It’s not often a community college team sets the pace in a big city hoops scene—one that’s increasingly relevant at the national level—but that’s exactly what the San Diego City College Knights are doing.
Since 2004, the Knights have won eight conference championships and 11 postseason tournament berths. They’ve appeared in two state finals and won one of them in 2017. Dozens of alumni have been awarded scholarships to Division I and II programs, and several have played professionally around the world.
Along with SDSU, USD, UCSD, and PLNU, the SDCC Knights are one of a handful of local basketball teams worth watching right now.
Sure, San Diego’s Big 5 will never be considered as big as teams from cities like LA or Cincinnati, not with Division II and community college teams in the mix, but they have done something recently that programs in other, more acclaimed basketball cities haven’t: they’ve won.
SDCC’s run started two decades ago when head coach Mitch Charlens took over a program that the previous year won seven games playing in a high school gym. (No offense, San Diego High.)
“We were crazy enough and arrogant enough to think we could win right away,” Charlens said. “And we did.” With nine regular season games left this year, Charlens’ average of 20.5 wins-per-season doesn’t seem likely to decrease.
As the Knights were wrapping up their game at Miramar College, the San Diego State University men’s squad was warming up for its own conference showdown. Jaedon LeDee would go on to pace the team’s victory over Nevada with an overstuffed stat sheet—22 points, 12 rebounds, three steals, and a block. Fellow senior Lamont Butler did yeoman’s work, chipping in four rebounds, three assists, and two steals to go along with his 10 points.
“Our defense and rebounding were the difference in the game, and that’s Aztec basketball,” head coach Brian Dutcher told the media after the game.
The win also brought SDSU to 15-3 on the season, which feels like déjà vu. The Aztecs were 14-4 at this time last year, after Butler’s 19 points and two assists, steals, and rebounds fueled a conference win over Colorado State.
Lamont Butler’s buzzer-beater led the Aztecs to their first National Championship game last year
“We hit a rhythm in the second half, got going, and our defensive pressure keyed it,” Dutcher said after that game. The Aztecs would go on to win 17 of their next 19, then Butler sent SDSU to the national championship with the shot of his life. By this point, you can set your watch to it—after a few early season losses, the Aztecs’ upperclassmen and the coach’s cliches are in top form come January.
SDSU’s own run of excellence started under Dutcher’s predecessor, the legendary Steve Fisher, who in 2002 led the Aztecs to their first Mountain West Conference title and their first NCAA tournament appearance in 17 years. Six more conference championships and 11 tournament appearances would follow. Before last season’s NCAA final, Sports Illustratedanointed SDSU a “West Coast college basketball powerhouse,” as if Aztecs fans needed to be informed.
But the same can be said for the city itself, which may be less apparent.
In 2020, the UCSD men’s basketball team elevated to Division I. In all its wisdom, the NCAA prohibited the school from being eligible for the national championship tournament during a four-year “reclassification” period, but the Tritons decided to be good anyway. They are second in the Big West Conference with a 11-7 record, and only a LeDee buzzer-beater earlier this season prevented UCSD from upsetting its crosstown rival.
In 2022, the University of San Diego hired Steve Lavin as its head men’s basketball coach. Lavin previously led blue blood programs in UCLA and St. Johns, and has eight NCAA tournament appearances to his name. Before a recent four-game skid, the Toreros were 10-5 and competitive in a West Coast Conference that regularly sends powerhouse Gonzaga to the NCAA tournament.
And last year, the Point Loma Nazarene men’s team went to the regional finals in the Division II championship tournament after winning the Pacwest Conference.
Truly, SD’s Big 5 are on a roll.
When asked what’s changed in the last twenty years to turn San Diego into a premier college basketball destination, Charlens thought for a moment, then told the story of Malcolm Thomas.
Thomas starred at San Diego’s Crawford High, and after a year at Pepperdine returned home and played for City College in the 2008-09 season. After a standout season, he transferred to SDSU, where he played alongside program icon Kawhi Leonard and became one of the top shot blockers in school history.
Thomas now plays professionally overseas, but to Charlens he was the first top recruit to “believe in City College,” a school that built itself a new gym and whose administration realized that winning matters. In effect, Thomas was the first local star to commit to a new era of San Diego basketball.
