In the ’70s and ’80s, J. Grant Brittain captured skateboarding's rise as a global sensation, becoming one of the most influential skate photographers of all time
Sonny Miller, 1982 “I was an art major at Palomar College, and Sonny is the guy who took me into the dark room there for the first time in 1981,” Brittain says. “The next day, I changed my major to photography, and it’s been that way ever since. This bowl was in an avocado grove in Fallbrook. There was a drought in the ’70s so all the pools were empty. I knew guys with pilot’s licenses going up and looking for empty pools around North County.”
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
Summer ’78. J. Grant Brittain was living the surf life in Cardiff, splitting the $365-a-month rent for a three-bedroom house four ways (one guy in the garage, of course). The skaters who lived next door—one of whom was Tom “Wally” Inouye, an early pool skater and innovator of the wallride—asked Brittain if he might want to work at the new Del Mar Skate Ranch Inouye had helped design. Brittain agreed, not knowing he was about to kick off a four-decade-and-counting career as one of the most influential skate photographers to ever hold a camera.
“I started working at the skate park the second day they were open, in August 1978,” Brittain says. “The first day they had sent me home because they thought I was stoned. But I was just tired and red-eyed from surfing.” Six months later, in February 1979, he borrowed his roommate’s camera and shot his first roll of film (Kodachrome) at the park. He was 23.
Born and raised in Fallbrook, Brittain worked at Del Mar Skate Ranch for six years, managing the pro shop and even living there for eight months as the night security guard while saving for an apartment. He slept on the pool table. All the while, he was taking pictures.
Some of the young guys he captured would grow up to become the best in the world. Culture-defining skaters. It wasn’t long before his work was noticed.
“In 1983, Larry Balma, who owned Tracker Trucks in Oceanside, came to the park and asked if I’d like to give photos to a newsletter he was putting out,” Brittain says. “So I said sure. But when I got there, there was this whole 40-page magazine laid out on the wall. At the time, the only skate mag was Thrasher out of SF.”
The magazine became Transworld Skateboarding, one of the most popular skate mags of all time. Brittain served as photo editor there for 20 years, helping visually define skating in its most formative years.
We asked him for a selection of his favorite shots from the area throughout his career. Here’s what we could fit.
Kyle Jensen, 1979 “Everybody starts at the bottom. Everybody starts shooting their friends first. This is from the first roll of film I ever shot, working at the skate park in 1978. My roommate’s camera.”
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
Del Mar Locals, 1980 L to R: Stripes: David Eckles. (“He was a local skater. His dad would drop him off every day at the park. We stayed open till 11 at night, so we were like the babysitters. We had a snack bar, and there were arcade games.”) Yellow helmet: Tony Hawk. Back middle: Owen Nieder (pre-mohawk). Front middle: Kenny Stalmasky. Sweet ’80s mustache: Michael Stalmasky. Long Hair: Michael Stalmasky Jr. (“The two Stalmaksy kids were amateur skaters, then they became pros. Their dad is wearing roller skates. [Laughs]”)
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
Chris Miller, 2004 Washington Street. “That’s a DIY spot. Those guys started building it secretly using trash and stuff to build the forms, and then the city and Caltrans shut it down. So they worked on it with the city. It’s still there. Real piece of San Diego history.”
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
Tod Swank, 1987 This image was made in Del Mar in a location Brittain had scouted for weeks while getting his usual coffee. Titled “Push,” it became one of one Brittain’s most iconic images, gracing the cover of his book by the same name, as well as a very controversial cover of Transworld Skateboarding. Black and white? No trick? On the cover of a mag? “I was just trying to say that it’s all about getting from point A to point B. Everybody does this. Everybody pushes, you know?”
Jamie Thomas, 1997 “Leap of Faith,” shot at Point Loma High School. Another of Brittain’s most recognizable images. “This was the first time I felt like, ʻShould we have a paramedic here?ʼ [Laughs] At the time, that was one of the biggest—the first biggest, you know—drops like that. I have a sequence of it. He goes right through his board, snaps it.”
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
Owen Nieder, 1983 Del Mar Skate Ranch. “Owen was one of the first punk rock kids back then. You weren’t supposed to skate at the park without a helmet, and we were always trying to get around it, even me as the manager. I would practice a lot on him. I shot all the locals and friends to see what the angles were.”
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
Steve Steadham, 1988 Leucadia. “He’s a pro skater, one of the top African American skaters during that time. He built that DIY ramp right next to the freeway.”
