The curtains are going up on two avant-garde, campy pieces of regional theater. Moxie and Diversionary, two of San Diego’s leading independent theater companies, are joining forces this upcoming season to co-produce a pair of mission-driven plays that share symbiotic themes: inclusivity, finding one’s authentic self, and a flagrant regard for fun. The double-header will hit both companies’ 99-seat theaters in tandem in May of 2024 to tell the stories of San Diego’s growing (though still underrepresented) LGBTQ communities.
“San Diego is such a dynamic theater town that there is room for all sizes of companies, and not in a competitive way. We all get to have the pleasure of seeing each other soar,” says Jenny Case, the executive director of Diversionary Theatre. Case cut her teeth at La Jolla Playhouse as their associate general manager.
Moxie’s newly appointed executive artistic director, Desireé Clarke Miller, adds, “We’re trying to be creative in the way that we think about our mission to be really and truly inclusive of all different types of folks.” Their play selections speak to that.
Courtesy of Diversionary Theatre
As America’s third-oldest LGBTQ theater, University Heights’ Diversionary is committed to “telling LGBTQI stories, and then sharing them [with] the world … [and giving] our community a place to come see themselves reflected,” Case says. Their current 38th season welcomes canonical characters like Tom Wingfield of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie (closing Dec. 23). But Diversionary’s production in this partnership brings something new: the world premiere of TL; DR: Thelma Louise; Dyke Remix, a musical reimagining of the classic flick’s characters with a lesbian lean, questioning why all strong female characters have to die. Backed with a raucous riot girl soundtrack, identity-seeking never sounded so badass.
Launching its 20th season next year, Rolando-based Moxie centers on the stories of women and other people who face gender-based marginalization. Their pair production, Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members, is a Puerto Rican drag fantasia that speaks to decolonization. “It’s gonna have music. It’s gonna have dancing,” Miller says. “It is going to feel like a party, even though we’re talking about decolonizing places in our bodies.”
Courtesy of Diversionary Theatre
Miller, who previously directed at Diversionary, was curating Moxie’s season when she landed on Notes. “Immediately, given the context of it with trans women on stage and a gay man on stage and [it being] written by a trans woman, I reached out to Matt Morrow [Diversionary’s former artistic director] and was like, ‘Hey, listen, we’re thinking of doing this play. I’m wondering if there’s an opportunity to partner,’ she recalls. “And Matt said, ‘You know, it’s interesting because I was going to reach out to you, because we’re doing this musical…’”
“We both have these incredibly dynamic shows that are wild and adventurous and a little dangerous to produce, and they seem like such a complement to each other energetically,” Case says. And, as hyper-specific as the tales might seem, the humanity resonates, which is the beauty and functionality of this kind of holistic storytelling. Regional theater, if you’ll let it, can guide our city toward radical inclusion.
“I think one of the important things that people miss in our mission is that we’re trying to demystify what women’s work really looks like. Women write about all different types of things,” Miller says of Moxie’s ethos.
Right now, these two women leaders are writing the future of SD’s regional theater.
Danielle is a freelance culture journalist focusing on music, food, wine, hospitality, and arts, and founder-playwright of Yeah No Yeah Theatre company, based in San Diego. Her work has been featured in FLAUNT, Filter Magazine, and San Diego Magazine. Born and raised in Maui, she still loves a good Mai Tai.
Siblings make better music. That’s the hot take, and there’s some logic and science behind it. The Bee Gees, Jackson 5, Billie Eilish and Finneas, AC/DC, Van Halen, The Allman Brothers—heck, even the Hanson brothers, why not? Beyond just a shared sense of taste and nonverbal communication developed over decades of living and evolving together, there’s a thing called “blood harmony.” The genetically similar throat cavities, vocal cords, speech patterns, and resonant bone structures all blend each unique voice into a more homophonic sound than what comes out of two non-related singers.
Those throat cavities are working wonders for emerging San Diego band We the Commas—three brothers (from oldest to youngest) Lenny, Jordon, and Cam Comma.
Raised in Vista and Carlsbad, the family opted out of cable TV (video games got a pass). Without binge-watching to fill bored hours, the trio turned to music. Guitar Hero led to GarageBand and finally to live instruments—guitars for Lenny and Cam, drum set for Jordon. In their sound, the influence of Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, The Who, and Dave Matthews Band is obvious, and so is surf culture, specifically that laid-back chill of North County surf culture.