Friday, December 1 | 7:00 p.m. | LionTree Arena, UCSD
Watch: ESPN+ | Listen: San Diego Sports 760
Move over, New York Yankees and Mets. There’s a new transit-oriented sports rivalry on the map. With the opening of MTS’s Blue Line trolley extension in 2021, the SDSU and UCSD campuses became linked by transit. A year later, the schools’ baseball teams inaugurated the so-called Trolley Series. The SDSU and UCSD men’s basketball programs pick up the lightrail rivalry on December 1 and, unlike the Subway Series, features teams that aren’t wholly disappointing.
SDSU is 6-1 following its run to the Final Four last season, and UCSD just hosted the nationally televised Rady Children’s Invitational basketball tournament. The game is sold out—don’t forget your PRONTO cards—but fans can catch it on ESPN+ or San Diego Sports 760.
San Diego Sockers vs Tacoma Stars
Sunday, December 3 | 5:05 p.m. | Pechanga Arena San Diego
The most decorated sports team in San Diego isn’t the beloved Padres, the ascendent Wave, or the departed Chargers. It’s the Sockers, the 16-time champions of professional indoor soccer. They may not be as familiar as the other teams, but the Sockers winning tradition at Pechanga Arena stretches back to 1982.
Sadly, their December 3 home opener represents something of a farewell at what the team affectionately calls “the grand old arena.” They’re relocating to Oceanside’s brand-new Frontwave Arena after this season. Catch their electrifying brand of soccer before they head up the coast.
San Diego Gulls vs Henderson Silver Knights
Saturday, December 16 | 6:00 p.m. | Pechanga Arena San Diego
Watch: KUSI-TV | Listen: San Diego Gulls Audio Network
For my money, hockey is the best live sport, Hawaiian shirts are the best garment, and Christmas is the best holiday. Those three things joyously collide at the Gulls next home game on December 16, as the team gives away Gulls Hawaiian shirts as part of their Winter Wonderland/Teddy Bear Toss Night. There’s even a pregame tailgate in the parking lot. Just don’t mind the standings.
The Gulls are mired in last place in the American Hockey League’s Pacific Division and face the minor-league affiliate of the Stanley Cup-winning Las Vegas Golden Knights. If there’s ever a time for a miracle on ice, it’s during the holiday season.
DIRECTV Holiday Bowl
Wednesday, December 27 | 5:00 p.m. | Petco Park
Watch: TBD | Listen: TBD
The festivities around the college football Holiday Bowl offer something for everyone. There’s America’s Largest Balloon Parade and the Snapdragon Bowl Bash downtown. For those wanting to relive the glory days, there’s a tailgate party, and for those who like to wake up at 5 a.m. there’s a 5K walk/run. If the expected USC-Clemson matchup comes to fruition, there will be visiting Angelenos saying San Diego is “really nice” (as if we needed their confirmation).
And of course there’s the Holiday Bowl game itself, which is typically one of college football’s best matchups of the year and one of San Diego’s great sports traditions. It has been played in the city since 1978 and Petco Park was recently modified to host it. Teams will be announced on December 3, but get your tickets now before a bunch of Trojans run up the prices.
SDSU vs No. 11 Gonzaga men’s basketball
Friday, December 29 | 6:00 p.m. | Spokane, Washington
Watch: TBD | Listen: San Diego Sports 760
It’s that time between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Everyone’s faking work so they don’t burn vacation days. You’re full and drowsy from six weeks of holiday eating and you’re staring into the winter abyss. That is, unless you’re an SDSU fan.
It seems the men’s basketball team always figures it out in December, dive-bombs into the AP Top 25 rankings, and reminds everyone that San Diego has more than just beaches and sunshine. It has one of the best, most-consistent basketball programs in the country. After starting last season 7-3, SDSU’s win against Kennesaw State in December propelled them to win 25 of their next 28 games on the way to the NCAA championship game. Their matchup at No. 11 Gonzaga will indicate whether SDSU has yet another postseason run in them.
If magazines are like the adultier eldest daughters who know exactly how much anarchy they can get away with, zines are the far less predictable younger siblings going on whim and instinct. Those who draw on the walls around the house, DIY their own piercings, and experiment with different emo/straight-edge/back to emo phases (or not-phases). Boundaries and routines are what zines were created to rail against.