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
Carabeth Burnside, 2010 Encinitas YMCA. “During the early ’90s, she was one of the top women’s snowboarders and skateboarders. I shot this from above, from up on top of the ramp.”
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
Tony Hawk, 1987 “That’s ’80s. Total ’80s. [Laughs] It’s under that old bridge at Torrey Pines on the Coast Highway. And we just wanted a shot with his board with his logo on it. I think that same day we shot a big session at Del Mar. I probably have 15 different things from that day at Del Mar Ranch.”
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
Shaun White, 1999 “That’s the Encinitas YMCA. I have older photos than that of Shaun White, and I didn’t even know who he was. I just wrote ‘Kid’ on it. [Laughs] And then I realized. I found out who he was. He’s big news now.”
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
Kien Lieu, 1998 “You can see Qualcomm behind there. There was this bank in the parking lot, and a lot of skaters would skate it. He’s just doing a kick flip on it. He could ollie higher than anybody pretty much. He’s known for ollieing high over things. Picnic tables, rails, cars. He’s known for his pop.”
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
Andy Macdonald, 2004 Why is this image unique? “Um, because he’s on a crutch. [Laughs] I don’t know why he did that. He just put his skateboard trucks on a crutch. Originally, I think he was gonna dress up like a doctor or something. And then we didn’t do that.”
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
Pedro Delphino, 2014 “That’s in Pala. That vacant house has this pool, and it [has] been buried so many times and skaters have dug it up each time. See how it’s kind of brown-toned a little bit? That’s from the dirt. Sometimes it’ll be buried for, like, five years, and then somebody will dig it out. And they gotta dig it out by hand, too. It’s probably been ridden since the ’80s or ’90s, so 30 years now.”
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
Bob Burnquist, 2002 “That’s at his house in Vista. It’s like a Hot Wheels loop. He would do it switch, too. He was probably the first to switch dance a loop. He could do anything, any way, at any time. He had a real rubbery style, you know, really fluid style, but he did a lot of technical tricks. He was just a highly technical skater.”
Photo Credit: J. Grant Brittain
J. Grant Brittain, 1974 “Skateboarding started in La Jolla in 1947. It was the Wind and Sea guys; they were the first ones to make skateboards. It was a 2×4 with their sister’s roller skate wheels on it. This photo is at Fallbrook High. And that was a homemade board I made in my friend’s garage. I don’t think there were even skateboard trucks at that time. You put on roller skate trucks, and Cadillac was the first urethane wheel made. Back then before that, it was clay wheels. And before that, it was metal wheels. In the background, you can see my ’57 Chevy. I bought it from some old lady—you can see my surfboard on top.”
Through its Playmakers initiative, San Diego FC is working with artists, musicians, and other local creatives to shape the identity of the city’s newest professional sports team
What does a soccer team have to do with San Diego’s arts scene? Quite a lot, as it turns out. When San Diego FC launched, the club could have spent its marketing budget on billboards, bus wraps, and digital ads. Instead, it went into neighborhoods, found local artists and creatives, and started building the club’s identity with them. Through its Playmakers initiative, artists have designed limited-edition merchandise, had their work featured on the stadium’s jumbotron, and found themselves in front of thousands of fans—and, in some cases, a national TV audience.
For this special edition of the podcast, created alongside San Diego Magazine’s September arts and culture issue, host Troy Johnson talks with Sebastián Morúa, SDFC’s Senior Vice President of Brand & Innovation, and longtime San Diego native and creative Tony Martinez of Barrio Junto. The conversation gets into why a professional soccer club would make local art part of its business, how Martinez’s decades in San Diego’s creative community helped shape Playmakers, and the club’s early efforts to connect with artists across the county through its Chrome Ball Tour and neighborhood events. The goal, they explain, isn’t simply to put a local artist on a T-shirt. It’s to let the people who already understand San Diego help define what the new club looks and feels like.
The conversation also gets into the less glamorous—but important—side of supporting artists: money. They talk about how Playmakers pays local creatives, the value of the platform SDFC provides, and what it means to build an ongoing relationship between a professional sports club and the artists who help shape its identity. They also discuss the club’s growing music initiative, which will bring local musicians into the fold, and the many ways artists have already contributed to SDFC through merchandise, murals, Parks & Pitches projects, and more. Ultimately, it’s a conversation about soccer, art, community, and what can happen when a major sports franchise gives the people already making culture in San Diego a bigger platform.
