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Longtime writer and new majority owner Troy Johnson’s love letter to a city
I want to tell Abel’s story.
I read about Abel in the local paper. The story wasn’t about him. His mention was just a sentence or two. Abel cleans the filter on the most important storm drain in San Diego. Our city’s entire system depends on Abel showing up for work. If Abel doesn’t show up, our local waters become polluted. Beaches close and people get sick. And Abel, a single human being living in our city, has shown up again and again and again.
I want to know who Abel is, what he dreams about.
I want to hire a talented writer to tell Abel’s story in a compelling way that reads like good fiction. I want to pay a great photographer to take the best photo that’s ever been taken of Abel—the kind of photo they take when you land on the moon or release an album or protect a city from pollution. I want to put him in San Diego Magazine next to a story on Alicia Keys, with photos of her La Jolla home and an analysis of its magical architecture by Wallace Cunningham. I want to have Abel and Alicia and Wallace on a podcast together, to film videos of them living their lives in San Diego, to talk about the issues that face their city and about their favorite tacos.
I need to tell all three of them that they are the reason my wife Claire and I decided to throw everything we are into San Diego Magazine (last week, we became majority owners of this media company). That they are the reason we risked everything. If we succeed at this, they will deserve credit. If we fail at this, we’ll thank them for bolstering our courage and for our lack of regret. Because this is worth it.
I realize this sounds like a fever dream. But it’s not. It’s what San Diego Magazine does, and what it will do in even more innovative ways in the months and years to come. We use every format at our disposal to tell the remarkable stories of the people who live and work and create here. At its best, SDM isn’t about tacos or music or business or retail or architecture. It’s about people. The people who make that taco, build that business, design that home. From dreamers tinkering in garages to insanely successful CEOs. Little Italy to Santee, San Ysidro to Oceanside.
Our “acquisition” (what a weird, imperious word to describe a very humbling process) of SDM was over a year in the making. When the news was announced, I was incredibly grateful for all of the reactions—from “Congratulations!” to emojis to “I didn’t know writers were allowed to own things” to offers of support. More than a few people simply asked me point-blank: “Why?”
So let’s start with why. Because Claire and I believe strongly in how crucial local media is to the evolution of a city. We believe in local people, in using our voices to raise theirs. We believe in the art of storytelling. And we believe in actively participating in the future of our city.
When the pandemic really hit San Diego, I woke up to hundreds of emails from local food people—from mom-and-pop restaurant owners, chefs, farmers, ranchers, brewers, shop owners. Every email said the same thing: “I need help.”
So I opened my Instagram to them. Every night, I invited a few different local food-and-drink people on for a live discussion. We created a space for them to tell their stories, and highlighted how people could help. These were people who had risked everything on a dream, and now their dream was at risk. Those nights with them changed everything in me. It became crystal clear what Claire and I needed to do. We needed to invest in these people, in our city. So this is us, putting everything we are into where we live.
Another question that came up was: “Why a magazine? Isn’t that ‘vintage’ media? Why not build an app?”
First, I need to say that I love magazines. They are my digital detox of choice. I love tech, and I love the intentional absence of tech. I love that nothing bloops or bleeps or chimes when I read a magazine. Like a book, it fully immerses you, focuses all of your senses. I love reading a great story on a page that explodes with weird art and photos that take your breath away—photos you can feel and smell. Reading Joan Didion’s “Goodbye to All That” or Gay Talese’s “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” or David Foster Wallace’s “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again” changed my view of the world for the better. I can still remember where I was when I saw the photo of Muhammad Ali on Esquire, or John and Yoko on Rolling Stone.
When I graduated from college, my mom asked what I wanted as a gift for finally doing so. My answer was “a subscription to 10 of my favorite magazines”—The New Yorker, Smithsonian, The Atlantic, Surfer, Rolling Stone, I forget the rest. My mail was oppressive. I’m sure I owe chiropractic fees to a mail carrier somewhere.
Second, SDM hasn’t been just a magazine in a long, long time. We will build an app (I already have it sketched out). If it were just a magazine, I don’t know if I would’ve had the guts to take this on. But SDM is a full-fledged modern media company—the magazine, video, podcasts, photography, art, e-newsletters, branded content, live events and experiences.