Walk into Verbatim Books’ zine corner, and this rebellion is immediately clear. Zines have no singular form, no clean category or definition. Vintage magazine scraps are collaged into new meaning alongside mini fandom zines. Single sheets of plain white printer paper are covered in nothing but black ballpoint pen. Repurposed hardback book covers are folded into something entirely new. Some are duct-taped together, others stapled. Some glossy, others matte. There are guides to anything and everything, comic panels, photography, hand-drawn cartoons, poetry, recipes, diaries, and ramblings that only make sense to the person who made them—and that’s on purpose.
Zines are creative magic. And with no rules, they’re incredibly accessible. Anyone can zine and have a voice, regardless of artistic training or work life experience.
You are your own Anna Wintour, Graydon Carter, Ruth Whitney.
San Diego–based zine creator Lyssette Williams specializes in mini zines—often limited to eight pages, they’re meditations in abbreviation. Outlining, thumbnailing, and revision all move quickly from idea to page. Larger projects, including Williams’ long-form graphic novel thesis, move at a slower pace. For those, she often returns to pen and ink, a choice that resists the over-editability of digital work.
Raised by a single mother and navigating mixed-race identity in a predominantly white town, she finds a home for processing it all in zines. Her work deals in identity, belonging, self-definition, and punk-rock childhood. But it isn’t always heavy; Williams creates a mini duck-themed zine called Backyard Duck Propaganda that’s hard not to love. “When I create, I think about what would have helped me find the words back then, what my younger self would’ve needed,” Williams says. “[Zines] put the tools in your hands and democratize art. They’re translations of memories and identities.”
Courtesy of Lyssette Williams
For Williams, a big reason she keeps creating is being surrounded by other creatives—a scene that extends across the border. She points to Verbatim and Comicbook Artists of San Diego, plus events like Zine Fest (October 17–18 this year at Woo in Barrio Logan) and Black Comix Day at the WorldBeat Cultural Center.
Zines have always been a road for subcultures. During the Harlem Renaissance, Black creatives like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston self-published one issue of Fire!!, which inspired other Black authors. In the 1930s, zines (then called fanzines) were hubs for sci-fi nerds to write fanfiction, address the fandom, and create new characters. Superman actually made his public debut in a fanzine called Science Fiction (he was originally cast as a villain with a fully receded hairline). A couple decades later, zines about feminism and riot grrrl became subculture de rigueur.
The internet nearly killed zines, of course. But now, people tired of the algorithm’s firehose are finding comfort and renewed inspiration in analog. Zines, a salve for digital fatigue.
Courtesy of Duophobia
A giant figure in San Diego zine culture is Burn All Books. Founded by Amanda and Nick Bernal, BAB started as a risograph (digital screen printing) studio and turned into one of those places that keeps expanding the whole scene around it, even forming its own archive group, SCANNNERS. Since opening in January 2023, it has published over 35 works and collaborated with more than 100 artists, writers, and zinesters.
For Duophobia, the pseudonym for local twin sisters Alora and Kiani Dotson (affectionately known as the “possum twins”), zines make room for experimentation and play that doesn’t fit anywhere else. Room for eclectic cartoons and dirty jokes. For sticker-covered sketchbooks.
It’s that same brand of nostalgia you might feel when, say, you walk past the carcass of an abandoned mall and see a faded cartoon mural. Their work lives somewhere between childhood and adulthood, where being unserious is taken very, very seriously.
“We’re born and raised in San Diego, and the community of artists here is a main reason we started publishing,” Kiani Dotson says. “There are people here like Trixxie Land who run open art gatherings. Show up, and you’re part of it.”
Land, a zinester herself (she made 250 single-page zines during 2020’s lockdown), is all about storytelling over hierarchy. Art shouldn’t be about gatekeeping or intimidation, she says. So she holds open-invite arts shows at Subterranean Coffee.
Courtesy of Lyssette Williams
Duophobia regularly share their work at local galleries like Subterranean, filling that lowbrow space with pieces that answer: “What would’ve made us laugh as kids?” Children are often the first to pick up their zines, unfolding them in every direction while parents briefly panic at the impulsive destruction. The twins always step in. “No, no, it’s okay,” they say, before showing how one sheet of paper folds into an entire little book. “It’s like magic.” More often than not, the kids leave with a tiny zine tucked under a tiny arm, future San Diego zinesters in the making.
