepreneurs. Yet, as commercial space in San Diego becomes scarce and gougey, strip malls are the future and saving grace of our restaurant culture. Fresh out of investor war chests or a strong WhatsApp connection with gods, most of us are going to find a reasonable box and put some oomph into it.
For fans, strip-mall restaurants have a few advantages over those perched on stilts overlooking famed surf breaks, or old barns retrofitted into charcuterie journeys. And that is: For a few months after opening, a strip mall gem will be ours and only ours. The buzz tends to be slow-burn. The first people who discover it will be a more desirable brand of food seekers, immune to the virus of glitz. Less-shiny roads bring better travelers.
The restaurant is from the family behind Pali Wine Co., which specializes in low-intervention wines from Lompoc.
Though we associate strip malls with Quiznos-tier culinary might, San Diego has a more optimistic history. Convoy District is the paragon. Mira Mesa’s Indian and Middle Eastern food scene, too. There is the mighty Sushi Ota in Pacific Beach and, now, Cellar Hand in Hillcrest.
Adjacent the DMV and across from the 7-Eleven, Cellar Hand is the new concept from family-owned, Lompoc-based Pali Wine Co. and chef Logan Kendall. There is something poetic about a restaurant next to a chiropractor’s office, since the human back is no match for kitchen work.
Cellar Hand is not unsexy. They blew out the walls on this corner of University Avenue, added woods and metal, and cordoned the indoor-outdoor patio experience off from the parking lot with planters.
Berkshire pork from the local pasture with huge chef fans: Thompson Heritage Ranch.
As for the food, I haven’t come across something this good since Callie opened. It blew away my expectations, but I’m not shocked—Kendall’s got a deft hand with herby sauces and has been stalking farmers and local boats and bakers in San Diego for a good while now. Though people go to Pali’s first tasting room in Little Italy for low-intervention wines, his small, simple bites there were always better than they needed to be.
But Cellar Hand is something more. And that more is ingredients. At this point the “farm-to-table” movement has been co-opted, mocked, pantsed, and wet-willied. I often wonder if some of the restaurants claiming “farm” think the back of every commercial-food semi truck is filled with a biodynamic greenhouse tilled by Wendell Berry.
These tomatoes taste like tomatoes, not red-flavored water.
But I’ve been around this food scene long enough to know that most of Kendall’s friends smell like vines and hot soil. He shadows them, riding around in their ATVs, and they reward his loitering. Sure, he and sous chef Ashley McBrady are cooking at Cellar Hand. But they mostly get the best damn ingredients you’re going to find—the apple you ate off a tree that blew your mind, the tomato you grew that tasted like every “tomato” before was a sham—and build them an A-list supporting cast.
It’s farm-to-table as an extreme sport or benevolent obsession, possibly a reaction to all the half-assing and straight-up fraud. The apex of this movement was when Alice Waters served a single raw peach as a dessert at Chez Panisse. Esoteric, sure. And I’d be a little pissed if I ponied up Panisse money to be offered a piece of fruit. But her point was made: When you start with food grown in healthy soil, picked ripe in the season it was supposed to be picked in, its base charms are pretty incredible. If we look at a great dish as a 100-yard dash, using the best ingredients is like beginning that race on the 60-yard line.
Next-level strip mall restaurants are the future as space in San Diego gets rarer.
Start a meal at Cellar Hand with the bluefin nduja toast. Instead of cured pork, it’s cubes of raw bluefin caught in San Diego, tossed in nduja spices (usually sweet smoked paprika and Calabrian chiles), white soy, and Meyer lemon. A hillock of it comes piled on charred housemade toast with dill aioli and local chives.
From the dipping section of the menu, get the baba ganoush, eggplants from Chino and D’Acquisto Farms charred in the pita oven then blended with tahini and spiked with Meyer lemon. It’s the lemon balm harissa— pulverized with arugula and cilantro (Hukama Produce), then topped with pomegranate seeds and dukkah (toasted sesame, cumin, and smoky coriander)—that sets it off. The whipped tahini is decent, but high acid bullies the seedy, nutty depth—although the warm, airy, house-fermented and wood-fired pita makes anything taste better.