This summary was provided to you by AI. To hear from the humans, listen to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
At Del Mar Wine & Food Festival’s Grand Tasting, the walk between food tents can take a while. You might stop to watch a chef competition, get pulled toward the DJ, or find yourself playing mini golf before you remember which bite you were after.
Across the Del Mar Polo Fields, there’s also line dancing, a 1961 red Beetle ready for photos, and an aviation-themed pop-up with Reno Tahoe chefs and mixologists. Need a slower stretch? Check out the wellness stops or browse the shops. Here’s what to look for as you make your way through the festival’s zones:
Courtesy of Del Mar Wine & Food Festival
VIP First Bites & First Sips
VIP ticket holders get a head start, with the VIP Reception running from 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. and serving first bites, first sips, and a few surprises before the Grand Tasting officially gets going. Champagne Telmont will make the festival’s first pour, while Cohn Restaurant Group brings carajillos alongside pours from Karl Strauss, Licor 43, Tap Truck San Diego, Bebemos Tequila, and Devil’s Grin Gin.
The bites are just as good. Celebrity chef Beau MacMillan will serve a first bite, while Warung RieRie is bringing one of its highly coveted dishes. Yes, this is the restaurant that currently has an eight-month waitlist. You’ll also find bites from The Shellfish Affair, The Waverly, Wolf in the Woods, Dora Ristorante, Cori Pastificio Trattoria, An’s Gelato, Pacific 333, Vintana, and more.
And because every good first act needs a soundtrack, there will be live painting and music, with Courtney Govan bringing live jazz to the reception. It’s the perfect opening act before the main event.
Live Cooking & Culinary Moments
During the VIP Reception, chefs Tommy Gomes and Jeff Roberto will conduct a live ahi cutting. Plant Paradise brings another culinary angle, with celebrity chef Zuliya Khawaja joining the plant-based lineup. The area combines chef talent with plant-forward restaurants and brands, giving guests a chance to see just how creative plant-based cooking can get.
Throughout the weekend, The Stage keeps the cooking demonstrations coming, with celebrities and chefs sharing techniques, recipes, and plenty of inspiration for anyone who plans to actually cook something when they get home. Before you know it, you’re watching a chef demo, casting your awards vote, and sipping mezcal on the grass with friends you just met in line.
Courtesy of Del Mar Wine & Food Festival
DJs, Music, & The Party
At the Grand Tasting, dancing just sort of… happens. A DJ drops the right song. Someone’s holding a taco in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. The country zone breaks into a two-step. Friends convince friends. Strangers become temporary dance partners. By the end of the day, everyone’s forgotten they were ever worried about looking cool.
DJ TENAX will be spinning in Plant Paradise, bringing house, techno, and UKG to an open-air dance floor that’s hard to leave. Chris Cantore, a veteran San Diego broadcaster, takes over the VIP Tent, while BootScootin Line Dance and PVO Events bring country-style line dancing to the Polo Fields, so you can work off your tasting itinerary one two-step at a time.
Then a live guitar hum in the distance leads you to a fuchsia boa over at the Pride Zone, where you’ll find yourself covered in sequins and having the lawn party of a lifetime.
Sports, Tailgates, & Games
Not every activity at the festival requires a tasting glass (although it’s certainly encouraged).
The Matchday Experience brings San Diego FC and San Diego Wave FC into the Grand Tasting, complete with interactive tents and plenty of game-day energy. Athletic Brewing is also sharing activation space with San Diego Wave FC, bringing a fun nonalcoholic option into the mix.
For golf fans, the Los Angeles Golf Club is bringing a Dryve Box golf simulator to the festival. And if your competitive streak is less fairway and more miniature windmill, SD Pop Up Mini Golf has you covered.
The Beach Zone gets in on the action, too, with surfing-inspired elements and Playavole paddle courts. Hemlock Hats and other California brands add to the coastal atmosphere, but the real draw is having somewhere to actually play. And don’t worry, you can cool down in COOLA’s turquoise beach chairs, too, and when your bestie suggests reapplying sunscreen, obviously you do. Basically, there are plenty of ways to work up an appetite between tastings.
Courtesy of Del Mar Wine & Food Festival
Photo Ops & Instagram Moments
You’re going to want to take photos, and the festival has made that extremely easy.
A Timeless Day is bringing multiple photo moments to the Grand Tasting, including a 1961 red Beetle at The Italian Getaway and a teal VW bus in The Beach Zone. For something a little more polished than the standard group selfie, head to the Locals Zone for Pixster Photo Booth and San Diego’s version of a Glam-Bot, complete with a grass red carpet.