The creative people here have never seen a future they didn’t walk directly toward. Case in point: At the front of every issue of our former life sciences publication, Hatch, was a photo of its chief content officer, Erin Chambers Smith, with the quote “Let’s just try it!” They saw all the exciting developments coming out of our tech sector and couldn’t wait to share them with readers.
What will change at SDM?
A lot.
Please bear with us. First I have to figure out who can get me a key to the office, and the Wi-Fi password. Editor in Chief Marie Tutko and the editorial staff have done a phenomenal job improving the diversity and breadth of our storytelling. They had already locked in our stories for the January issue when Claire and I walked through the door and said, “Surprise!”
We’re going to spend the winter listening—to you, our readers and viewers, to communities who maybe haven’t been included in SDM in the past, and to our own staff. We’re going to start building the SDM that you want and deserve—a diverse, evocative, 360-degree media company that documents a metropolis on the ascent (that’s San Diego). We will be launching more podcasts (we’re throwing around ideas: wellness, business, maybe even a modern parenting podcast—a selfish pursuit since Claire is about to give birth to our son). You will see a lot more video. We’ll still act as a guide to good things, but we want far more longform storytelling, deep-dives into issues that matter to the city (water, health care, sustainability, et cetera). We’re going to invest in epic photography and art. We’ll hold ourselves to the highest standards of ethics and responsibility. We’ll host speaker series from local business leaders.
Like I said, so many ideas.
You should start seeing bits and pieces of our vision starting in the new year, and the real innovations and changes in spring 2022.
“That’s great,” you might say. “But you’re not a billionaire. Great art costs money; how will you pay for this?”
Over the last week, Claire and I have been humbled by the support that’s poured in from the local business community, asking how they can help. To them we’re incredibly grateful—and for them, we’re launching a creative studio for branded content. We’ll use our writing and media talent to help them tell their own stories in rich, meaningful ways. I believe we’ll garner even more support as we prove that our work is good and real and valuable. We’ve spent a year crunching numbers and diving into spreadsheets until our brains screamed and our eyes leaked. We have hundreds of pages of ideas on how to make not only amazing media, but profitable media. Now it’s time to get to work.
If we’re talking stretch goals, I want to build a safe house for creatives—writers, designers, editors, photographers, videographers, event planners, business people (good business is absolutely an art form)—where they can make a decent, fulfilling living in San Diego. As a native, I saw too many of my talented creative friends move to Portland or Austin to “make it.” Throughout my career in TV and media, agents and managers and producers all said the same thing: Leave San Diego, move to LA or New York.
I refused. This is home. If every person with a dream left San Diego, the city would become dull and lifeless. I realize we won’t be able to hire them all, especially not right away as we grow SDM back to full strength after the pandemic. But if we can provide a home for a handful, and other media and creative brands hire a handful, we can stop the creative brain drain out of San Diego. It’s a group project, and we’ll do our part.
Lastly, I’m just humbled to assume leadership of a legacy like San Diego Magazine. It was formed in 1948 by a local married couple, Gloria and Ed Self. I was born in Scripps Hospital a few decades later, the biggest baby ever recorded there at the time (11 pounds, four ounces, my apologies to my mother). It’s emotional for me that San Diego Magazine is now once again owned by a married local couple. And of course, I’d be remiss not to thank Jim Fitzpatrick, who for the last 27 years has led SDM and its various endeavors. He’s righted this ship more than once, and he’s staying on as an advisor and minority owner.
Media isn’t a get rich quick scheme. But there is nothing else Claire and I would rather do.
PARTNER CONTENT
I hope you’ll stand with us as we build this together. It’s not going to be easy, and it won’t be perfect. We’re going to create some amazing things, and we’re going to have our share of duds. But if we do our jobs right, SDM will be a voice that, by and by, you’ll be proud to call your own.
Troy Johnson is the magazine’s award-winning food writer and humorist, and a long-standing expert on Food Network. His work has been featured on NatGeo, Travel Channel, NPR, and in Food Matters, a textbook of the best American food writing.
San Diego's "First Couple of Tennis" reflects on the past as they get ready to move on from Ray's Tennis, a Hillcrest landmark
Ray’s Tennis doesn’t look like much from the outside. Never has. It’s just a green box with cloudy windows in Hillcrest, just steps away from a McDonald’s on University Avenue. But for nearly 60 years, this place has been the genesis for three generations of San Diego tennis dreams. Head inside, and you enter one of the tennis world’s great cornucopias.