Chicken liver pate with orange wine Jell-O shots on brown butter toast.
The chicken liver pate looks like a frat trick: a fluffy, creamy pile of mousse topped with Jell-O shots. Hillcrest has a formidable and enduring Jell-O shot tradition, so this feels like a sign of respect—except these ’80s jiggle-party cubes are made of Pali’s orange wine (a tannic white that gets its Cointreau-bottle hue from resting the wine with skins). Put on sesame bread cooked in brown butter and topped with sumac and local grapefruit oil, it’s a fairly incredible, Gatsbian bite.
Kendall and McBrady’s favorite thing seems to be Simon & Garfunkeling local dirt candy. Farm duets. The tomato dish pairs D’Acquisto tomatoes with R&L Farms stone fruit (white peaches and plums).
They’re dressed in a simple, intoxicant sauce made of arugula and fermented red wine and garnished with Chino Farm radish greens and salt.
To the left of those hedges are a couple of Hondas, but you’d never know it.
For the phenomenal melon dish, they use Weiser Family Farms’ Rocky Sweet melons, JR Organics’ watermelon, and Chino Farm cucumbers (compressed with lemon juice and cinnamon basil). It’s tossed in urfa biber (a complex, moody Turkish chile that’s got a hint of dark raisin and gives the dish a rarely tasted flavor profile). They ferment cantaloupe in salt and Beylik Family Farms chiles, blend it into a gel-like kosho, and drizzle it atop the whole deal, then add Bulgarian feta and melon seeds they dehydrate and puff. The star is the cool, sweetened lemon-basil broth at the bottom (left over from compressing the cukes).
The Chino Farm squash is a meal in itself: trimmed and vacuum-sealed with dill, then charred with balm harissa and fattened up with herbed ricotta made from Thompson Heritage Ranch milk. The team makes their own za’atar (thyme, sesame, urfa biber, aleppo, sumac), then pours hot oil over it for a riff on salsa macha.
For dessert, an ice cream sandwich with brown butter toast and a scoop from Chino Farm’s new creamery, Aisu.
I try two entrees, one hit and one miss. The miss is the whole local rockfish, which gets overwhelmed in a too-acidic housemade labneh. The hit is the Berkshire pork—from the rapidly chef-famous Thompson Heritage Ranch in Ramona—that is simply seared in its own fat, basted in brown butter and pineapple sage, deglazed in Pali’s Tower 15 “Swell” wine (a mix of Bordeaux reds), and garnished with candy grapes from R&L Farms, toasted almonds, and jus. This pork redefines the genre.
It makes sense that winemakers would go this obsessive about peak agriculture—especially in San Diego, with its obscenely fertile soils (Waters would come to Chino Farm in Rancho Santa Fe for her produce), nearly year-round growing climate, and the most small farms per capita of any county in the US. Our produce is land caviar. Not all restaurant operators can afford to use it this extensively, and there’s no shame in that. But Kendall and McBrady get to, and they do it with just the right balance of tweak and restraint.
You don’t fingerpaint on Picassos.
The post Restaurant Review: Cellar Hand appeared first on San Diego Magazine.
]]>The post The Local’s Guide to Barrio Logan appeared first on San Diego Magazine.
]]>Barrio Logan’s population is 80 percent Hispanic. Up until the 1950s, the area was mostly a residential neighborhood housing almost half of the city’s Spanish speakers. But rezoning laws brought in junkyards, and, in 1963, the I-5 was built, bisecting the community. It was in the late ’60s, after the Coronado Bridge opened, that the barrio assumed its character, with residents fighting for the construction of Chicano Park and the maintenance of public green spaces in the area.