Bebemos Tequila is also bringing back its festival-favorite hidden speakeasy. If there’s ever a time for a photo, it’s here. Otherwise, people might not believe you. The speakeasy serves bone marrow shots straight from the bone, with candlelight, a lounge area that makes it hard to believe you’re in a tent outside, and little orange shot glasses. This is “first slide of your festival photo dump” material.
You can also grab your squad and head to LaCroix’s bright and ridiculously cute setup, or swing by San Diego Magazine’s area, where you might stop for a photo in front of the larger-than-life SD Magazine sign and find yourself watching a painting come to life.
But really, you’re in Del Mar. The ocean is essentially your backdrop, and every zone gives you an excuse to stop for the obligatory “totally candid” photo. And yes, the best strategy is to get the group shot before everyone has been sampling wine for three hours.
Shop, Browse, & Take Something Home
The Grand Tasting also doubles as a little shopping excursion, with local makers, fashion, vintage finds, jewelry, and lifestyle brands scattered throughout the grounds. Smoke Revival Vintage Vault brings the thrill of vintage treasure hunting, while Nortte Hats and Hemlock Hat Company make a pretty good case for leaving with a new accessory.
Keep an eye out for jewelry and creative vendors, too, including Iris Studio Jewelry and New Nightfall Jewelry, plus local artists and makers featured throughout the festival.
You can come for an all day food and wine festival, but still leave with something shiny you definitely did not plan to buy.
Wellness & Reset Moments
We know, at some point, even the most dedicated grazer has to come up for air. The Novo Dia Wellness Zone is designed for exactly that, bringing together mocktails, coffee, hydration, wellness brands, and even bites from Parakeet Cafe.
Step away from the food and drink frenzy for a few minutes, relax in the shade, try some skincare, stretch with prAna, and maybe grab some Instant Hydration Electrolytes before round three.
There’s also nothing wrong with stopping to smell the roses at Green Air Botanicals while devouring a dairy-free cheese dip. It’s less about disappearing from the party and more about making sure you have enough energy to keep going.
The zones give you somewhere to wander, and the activities give you a reason to keep going. So grab your tasting glass, check the schedule, and leave a little room in your afternoon for something you didn’t plan on doing. At Del Mar Wine & Food, that’s usually where things get interesting.
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.
There was once an actress known as “San Diego’s Sweetheart” who mailed herself to Los Angeles—donning a helmet covered in postage stamps and boarding a two-seater, single-engine mail plane. The publicity stunt was billed as the first air parcel package in the US. It wasn’t. She wasn’t even the first human to be mailed: When the US parcel post started in 1913, at least seven people mailed their newborns to relatives (an innovative loophole eventually outlawed).
Technicalities be damned. That kind of nose for spectacle was why Virginia Brissac was such a star—landing bit parts in TV shows (I Love Lucy, Dragnet) and 155 films, notably playing James Dean’s grandmother in Rebel Without a Cause. “Nobody could help but love her,” her dresser told San Diego Magazine in a 1971 feature, published when Brissac was 88 years old.
In 1911, she topped the Playbill at the opening of the Savoy Theatre at 3rd and C streets in Downtown—a grand live-performance hall built for $150,000 ($5.2 million in today’s money). It became one of the premiere vaudeville theaters in the country (under vaudeville king Alexander Patages). The theater helped make San Diego a destination for stars like silent-film comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, heavyweight champ Jack Dempsey, plus classical legends Rachmaninoff and Anna Pavlova. As theaters converted to movie houses through the ’20s and ’30s, the Savoy remained dedicated to live humans. It closed in 1940, and the Civic Theater now stands in its footprint.
As for Brissac, during a time when women couldn’t even vote, she led a stock company under her own name at the Strand Theatre. The Brissac Company held a four-year residency, “an all-time successful record run for San Diego,” the article says. That classic Ocean Beach theater (featured in San Diego film legend Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous) has been closed for decades, its bones now a chain beachwear and souvenir store. But Brissac’s legacy lives through the women leading San Diego’s theater scene.
Read the entire 1971 article by Merle Clayton below…
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.
Kelly H. Harfouche, founder of KQ Aesthetic Society, knows firsthand that cosmetic treatments like fillers, neurotoxins, and microneedling, can not only enhance a person’s appearance and restore confidence, they have the power to truly change a person’s life. An expert injector has the ability to tailor treatments to each individual patient’s anatomy and goals for personalized results. Harfouche, a board-certified nurse practitioner, has spent nearly a decade perfecting her craft as an aesthetic injector and integrating her multifaceted artistic skills with precision patient care. Her commitment to continual education and training, plus a passion for helping people look—and feel—their best, set KQ Aesthetic Society apart in a sea of local medspas.