For years, there was a tennis court behind the store, where owner Bob Ray gave countless lessons. It was like a racket-sport speakeasy; most customers didn’t realize the court existed unless Bob or his wife, Hiroko, guided them through the back door of the shop. Eventually they converted it into a half-court indoors—where a patron might take a racket for a few trial thwacks, trying to avoid rounders of tennis clothes that shared the space.
The shop is an abridged living history. Relics hang from the ceiling: a model of an old metal racket used by fiery lefthander Jimmy Connors in his heyday, and a version of the wooden Donnay that Björn Borg wielded on his way to five consecutive Wimbledon championships from 1976 to 1980.
And just inside the front door is Hiroko eternally stringing new rackets, carefully threading and adjusting the tension of the polyester strings, back and forth, until she has the entire racket head strung.
“I worked seven days a week—five days off in the year,” she says. “My hearing is still good. Physically, I’m as good as I was. Working seven days a week, standing all day. I’m mentally healthier than most people.”
The racket stringing is an operation she does up to 20 times a day—and one that, in some ways, resembles the thread work done by her father decades ago, when he ran a tailor’s shop in Japan.
Hiroko, now 81, was born in the city of Yokosuka at the tail end of the WWII. Her family evacuated to the countryside to escape the bombing raids, and she remembers growing up surrounded by rice fields and mountains. It was in Japan that Hiroko met Bob, a third-generation San Diegan, in the late 1960s, when he was stationed there with the Navy.
Among his possessions at the time was a tennis racket. Inherited from his father, who died when Bob was 11, this racket changed the trajectory of his life: He played constantly, filling up his school days, afternoons, and evenings on the tennis court. He was one of the highest-ranked teen players in the state, and he dreamed of joining the international tournament circuit after his stint in the Navy. But—speaking plainly—he acknowledges that he wasn’t quite good enough to compete with the best of the best. So, instead, he modified his dreams. He and Hiroko returned to San Diego in 1968, and he took a job as the club pro at Morley Field. By their mid-20s, in lieu of touring the world on the tennis circuit, the couple was running the club’s tennis store.
They spent 11 years at Morley Field, which at the time was one of the city’s tennis epicenters, hosting major tournaments for juniors. When the city handed over the store lease to a wealthier applicant, the Rays took over the property on University Avenue and moved in their tennis gear. They have been there ever since—through the McEnroe and Navratilova and Evert eras; the rise of Agassi and Sampras and Graf; the reign of the Williams sisters; the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic rivalry; and into the Alcaraz era. In the near-half century they have sold tennis gear in Hillcrest, the Rays became beloved anchors of the neighborhood’s business community, symbols of stability in an ever-changing environment.
At 84, Bob is still lean and, in his Lacoste tracksuit and Adidas cap, remains every bit the club pro. Like Hiroko, he comes to the store every day—though sometimes, if he is playing tennis in the morning, he might arrive a little later.
But time has started to take its toll. His hearing isn’t what it used to be, and the aging process is revealing itself to be true. And much to the disappointment of their loyal clientele, San Diego’s “First Couple of Tennis” is retiring, a milestone that marks the end of an extraordinarily long chapter in the city’s tennis history.
But Ray and Hiroko didn’t sell the building to a developer for condos or to a big-box retailer looking to open a boutique outpost. Determined that Ray’s should remain a tennis temple, they have negotiated a sale to a former employee who wants to continue the Rays’ legacy.
As of this writing, Hiroko and Bob remain in charge, Hiroko stringing rackets, Bob sharing his expertise about new gear. As much as they love what they’ve built, their hope is to move on soon.
For Hiroko, the prospect of retirement is bittersweet. “What am I going to do?” she asks. “Am I going to be ok? I never had a boring life. Always busy. Business first. I’m so involved in the business—because I didn’t want to fail.”
She looks around her store as she continues stringing. For her, the gladiatorial nature of tennis has always been a metaphor for how to succeed in life. “People have to have a drive,” she says. “You can’t just quit because you lose to so-and-so. Tennis players have that mindset.”
She pauses to talk about all the people who have come through the store’s door over the decades, and the relationships she has built with them. “It’s wonderful to have a great customer. That’s probably the reason I lasted this long.”
Sasha Abramsky is the West Coast correspondent for the Nation magazine and the author of nine books. His tenth book, Chaos Comes Calling, will be published by Bold Type Books in September.
