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Find your new signature body lotion that will have you wondering how you ever survived without it.
Best Natural Body Lotions in 2022
Moisturizing our skin is so, so important. Many of us have a multistep process for taking care of the skin on our face but tend to neglect the rest of our body. It doesn’t matter what your skin type (dry, combination or oily) is; everyone benefits from moisturizing every day. Let’s take a look at the different ways moisturizing can help your skin.
When your skin moisture levels are out of balance, you will see an increase in skin issues. These issues can manifest themselves in the form of redness, acne, increased oil production or even psoriasis. Knowing your skin type can help you pick the right lotion for you. For example, if your skin is oily, you should choose a lotion with less oil. If your skin is dry, try a creamy oil to help hydrate and balance.
The more moisturized your skin is, the younger it will look and feel. When moisturized, our skin tends to be healthier and more protected from harsh environments or pollution. It is also more elastic and less likely to wrinkle, which is the first sign of aging skin. Moisturizer will keep wrinkles at bay and will give your skin a plump, firm appearance. Lotion helps to keep your skin hydrated and more youthful. When your pores are hydrated and moisturized, they not only appear smaller but also are at a reduced risk of soaking in daily pollutants.
Knowing that our skin is capable of soaking up anything we put on it, why would we massage on lotion that has harmful ingredients in their formulas? Truthfully, non-natural body lotions often have ingredients, like alcohol, that will ultimately make your skin dry and cracked rather than moisturized and hydrated. Chemicals and toxins will strip your skin of its natural moisture and oils, making your skin dull and lackluster. Natural body lotions contain essential oils and plant-based ingredients that will balance what your body needs, leaving you with a healthy glow and silky smooth skin.
With the thousands of different terms and synthetic “natural” ingredients, it may feel impossible sometimes to determine what body lotions are actually natural vs. just claiming to be natural. We totally get how overwhelming that can be, but stick with us. We have put together the 12 best natural body lotions, and we mean actually natural body lotions, that will give you the soft, healthy, beautiful skin you’ve been longing for.
Each of the brands on this list are intentional about creating grooming products that are healthy for you to use and are also aware that they need to do their part in reducing harm toward the Earth. So dive right in, and find your new signature body lotion that will have you wondering how you ever survived without it.
Best Natural Body Lotions – Bluatlas
If you spend time researching natural products, which we’re assuming you do since you’ve landed on this article, you’ll start noticing the Blu Atlas brand popping up on many of the top lists. This is because Blu Atlas is a brand that prioritizes clean and natural ingredients when formulating their products.
All of their products are paraben-free, sulfate-free and phthalate-free. Blu Atlas makes it a priority to ensure the health and the safety of their customers because they are a brand that cares deeply about creating natural products that are still effective. Each and every product in the Blu Atlas collection is dermatologically tested for safety and efficacy, so you can feel completely safe and comfortable when using them.
Blu Atlas is a premium brand, and while they formulate their products for the modern man, they believe their products can be beneficial for women as well. They create their products to be luxurious and high quality but fairly priced so that everyone can afford to reap their benefits. Blu Atlas knows that men want to look and feel good, so why not create a grooming brand that fulfills the needs of men with products that are simple and quick to use?
The Blu Atlas Anti-Aging Moisturizer can be used on both your face and your body to provide ultrahydrating moisture for your skin to soak up. This moisture is specifically designed to target dry and dull skin. It has powerful anti-aging properties that will work to offset aging from dehydration and external pollution. Natural ingredients like seaweed extract, mango seed butter and vitamin C are effective yet gentle enough for all skin types. Mango seed butter is a powerhouse of vitamin E and vitamin C, two of the top vitamins to provide protection to your skin.
Seaweed extract (laminaria algae) is a triple threat: antioxidant, exfoliant and hydrator. It also regulates your oil production, leaving your skin healthy and glowing. You can trust this natural formula because it is 100% vegan, with no artificial fragrances, and it includes all natural ingredients and a money-back guarantee. Seriously, Blu Atlas Anti-Aging Moisturizer is in a league of its own as one of the most effective all-natural moisturizers on the market. That is exactly why it is our top pick for the 12 best natural body lotions.