For many people considering nonsurgical treatments, the intent is to look refreshed and refined. KQ Aesthetic Society’s philosophy eschews a cookie cutter approach that bases treatments around units, instead working to understand each person’s unique goals, then curating a treatment plan to fit that vision. Harfouche focuses on “inclusive luxury,” the belief that everyone deserves access to aesthetic treatments, respective of budget restrictions. She develops long-standing trusted relationships with her patients, and works with each one to achieve their aesthetic objectives and address the underlying causes of their concerns.
“For me, forming an honest and open relationship with every patient who walks through the door is essential. This means understanding them on a deeper level and meeting them where they are to define and achieve their individual goals,” she says.
Drawing on her artistic background, which inspired her transition into medical aesthetics, Harfouche sees each client as a “unique canvas.” Rather than relying on standardized procedures, the practitioner’s distinctive approach combines her profound understanding of the physiological and anatomical changes associated with aging with an unwavering commitment to ongoing education about the newest products and their mechanisms of action. Her goal is to make each patient feel beautiful in their own skin and to embrace their individuality.
She has also pioneered a way to combine her talent for aesthetic artistry with her philanthropic nature. Harfouche is one of only a handful of providers using dermal fillers to treat patients with lip asymmetry and scarring resulting from cleft lip surgery. Patients travel from around the country for this transformative treatment, noting increased confidence and a restored identity. She hopes to eventually launch a training program to help fill the void in this space.
“My passion has always been connecting with people and giving back in any capacity that I can,” she says. In the rapidly advancing landscape of aesthetic medicine, you can place your confidence in Harfouche and KQ Aesthetic Society to deliver exceptional care. To learn more or book a consultation, please visit kqaestheticsociety.com.
What Will It Take to Make San Diego a Global Arts City?
Jonathon Glus on the Art + Design District, investing in the creative economy, keeping artists in the city, and what we can learn from places like London and Chicago
Jonathon Glus is the Prebys Foundation senior fellow leading the development of the Art + Design District at the Downtown San Diego Partnership. He has been asked what an arts and design district is many times. In our conversation, I asked him instead to describe what it isn’t. His answer opened up a broader discussion about what San Diego has and hasn’t invested in, what it has the capacity to become, and what other cities have done that we haven’t. Glus speaks about global art fairs and architecture biennials in Chicago and long tables at dinner parties all with the same fluency. He also discusses who gets to live in the neighborhoods where creative work happens, and what it means when they can’t afford to stay.
Claire Johnson: You have been asked what an arts and design district is many times. Can you tell me what it isn’t?
Jonathon Glus: It is not a place designed intentionally and specifically for tourists. Of course there will be opportunities for tourists to come, but the district is really focused on creatives, on creative education, and on the creative workforce—as well as our major performing arts organizations. That is the emphasis.
What does the district need to do in the next five years for you to consider it a success?
[It needs to] develop greater connectivity between the anchor institutions—the symphony, Broadway San Diego, the opera, all the wonderful things happening in Balboa [Park]—and the creative workforce that will be living and working in that neighborhood 24/7.
What does San Diego not have that you wish it did?
We have not been intentionally investing in the contemporary art product that other major cities have been building. A contemporary art fair. A biennial that reflects the ethos of this region. Chicago developed an architecture biennial about eight years ago. London has a design biennial. Desert X, right here in Southern California, invests in and elevates contemporary artists inside a city. We have not really been playing in the global art market in a way that we have the capacity to.
What capacity do we have?
We have a wonderful foundation. Two theater companies that produce work that goes to Broadway more than many regional theaters in the country, major museums, artists teaching at UC San Diego and University of San Diego. What a city does when it wants to take itself to the next level is intentionally create the product. Miami went after the Art Basel fair; they did not passively receive it. You have to have the intention and the will, and you have to go after it. We haven’t done that in the way that other cities have.
Look at what we did with the tech sector; we’re now a major tech center. That was intentional. Leadership organized around it. We have to do the same thing around the arts. We have a lot of contemporary art collectors here. We have a lot of galleries. But the ecosystem of the business of contemporary art is not as organized or as visible as it should be.
Which city is your North Star?