In Carlsbad, a 31-year-old, family-owned company churns out city and pop-culture versions of Monopoly and other iconic Hasbro games
At the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, Dane Chapin had a problem. He found himself in possession of tens of thousands of excess Monopoly games, with no plan on how to sell them. What he didn’t know at the time is that this Herculean task would shape the future of his business.
In 1994, Chapin and his sisters started their Carlsbad company, USAopoly, with a two-year license from Hasbro to make city editions of the popular Monopoly board game. “The game is a great canvas,” Chapin remarks. While some aspects of the game are “sacrosanct,” according to Chapin—the four corners, for example—many of the details can be customized to fit a theme.
USAopoly appealed to local customers by including San Diego and La Jolla editions in the original six games it created (alongside New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Atlanta versions). The tokens of the San Diego board included a surfer, a beach cruiser, and a copy of the Union-Tribune. Instead of Park Place or Reading Railroad, players land on the Gaslamp Quarter or the San Diego trolley. But after two years of city-specific boards, the siblings were ready to branch out.
In 1996, Hasbro gave them license to create an Olympic edition of Monopoly to commemorate the Atlanta games. The Olympic Committee had agreed to purchase 20,000 copies, a huge number for USAopoly in those days. They decided to manufacture 35,000, figuring they could sell the extra 15,000 on their own. The games went into production, but the Olympic Committee hadn’t actually sent over a purchase order.
“I finally get the buyer on the phone,” Chapin recounts. “And she says, ‘We’re going to order 90 games.’ Nine-zero. Not 900, not 9,000, not 90,000. Ninety.”
When he reminded her of the initial request for 20,000, she said that the team had changed their mind. “There was no point for me to get angry or get mad at her,” he adds, laughing. “I just had to figure out what I was going to do.”
Chapin landed in Atlanta for press coverage the week before the opening ceremony. “The Olympics are a white-hot deal, and then it’s done,” Chapin explains. “And once it’s done, there’s really no market for all those goods.” So, he shipped 20,000 games to the city. If nothing else, he’d have them on hand to replenish the stock for local stores. But, while Chapin was walking to an interview with an Olympic Monopoly board under his arm, a man stopped him on the street and asked where he bought it. Chapin sold it to him for 20 bucks. A lightbulb went off.
“We’re sitting with a warehouse of 20,000-plus games that need to find a home,” he recalls. Why not get them directly into consumers’ hands? He rented a van, bought a dolly, and got to work. “I spent the next two weeks on the streets of Atlanta, schlepping games,” he says. At the end of those two weeks, all the boards had been sold at $20 apiece.
Hasbro never knew the full story. But the company did notice how successful the Olympic board had been—and it was all the proof it needed to increase USAopoly’s licenses. “That was the inflection point for USAopoly,” Chapin says. “After that, [Hasbro] expanded our purview, our grants, well beyond city editions.”
Chapin and his sisters started to create pop-culture versions of Hasbro games, producing tributes to everything from Harley-Davidson to Metallica to The Simpsons. Now, three decades later, USAopoly (also known as The Op) is on track to sell over seven million games this year. It’s grown into an international family entertainment company that designs original best-sellers like Telestrations and Flip 7 in addition to twists on the Hasbro classics.
Peek in the archives at the Carlsbad offices, and you find shelves jam-packed with a copy of each game the company has produced since its inception, from the Atlanta Olympics Monopoly that changed USAopoly’s fate to Dragon Ball Z chessboards and RuPaul’s Drag Race Clue.
Chapin shows off the original San Diego Monopoly, still sealed in its packaging. “Think about some of your fondest memories in life,” he instructs. “My fondest memories include going to my grandparents’ house with my brother when I was 10 years old—we’d have a sleepover and play canasta for hours. Talk about joy, laughter, and lifetime memories.” He smiles. “So, that’s my job—to create games that will do that, that will bring people together and get them to put their phones away. It’s pure, and people can be present. That’s more important than ever.”
Cora Lee was born and raised in San Diego. More of her work can be found at coralee.net.
At the Fairmont Grand Del Mar, the city’s movers and shakers gathered for an intimate fireside chat hosted by J.P. Morgan
Fifty of San Diego’s top women founders, CEOs, and CFOs gathered on the lawn at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar on Thursday, March 27 for an evening of wine, local food, and unfiltered conversation about leadership, mentorship, and the messier parts of ambition.