The impressive nature of the Blu Atlas brand doesn’t stop there. They have a subscribe-and-save program that will save you money and make your life easier. If you love their moisturizer, sign up for their subscribe-and-save program, and you will get 20% off, and Blu Atlas will automatically send you refills before you realize you’re getting low. Blu Atlas has other products, such as other skincare, body care, hair care and fragrances.
This means they could be your one-and-only grooming brand. Subscribe and save on all of their products, and your wallet as well as your grooming routine will thank you. Head over to their website, and read through the hundreds of five-star reviews, and you’ll be a Blu Atlas customer in no time.
Best Natural Body Lotions – Necessaire
The inception of the Necessaire brand was fate—serendipity if you will. The two founders were drawn to each other when they realized they were the only two people wearing all black in the Bel-Air Hotel bar in L.A. Nick Axelrod, an editor, and Randi Christiansen, a former Estee Lauder staffer, got wrapped up in conversation and found they connected over their longing to bring sustainability to their beauty routines with clean ingredients and products.
Just like that, the Necessaire brand was born. Well, a lot of work went into it before it was born, but still, the buds had taken root. The result is facial-grade skincare for our bodies. Each product has effective concentrations that will deliver results. Necessaire knows that we leave a footprint with everything we do, and while we cannot give back as much as we take, they have committed to doing as much as possible.
They are climate-neutral certified and plastic-neutral certified, which means they have measured and offset their carbon and plastic footprints in full. Necessaire also partners with How2Recycle, which provides transparent and verified third-party recycling. Necessaire allocates 1% of every sale to environmental nonprofits that defend our water, land, air and wildlife.
Necessaire The Body Lotion Fragrance-Free is good for all skin types, especially those with concerns such as dryness, crepiness or barrier repair. With a formula rich in niacinamide, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Omega-6 and Omega-9, this body lotion will soak right into your skin. After a two-week clinical study, 100% of users felt their skin was softer and more moisturized, and 98% of users felt their skin was healthier. You won’t miss the lack of added fragrance because your skin will be recharged after just one use.
Best Natural body lotions – peacefull organic
Organic Bath Co. believes in creating simple self-care products that complement mindful moments and peaceful thoughts. The founders of this awesome company are partners in both business and in life, meaning they are fully vested in the brand. One of the founders, Gianne, experienced something that many of us are familiar with: a serious reaction to conventional beauty products.
She and her partner, Jay, set out to create a highly effective moisturizer using only whole ingredients. Gianne drew inspiration from her childhood, as her Belizean mother often used home remedies crafted from natural ingredients. Jay and Gianne are passionate in their journey to advocate for accessible, safe skincare along with health and wellness. Their products are all straightforward and unisex, as well as free of unnecessary, synthetic or harmful ingredients.
Organic Bath Co. PeaceFull Organic Body Butter is a 100% organic plant-based body butter that is highly concentrated and intended to provide protection and nourishment for your skin. Previously titled “Stress Less Organic Body Butter,” this blend will give you a calming, zen-like experience from the second you open the jar. Lavender essential oil will help you to feel relaxed and peaceful.
This body butter blends together exotic Moroccan argan oil, sunflower oil and jojoba oil to leave you with supple, smooth, hydrated skin. The inclusion of shea butter will heal any extra-dry or irritated skin concerns and will shield your skin from dehydration. PeaceFull Organic Body Butter is ultra-hydrating, and a little goes a long way due to its creamy nature. You will feel the effects of the hydration long after you apply it.
Best Natural Body Lotions – Honest
Honest Beauty is clean beauty that works. Each of their products uses only clean ingredients, which they believe is the perfect equation for happy skin. Living the Honest Life means making clean, sustainable choices and embracing your responsibility to leave the world a better place than you found it. Jessica Alba created the Honest Company with the purpose of creating safe and effective products for her family and yours.
The Honest Standard helps her to make that intention a reality. Protecting human health and not compromising performance are two leading pillars when creating products for their collection. When researching and purchasing Honest Beauty products, you will be greeted with knowledge and transparency so you know exactly what you are receiving.