“We’re like the Black Beach Boys,” Cam says. (Note: Three of the five founding members of the Beach Boys were siblings—the theory gets stronger.)
Their debut EP pretty clearly lays out how they see their sound—titled SARB, an acronym for Surf Alternative R&B. That resonates in the song “Sherry,” with its easy-listening, windows-down-on-the-101 vibe. It also works in the louder, surf-punkier “Pissed Off.” Despite some advances in reducing core stereotyping tendencies, people still tend to autofill Black musicians into rap and R&B. The Comma brothers immediately circumvent that by declaring themselves out the gates.
“SARB makes it so [listeners are] open to all of the things that we want to do,” Lenny says. “From there, you can put a label on whatever you think it sounds like.”
Courtesy of We the Commas
People—and musicians further up the stream—are taking note. In 2023, they co-wrote the song “I Keep Fallin’” with Eric Cannata, guitarist for multi-platinum SoCal band Young the Giant. In early 2024, they were tapped to open the national tour of Brooklyn’s jazz-pop heroes, Sammy Rae & The Friends. Comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias invited them to warm up his show at Pechanga a couple months later.
“We really believe genuinely, with our whole hearts, minds and souls, that this is going to work the way that we think it’s going to,” Cam says, grinning ear to ear.
Currently, the Commas live together in Vista, and the dream, wholeheartedly, is more alive than ever. They’ve put out two dozen singles and a trio of EPs: SARB (2020), Old School Love (2021), and Aeroplane (2024); this year alone brought the release of three new singles, including “Let Me,” a silky-smooth entry in their growing collection of love songs.
“We fully realized the magic is in all of us together,” Lenny says. “We know that this doesn’t happen without each person, and we have respect for each other because we need each other.”
As they grow as brothers and as a band, the Commas try to always remember what unified them in the first place.
Ryan Hardison is a freelance arts and entertainment writer and recent graduate of San Diego State. When he's not staring at his laptop, he's likely eating an adobada burrito or getting sunburnt at the beach.
How Scrojo Became One of Rock’s Most Prolific Poster Artists
The San Diego designer has created more than 3,000 concert posters over nearly 40 years for artists including the Rolling Stones and the Red Hot Chili Peppers
When he was in high school, he and his friends were trying to come up with the perfect name for their punk band that would encapsulate all their personas. Nicaragua. The Freds.
One of his friends said he was going to go by Jimmy Stacks and called it “the perfect rock and roll name.” Their names changed so much that Haskett erupted: “Fine, I’m f—ing Scrotum Joe, the true defender of the Open West.”
Their response: Wow, that’s a great name.
As a teenager, he drew chalkboards for Del Mar’s Pannikin coffee shop and would design T-shirts for surf/skate brand Life’s a Beach. He signed the shirts with his moniker, but even in punk rebellion, who wants a shirt with the words Scrotum Joe on it? “They just cut out the ‘t-u-m,’ and the next thing you know, a client referred to me as that, and it stuck,” he says.
Courtesy of Scrojo
Scrojo could have been part of a band as iconic as The Misfits—had he been able to learn the famously cumbersome bassline to The Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie.” Becoming one of the most renowned concert poster designers—someone who quite literally designed the cover of Art of Modern Rock: The Poster Explosion—is a pretty good Plan B.
“To my knowledge, he’s done more rock posters than anybody else alive,” says Dennis King, whose D. King Gallery in Berkeley, California, serves as one of the largest private rock poster collections in the world. “He’s the hardest-working guy in the poster business.”
King not only co-authored the sequel to music historian Paul Grushkin’s The Art of Rock, but he also handles distribution and sales for all of Scrojo’s work. That’s more than 3,000 different posters over nearly 40 years. (That’s over one poster each week. For four decades straight.)
For anything from boxing matches to rodeos, posters have long been used as promotional items. Toulouse-Lautrec’s famous lithographs advertised Moulin Rouge in the late 1800s. Around the same time, Hatch Show Print in Nashville was making handbills for the Grand Ole Opry.
“I propose this: Cave paintings are the first poster art,” Scrojo says.
Courtesy of Scrojo
Rock and roll posters took off in the 1960s, when the hippie counterculture era replaced conformity and suburbia. Artists like Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead used their vibrant, psychedelic prints as a form of rebellion from the mainstream. Posters were promotional, commemorative, collectible, and especially expressive.