Hosted with J.P. Morgan for International Women’s Month, the event featured locally sourced bites by chef Flor Franco and pours from three woman-owned Baja vineyards, curated by Michelle Martain, owner of La Mision Wines and Cavas Valmar. The cocktails were cheeky, the sunset did its thing, and the energy was unmistakably electric.
“Stop asking yourself if you should be there—you’re already there,” advised Desi Swanson, CFO of Vuori and one of the evening’s speakers, when discussing young women facing imposter syndrome. When asked about the moment she knew she “made it,” she referenced a pre-Vuori memory from her 20s of paying off credit card debt and proudly walking into a boutique to buy herself a bee-shaped necklace she had wanted for months. That moment—vulnerable, personal, triumphant—set the tone. Success doesn’t happen in one moment; it’s the culmination of hundreds of victories throughout your life.
Curie founder and mom to a new 10-week-old Sarah Moret discussed building her brand while challenging the myth that entrepreneurship is a man’s game. She also relived a time when businesswoman and investor Barbara Corcoran sniffed her armpits on national TV. (Yes, really.)
The conversation that followed felt real and unscripted. The panel shared their thoughts about what success looks like now, how mentorship shapes growth, and how to lead without losing yourself in the process.
My husband and I acquired San Diego Magazine three years ago because we wanted to invest in our local community, and create a platform for people and businesses to tell their stories. Events like this continue to prove that for all the stories that have been told, San Diego is full of thousands who haven’t… yet.
During the networking hour, Nancy Schmall, CFO of Southern Pride Trucking, talked about the rise of women and married couples in the industry and how it’s reshaping truck stop culture across the country. Later, I spoke with Abby Blunt, co-founder and CEO of MeBe, an organization that offers personalized, evidence-based therapy for neurodivergent kids and families.
I even swapped parenting stories with Kerri Kapich, COO of the San Diego Tourism Authority, and told her about my dream of producing a fashion show in this city. Our photographer shared a hack she discovered with the CFO of the Aloha Collection to transform one of their staple bags into the perfect diaper bag.
These women collectively manage thousands of people, steer massive budgets, and help define what work, leadership, and balance look like in San Diego right now. They’re building businesses, raising families, mentoring the next wave—and they’re doing it on their own terms. The story of a city should be told by the people living and breathing it every day. Each woman on that lawn owns a piece of San Diego’s story. And thousands more are out there, quietly building what’s next.
Stay tuned for more events like these.
The annual event honors middle market companies creating jobs, scaling up, and investing in the region
San Diego is known for its startup culture and innovation economy, but what happens when the company moves beyond its early-stage years? The San Diego Business Impact Awards aim to answer that question, spotlighting the middle market businesses helping drive the region’s economy.
Hosted by San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and JPMorganChase, the second annual awards celebration takes place on Thursday, July 23, from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. at Scripps Research Auditorium. More than 200 executives, entrepreneurs, and business leaders are expected to attend the networking and cocktail event honoring some of San Diego County’s fastest-growing companies.
Businesses headquartered in San Diego County that have operated for at least two years are encouraged to submit their nomination by Thursday, June 18 at 4 p.m. Companies across industries—from technology and life sciences to tourism and consumer products, as well as pre-revenue startups—are eligible for recognition.
For EDC President and CEO Mark Cafferty, the event is as much about building connections as celebrating success. “We’ve had a longtime partnership with JPMorganChase; their work aligns with our efforts to support underserved communities and drive talent development,” says Cafferty. “And the networking was invaluable last year. I’m still in touch with people I met at last year’s awards.”
EDC is an independently-funded nonprofit that works directly with San Diego companies to help them grow the local economy, make the region as a whole more competitive, and attract and retain top-tier talent with quality jobs. Through EDC, companies can get help starting or expanding their business with support for things like site selection, permit navigation, and regulatory guidance, plus connections to local resources and potential business collaborators.
The San Diego Business Impact Awards began as an idea with one of EDC’s longtime strategic partners, JPMorganChase. The two organizations share a commitment to San Diego and are dedicated to bolstering middle market businesses.
“We’re blessed with a robust innovation economy and startup community,” says Aaron Ryan, San Diego Region Manager for JPMorgan’s Commercial and Investment Bank and vice chair of the firm’s’ San Diego Market Leadership Team. “But one of the segments of the business community we felt was overlooked was emerging middle market companies—the businesses that are no longer small but not yet large.”