Honest Beauty Face + Body Lotion is a gentle formula that is fit to hydrate your body from head to toe. Gentle enough for babies, and effective enough for adults, this body and face lotion is all you need for your entire family. The formula includes a blend of jojoba, shea and safflower oils that will soothe and moisturize your skin. There are four variations of this lotion: nourishing sweet almond, classic sweet orange vanilla, calming lavender or fragrance-free. Purchase all of the scents if you prefer some variation in your moisturizing schedule.
Best Natural Body Lotions – Lush Dream Cream
The creators of Lush Cosmetics originally founded a brand called Cosmetics to Go. It was a mail-order cosmetics company that delivered bath bombs, solid shampoo bars and massage bars. When they decided to stop production on Cosmetics to Go, the founders took everything they had learned about creating ethical and unique products and poured that into the Lush Cosmetics brand.
Lush Cosmetics has a “We Believe” ethos that they live by. They believe in using fresh, organic fruits and vegetables and the finest essential oils to make effective products. They believe in testing their products on humans, rather than buying ingredients from companies that commission tests on animals. Lush Cosmetics believes that their products are of good value and that happy people make happy soap.
They invent their own products and fragrances and produce them by hand, trying to use minimal packaging and little to no preservatives. You can always count on Lush Cosmetics to be entirely transparent about how their products are made and what they are made of.
Lush Cosmetics Dream Cream Body Lotion is an absolute powerhouse of a lotion, jam packed with the ultimate ingredients to heal irritated, sensitive skin. If you are the type of person whose skin reacts to almost anything you put on it, then you need to treat it to this Dream Cream. It is gentle but effective, making it the perfect option for anyone with sensitive skin.
Olive oil and cocoa butter will soften up even the driest of skin, and rose oil will tone down any redness or irritation. Oat milk, lavender and chamomile work in tandem to calm your skin. Once you finish a jar, you can bring it back to Lush Cosmetics, and they will take care of recycling it. It has a light, herbal fragrance with hints of oat milk and lavender, and it uses a vegan formula.
Best Natural Body Lotions – Drunk Elephant
Drunk Elephant is a skincare brand with a serious cult following. The simple white bottles with neon caps will catch your eye anytime you see them on the shelves. Their products are effective, which keeps their customers coming back for more, or to try new launches. Drunk Elephant made a commitment to only include ingredients that either directly benefit the health of your skin or the integrity of the formula. The ingredients in their products are chosen based on biocompatibility.
Sili Body Lotion is a formula that will supercharge your skin to restore dry, dull and irritable skin to its best state of health and balance. It is a lotion that can be used from head to toe, and it includes a blend of fruit-derived antioxidants that will provide all of the nourishment your body needs. It is completely free of sulfates, essential oils, fragrances, alcohols, or silicones.
Best Natural Body Lotions – Body Souffle
If less is more is your favorite mantra to live by, London Grant Company’s products might be exactly what you’re looking for. They truly believe that there is profound beauty to be found in homemade goods, so they handcraft small batches of their products to provide you with simplicity (without compromise) as if they were making it for their own family. When we take care of ourselves, our capacity to care for others grows, and one way to care for yourself is to use natural products that are healthy on your skin.
Each of their products are pure, authentic and well-living inspired. London Grant Co. Cocoa + Jojoba Body Souffle is a whipped moisturizer that will deliver nourishment and improve elasticity throughout the day. Without any added fragrance, this lotion is ideal for sensitive skin and gets its natural chocolate scent from cocoa butter and jojoba oil.
Best Natural Body Lotions – Osea
The Osea brand has a long family lineage that makes their products over a century in the making. Back in 1920, Osea’s founder’s grandmother discovered the healing properties of the ocean. Much like her grandmother, founder Jenefer was studying archeology in Israel in 1976 and was consumed with the healing powers of clay and mud, which sparked her interest in natural healing.
