The start of the new year always triggers goal-setting, get-healthy behavior. To get in the spirit, our January issue goes inside the juice trend, divulging everything you could ever want to know about the healthy bottled beverages. Quixotic Pictures followed our editorial team around as they sipped and sampled their way through the menu at […]
By Jennifer Rea
The start of the new year always triggers goal-setting, get-healthy behavior. To get in the spirit, our January issue goes inside the juice trend, divulging everything you could ever want to know about the healthy bottled beverages. Quixotic Pictures followed our editorial team around as they sipped and sampled their way through the menu at Juice Saves and debated which healthy concoction should make the cover. Watch the behind-the-scenes video to see how the issue came together and which juices didn’t make the cut.
By Erin Meanley Glenny | Photo Courtesy of San Diego History Center
By the Numbers
$3M – Amount needed in order to reopen the California Tower to the public in 2015 1911 – California State Legislature authorized the use of the park for an exposition, as well as ratified the decision to name it Balboa Park 25 cents – Admission paid by anyone who wanted to watch the construction 1 million – Number of plants John Morley was hired to put into the ground of the canyons (another 50,000 were on the Exposition grounds) $1,937,445 – Amount spent erecting the buildings for the Exposition 42,486 – Spectators at the December 31, 1914 concert, opening ceremonies, and fireworks (about equivalent to the then-population of San Diego)
San Diego’s City Park was founded in 1868. But as late as 1909, only about 100 of the 1,400 acres had been landscaped. That year, the president of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, G. Aubrey Davidson, had the idea of using the park to host a celebration for the opening of the Panama Canal, which was slated for January 1, 1915. San Diego would be the first U.S. port north of the canal, and city leaders wanted to take advantage of their geographic position to boost the economy and help develop the park.
New York architect Bertram Goodhue chose a Spanish Colonial Revival style for the 1915 Panama–California Exposition. Officials liked that it would distinguish SD’s event from the San Francisco Panama–Pacific Exposition, which would have a “Beaux Arts” look.
Park commissioners gave it the name “Balboa Park” after Vasco Núñez de Balboa, a European explorer who first saw the Pacific in 1513. As the Panama Canal would connect the Atlantic to the Pacific, the moniker was a good association for the park and the planned fair.
The 2015 Centennial, which kicks off this month, refers not to the 100th anniversary of the park, but rather the recognition of an entire century since the Exposition, and of enjoying the park’s architecture as we know it today.
Vintage San Diego: Building Balboa Park
Multimedia
DECEMBER 24, 2014
Picture Perfect: Breaching Point
Lucky Shot
By Kristin Agnes
Date of Photo:
Summer 2012
Location:
Off the coast of Baja California near the Coronado Islands
Camera:
Canon 5D Mark II camera. Canon 70-200 mm lens.
Experienced whale watchers know that timing is everything, and although humpbacks are typically in the northern waters during the summer season, Phillip Colla was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. The Carlsbad photographer and software developer was on a pal’s boat cruising the coast of Baja California. “Many blue, fin, and humpback whales were feeding on massive patches of krill. A humpback whale began breaching repeatedly for 10 minutes or so, and at one point it breached between us and the whale-watching boat you see in the background. It made for a once-in-a-lifetime shot.”
The Best Gym in San Diego Isn’t Really a Gym Anymore
Earlier this year, Fit quietly dropped "athletic" from its brand, from Fit Athletic Clubs to simply Fit, and started calling itself something new: a social wellness club.
There’s a version of San Diego that lives in two extremes. On one side, the 5 a.m. crowd: biohackers, marathoners, people who’ve already logged a cold plunge before your alarm goes off. On the other, the after-dark crowd, the ones chasing sunset happy hours and late dinners with friends. Everyone seems to be either optimizing or unwinding, and most of us feel like we’re failing at both.
Fit, San Diego’s reigning Best Gym for the third year running, has built its entire identity around erasing that divide.
Walk into one of Fit’s three San Diego locations on a Tuesday afternoon and the lines blur fast. Someone’s mid-set on the squat rack. Someone else has a laptop open at a café table a few feet away, half-working, half-people-watching. A group is trading plans for the weekend’s event by the recovery lounge. Nobody’s in a rush to leave.