Ryan says supporting those companies is critical as they scale and decide where to invest, hire, and grow.
San Diego’s high cost of living remains one of the region’s biggest business challenges, making talent recruitment and retention increasingly competitive. But local leaders point to the region’s quality of life, climate, and collaborative business community as advantages that continue to attract employers and workers.
“In order to support thriving households, there has to be enough high-quality jobs for people to be able to afford to live here,” Cafferty says. “Once a company grows and excels past that middle market point in their growth cycle, they become much more likely to pay higher wages and compete globally.”
Both Cafferty and Ryan proudly tout the unique collaboration that exists among San Diego County businesses. Bringing together top universities producing high-quality talent, cutting-edge research institutions, a robust military and defense presence, leading ocean science and environmental organizations, and a binational, cross-border identity creates a distinct business ecosystem that defines and strengthens the San Diego region.
Last year’s San Diego Business Impact Awards celebrated nearly 60 honorees from 49 industries, representing a total of 8,232 jobs across eight sectors, including: software and technology, healthcare and life sciences, consumer goods, professional services, finance, construction and manufacturing, defense, and hospitality and tourism. On average, honoree companies doubled their revenues over the previous year, employed more than 145 San Diegans each, and offered an average annual compensation of $192,415.
Top honorees included defense contractor Innoflight, environmental consulting firm Bancroft Construction Services, life sciences startup Element Biosciences, defense technology contractor GALT Aerospace, organic grocery store chain Jimbo’s, and biopharmaceutical company LENZ Therapeutics. During the event, Innoflight Founder and CEO Jeff Janicik held a fireside chat offering his insights on investing in the community and embracing San Diego culture.
This year, organizers hope to continue highlighting the middle market players driving economic impact across the region. Nominations are now open through June 18 at 4 p.m. Get your tickets to the San Diego Business Impact Awards celebration to enjoy drinks by Snake Oil Cocktail Co., light bites, live music, and networking.
Celebrate International Women’s Month by visiting the city's women-founded restaurants, shops, and companies this March
California is home to the most women-owned businesses in the country, and San Diego is a hot spot for women entrepreneurs. In March, we’re celebrating International Women’s Month by highlighting some of our favorite women-owned businesses throughout San Diego County—from food to flowers, photographers, and gift shops. Here are 31 ways to support local entrepreneurs this month and beyond.
Restaurants | Beverages & Spirits | Retail | Artists | Health & Wellness
Lizzette Amaya, an entrepreneur from Anyarit, Mexico who also owns a restaurant with her husband in La Mesa, delayed the opening of Nahomie’s Cafe & Deli in order to care for her ailing mother. When the spot for sandwiches, wraps, and coffee launched at last in August 2024, it won the National City Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 “New Business of the Year” award.
“It’s been hard trying to keep up the business,” Amaya says about trying to balance this spot with the other restaurant she owns with her husband in La Mesa, but she’s found the community to be supportive and that social media—despite being her only marketing tool right now—to be very effective for reaching new customers.
450 E 8th St. Ste D, National City
Annemarie Brown-Lorenz, daughter of The Fishery’s original owner—who has been working in restaurants herself since she was 15—took over the nearly 30-year-old seafood business’ operations during Covid. She and her husband also run Pacific Shellfish, and in 2022, food critic Troy Johnson said that after “15 years of studying food and eating at San Diego restaurants…the two meals at The Fishery were the single most excellent seafood experience I’ve had in the city.”
5040 Cass St, Pacific Beach
Elisa Borelli co-manages Balsamico Italian Kitchen in Imperial Beach with her husband, Michele. Though Borelli’s background is in finance, she curated the restaurant’s wine list herself and manages much of the front-of-house operations. The restaurant is known for its Italian food and—you guessed it—balsamic offerings.
791 Palm Ave #101, Imperial Beach
Teriyaki Grill is a women-owned business that is bringing a new flavor to Chula Vista. Owner Casey Vu loves to cook and learned much of her skills from her previous travels around the world. Her restaurant is a reflection of that and offers Asian fusion cuisine, which has a little bit of everything from octopus tacos to steak sandwiches and teriyaki burgers.