If the name Scrojo is any indication, he doesn’t shy away from imagery that toes the line of being too provocative. He focused more on what inspired him instead of trying to be offensive for the sake of getting attention.
“Didn’t want to show it to my grandmother, but my parents were fine with it,” Scrojo says with a laugh.
“We’ve had to ask him to put a Band-Aid over a nipple every now and then,” says Chris Goldsmith, president of Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, where Scrojo started out and hundreds of his posters currently line the walls.
Scrojo spent six weeks at Otis College of Art and Design for a summer semester before drugs, alcohol, and a self-described lack of discipline prevented him from enrolling full time. Still, he taught himself concepts like text hierarchy and later found his niche at the Belly Up and in the surfing and skating world, working with brands like Quiksilver, Rip Curl, Scorpion Bay, and DGK.
His first concert poster was for North County band Borracho y Loco, of which Goldsmith was bass guitarist. Scrojo drew an abstract version of the Belly Up’s iconic shark with colorful calypso and tiki themes.
Early on, he would craft using a pencil, pen, non-reproduction blue pencil, X-Acto knife, rubber knife, and proportion scale to create each poster, and the finished product could take a week or even longer.
Courtesy of Scrojo
“I recommend every artist coming up to do that for like six weeks,” Scrojo says. “It forces you to think about every design decision as you’re going along.”
He has since mastered vector imagery through Adobe Illustrator to the point where, depending on the level of detail needed, he could finish two projects in a day. Still, he fills sketchbook after sketchbook to blueprint.
“I liked his line in particular, and he knows how to draw, which a lot of people don’t really know how to do these days,” King says.
Scrojo would research what each musician’s merchandise looks like to get a feel for each artist’s tone and voice. Once he has his central image in mind, he focuses on what and where to place the text.
He doesn’t have one specific style, ranging his talents from art deco to psychedelic and everything in between (and outside the lines). Want a pop surrealist comic book cartoon devil with splattered paint textures, halftone dot patterns, and pure chaos? Red Hot Chili Peppers, February 1986. Want a minimalist graphic portrait with bold strokes and graffiti text? P!nk, October 2023. Want a carnival sideshow style piece with a tasteful caricature of Jeff Bridges? The Big Lebowski, August 2011.
Scrojo calls himself a jack of all trades because he can create posters for all music genres. King calls him a chameleon for his ability to adapt his voice to new eras.
Courtesy of Scrojo
“The variety of his skillset makes it possible for us to put 50 of his posters on a wall next to each other and have it look compelling, not just a bunch of the same thing over and over,” Goldsmith says.
Some of Scrojo’s favorite posters are when he feels a personal connection to the artist or the album. He has a vivid memory as a child of being trapped in a closet filled with marijuana leaves while playing hide and seek and staring at Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come” LP. “For whatever reason, as a kid, that sparked a desire to do graphic design,” Scrojo says.
Fast forward to February 2012, Cliff is performing at Belly Up. Scrojo decided to modify Cliff’s original album cover from rainbow gradient fills to classic reggae psychedelia while preserving Cliff’s striped pants and bold hat. Cliff’s manager called him and said they wanted to use it for the rest of their tour.
“We always get artists requesting that he does their posters,” Goldsmith says. “A lot of artists don’t want venues to go all rogue because they want to control how they’re being presented. With him, they’re like, ‘Let him go nuts.’”
Matt Eisenberg is an award-winning writer and photographer based in San Diego. A former ESPN editor, his work has also been published by CNN, Bleacher Report and the New York Daily News.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been planning your wedding your entire life. The impromptu daydreaming usually comes at the most inconvenient times: during a meeting or right as you’re falling asleep after watching too many episodes of TLC’s Four Weddings.
In those imagined scenes, there is always a sunset. Usually some kind of impossible garden that feels like Alice in Wonderland meets The Secret Garden. There are soft pinks and climbing greens, florals that look like they grew a little too perfectly on purpose, and somewhere in the distance, water that catches the light. It’s dramatic in the best way.