A few years later, in 1982, Jenefer opened a spa and was frustrated by the lack of natural products that were up to her standards, so she decided to make her own. The first product she produced was the Osea Essential Hydrating Oil. In 1986, Jenefer sold her spa so that she could devote all of her time and attention to creating more natural products, even using her bathtub as a seaweed storage receptacle.
Through studying cosmetic chemistry and natural healing for years, Jenefer and her daughter Melissa worked tirelessly to expand their product line and commit to sustainable, cruelty-free, vegan skincare. Osea was the initial company to sign the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a campaign that now has over 1,000 company signatures. Most recently, in 2020, Osea has become completely carbon neutral.
Osea Anti-Aging Body Balm is the perfect balm that employs the lasting hydration of lotion with the anti-aging properties of a serum. Alaria seaweed will not only improve the appearance of your skin but will aid in elasticity and skin tightness. This ultra nourishing formula will leave you with softer skin after every use, due to its super formula of passion fruit, coconut, acai and babassu oils. Your skin will remain hydrated long after you apply it.
After a consumer test, 94% of consumers said their skin felt more moisturized, softer and nourished. 94% of consumers also agreed that their skin was glowing, supple and smoother. Osea Anti-Aging Body Balm is suitable for all skin types.
An incredible bonus of this body balm, is that it can be used as a conditioning hair treatment. Simply apply it onto your dry hair, let it soak in for a minimum of 20 minutes and rinse thoroughly and your hair will be left nourished and hydrated, just like your skin.
Best Natural Body Lotions – Juice Beauty
Just because you want to start the journey of using natural products does not mean you aren’t looking for products that can help with insecurities or signs of aging. The good news is that natural skin care can be just as effective, if not more, than synthetic and chemically driven products. Juice Beauty Green Apple Firming Body Moisturizer has some of the best ingredients in its formula to not only moisturize your skin but also target problem areas.
Vitamin C brightens the appearance of your skin. Organic aloe, shea, jojoba and botanicals will provide antioxidant-rich hydration. The peptides in this formula will create firmer-looking skin and reduce the appearance of fine lines. While this body moisturizer is safe for all skin types, it is best for those with discoloration, dark spots or uneven skin tone and texture.
Best Natural Body Lotions – Cocokind
Cocokind lives and breathes transparency, which makes this brand an awesome option from this list of the 12 best natural body lotions. They live up to their mission of disrupting the status quo of the beauty industry. So many brands tend to settle when it comes to their products, or ingredients, and reel you in with their buzzy marketing claims that they could never actually live up to. If you become a Cocokind customer, you will feel informed and empowered every time you shop. Cocokind will remain as transparent as possible about what ingredients are in their products and the impact they are making on the world.
Cocokind is a newer brand, but they are certainly making their stamp on the natural beauty product world. On each of their packages, you will find what they call a formulation facts panel. Rather than just a list of ingredients, this panel will break down everything about the formulas, from the hero ingredients, carriers and emulsifiers to the packaging and how you can recycle when you’ve finished a bottle. Cocokind wants you to see for yourself that their formulas include research-based ingredients. If you aren’t already convinced that Cocokind is the brand of the future, they know they still have work to do and are committed to doing it.
They have already identified three phases of future goals. The first phase, which they are currently working on, is auditing their entire supply chain. Second, they will look to offset emissions and will investigate ways to reduce their carbon footprint. The third phase includes creating actionable steps to continue an upward trend of reducing their carbon footprint every year, and they will communicate the changes to customers.
Cocokind One-For-All Balm is an all-over hand and body salve that will nourish your skin and provide a water-resistant layer of protection. It is a vegan, petrochemical-free formula that is the perfect solution for stubborn dry spots like your hands, lips, feet, cuticles and more. Nordic Birch Sap will help your skin retain moisture, ashwagandha will combat oxidative stress and rhodiola rosea root extract will soothe irritated, cracked skin. Your skin will be left softer, nourished and luminous.
Best Natural Body Lotions – Alba
Alba Botanica believes that the future is beautiful, and they are committed to doing their part to add to that beauty. They create plant-based products that align with the natural world, never test on animals and keep evolving their packaging materials to reduce their environmental footprint. Alba Botanica Very Emollient Coconut Rescue Body Lotion is on this list of the 12 best natural body lotions because it provides instant relief from the woes of dry skin.