Since then, Barrio Logan has remained an activism stronghold, with community groups coming to the mat time and again against threats like gentrification and bad air quality. Today, the area is a hotbed of culture and a growing destination for food and shopping amid lowrider shows and street festivals.
Things to Do in Barrio Logan, San Diego
Eighty-three-year-old Barrio Station Executive Director Rachel Ortiz grew up within a few blocks of Chicano Park, with her parents and sister working in the fish canneries before the I-5 highway arrived. “I remember after work [the employees] had that fish smell on them, and everybody embraced it—people could buy homes or buy a new car. [They could] support their families,” Ortiz says.
At the nonprofit youth center Barrio Station, she provides a physical space where neighborhood kids can gather after school to exercise, box, use computers, and find support and mentorship. “That way, they are not on the street,” Ortiz adds. When she’s not at the center, here’s where she likes to hang out in the neighborhood.
Breakfast with a Side of History at Las Cuatro Milpas
Founded in 1933, Barrio institution Las Cuatro Milpas has “been there since I was a girl,” Ortiz recalls. “My parents would go in there and buy fresh-made corn and harina tortillas.” Nowadays, she orders chorizo with eggs, rice, and beans off the taco shop’s letterboard menu. Counter-serve and cash only, the restaurant has remained immune to the tug of trends and tech in its near-century of operation—but Ortiz isn’t complaining. “I would not want them to change a thing there,” she says.
Fresh Tamales at Northgate Market
Northgate Market is a community hub in Barrio Logan. The supermarket’s hot food stand slings beef, corn, and cheese tamales with beans. “They are always fresh, soft, steamy, and juicy,” Ortiz says. “The flavors are all delicious, but I favor the beef.”
Chow Down Near Chicano Park
Because of the restaurant’s proximity to Chicano Park, Ortiz feels right at home at casual Chinese eatery Imperial Express, located on the corner of Logan Avenue and Cesar E. Chavez Park Way. Her order of choice is the fried fish with vegetables, but “their vegetables with beef and white rice are also excellent,” she says.
Facts About Barrio Logan
- Barrio Logan’s Chicano heritage began with an influx of refugees during the 1910 Mexican Revolution.
- Chicano Park, with its massive murals painted on the Coronado Bridge support pillars, was designated as a historic landmark in 2016.
- The average price of a single-family home in Barrio Logan is $653,488.
- Barrio Logan residents had direct beach access to the bay until World War II, when the San Diego naval base expanded.
- Famous Mexican-American muralist Salvador Torres, who many consider the conceptual father of Chicano Park’s murals, grew up in Barrio Logan.
What’s Next for Barrio Logan
Taco institution ¡Salud! and adjoining Mexican-Japanese restaurant La Bamba Room closed after owner Ernie Becerra’s negotiations to renew the lease failed. The nationally acclaimed ¡Salud! opened in 2015 and anchored a vital corner of Logan Avenue, helping draw visitors to the area. Becerra will continue to offer catering services, but it’s unknown whether he will reopen in another location.
While the shuttering of ¡Salud! will certainly bring changes to Barrio Logan, the community looks to the future with a hopeful new blueprint. Barrio Logan residents had direct beach access to the bay until World War II, when the San Diego naval base expanded.
Concerns over bad air quality and its effects on public health have long plagued Barrio Logan and its residents, who experience one of the highest rates of asthma in California. The area’s new community plan finally passed late last year following approval by local authorities and the California Coastal Commission. Chief among its wins is the sought-after buffer zone between the commercial and residential zones to prevent air pollution.
The document will also help secure increased green spaces, better public transportation, and affordable housing, with the intention of ensuring that longtime residents are able to remain in the neighborhood despite the quickly gentrifying housing market.
But that’s not the only victory of the grassroots Chicano community’s efforts. The Port of San Diego has agreed to double their annual funding for combatting industrial effects within their area of influence, chiefly Barrio Logan, Logan Heights, and National City. A total of $1.5 million per year will be dedicated to environmental justice programs.