When asked what a zine really is, Alora Dotson’s response was simple: “It’s anything. Literally anything. The more genuine you are, the more people are going to hear what you have to say. Your voice matters, even if it’s just a silly joke or story. People want to hear about it.”
Not a perfect definition? Exactly. Zines inherently resist categories. Want to turn a single playing card into a storybook? Do it. What about your favorite graffiti artist’s signature tag at Prince Memorial Skatepark? Turn it into a zine.
Isabella Dallas is a freelance writer for San Diego Magazine and the Arts and Culture Editor at The Daily Aztec in her final year at San Diego State University. She previously worked as an editorial intern for SDM, but when she’s not writing, you can find her trying the best coffee spots in SD, devouring the latest rom-coms, and indulging in anything and everything pop culture.
A perfectly designed home rarely happens by accident. Those kitchens that feel effortless and rooms that seem to tell a story the second you walk in? They’re usually the work of someone who knows exactly what they’re doing.
It’s knowing which ideas will actually work, which materials will hold up over time, and how to turn a collection of choices into a space that feels intentional. That’s where a professional interior designer comes in.
For the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) California San Diego Chapter, the goal is to help people see interior design as more than just the finished look. Behind every well-designed space is a process built on technical expertise. Designers are educated in everything from professional software and construction details to building codes, space planning, materials, and functionality.
Courtesy of ASID
“People don’t always realize how much goes on behind the scenes,” Kirsten Recce , current president of the ASID California San Diego Chapter, says. “Our designers are not just doing furniture placement and color selection and picking out new fluffy pillows. That’s not what they’re trained for.”
ASID members bring formal education, continued learning, and industry knowledge to their projects, helping create spaces that are not only beautiful, but designed to work. A paint color that changes completely depending on the lighting. A material that looks beautiful in a showroom but doesn’t make sense for everyday life. A layout that photographs well but doesn’t function for the people living there. These are the details where professional guidance can make all the difference.
Still, one of the biggest misconceptions about hiring an interior designer is that it’s reserved for massive renovations, luxury homes, or people who already know exactly what they want. The process can feel intimidating. Where do you begin? Is a designer worth the investment? What if you only need help with one room?
ASID’s answer: start with one hour.
ASID’s Spruce Up events break down one of the biggest barriers between homeowners and professional design: knowing where to begin. Held twice a year, the community program gives homeowners the chance to work directly with an ASID designer through a one-hour, $125 consultation in their own home. Whether you’re looking for advice on furniture placement, window treatments, kitchen and bath updates, remodeling ideas, vacation rentals, color selections or something else entirely, the upcoming September 2026 event offers an approachable way to get expert guidance before committing to a full project. Signups are open through Sept. 7, with consultations taking place Sept. 21 through Oct. 31. Proceeds benefit ASID San Diego’s educational and community programs. Register here!
Courtesy of ASID
“It’s a great opportunity for people who are in that exploratory phase,” Recce says. “Maybe they’re not sure they want to hire an interior designer yet, or they think it sounds daunting or expensive. This gives them a chance to discover what working with a designer is actually like.”
Design is personal. A good designer isn’t just creating a beautiful room; they’re helping create a space that fits the way someone lives.
“We’re a resource to all of San Diego County,” Recce says. “It doesn’t cost anything to pick up the phone and call and ask. We’ll answer.”
From celebrity pickleball tournaments to intimate dinner parties with your favorite Food Network chefs, here are all of the can’t-miss events going on Sept 30–Oct 4
Play is underrated. Somewhere along the way, someone decided it was something we should outgrow. That you A good song comes on, and they dance. A game appears, and they’re in. Someone hands them a melting ice cream cone, and somehow it’s the best part of the day.
Adults tend to need a reason. Or maybe just the right setting.
That’s part of what makes the Del Mar Wine & Food Festival feel different. Yes, the week revolves around food and wine, with celebrated chefs, winemakers, and restaurants drawing crowds from across the region. But what lingers afterward is the conversations that stretch a little longer than expected, the strangers who become dinner companions, the live music that pulls people out of their seats, and the rare chance to spend a few hours simply enjoying yourself without much of an agenda.