380 3rd Ave,Ste B, Chula Vista
Tracy Borkum, principal of Urban Kitchen Group, is credited with helping to revolutionize San Diego’s food scene. She’s spent 15 of her 25 years in the industry building and growing Bankers Hill’s Cucina Urbana, where she employs a full-time HR person to support her team—a rarity in the restaurant field.
505 Laurel St, San Diego
Always Hungry Grocery & Goods in Carlsbad Village (which also operates as a pop-up in Oceanside) is the beautiful and intentionally stocked grocery store of your dreams. “[Inventory] must be local, support an underrepresented group, be absolutely the best in their category, or just be plain fun,” owner Katie Jayne says, pointing to items like Fox Point Farms’ sugar snap peas from Encinitas or Tethos’ non-alcoholic wines from North County.
505 Oak Avenue Suite B, Carlsbad | 110 N Myers St, Oceanside
North Park’s Chicken Pie Shop has been in the Townsend family for four generations over 87 years. Lisa Townsend, the daughter-in-law of the restaurant’s original owners, currently handles the day-to-day operations. As general manager, Townsend brought the business into the modern age, adding the ability to pay by credit card, launching digital time cards, and more. The restaurant makes upwards of 3,000 pies daily.
2633 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego
Black- and veteran-owned Altipiano Vineyard & Winery was founded by Denise Clarke, a winemaker and internationally recognized connoisseur. She and her husband built Altipiano after losing their 900 avocado trees in a 2007 fire, and, in 2012, Clarke took over as the company’s full-time, in-house winemaker. Visit the couple’s Tuscan-style vineyard in Escondido to buy wines by the bottle, join the wine club, or participate in a private tasting.
20365 Camino Del Aguila, Escondido
Owner Carmen Velasco-Favela opened her Barrio Logan brewery, Mujeres Brew House, during the pandemic with an all-woman leadership team. The business takes inspiration from Mexican culture and offers fruit-forward beers and cocktail seltzers.
Julie Bogen is an experienced writer and digital strategist whose work has been featured in The Atlantic, The 19th News, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and more. She is passionate about storytelling that centers women and marginalized communities, and when not working she's either with her family or in a barre studio.
Last year’s winner of Surfer Magazine’s Biggest Paddle-In Wave Award is pushing the limits of big wave surfing
Centuries ago, explorers marked uncharted seas with the ominous warning, “Here be monsters.” Today, San Diego’s Jojo Roper hunts his own kind of sea monster: towering waves that test the limits of human endurance.
“I train everyday and work my ass off to chase these waves, and [when the swell comes], I don’t want to miss a thing,” Roper says.
The son of local surf legend Joe Roper, Roper grew up in his dad’s Kearny Mesa surf shop, catching his first wave at age 3. Fourteen years later, a trip to Puerto Escondido, Mexico ignited his obsession with big wave surfing. At 18, he was ready to take on Northern California’s big-wave mecca, Mavericks.
Now, from Nazaré, Portugal to Oahu’s North Shore, Roper’s journey is relentless. His team studies NOAA buoy readings, boards overnight boat rides, and hops international flights—all in pursuit of the planet’s biggest waves.
Last March, while surfing dreamy, crystal-blue barrels in Fiji, Roper was summoned by a swell alert to the frigid, churning waves of Mavericks. A quick 36 hours later, he was dropping into a 50-footer that would nab him Surfer Magazine’s 2024 Biggest Paddle-In Wave of the Year award.
But, make no mistake, these are treacherous waters. At six feet, waves are considered “overhead” and deter most average surfers. At 20 feet, paddle-outs become tests of endurance, and boards snap like matchsticks. At 30 feet, the force of a wipeout can rupture eardrums and drag surfers hundreds of feet along the ocean floor. At 50 feet, the crashing whitewater hits with the force of an avalanche, tossing humans like ragdolls in a washing machine.
“It’s like being in a major car accident that keeps going for 15 to 40 seconds—while trying to hold your breath,” Roper says. “Your limbs are flying in every direction since the violence is so radical.”
Today, the record for the largest wave ever paddled into stands at 63 feet, but, dangerous or not, Roper is determined to top it.
“My mission is to paddle into the biggest wave ever surfed,” he says.
Cole Novak is an award-winning writer with a passion for highlighting local figures, small businesses, and nonprofits. Born and raised in San Diego, Cole is passionate about photography, surfing, art, the local food scene, and the great outdoors.
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