“We’re not competing for the same people,” says Emily Waybright, Public Relations Manager at Fit, addressing the arrival of a national luxury gym chain in San Diego this year. “We don’t really feel like we’re in the gym category. It’s this unique thing.”
That unique thing has a name now. Earlier this year, Fit quietly dropped “athletic” from its brand, from Fit Athletic Clubs to simply Fit, and started calling itself something new: a social wellness club.
It’s a small wording change with a bigger idea behind it. Fit was never built around escaping the workday. It was built around the people who genuinely like what they do, and who want workouts, work, and friendships to happen in the same place instead of three separate ones. Because sometimes red light therapy with a stranger turns into weekend plans.
Fit’s philosophy traces back to its founder, who started the brand nearly two decades ago after failing to find a gym he actually wanted to belong to. He looked instead to the old-school country club, where people came for a shared interest and stayed for the community. His version was made for a younger generation, minus the golf, plus the loud music.
Which makes it a little ironic that the very award putting Fit back in the spotlight this year is Best Gym.
What does the best traditional gym look like when the definition of a gym is becoming less traditional? It’s a fair question, and Fit’s answer is that the fitness industry itself is shifting. The 45-minutes-in, 45-minutes-out model is giving way to something closer to a genuine third space, the kind of role the office and the bar used to play before remote work and changing nightlife habits rearranged how people spend their time
For Fit, community isn’t a marketing add-on to fitness. It’s the through-line. Members aren’t just paying for a treadmill; they’re paying for an entire day of social wellness that’s built on performance, recovery, connection, and a plan for the next event on the calendar. That’s a much harder membership to walk away from.
Ambition and ease aren’t opposites here, they exist side by side, where passion and play share the same morning. On September 12, Fit is hosting Sol, a full day wellness festival at Fit Social. The morning focuses on wellness classes and vendors and then the evening is a full party with multiple DJ sets and an open bar. Think of it as a kick-off to locals’ summer in San Diego.
Ready to see what a social wellness club actually looks like? Visit fitclubs.com, or follow along at @thefitclubs on Instagram.
Jackson Design and Remodeling celebrated its 25th anniversary with a Spicy Salsa Soiree at the San Diego Yacht Club. The lively crowd sipped Mojitos, savored Cuban-inspired food, and delighted in salsa performances and lessons, along with the music of the Manny Cepeda Orchestra. Clients ended the beautiful evening by taking home a commemorative bottle of JDR 25th Anniversary Reserve wine.
Photos by Sergio Fernandez
Anniversary Party
Event Photos
DECEMBER 24, 2014
Le Cirque du ROMP
La Jolla Country Club, September 20, 2014
Nearly 400 supporters of Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego gathered for the annual ROMP fundraiser, this year a circus-themed night complete with a tent, ringmaster, and fortune tellers. Event chair Jennifer Gramins and honorary chairs Rebecca and Jennifer Moores made the evening a success with dinner, cocktails, celebrity entertainment, and live and silent auctions, raising $620,000 for families in medical crisis. Some of the standout auction items included a private jet excursion to Napa for six, a Kona beachfront vacation for 30, and a brand-new 2015 Audi A3.
Photos by Bob Ross
Le Cirque du ROMP
Partner Content
AUGUST 21, 2026
This Scripps Clinic Physician is Serving Up Care
Laika Nur, MD, takes her love of volleyball from the court to the clinic as team physician for the San Diego Mojo
Growing up, Laika Nur, MD, Scripps Clinic sports medicine specialist, loved watching beach volleyball when the Association of Volleyball Professionals tour came to her hometown of Chicago. A talented volleyball player herself, she remembers sitting in the stands all day, and once, even got a couple autographs. Years later, Dr. Nur was attending a professional event focused on women’s sports, and the discussion turned to a new professional women’s volleyball league. The general manager and coaching staff for San Diego’s team, the Mojo, happened to be in attendance, and Dr. Nur took the opportunity to ask them if they needed a team doctor. Flash forward to the Mojo’s inaugural 2024 season, when Dr. Nur officially became the team physician. Click here to read more about Dr. Nur and how she incorporates lessons she learned on the court into her practice.
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