The Grand Tasting is the festival’s centerpiece, bringing thousands of guests together over two days for hundreds of bites and pours. But some of the week’s most memorable experiences happen on a smaller scale. In the days leading up to the main event, intimate dinners, chef collaborations, and guided tastings create opportunities for guests to interact more closely with the people behind the food and wine and with each other.
Signature San Diego Opening Night Party at Monarch Ocean Pub
Start festival week the San Diego way: ocean views, Baja-inspired bites, and a drink in hand as the sun goes down. The Signature San Diego Opening Night Party at Monarch Ocean Pub sets the tone for the week ahead with a walk-around tasting experience celebrating the flavors that make this city impossible to replicate. It’s an evening of fresh coastal cuisine, bold Mexican flavors, Baja seafood, and plenty of local favorites—all served against one of Del Mar’s most iconic backdrops. Consider it your first official toast to the weekend ahead…
Celebrity Pickleball Tournament Presented by Justin Vineyards & Winery
Wine and competition make an unexpectedly perfect pair. You can join Drew Brees and celebrity players at Barnes Tennis Center for a pickleball tournament benefiting Feeding San Diego, where the sidelines are just as exciting as the court. Grab a paddle, cheer from the sidelines, or simply enjoy a glass of wine while the action unfolds. The day blends friendly competition with an all-inclusive tasting experience.
Since year one, Del Mar Wine & Food Festival has partnered with Feeding San Diego to raise $100,000 in support of the organization’s mission to fight hunger across the region. Every serve, sip, and bite helps give back to the community that makes this festival possible.
Remember that pickleball paddle you swore you’d use? Time to put it to work.
Barnes Tennis Center | 4490 W Point Loma Blvd, San Diego, CA 92107
This is essentially a passport to Spain with no airport required. Set among the lush grounds of Rancho Valencia, Rioja Uncorked celebrates one of Spain’s most iconic wine regions with an evening of exceptional pours and thoughtfully paired bites. Guests will sip their way through Rioja wines while enjoying a menu featuring everything from Hiramasa crudo and uni toast to duck rillette, birria mini tacos, Cardiff Crack tri-tip sandwiches, and a sweet finale from Karen Krasne of Extraordinary Desserts (date night plans, solved).
Rancho Valencia | 5921 Valencia Cir, Rancho Santa Fe
Justin Wine Dinner with Chefs Kaitlyn Weber, Buddha Lo & Jackson Kalb
Justin Wine Dinner sounds simple: three chefs, one unforgettable table. But chefs Kaitlyn Weber (Estancia La Jolla), Buddha Lo (Top Chef), and Jackson Kalb (Top Chef) are taking you on a one-night-only culinary ride where three styles collide over a multi-course menu paired with exceptional pours from Justin Vineyards & Winery. Set in Estancia’s coastal estate, the evening unfolds course by course with pairings from Justin wines as each chef brings their own style to a menu focused on craft, connection, and a bit of friendly culinary overlap. It’s the kind of culinary conversation that only happens when very, very talented people cook together.
Estancia – Olive Lawn | 9700 N Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California
Isabella Dallas is a freelance writer for San Diego Magazine and the Arts and Culture Editor at The Daily Aztec in her final year at San Diego State University. She previously worked as an editorial intern for SDM, but when she’s not writing, you can find her trying the best coffee spots in SD, devouring the latest rom-coms, and indulging in anything and everything pop culture.
Best Place to Buy Original Art Without Needing a Tiny Paddle
Goblin Shark Emporium
Almost everything in this Oceanside shop is made by local artists and independent weirdos, and almost none of it requires a gallerist’s budget. Goblin Shark Emporium rotates a new featured artist every month between the vinyl crates, blacklight posters, and hilariously specific stickers, so you can walk out with original work and a tarot reading to contemplate as you sip your Banana Dang Coffee from a couple storefronts down.