Where to Eat in Barrio Logan
Where to Shop in Barrio Logan
More Things to Do in Barrio Logan
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]]>The post New Housing Developments, Same Old OB Blues appeared first on San Diego Magazine.
]]>“We are pretty upset,” Ruiz says. “It’s just going to make OB more of this vacation, tourist spot, when OB always had more local flavor.”
Ruiz chose to live in Ocean Beach because it felt more family-friendly than other coastal neighborhoods, like Mission Beach. But he’s concerned that the ADU will be “inconsistent with what was zoned as a family, residential neighborhood.”
In 2020, the city passed the Complete Communities program, allowing developers to increase density near public transit in exchange for including subsidized units in their buildings. The city also passed the ADU Bonus Program, which allows owners to build an extra unit for each one reserved for renters earning below a certain income.
These initiatives have yielded some results, though they’ve had less impact than policies in other cities that did away with single-family home zoning, opening the door to multi-unit buildings on lots that once held standalone houses. Last year, San Diego issued a record number of housing permits—9,691—though that amount still falls far short of the city’s annual need of roughly 13,500 units, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Permits for ADUs almost tripled last year, making up nearly 20 percent of the total number of housing permits.
Roughly 40 ADUs have been permitted near current and planned transit in Ocean Beach since 2020 (out of the 4,900 permits issued citywide during that same period). But the reforms have shifted the definition of “ADU”—many of these are multi-unit structures, effectively bringing apartment buildings to people’s backyards.
The tension surrounding these units is not unique to OB. ADUs are going up throughout the city, and lower-income and more diverse communities like Encanto, Skyline, and Paradise Hills have seen far higher numbers of ADU permits since 2020 than OB. But that doesn’t mean the coastal neighborhood is embracing these new, larger backyard units. In fact, their arrival appears to be stoking long-standing fears that OB could lose its identity.
Ocean Beach Planning Board Chair Andrea Schlageter
In 2022, Andrea Schlageter became the Ocean Beach Planning Board’s youngest-ever chair. She’s found herself at the center of a battle for OB’s future as these city initiatives to create more housing challenge groups striving to maintain the neighborhood’s hippie, bungalow-by-the-sea feel.
“They fancy themselves technocrats at the city, and there’s nothing wrong with looking at data and looking at what other cities have done to spur development, but you need to then take that idea; meet with stakeholders, including community members; and adapt it to your situation,” Schlageter says. “No two cities are exactly similar, right?”
Schlageter fears OB’s smaller cottages could “all be wiped out and replaced with big, modern box buildings.” That would be a shame, she says, “because that is the charm of OB living—in your tiny-ass one-bedroom cottage by the sea, hanging in a little courtyard with all your other neighbors.”
Many also fear that increasing density without requiring developers to provide parking will lead to traffic issues, given the limited public transit that exists in OB. Only two bus routes currently offer all-day service on weekdays. New and upgraded routes are included in a regional transit plan for 2035, but those projects aren’t yet funded, meaning better public transportation isn’t guaranteed in this timeline.
And because the new development is largely residential, some worry there won’t be enough commercial fronts for the residents who fill these apartments. One multi-unit housing project proposed for the corner of Point Loma Avenue and Ebers Street, for example, was once a Mexican restaurant and grocery store—though the building has been vacant for several years.
Neighbors of projects are unhappy that some of the new buildings have no setbacks or buffer zones. They also say that the subsidized units in these projects will not be truly affordable and fear the market-rate units will become short-term vacation rentals due to the lack of enforcement and loopholes within the city’s policies.
“This was a great stepping-stone neighborhood, but, now, with the short-term vacation rentals, with the development opportunities, when these mom-and-pop landlords pass on or want to retire and get out of that game, no one who wants to be a small-time landlord is going to be able to buy them out,” Schlageter says.
