His love for South Bay is one he wishes more people shared. “It’s somewhere that’s constantly overlooked,” he says. “But South San Diego is the heart of San Diego.” Because the area offers so much, it was hard for Moon to pin down just a few ways to spend the day in the area—but he somehow managed.

To start a morning off right, Moon heads to Home Coffee in National City. The bright, airy space has plenty of room to work alone or chill with friends, making it a hub for the community that’s easily accessible off the 805 and 54 freeways. Plus, a set of outdoor swings are sure to bring out the kid in anyone. “I prefer it to Starbucks,” Moon laughs, recommending the Tahitian vanilla latte.

Moon says he’s had the same barber, Ray Muñoz, since high school. “Initially, he started cutting hair out of his garage then moved into shops,” he recalls. “I got to see his journey, and for him to live his dream is pretty cool.” Moon now visits him at Exclusive Cuts Barber Shop, the spot Muñoz owns in Imperial Beach.

After a fresh trim, Moon hits San Diego Kabob Shack in Chula Vista for a chicken kebab plate or Poke Etc. in National City for spicy mayo ahi tuna. As someone who focuses on eating healthy, Moon says both options hit the spot, especially after a workout.

To unwind, Moon points to Thr3e Punk Ales in Chula Vista. “I don’t drink too much, honestly, but I have a great relationship with the owners,” he says. “If I do ever crave a drink every now and then, I prefer to go there.” Moon says he reaches for lighter beers like Mexican lagers, but pretty much anything coming out of the brewhouse promises to satisfy.

The post Imperial Beach Artist Richie Moon’s Perfect South Bay Day appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Born in Denver, Benito, 59, was injured while on patrol in Iraq in 1983. After finding himself homeless after a failed marriage and the death of his second wife, who overdosed on heroin, he became a welder and lived in an SRO in downtown San Diego. Failing eyesight cost him that job and his housing but forced him to quit drugs and re-focus on his colorful sketch art. He met his current wife, Karen, around the same time. They live in a tent on an overpass close to downtown.

Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

Award-winning photojournalist Peggy Peattie has been telling the stories of the nation’s unhoused for more than 30 years, many of them here in town, where she teaches journalism at City College and San Diego State University.

“I have met healthcare professionals, teachers, artists, authors, skilled craftsmen and women, decorated war veterans, chefs, landscape designers, musicians, and entrepreneurs. For these artists, the motivation to paint, sing, draw, write, make jewelry or pottery or medicine bags brings them joy and elevates their existence above the demands of daily survival,” Peattie explains.

Artwork by Benito

Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

Unsurprisingly, what that looks like for people who are experiencing homelessness is a bit different: they don’t always have access to new or good supplies, requiring that much more resourcefulness and creativity, and, frequently, whatever supplies are amassed are stolen or lost to homeless sweeps conducted by the city.

Peattie says, “I hope these portraits remind readers of the importance of creativity and invites us all to stop and talk with the person living in a tent on the sidewalk we typically walk right past.”

More detail about these artists and the lives of many other unhoused San Diegans can be found on Peggy’s website, talesofthestreet.com.

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Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

Henry, who lives in Balboa Park with his dog, Lulu, uses all sorts of different materials to paint and draw his creations. “In the ʼ90s, I met a lady who had been in a concentration. camp. She had old art of hers, and while in the camp, she used a feather to paint. So I learned that from her,” he explains. As a rule, Henry uses both hands, sometimes at once, just to see what kind of new textures and lines he can uncover.

Artwork by Henry

Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

Artwork by Henry

Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

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Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

Ceramicist Tad, who sells his wares every day in OB next to the beach with his pup in tow, lives in his van. Recently, he made a stunning string necklace of “teeth” sculpted from clay interspersed with quartz, crystal beads, and oxidized hematite bands.

Artwork by Tad

Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

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Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

Casper, 46, grew up in East L.A. and learned to draw by watching a friend of his mother’s paint murals. He doesn’t like spray paint – only pen and paper. “Everybody that I grew up with that was a mother figure to me is gone. If you grew up in the barrio, [it will] claim you at some point,” he says. He draws mostly women, including the Virgen de Guadalupe, because “women run everything. They’ve got their shit together.”

Artwork by Casper

Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

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Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

Jewelry maker Turtle uses wrapping techniques, working with “pure” elements like copper, crystals, and stones – he won’t use fake materials, saying it “despiritualizes” his work. “I can’t do that,” he says. “It’s just wrong. There’s a better way.” He gives much of what he makes as gifts – talismans to ward off evil on the streets.