Perched on Harbor Island, Sheraton San Diego Resort feels like a tucked-away bayside escape. But the real centerpiece of its $123 million transformation is the new Garden Terrace, a private green oasis that feels like it was designed specifically for the dream wedding replaying in my head. This is what I had been imagining all those years. White tea roses, lavender, gardenia, jasmine, and magnolia trees line the space, creating a fragrance that feels like it’s part of the architecture.
Courtesy of Sheraton San Diego Resort
Sheraton San Diego Resort has always had the advantage of its location, but what stands out now is how intentionally the indoor and outdoor spaces coexist. Panoramic harbor views stretch across the property, shifting from soft blue mornings to golden-hour glow and a nighttime skyline that feels almost cinematic. Of course, there are other ceremony and event spaces across the resort, too—including the Lanai Lawn, Harbor Vista Lawn, and Eventide Gardens—each offering its own variation of open-air beauty. But the Garden Terrace is the one that feels like it was made for vows.
I arrived on a Tuesday afternoon with a suitcase slightly overpacked, the result of not knowing what to fully expect from a resort doubling as a wedding venue. I tried to cover every possible version of the trip: a handful of summer dresses, a few breezy pants, marina-esque tank tops, sandals for everything, and accessories meant to sparkle in the sun (seven different earring and necklace options was probably unnecessary, though).
I did, however, underestimate the swimsuits, especially once I saw the paddleboards, endless water activities you’d want to try at least once, and pools and jacuzzis practically whispering your name. Business casual never made it out of the suitcase, replaced instead with easy cover-ups, pinks and greens, and airy button-ups that felt more in tune with the setting than structured jackets ever could.
The resort has been reimagined across rooms, dining areas, and outdoor spaces, with thoughtfully layered tile textures, lighting that shifts with the time of day, warm-toned palettes in the dining rooms, and fresh blues in the bedrooms that complement the views pouring in through the windows. The foyer feels expansive, framed by floor-to-ceiling windows and designed to bring a little bit of San Diego inside with you, rather than shut it out.
Courtesy of Sheraton San Diego Resort
By late afternoon, I was sitting by the marina watching the water shift colors in real time, the kind of view that makes everything feel slower without trying. Dinner at Rumorosa brought the first real taste of the resort’s Cali-Baja identity, starting with a trio of margaritas—passion fruit, spicy watermelon, and creamy coconut—that made it impossible to pick a favorite and slightly dangerous to have them all in front of you at once.
The table opened with guacamole layered with spicy cotija, radish, pomegranate seeds, candied serranos, cilantro, limes, duritos, and warm tortilla chips, followed by Mexican street corn with sweet kernels, spiced aioli, cotija, and more candied serranos that hit just enough heat to keep you absolutely addicted.
For my main, I went with the roasted organic chicken breast with buttered jasmine rice, mole negro, and roasted cauliflower, which felt familiar in structure but elevated in small details like the cilantro and pickled onions. And then the Carajillo tres leches cake, a vanilla sponge layered with coffee and Licor 43 mousse, praline, and caramel sauce, arrived and disappeared faster than it probably should have.
What made it feel so curated wasn’t just the menu, but how intentional everything felt without ever feeling fussy: bright flavors balanced against rich ones, heat against sweetness, and plates that arrived right as the light over the marina started to soften. The next morning carried that same energy. Breakfast could unfold at your own pace, whether that meant taking a Zoom call in your room, heading downstairs for a sit-down meal with friends at Rumorosa, or grabbing something quick from Strada Italian Market. I opted for a vanilla latte from La Colombe at Strada before heading out for the morning.
Courtesy of Sheraton San Diego Resort
I made it just in time for the resort’s complimentary morning yoga on the lawn, boats just visible beyond the stretch of green. The Sheraton offers it daily as part of the stay, a low-pressure option for anyone looking for an easy reset rather than a full workout, which I wasn’t expecting to take part in on this trip but ended up glad I did. The class itself was beginner-friendly, with slow flows and a few optional deeper stretches for anyone who wanted to push into more advanced poses.
Afterward, stand-up paddleboarding shifted everything into a different perspective. My small group launched from the resort’s private dock, boards wobbling slightly as we found our balance, then drifted out into the marina where the water opened up in every direction. We paddled past rows of docked boats, slipped alongside houseboats with their shaded decks and string lights, and followed the gentle curve of the harbor as it widened and narrowed again.