Henish Pulickal, CEO of The California Home Company—a general contractor for ADU projects around San Diego—says if developers agree to a 15-year deed, owners can charge 110 percent of the area median income in rent, which would make a one-bedroom apartment approximately $2,570 per month, at or near the current average for OB (shorter 10-year deeds mandate lower rents). He adds that developers can turn the main house on a property into a vacation rental, even if the city won’t allow them to do the same with ADU units.
These potential profits make the projects pencil out, encouraging developers to build more housing, he says. And although those rents may not be affordable to lower-income San Diegans, they’ll still help address the region’s housing underproduction and high costs.
“It’s the economics of supply and demand,” Pulickal says. “If I have 12 places that I can rent for $2,500, it’s better than one place for $7,000.”
Pulickal points out that OB’s ADU potential is limited compared to other neighborhoods because it mostly has smaller lots that can only fit one additional structure beyond the main house. It also has a 30-foot coastal building height limit.
Planning board member and developer Tyler Martin
Tyler Martin, a developer on the OB Planning Board, says he supports these projects in OB. “We know we need more housing,” Martin says. “There’s really only two things we can do: We can either sprawl into East County or we can accept density into existing neighborhoods. It’s more green to have multifamily housing near transit than it is to bulldoze East County.”
Martin says that Newport Avenue, OB’s main commercial strip, has too many empty storefronts for residents to worry about the loss of commercially zoned properties. He is concerned about short-term rentals but thinks the city should further limit the number of vacation rentals allowed and step up enforcement, rather than restricting housing construction.
“People who already live in this neighborhood are trying to prevent other people from living in that neighborhood,” Martin continues. “I don’t think it’s about history or the environment or about retail space or safety. I don’t think it’s about any of that nonsense. It’s about, ‘I don’t want anyone else living next to me.’”
The battle isn’t new. The first community planning board in the city began in Ocean Beach in the 1970s in response to the 1960s Precise Plan. Endorsed by the City Planning Department, this plan aimed to increase density along the coast and intensify commercial activity on Newport Avenue, according to a San Diego Magazine article from 1974.
“It all devolves down to densities—how many should live in Ocean Beach and who they should be—what economic strata,” one city planner told SDM at the time.
Back then, the tension stemmed from fears of so-called radicals moving in and impacting the quiet livability of OB. Today, it comes from worries that backyard apartment buildings will impact OB’s quirky spirit. Density means change for those lucky enough to own homes in the neighborhood, but also it brings opportunity for those who hope to call it home.
In some ways the problem remains the same as they did in the ’70s, but the language has changed. Today, those opposed to development face criticism that they’re “NIMBYs,” meaning “Not In My Backyard.”
“I think it’s much more complicated than that,” Schlageter says. “Everyone wants their neighborhood to be nice … but it’s not going to be nicer if you just pray and spray development everywhere.”
But Schlageter isn’t worried about OB becoming overly dense just yet.
“There’s still enough of the old guard walking around barefoot who will fight every project like hell,” she says. “I think we have a few more decades before we’ll see a mass sell-off of properties to developers in OB.”
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]]>The post The Local’s Guide to La Mesa appeared first on San Diego Magazine.
]]>Just over 61,000 people reside in La Mesa, which stretches between San Diego’s Rolando neighborhood to the west and El Cajon to the east. Known as “the Jewel of the Hills,” La Mesa officially became a city in 1912, but the area was Kumeyaay land before natural springs and citrus farming brought the San Diego and Cuyamaca Eastern Railroad smack through the center of town. In fact, the MTS Orange trolley line follows part of the original railroad tracks through La Mesa Village, the downtown area that hosts community events: the La Mesa Classic Car Show every Thursday in the summer, trick-or-treating each Halloween, and the county’s largest Oktoberfest every fall.