Designed specifically for those with extremely dry or irritable skin, this body lotion is rich and creamy, and I will get right to work providing relief. It is an intensely hydrating formula with ingredients like virgin, unrefined coconut oil, coconut milk, and aloe vera that will rejuvenate and heal your skin. It is a hypoallergenic body lotion with 100% vegetarian ingredients.
Best Natural Body Lotions – Briogeo
Many associate Briogeo with their hair products, but this superfood body cream will have you obsessing over their body care. It is a smoothie-inspired formula that will melt right into your skin. Be Gentle, Be Kind Banana + Coconut Nourishing Body Cream uses fruit antioxidants, vitamins and minerals to nourish, moisturize and soften your skin.
Banana peel extract improves your skin’s appearance; coconut fruit extract locks in moisture and provides hydration; and acai fruit extract helps prevent damage. The benefits don’t stop there: The natural fragrance of this body lotion will transport you to a tropical vacation every time you lather it on.
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The San Diego home remodeling company works on full homes, kitchens, bathrooms, home additions, ADUs, garages, landscapes, and hardscapes.
Most homeowners want two things before they commit to a remodel: a realistic sense of cost and a clear picture of what the finished space will look like. Milan Design + Build helps deliver both through its online remodeling estimator and personalized design consultations, supported by a showroom experience and 3D renderings.
“The online estimate gives homeowners a starting number in about a minute, and the showroom and 3D renderings let them see materials and layouts before anything is built,” says David Noriani, CEO of Milan Design + Build. “Keeping design, permits, and construction with one team helps us manage expectations and keep everyone working toward the same vision.”

Modern design is a particular focus for Milan, with an emphasis on clean lines, natural light, functional layouts, and carefully selected materials. The team adapts each design to the homeowner’s lifestyle and the character of the property. Milan Design + Build combines thoughtful design with construction expertise, creating spaces that are as functional as they are beautiful.
The online estimator covers kitchen remodels, bathroom renovations, full-home remodels, and ADU construction. At Milan’s showroom on Carroll Road, visitors can review real materials, finishes, and design options, meet the design-build team, and discuss project scope, budget, and timing. Consultations can also be held virtually for homeowners who prefer to start remotely.
At Milan Design + Build, one integrated team works on the entire project. Design and construction aren’t divided between separate firms. The process begins with a consultation and feasibility review, followed by design, space planning, and 3D renderings developed from detailed measurements and digital scans. The team also coordinates architectural plans, structural engineering, city approvals, and material selection, with construction overseen by a dedicated project manager.
Homeowners can explore their remodeling options, get an initial estimate, or request a design consultation at MilanBuild.com.

The Campaign for La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) will fuel scientific innovation and medical advances
La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) is going public with a bold bet: a $55 million campaign to propel medical research into a new era. The Campaign for LJI will fuel discovery, empower scientific innovation, and expand the impact of immunology on human health.
The Institute quietly kicked things off in 2023, guided by its Board, campaign volunteers, and early believers. Nearly 80% of the $55 million goal is already in hand. Now LJI is opening the doors and inviting the whole community to carry their visions across the finish line and back discoveries that change how LJI researchers understand, treat, and prevent disease.
And there’s a bonus. To mark the public launch, LJI Board member and Campaign Honorary Chair Anthony R. Carr is offering a special matching gift so new donors can double their impact. Full details are here.
Immunology has already rewritten human history. Advances in immune science helped wipe out smallpox, pushed polio to the brink of elimination, and revolutionized how we prevent and treat infectious disease. Today, immune-based therapies are opening doors for patients with cancer, autoimmune disorders, and other serious illnesses once considered untreatable.
For nearly four decades, LJI scientists have stood on the front lines, driven by one insight: the immune system shapes disease in virtually every organ in the body. By decoding how the immune system works and how to harness it to prevent and treat disease, LJI researchers are chasing the Institute’s ultimate mission: Life Without Disease®.