The afternoon transitioned into poolside lounging at Sunglow Cabana Bar, where cabanas, cold drinks, and a poolside lunch had me so relaxed I didn’t even realize my phone had died. Sunglow is open to the public, so if you’re looking for a quick day getaway, you can dock and settle in for SoCal-style shareables and frozen drinks.
Courtesy of Sheraton San Diego Resort
Dinner at the Garden Terrace kind of shifted everything for me. In the daytime it just feels like a nice open space, but at night it becomes something else entirely: more intentional, more “put together” in a way I didn’t really clock at first. As the sun went down over the marina, everything turned warm and the garden lit up in this soft glow that was staged under fairy lights. It was as if you were meant to experience it in this very certain way.
It was easy to picture it then: the quiet before guests arrive, the moment someone steps forward, the pause right before “I do.” There’s often a specific kind of silence right before a ceremony begins. And, at the Garden Terrace, that feeling is built into the space itself. You are standing in a garden wrapped in white blooms and soft greenery, with the harbor stretched out just beyond it. The sun is low enough to turn everything gold. Someone is standing across from you, close enough that everything else fades into background noise.
That evolution, according to Sean Clancy, Vice President and General Manager of Sheraton San Diego Resort, has been years in the making. He describes the property as having been “completely transformed,” from the rooms to the restaurants and everything in between, with new spaces like the Garden Terrace designed to highlight the marina backdrop in a way that feels “naturally stunning” and “magical,” not just scenic.
By the time I checked out on Thursday, watching the sun rise over the marina, empty in the early light, I understood why someone would choose this exact spot to say something they mean forever.
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.
Finding a gift that feels truly personal can be surprisingly difficult. In a sea of generic options — flowers, gift cards, candles, and the like — Xplosion Box offers something more lasting: a customized keepsake built around the photos, messages, and memories that matter most.
Founded by Southern California entrepreneur Jay Vijay, Xplosion Box LLC creates fully customized explosion gift boxes that arrive professionally designed, printed, assembled, and ready to gift. Each box opens layer by layer to reveal personal photos, heartfelt messages, pull-out albums, origami-style photo pockets, and hidden notes, turning a simple gift into an emotional reveal.
The brand was built for people who want to give something meaningful without spending hours printing photos, cutting paper, folding cardstock, or assembling a DIY project. Customers simply choose a box, upload their favorite photos, add personal messages, and the Xplosion Box team transforms those details into a polished keepsake that feels thoughtful, personal, and beautifully made.
Xplosion Box offers personalized gift boxes for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, proposals, bridesmaid gifts, long-distance relationships, and thoughtful “just because” moments.
Customers can choose from flexible customization options starting at $27. The Mini Surprise Box includes 10 photos, three message cards, and one hidden secret note, while the Mega Surprise Box offers a fuller keepsake experience with 40 photos, three message cards, and one hidden secret note.
What sets Xplosion Box apart is its high level of customization combined with convenience. Filled with personal photos, custom text, decorative details, and layered surprises, each box gives customers the freedom to create a gift that feels one-of-a-kind — without having to make it themselves.
At its core, Xplosion Box helps people turn favorite photos, stories, and words into something tangible: a keepsake that can be opened, revisited, and remembered long after the occasion has passed. asion has passed.
If you’ve ever wondered what it would feel like to perform on one of San Diego’s most iconic stages, here’s your shot. The Old Globe is looking for local singers, songwriters, and musicians to take the spotlight before performances of its upcoming musical Begin Again—and the gig comes with a chance to perform on the theater’s main stage and at a new community music event, Begin Again: San Diego Sessions.
Inspired by the opening scene of Begin Again, which makes its pre-Broadway premiere at The Old Globe this fall, the open mic–style performances celebrate local talent while giving audiences a taste of San Diego’s music scene before the curtain rises.
Solo artists and duets ages 18 and older can submit video entries here through Friday, July 10. Selected performers will be notified by July 14.
The public is also invited to Begin Again: San Diego Sessions, a free event on Monday, July 20, at 7 p.m. in the Globe’s Copley Plaza. Attendees can catch performances from top contest participants while enjoying discounted drinks from the theater’s pub.
“Begin Again is a story about hope and someone finding their light,” says Adena Varner, Director of Arts Engagement at The Old Globe. “The opening moment, which is what we’re excited about with this contest, is about an artist who’s unknown taking a chance at an open mic night—and then their life changes.”