It may no longer be a movie mecca or hipster haven, but La Mesa’s understated vibes tend to surprise visitors. Yes, it’s technically East County. Yes, it’s only 9.1 square miles. But with some good schools and a lingering quaintness alongside ever-expanding amenities, it may not be long before the Jewel of the Hills’ glitter catches people’s eyes.
Things to Do in La Mesa, San Diego
Billy Beltz, who co-owns Lost Cause Meadery and Oddish Wine with his wife Suzanna, has dwelt in La Mesa for the past three years. “We live in the Highlands neighborhood and absolutely love it,” Beltz says. “All the winding streets filled with old homes, mature trees, and friendly neighbors give it a wonderful small-town feel. La Mesa has soul and character, which is not always easy to find in SoCal neighborhoods, and we’re still just a short drive to Balboa Park or the beach.” He has more than a few favorite places around town, but here are a couple of his regular haunts.
Muffins and Coffee in the Village
It’s always a good idea to arrive at Sheldon’s Service Station as early as possible or risk a lack of seating or baked goods. But Beltz says they plan ahead to make sure his son’s favorite blueberry muffin is available. “The outdoor space serves as a great weekend hub to catch up with neighbors,” Beltz says. Afterward, stroll down the block to Public Square Coffee House for what Beltz thinks is the top coffee in the Village.
Date Nights at Antica Trattoria
“Don’t let the shopping center location fool you,” Beltz warns. “Italian dinners aren’t meant to be stuffy, and this place captures everything we loved about Italy—delicious Italian food in a lovely little space with friendly service and a warm vibe, without being overpriced. Whatʼs not to love?”
Burgers at The Hills Pub
Controversial opinion alert: Beltz claims The Hills Pub’s namesake Hills burger with grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and chipotle on a brioche bun might be the best burger in San Diego. “[It] holds its own against any other neighborhood burger spot in San Diego,” he promises.
Facts About La Mesa
- In 2024, the Climate Action Campaign ranked La Mesa the number-one city in the county addressing climate change through efforts like infill housing, investment in public transportation, and using clean energy.
- Originally launched in 1973, La Mesa Oktoberfest is the largest Oktoberfest in the county, attracting 100,000 visitors over three days.
- Lots of things in La Mesa are named Helix—a mountain, a high school, streets. That’s because of a local species of snail: the helix aspersa. There’s even a statue of the famed critter, Felix the Helix, on the east end of La Mesa Boulevard.
- Notable former La Mesa residents include at least three astronauts, Metallica and Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, pro basketball player Bill Walton, and Academy Award nominee and actor Dennis Hopper.
- La Mesa has plenty of wild parrots, but did you know there are also wild peacocks on and around Mount Helix? Legend has it that, around 1980, a local resident purchased two peacocks from the Wild Animal Park in Escondido. One thing led to another, and now their feathery descendents roam the lands.
What’s Next for La Mesa
Unlike some other cities across the county falling behind on their affordable housing goals, La Mesa
is actively developing multiple infill projects near transit stations to meet demand and lower carbon emissions. One such project is Cantera, which features 32 homes priced from the high $600,000s to around $850,000. Considering La Mesa’s median home price hovers around $914,000 while the county’s is nearly $1 million, that’s a screamin’ deal for regular folks. Another development is at 8181 Allison Avenue, with 100 percent affordable housing across 147 units.
Once folks set down roots, they’re going to want to eat and shop, as well. Luckily, plenty of stores and restaurants have already started to take advantage of the area’s potential. Mastiff Kitchen opened its first brick-and-mortar there in 2023, followed by Shawarma Guys earlier this year. There are even rumors of a new communal Oddish Wine tasting room (à la The Garten in Bay Park) floating around. The old-timey Village is getting a facelift later this year or early next, with a new Downtown District sign scheduled for installation. Plus, Grossmont Center is poised for a complete overhaul starting as soon as 2025, with over 25 million square feet prime for mixed use.
Where to Eat in La Mesa
Where to Shop in La Mesa
More Things to Do in La Mesa
Lamplighters Community Theatre
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