To make that mission real, the Institute pairs world-class scientists with cutting-edge technology, speeding up breakthroughs and turning discoveries into transformative new therapies that ease suffering worldwide.
The Campaign for LJI supercharges that momentum, uniting the vision of the Institute’s scientists with a community that believes in research. Focused on advancing LJI’s most promising areas of study, the campaign aims to help build a future free from the burden of disease, a goal that demands bold ideas, lasting partnerships, and generous philanthropic support.
The Campaign for LJI will advance research across three critical pillars:
1. President’s Priority Fund. Flexible, unrestricted dollars let big ideas move now, not later. Scientists can launch high-risk, high-reward projects, bring experts together across disciplines, build transformative technologies, and train tomorrow’s scientific leaders.
2. Center for Sex-Based Differences in the Immune System. Male and female immune systems don’t respond the same way, and LJI researchers are tracing the fundamental differences down to individual cells and molecular pathways. The Campaign will speed up this pioneering work, revealing hidden drivers of disease and paving the way for more precise, biologically informed therapies for autoimmune disorders, infectious diseases, cancer, and beyond.
3. Center for Vaccine Innovation. Immunologists, bioengineers, and vaccine experts are teaming up to design the next generation of vaccines and immune-based therapies. With donor support, LJI scientists can engineer longer-lasting and more personalized vaccines, pinpoint the cellular mechanisms driving protective immunity, and refine delivery methods to prevent autoimmune disease and treat cancer.
As the campaign enters its public phase, LJI welcomes new partners and supporters to join this landmark initiative. Community support is essential to accelerating scientific discovery, and there are many meaningful ways to help shape the future of immunology. Donors may direct their gifts to any campaign priority or other area of interest. As a comprehensive campaign, all gifts to LJI count toward the campaign goal, regardless of designation. Join the campaign, and multiply your impact with our limited-time matching opportunity.
To explore the campaign, visit imagine.lji.org.
Scripps orthopedic surgeons are investigating stem cells as an alternative to joint replacement
Shiley Center for Orthopaedic Research and Education at Scripps Clinic recently received a $12.7 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to investigate whether they can transform stem cells into tissue that can repair some types of knee injuries. Currently, if a patient has lost most, if not all, of the cartilage in their knee, then their doctor will recommend a total joint replacement. Joint replacement is safe and effective, but patients who’ve only lost part of their cartilage often don’t qualify. A stem cell-based treatment would provide these patients an option that doesn’t involve donor tissue. Click here for more on the preclinical trial process.
For more nutrition, wellness, and healthy living tips, sign up for the San Diego Health newsletter here.
Artwork throughout the Lusardi Tower at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas promotes hope and healing
The recently opened Lusardi Tower at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas is a state-of-the-art addition to the hospital staffed by dedicated team members who’ve helped make Scripps one of the nation’s leading healthcare systems. Complementary to that medical excellence, the Lusardi Tower also represents the latest expansion of the Scripps Arts for Healing Program. The philanthropic initiative strategically places nature- and community-based artwork throughout the hospital to support health and well-being. Both Scripps Encinitas and Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla have healing arts programs as part of new building projects and growth on the campuses. Click here to read more about the Healing Arts Program and how residents from a nearby retirement community showed their support.
For more nutrition, wellness, and healthy living tips, sign up for the San Diego Health newsletter here.
From century-old Craftsman homes to vegan fantasy bars, dive bars, and a tiki room built for exactly two people, this is one of San Diego’s great little neighborhoods
You may not realize it, but Balboa Park is bigger than Central Park (in fact, 1.5 times larger). Pressed right up against its southeastern edge is a little architecture farm built on old trolley bones, where houses look like someone was collecting architectural styles and local businesses are still run by people who seem personally invested in keeping this place interesting.
This is South Park.
To understand why it feels the way it does today—less like one commercial strip and more like a handful of tiny villages—you have to go back to the trolley.