“What I love about San Diego is it’s a space where hopes and dreams seem to actually be able to come true, and people get to find themselves, find their light and their voice, so I think the spirit of the show really resonates with who we are as San Diegans,” she says.
For director Lorin Latarro, the pre-show performances are a chance to weave San Diego into the production. While the musical has been developed in New York with New York–based musicians and actors, these performances create a direct connection between the show and the city’s local music community.
“One of the things Lorin is passionate about is wanting these performances to feel like San Diego, so we want them to be diverse,” Varner says. “We want these moments to look like us and all that that means… We have submissions from artists based in Tijuana, North County, and East County, so it’s geographically diverse, ethnically diverse, and we’re looking at age diversity as well.”
The Old Globe has hosted community engagement opportunities tied to past productions—including an art contest and walk-on performances—but nothing quite like this.
“We’ve also never had an open mic night on the plaza, so we’re excited, and we really want the music community to know that they’ve got a place at The Old Globe, too,” Varner says. “We’re getting in the practice of making sure our community feels connected to our shows and have an opportunity to contribute in a way that’s meaningful and impactful for them.”
Begin Again is based on the 2013 film starring Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo, with a book by Jenna Clark Embrey and Molly Beach Murphy and music and lyrics by Pat Monahan of Train. Performances run September 6 through October 11, with opening night on September 17.
At the time of publication, The Old Globe had received nearly 100 video submissions.
Kai Oliver-Kurtin is a San Diego-based writer who covers travel, dining, events, and culture. Her writing has been published in USA Today, Condé Nast Traveler, Fodor's Travel, Marie Claire, and HuffPost, among others.
Growing up in Carlsbad, I never quite understood why people vacationed there. What, so you want to check out the field where I have soccer practice? Pay my orthodontist a visit? Carlsbad just felt like a town by the beach, no better or worse than any other in the country. It took going to college out of state for me to actually understand just how rare a place like Carlsbad is.
Thanksgiving break my freshman year, my first time coming home after three months in the Midwest, my shoulders dropped. I rolled down the windows and drove to lifeguard tower 37—the hangout magnet for Carlsbad’s youths (and, in the summer, tourists)—and the smells of the ocean woke me right up like smelling salts do. I finally got it.
Carlsbad isn’t just a stopover town on your way to something better. It is the destination. Travel + Leisure named Carlsbad one of the top 50 places around the world to travel in 2026. From the whole globe, the travel magazine picked my home. Sure, we’ve got the Flower Fields and Legoland—but now it’s the smaller ships and indier dreams that are giving it street-level character.
It’s not just Carlsbad, either. People have talked about the “North County bubble” for decades—a force field that prevents its residents from traveling south of the 56. It’s often used derogatorily, and it’s a fairly accurate burn.
For decades, living up in North County meant giving up on culture, or at least culture within close proximity. But now, the main expansion of San Diego culture is happening up north. Central San Diego restaurants have started taking notice and are expanding into the area—spurred no doubt by Oceanside’s food boom and the Jeune et Jolie–Campfire–Wildland–Lilo constellation in Carlsbad. City Heights burger joint Key & Cleaver opened a new spot in Oceanside; the owners of Parc Bistro-Brasserie in Bankers Hill opened Parc Lounge in Rancho Santa Fe. Possibly the strongest market indicator is that Sam Fox—one of the most successful restaurateurs west of the Rockies—has started focusing on North County for his concepts. In 2025, he opened both The Henry in Carlsbad and Culinary Dropout in Del Mar.
For the ultimate insider guide, we found a handful of inspiring people who live and create and truly know six North County neighborhoods—San Marcos, Escondido, Oceanside, Leucadia, Rancho Santa Fe, and Vista—and asked them how they’d spend a dream day out and about in their town.
Courtesy of North City Farmers Market
San Marcos
San Marcos is in full renaissance mode. The biggest story is that the grand North City vision is starting to peek through the scaffolding. It’s essentially the North County Downtown that’s been written in the tea leaves and discussed whenever someone gets stuck in traffic at the 5/805 merge: a 200-acre, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use face-changer that’s slated for 2,600 homes, 350,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, 250 hotel rooms, and about a million square feet of offices and labs. Its most recent manifestation is 222 North City—a 12-story residential tower with over 450 residences, rooftop garden, pool cabanas, art installations, and almost 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail (Necessity Coffee, Buona Forchetta, Draft Republic, Milonga Empanadas, and a grocery store anchor on its way).