It’s bits and pieces of different cities. Dubai has invested very quickly and very intentionally in contemporary art—art fairs, design fairs, higher education, artist residencies from all over the world. London has centered artists and creatives in the contemporary zeitgeist in a way that was not true 40 years ago. They built biennials. They ensured British artists had affordable housing and workspace. They made sure the media paid attention to what they were doing.
If you don’t have an artist at your dinner table, it’s not a dinner party. That sounds elitist, but it’s true. It shows the value that artists have in a community. Our relationship culturally with Tijuana is really significant here because artists in Baja seem to be at the table.
We’ve talked before about how food, fashion, design, and art aren’t siloed anymore.
They aren’t. When super creative people are in a community doing extraordinary work, that draws other super creative people doing extraordinary work. That’s why other arts and design districts around the world end up populated with some of the most interesting restaurants and young fashion designers. Creatives want to be around other creatives.
Which leads to the economic argument…
Our creative economy already employs about 170,000 people and generates more than $11 billion in economic activity. It’s large and robust. But we must center all of this in accessibility and affordability. Williamsburg used to be affordable. Artists can’t afford to live there anymore. Wicker Park and Bucktown in Chicago—artist central, now unaffordable. If we’re going to invest in this district, we have to be really intentional about housing and workspace, so creatives have a place in the future of this district.
I see all these new supper clubs and creative collectives popping up. What is the lesson there for San Diego in terms of the commercialization of cultural and creative groups?
I think the lesson is that nothing changes. What do people love? Long tables. Why? Because you’re with a lot of people—some you may have known your entire life, but most you don’t. And if it’s driven by a creative process, all the better. We know one of the best ways to do that is around food, but also music.
For the Art + Design District, part of why we’re leaning into the process is because, culturally, we’re bringing down the barriers between film, fashion, multimedia, tech, and architecture. It’s an experiential mashup in the best possible way.
And it’s not just about art and design, but community writ large. Creative expression is something we all desire. Whether it’s at a long table, at the opera, or in your studio, we gravitate toward creative expression as a way of building community and communicating with the people around us.
Is there a question I should have asked you but haven’t?
I hope you are writing about this in seven years when the district is fully mature. But this is just the beginning for all of this. I think that’s what’s most exciting to me. We don’t know what this is going to be like, but we know it’s going to be creatively centered, and that’s super exciting to me.
On February 28, 1926, the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego (now called the San Diego Museum of Art) opened its Plateresque doors to 3,000 guests for opening day. Over the next century, the museum changed with the times—even once functioning as a naval hospital after Pearl Harbor. This year, the museum is celebrating its 100th birthday with an exhibit (open through January 24, 2027) featuring photographs, ephemera, and film footage spanning the museum’s history.
Courtesy of Tim Novara
Free Concerts at Spreckels Organ Pavilion
Every Sunday from 2 to 3 p.m., stop by the historic Spreckels Organ Pavilion for a free concert presented by the City of San Diego on the largest outdoor organ in the world (more than 5,000 pipes). The pavilion seats 2,400 for performances by the civic organist or guest artists.
Some think natural history museums are just cemeteries for dioramas that haven’t received an update since the Reagan administration. When it comes to The Nat, which just finished a $7.5 million rejuvenation, they’re totally wrong. The museum debuted a new rooftop that replaces its 25-year-old atrium. The old roof created a greenhouse effect that steamed up some exhibits, so the new one—which includes 200 solar panels and better temperature control—will help preserve the artifacts inside. Each Friday in the summer, The Nat also becomes one of the season’s vibiest hotspots during Nat at Night, with food from places like Wolf in the Woods and The Craft Taco, bars and signature cocktails on several floors, and a rooftop DJ.
Fleet Science Theater Remodel
The Fleet Science Center just received its most significant update since the 1990s. It expanded its exhibit space by 20 percent and introduced a newly designed entrance gallery (formerly the IMAX theater lobby) that includes free exhibits for visitors who want a taste of the science without paying an admission fee. The former ticketing area now houses the Mindbender Mansion exhibit, and there’s a new café, Element 8, that will, of course, sell the center’s famous soft serve.
AVRP Studios’ tradition for Design Excellence and Innovation began in 1976 with Doug Austin, FAIA, in Solana Beach, California. The firm has since grown to complete major projects throughout the United States and Canada. We think of ourselves as a family and we care deeply about people. We want to inspire, help make their lives richer and more complete through our efforts. We believe that architecture is one of the most important art forms because of the impact it can have on the lives of those it touches. We’re delighted to have been recognized with over 150 awards for design excellence.
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