The land that became the original South Park Addition (the subdivision’s original name) was surveyed in 1870 and officially filed in 1890, but the neighborhood really started becoming a neighborhood in the early 1900s. The Bartlett Estate Company began developing and marketing the tract in earnest around 1906, pairing lots and new homes with something extremely useful if you lived outside Downtown in the horse-and-buggy era: an electric streetcar.
On May 1, 1906, the South Park and East Side Railway made its first trip. Developers didn’t just build near transportation; they helped pay for the transportation, then used it to sell the dream. Downtown had industry, noise, and congestion. Out here were palms, sidewalks, utilities, room to breathe and a four-cent ride back to the city.
It worked. Homes began filling in around the streetcar route, and little commercial clusters grew around the places where people got on and off. That transportation pattern is still written into South Park’s geography. Some of the neighborhood’s odd street geometry is also due in part to the trolley—the old line cut across parcels instead of politely obeying the grid, leaving behind pieces of land that later businesses learned to build around. Places like Station Tavern sit on the former easement and station site of San Diego’s No. 2 trolley line.
Then San Diego went big for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in neighboring Balboa Park. The exposition transformed much of the park and helped push the city through another burst of building and growth. South Park was right there to absorb some of that momentum.
And the people building houses here had taste.
Walk the residential streets now and it can feel like somebody planted an architectural sample garden: Craftsman, Prairie, Mission Revival, Tudor Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival. Creedence Clearwater Revival. All the revivals. The neighborhood includes work by Irving Gill, one of the defining architects of early modern California; Gill-designed Prairie homes still stand along Granada Avenue.
The city formally designated the South Park Historic District in 2017, recognizing roughly 400 properties and a period of significance stretching from 1906 through 1949. In other words, a lot of what makes the place feel old is actually old.
While the trolley eventually disappeared, the basic idea behind it didn’t. South Park is still a neighborhood organized around little pockets of human activity: a couple blocks where you can buy a record, drink a beer, find a 60-year-old lamp, eat a vegan burger beneath gothic beasts, browse a bookstore, and walk home past a century-old Craftsman.
The 30th-and-Fern area may be the clearest example. Several surviving buildings there date to South Park’s early development, including the old Fire Station No. 9, Rose Grocery building, and Burlingame Garage. What began as infrastructure for a young streetcar suburb became the neighborhood’s commercial heart.
That history is also partly why buying a house here can be competitive. There isn’t some endless supply of vacant land waiting around the corner for another subdivision. Much of the neighborhood filled in generations ago, and the architecture itself is part of the appeal.
San Diego Mag’s been documenting the city for 78 years. And we’ve been looking for a partner who loved the city enough to help us tell its stories. Redfin is that partner. They’re helping us tell the story of some of the city’s most unique neighborhoods. They launched Redfin Early Access this year to get their people in first and to see certain coming-soon and exclusive listings on Redfin before they appear on other major real-estate sites.
First up: South Park.
Here are some of the people and places worth knowing here:

Start with Judy “the Beauty” Forman, because it’s difficult to explain South Park without her. The former social worker bought Big Kitchen in 1980 and turned a neighborhood breakfast joint into a gathering place for artists, musicians, activists, politicians, eccentrics, and pretty much anyone who needed somewhere to belong. As Judy puts it, “I built this for people who others passed over.”
One of those people was a young single mom named Whoopi Goldberg, who worked as a dishwasher here before the Whoopi Goldberg part of her career happened. Today Big Kitchen still serves breakfast and lunch Thursday through Monday.
3003 Grape Street
Whistle Stop reopened in 2001, right as South Park’s little independent-business ecosystem was finding a new generation. Owner Sam Chammas—also connected to Live Wire and, later, Station Tavern—helped turn it into the kind of neighborhood bar where the calendar can jump from a DJ night to live bands to some strange communal event nobody at a normal sports bar would propose.
The room still has that laid-back, slightly sweaty house-party quality. Check what’s happening before you go, because Whistle Stop changes personality depending on the night: sometimes neighborhood beer, sometimes everyone dancing beneath the disco ball like work tomorrow was canceled.