Which means Restaurant Row is no longer burdened with being the primary caregiver for the hungry or the socially inclined. Patricia Prado-Olmos has watched the city morph during her nearly three-decade tenure at CSUSM, having spent the past six years as the school’s chief community engagement officer. She also just announced her forthcoming retirement at the end of the 2026–2027 school year, so she’ll have even more time to haunt local haunts.
Meet the Local: Patricia Prado-Olmos
Those in the know call the university “Cal State StairMaster” from the Sisyphean amount of stairs on the hillside campus. So, any day at or around CSUSM should start with a homestyle carbo-load (biscuits and gravy) from Mama Kat’s.
“There’s something about this breakfast spot that immediately puts me in a good mood,” she says. Mama Kat’s is also known for its pie (strawberry-rhubarb), which is breakfast if you change your perspective.
After a few hours on campus—with a break to pet the university’s official therapy goldendoodle, Frank, who helps ease finals tremors or apprehension of on-campus stairs—Prado-Olmos will wander into North City, just steps away. She says the almond croissant and coffee at Christophe Rull Patisserie rival Parisian cafés: “It feels like the kind of place you’d stumble across in a much bigger city.”
Rull, a Michelin-trained pastry chef who’s done stints on Netflix (Bake Squad) and Food Network (Super Mega Cakes, Halloween Wars), opened his patisserie last fall. The hype hasn’t cooled off yet: Get there early because the crowds do.
Emma Veidt is an editor at San Diego Magazine. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the Missouri School of Journalism. She loves running, hiking, and rock climbing, but really, she mostly loves encounters with the street cats around North Park.
SeaWorld dazzles with a drone show, big-name entertainers, new animal adventures and more
By Partner Content
Nights are heating up at SeaWorld San Diego. The quintessential summertime staple on Mission Bay is transforming into a destination for unforgettable day-to-night adventures, bringing back some of its most popular Summer Nights programming and introducing exciting new experiences sure to delight both kids and adults alike.
The 2026 Summer Day to Night at SeaWorld San Diego is the park’s most ambitious season yet. SeaWorld has planned a highly anticipated entertainment lineup that features nine weeks of throwback concerts featuring R&B and hip‑hop favorites from the ‘90s and early 2000s, including Jordin Sparks, Too $hort and Warren G, Ashanti, and an array of boy band heartthrobs performing together as part of the Pop 2000 Tour.
New this season is perhaps the park’s most visible update: a nightly drone show, Ocean of Dreams, which illuminates the sky with hundreds of synchronized sparklers. Drones form sea otters, sharks, dolphins, and a majestic orca that tell a breathtaking 12-minute story of marine life and underwater ecosystems. The show culminates with a spectacular electric neon finale celebrating hope, wonder, and ocean stewardship.
Nighttime visitors are also in store for animal adventures that fuse education with high-energy fun and the dreamy ambiance of nighttime. The park has launched two all-new animal presentations: Shamu’s Celebration:Light Up the Night and Dolphins: Touch the Sky. Shamu’s Celebration:Light Up the Night features vibrant lighting, music, and dynamic choreography that celebrates the power and beauty of killer whales. Dolphins: Touch the Sky showcases playful bottlenose dolphins and the special connection between humans and the natural world. And back by popular demand is fan-favorite Sea Lions Tonite. See the charming pinnipeds splash, play, and parody pop culture in this refreshed crowd-pleaser.
More must-sees: a newly reimagined Shark Encounter, one of the country’s more immersive exhibits highlighting 11 different species up close, SeaWorld’s beloved BMX Blast! stunt show, and high-seas escapade, Pirates Ahoy! The Battle for Mermaid Cove. And don’t miss the park’s all-new Deep Sea Disco, which encourages guests to dance the night away under the glow of the SkyTower, and vibrant closing time laser light display Laser Reef Summer Spectacular.
Amp up the nighttime vibe with local craft beers, curated cocktails, and nostalgic theme park treats with $1 beer all summer long. SeaWorld is the place for day to night summer fun. When the sun goes down, SeaWorld lights up, and inspires guests of all ages to embrace their inner whimsy and see why generations of San Diegans head to SeaWorld to make memories they’ll never forget.
