It’s easy to write our city off as merely an always-sunny hub for laid-back beach bums—thus forgetting that culture, innovation, and progress have always been baked into SD’s identity.
This cover from 1956 marries all these values. Bali Hai opened in 1952 at the dawn of tiki culture. Four years later, photographer Paul Oxley shot the three-wheeled Messerschmitt KR200 outside its doors. Designed by a German aircraft engineer, the sleek microcar broke 22 international speed records in 1955. It’s a promise of the auto technology to come, plopped in the middle of San Diegans’ favorite haunt for tiny umbrellas.
In honor of our 75th anniversary, we’re recreating iconic covers from our past. The new cover stars the same beloved Bali Hai and another futuristic, three-wheeled vehicle, the SD-grown, battery-and-sun powered Aptera.
The original cover featured an uncredited model. This time, we chose two unforgettable
locals pushing our city into the future: Shavone Charles, head of global diversity and inclusion communications at TikTok, and chef Claudia Sandoval of cookbook and Master Chef fame.
They (and the other movers and shakers sprinkled throughout this issue) are proof that San Diegans are always headed towards the next big thing—we’re just doing it in better weather than most.