2236 Fern Street
Station Tavern may be the most literal example of old South Park becoming new South Park. It opened in 2009 on land once crossed diagonally by the No. 2 trolley line, and architect Lloyd Russell incorporated that history into the design rather than pretending the weirdly shaped lot wasn’t weirdly shaped. The project won the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s Grand Orchid Award the same year it opened.
Sam Chammas built the place as an open-air burger-and-beer spot with big communal tables, a backyard, room for kids, and room for dogs. It still works exactly that way: get a burger, get the tots, let everybody spread out, stay awhile.
2204 Fern Street
Kindred arrived in late 2015 looking nothing like the beige-and-leafy vegan restaurant stereotype. The place went full gothic fever dream—heavy music, wild cocktails, decadent plant-based food—and eventually collected national vegan accolades plus local Restaurant of the Year and design honors.
And in 2026, it got even weirder. Hidden behind a chain-mail passage inside Kindred is Throne Room, a medieval-fantasy cocktail chamber whose mythology grew out of a Dungeons & Dragons-inspired map the Kindred team created for a 2017 Coachella pop-up. The 90-minute experience has scroll menus, plant-based mezze, cocktails and zero interest in pretending restaurants need to behave normally.
1503 30th Street

Vinyl Junkies has good music-scene DNA. Founder Eric Howarth previously ran indie label Hi-Speed Soul, whose roster included acts like Nada Surf and Swervedriver, then teamed with Casbah owner Tim Mays after the pair had spent years putting on Vinyl Junkies record swaps.
They opened the South Park brick-and-mortar shop in 2017, and it remains a buy-sell-trade temple for people who understand that owning music on a physical object is irrational in exactly the right way. Go flip through the new arrivals. Leave holding something you had absolutely no intention of buying.
2235 Fern Street
Bad Madge is what happens when “vintage store” doesn’t quite explain the situation. Owner Tanya McAnear and her team fill the shop with furniture, clothing, barware, records, art, jewelry, collectibles, and various objects that seem like they may know things about their previous owners. The shop opened in 2011 and has made reuse and upcycling part of its identity ever since. Go in without looking for anything specific—specificity will only slow you down.
2205 Fern Street
Across the neighborhood’s vintage-and-vinyl universe sits Thread + Seed, a local boutique built around clothing, denim, gifts, and personal styling. Its South Park shop has an especially deep denim program—petite, tall, wide-leg, straight, flare—and the store also offers one-on-one styling built around color and body type. In other words, this is where you go after deciding the jeans currently on your body have betrayed you. South Park understands that sometimes personal renewal begins with pants.
2220 Fern Street
Seth Marko started The Book Catapult as a book blog in 2006. In 2017, he and his wife, Jennifer Powell, turned it into an actual bookstore in South Park, specializing loosely in fiction, local interest, and children’s books while maintaining the more important bookseller skill: putting something into your hands that you didn’t know you needed.
There are staff picks, author events, signed books, and the dangerous possibility of walking in for one title and emerging with four. Because no one ever died thinking, “I shoulda read less.”
3010-B Juniper Street
Chefs, restaurateurs, sommeliers, and craft mixers - meet our 2026 Tastemakers, the minds behind the magic.
Chef Roberto Alcocer showcases all that Mexican cuisine and culture has to offer at Oceanside’s Valle. The Michelin-guide recommended restaurant takes inspiration and techniques from all over Mexico—with a heavy Baja influence—and blends them with local San Diego ingredients to create original and delectable contemporary Mexican cuisine. The seasonal tasting menu allows Chef Alcocer to experiment with the freshest available ingredients, creating dishes that defy guests’ expectations, while the wine list features more than 100 labels from Mexican artisans. Even the restaurant’s walls are a celebration of Mexican culture, all decorated with work from artists of Baja.
“My favorite part of being a chef of Valle is being able to showcase the Mexico that I know to everyone who visits,” Chef Alococer says. “Not only through the food, but with the design, culture, and welcoming service.”
Lobster Taco: Flour sourdough tortilla with lobster shell bisque and local red spiny lobster

222 North Pacific Street, Oceanside, California 92054
866-723-8906 | valleoceanside.com