Artwork by Turtle

Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

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Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

Mobyte, who is originally from Georgia, lives in a tent with his wife, Amy, downtown. They met at a Vegas bus stop. The next day, they stopped overnight at a motel, where he started singing. She videotaped him, and they’ve been together ever since. He wants to make a living with his music.

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Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

Lorenzo is finishing up his final year at SDSU, after which, he hopes to start a community-oriented art gallery. He taught himself to paint during Covid, while at first bedding down with his parents in Imperial Beach. He lives in a house with roommates near campus these days but has been previously on the margins of having secure housing. He admits he doesn’t know what the future holds, especially with “how expensive everything has become.”

Artwork by Lorenzo

Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

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Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

Originally from New York, Daniel came to San Diego following a string of unsuccessful romantic relationships, because his sister lives and works in Chula Vista. Recently, he has been painting landscapes, Japanese swords, samurai, and traditional Japanese women’s clothing–he likes the 1700s-era Japanese wood carvings and the craftsmanship and dedication to perfection they require.

Artwork by Daniel

Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

Artwork by Daniel

Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

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Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

Patrick makes medicine bags, quilts, and jewelry. He spent 24 years as a caseworker for both adults and youth experiencing homelessness in San Francisco but was forced out of his job during Covid, so he’s living here in his van and selling his artwork in OB. He says, “I want my art to outlast me when I’m gone. My art is my fossil footprint.”

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Photo Credit: Peggy Peattie

Voices of Our City Choir member Patricia performed the spoken word section of the choir’s America’s Got Talent audition back in 2020, becoming an instant internet sensation. A week later, she found affordable housing, thanks to the San Diego Housing Commission and the efforts of the choir.

The post Photo Essay: Studio of the Streets appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Jackie Mendoza’s bilingual sound is growing more versatile. Not pictured: her ukulele.

Credit: Tayo Oyekan

In high school, Jackie Mendoza dreamed of seeing her name on a Broadway marquee. The Chula Vista native took drama class, starred in junior theater productions, and developed her love of music first through musicals. But it wasn’t until after briefly entertaining a theater major in college—then realizing how rigorous and unglamorous a career it really is—that she came to the epiphany that maybe writing and recording her own music was a much more compelling path.

“Once you start doing it professionally, it becomes really intense, and it’s not fun anymore,” she says via a Zoom call from Ohio, where she’s been spending a month taking an audio engineering course. “It was a lot of pressure, and the thing I like to do the most is sing and perform, so I started writing more of my own music.”

As a teenager in Chula Vista, Mendoza took up the ukulele and posted covers to YouTube, eventually learning to use music production software Ableton. She moved to New York City for college and joined the indie rock band Gingerlys, which later morphed into Lunarette—both of which released records through San Diego-based label Topshelf. “I played music in my bedroom,” she says, “but that was the extent of my music life. When I joined [Gingerlys], we played in Brooklyn and would do tours on the East Coast. That was my intro to playing shows.”

While she was playing in those bands, however, she also began to cultivate her own songwriting voice. In 2019, she released the LuvHz EP, which built up a steady stream of accolades and eventually resulted in a tour booked with alt-rock twin-sister duo Tegan and Sara. (Unfortunately, the tour had to be canceled on account of the pandemic.)

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After living in Brooklyn for the better part of a decade, Mendoza fell in love with her hometown again and moved back to San Diego where she wrote her debut full-length album, set to be released in early 2023. Loosely speaking, the style of music that Mendoza plays is pop, shaped by the sound of pulsing beats and dreamy electronics. It also features lyrics in both English and Spanish; Mendoza lived in Tijuana until she was six and grew up in a bilingual household.

The X-factor in Mendoza’s sound is her unconventional choice of instruments. She plays a ukulele, which is fed through effects (often sounding unrecognizable), and therefore detached from some of its more precious connotations. She took up the instrument because, as she admits, she was “really bad at the guitar.” But soon enough, she found more to explore through an increasingly manipulated uke.

“I realized I could get a ukulele and buy pedals and effects and play it that way,” she says. “That kind of just started defining my music, because I had never seen that done before.”

Mendoza’s influences and musical direction keep changing as she continues to write and record, her sound growing ever more versatile. With her debut album on the way, she’ll have a new opportunity to showcase the full spectrum of music that she loves.

“It’s music that I really like to listen to,” she says. “I like pop, and I like reggaetón. I like trap music. I like electronic, psych rock—I wanted to put all of that together and tell my story through music. It’s a blend of all the music I like to listen to.”

There’s also one other crucial element she notes: “It has a little of that showtunes touch.”

Jackie Mendoza plays the Escorted Trips festival at the WorldBeat Cultural Center on Saturday, December 3.

The post Four-String Serenade appeared first on San Diego Magazine.