Best Hidden Gem
Through the Fold
Tucked within the potting tables and ferns of Mission Hills Nursery, the oldest nursery in Southern California and a Kate Sessions original, sits Through the Fold, the sweet indie bookstore that mother-daughter team Gail Levine and Jennifer Medeiros hand-built and opened in late April. Two retired educators and lifelong bibliophiles run it like a neighborhood living room: three book clubs, toddler story time, and a summer camp for the 7-to-12 set. It’s the rare retail run that smells like soil and new paperbacks, which is to say, like a very specific kind of heaven.
Open since 1993 under the unbeatable tagline “Books of Martians, Murder, Magic, and Mayhem,” this Rosecrans Street institution is the city’s portal for anyone who would rather be on a different planet. Load up on sci-fi, horror, and fantasy, then stick around for the weekly Dungeons & Dragons campaign, because the only thing better than reading about another universe is rolling a d20 inside one.
Best Stop into Trinket Town
Library Shop
On the ground floor of the downtown Central Library, tucked into the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Common, sits the Library Shop, a tightly curated gift store stocked with presents and trinkets you didn’t know you needed: wind-up kitchen timers, specialty pencils, felt coasters in colors cheerful enough to overcome the first half of the Padres’ season—you get it. Every dollar funds the San Diego Public Library system, which makes the shop’s official “Guilt-Free Shopping” motto the rare slogan that holds up. Come for a paperback, leave having formed a genuine emotional attachment to a $4 pencil.
The window at this North Park shop is alive: a front-of-house catio where adoptable rescue cats audition for your heart while you pretend to be just browsing. From there, a literal catwalk runs along the ceiling to a back resting room (because existing around inferior beings is exhausting for cats). Owner Vera Blatchley of Purrgatory stocks the full cat-lover arsenal, plus a wall of gifts for the feline who already has nine of everything. Fan favorite: a retro-style, bubblegum-pink Kit-Cat Clock.
Best San Diego Mood Board
Club Paradise
Surf art’s everywhere, but it’s somehow always a little kooky. Painter Andy Davis’ style captured that elemental soul, making him one of the most successful surf artists of the last few decades (check his giant mural at Town and Country Resort). His tiny Encinitas storefront, Club Paradise, is a gallery-slash-gift shop that stocks his paintings and prints—and he’s using the space as a culture club for local and touring creatives.
Best Limited-Edition Tan Line
Tulux Resortwear
Tulux is the Pacific Beach swimwear label out of Cass Street, where designer Yamhed Torres turns the whole Tulum fantasy into bold, limited-run bikinis. This year, Vogue México y Latinoamérica named her one of just 10 emerging designers to watch, so each suit comes with the kind of credentials that practically books its own sunset getaway. Everything is one and done: When a piece sells, it’s gone for good, which is either smart scarcity or the universe telling you to commit.
Free lotto tickets at crystal shops? Yes, please. Pacific Beads owner Shlomo Gruer greets you at the door of this Clairemont Mesa warehouse with 4,000 square feet of crystals, geodes, and beads by the bin. You come for wholesale amethyst and sterling findings; you leave holding a fistful of healing stones and a statistically remote shot at early retirement. Need another reason to visit? Owner Gruer has his own line of jewelry, and Pacific Beads also hosts jewelry-making classes.
Best Nostalgia Purchase
123 Sweetsss
El Cajon’s Parkway Plaza could look radically different in the near future, as city officials are hatching plans to reinvent the one-time community and commercial center. Inflection points of iconic structures are always compelling times to visit and tabulate your own urban-planning daydreams. As you do, hit the first NAMA-certified automatic cotton candy vending machine in the country. Push a button, and 123 Sweetsss spins you a fresh cloud of childhood in under a minute. No carnival, no county fair admission, no sweaty teenager in a paper hat required.
Nearly everyone experiences a sleepless night once in a while. But for those with a circadian sleep disorder, being well-rested can feel out of reach. A circadian sleep disorder occurs when a person’s internal clock doesn’t align with their desired or socially required sleep schedule. This can significantly impact quality of life, mental health and physical well-being. Scripps Circadian Sleep Disorders Clinic, launched in 2019, was the first of its kind in the state. Its specialists diagnose and treat conditions like delayed sleep phase disorder, shift work sleep disorder and non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder. Many patients have spent years—or even decade —thinking there was no hope for their sleep behavior. A solution can be life-changing. Read more about the Scripps Circadian Sleep Disorders Clinic here.
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