For the people still fretting about what to do for Mother’s Day: We’ve got you. If mom likes a good festival, consider stopping for drinks at the Coronado Art & Wine Festival or learning how to dance in the zydeco tradition at Gator by the Bay. Or peruse the local art scene and explore new exhibitions Bloodlines & Brushtrokes at Distinction Gallery, ArtSpectrum 2026 at Gallery 21, or (fittingly) Athenaeum Art Center’s Día de las Madres pop-up. Regardless of how you choose to spend time with mom this weekend, there’s plenty of ways to make her feel special.
To celebrate Mother’s Day, Gaslamp’s Huntress is offering a trio of food specials crafted by Executive Chef Chris Hutchison, plus complimentary welcome mimosas for all the mothers in attendance. This Friday-Sunday, patrons can order a lemony spring pea risotto, a beef Wellington with wild mushrooms and a rose dessert with chocolate mousse, strawberry air cake and loads of raspberry. The specials also include the Mother’s Flower Cocktail which comes with gin, lavender, citrus and prosecco and Albert Bichot Crémant Sparkling Rosé. Reservations can be made through OpenTable.
Stroll the fifth annual Coronado Art & Wine Festival for fine artwork, live music, pour of wine and bubbly, and to raise money for STEM and arts education for Coronado’s K-12 students. This Saturday from noon to 5 p.m., over 100 artists, including this year’s four featured artists, will display and sell their work, with other festivities including selfie stations, family-friendly crafts, 21+ libation zones. General admission is free; deluxe ticket options include Wine Village passes with six tastings, Bubbles Lounge/Wine Village passes with nine tastings, and all-access VIP with 12 tastings.
10th Street and Orange Avenue, Coronado
‘Momakase’ Experience at Temaki Bar
May 10
Take mom out for a sophisticated, yet thrifty, sushi dinner through Temaki Bar’s ‘Momakase’ experience, happening this Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The experience ($39 per person) comes with salmon, shrimp and yellowtail handrolls, a nigiri platter with deluxe seafood and flavor combos—including salmon with brown butter aioli, sweet soy and smoked salt—and a matcha-flavored vodka martini. Because Temaki does not take reservations, guests are advised to join the restaurant’s online waitlist before arriving.
575 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas
Concerts & Festivals in San Diego This Weekend
Meshell Ndegeocello at Epstein Family Amphitheater
May 6
Armed with a bass guitar that could nourish any souls its vibrations encounter, and an alluring voice to match, Meshell Ndegeocello is a vital figure in the lineage of Black musical tradition. Her vocation, an artistic desire for love and truth told through jazz, pop, R&B and neo-soul, is best understood through her sublime covers project Ventriloquism and her most recent album, No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin. This Wednesday from 7-9 p.m., Ndegeocello will perform tracks from No More Water and career-spanning hits at Epstein Family Amphitheater as part of ArtPower’s spring event lineup. Tickets range for $18 to $50 for this concert.
9480 Innovation Lane, La Jolla
GI Film Festival at Museum of Photographic Arts
May 6-8
Active and former military members will share their experiences through cinema during the GI Film Festival at the Museum of Photographic Arts, coinciding with Military Appreciation Month. The festival begins Wednesday with an opening night reception featuring awards, photo ops and a screening of Home from the Vietnam War, continues Thursday with Ugo: An Artist at War and documentary shorts and finishes Friday with American Solitaire and narrative shorts. Ticket options include opening night admission, tickets for screenings/blocks, and multi-ticket packs which come with admission to all screenings and events.
Calling Sister Nancy a dancehall pioneer is true, yet also an understatement. Though her career never resembled a normal trajectory for someone of her talents, the persistence of her 1982 hit “Bam Bam” is undeniable, cementing her as a beacon for Caribbean sound and a worldwide influence—with the song having since been sampled 100+ times, including by Too $hort, Jay-Z and Lauryn Hill. This Saturday at Music Box, hear classics from Sister Nancy’s catalog, plus jazzy reggae tunes from opener Kat Hall. Tickets start at $44 for this concert.
1337 India Street, Little Italy
Yebba at The Observatory North Park
May 10
Those familiar with Yebba likely know of the singer/songwriter for a variety of reasons. Maybe its her multiple collaborations with Drake, her star-making vocals for Chance the Rapper on Saturday Night Live, or perhaps, her immensely heartfelt debut Dawn, a rumination on grief created in the aftermath of her mother’s suicide. But I reckon Yebba’s newest album, Jean, is the best chance to jump on the bandwagon yet. Jean finds Yebba still persisting, and its stripped down, guitar-driven production should make her concert this Sunday (7 p.m.) at The Observatory North Park feel intimate on a nearly spiritual level. Tickets start at $41 for this concert.
As evidenced by the box office numbers for Michael, nostalgia for the King of Pop is currently at a fever pitch. While the biopic focuses on Michael Jackson’s upbringing and ‘80s stardom, MJ: The Musical—returning to the Civic Theatre for a week-long run—is set during the making of Jackson’s Dangerous World Tour in 1992. Playing the role of MJ will be former San Diego resident Jordan Markus, who has donned the sequined glove once again for the show’s nationwide run. Tickets start at $51, with performances this Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m.
1100 Third Avenue, Gaslamp
ArtSpectrum 2026 at Gallery 21
May 5–June 1
This week marks the birth of a hopeful new tradition for San Diego’s long-established community of LGBTQ artists. The group exhibition ArtSpectrum 2026, curated by RD Riccoboni and overseen by The Studio Door and Village Arts and Education Foundation, features a dozen local LGBTQ artists making an impact. Because the exhibition doesn’t abide by a particular subject or style, it’s a way for audiences to explore the artists’ best individual works. ArtSpectrum 2026 will have a free opening reception this Saturday from 1–4 p.m. at Gallery 21.
1770 Village Place, Balboa Park
Día de las Madres: Mother’s Day Pop-Up Exhibition at Athenaeum Art Center
May 8-10
Weeks before Mother’s Day was set to arrive, the Athenaeum Art Center surveyed the public, welcoming artists of all skill levels to express what it means to be a mother and how they define maternal love. The result is Día de las Madres, a three-day pop-up intended to elicit bilingual and bicultural POVs ahead of the holiday. To celebrate the exhibition, all are invited to Saturday’s free opening reception from noon to 8 p.m. to enjoy tamales, live mariachi, printmaking workshops and demonstrations, and a chance to converse with the artists.
Fifteen local Asian American and Pacific Islander artists are showcasing their ancestry-inspired pieces via Thumbprint Gallery’s Bloodlines & Brushstrokes group exhibition for AAPI Heritage Month. Part one opened at Thumbprint last Friday, and will remain on display through the end of May, with part two premiering Saturday at Distinction Gallery with a free reception from 6-10 p.m. Both locations will feature a unique piece by each participating artist, offering a chance to see a range of artistic mediums and culturally resonant viewpoints.
317 East Grand Avenue, Escondido
Art of the River at Santa Ysabel Art Gallery
May 9 – July 6
The continued depiction of the San Diego River’s beautiful, wide-spanning ecosystem is the guiding ethos of the San Diego River Artists Alliance. Beginning with a free opening reception this Saturday from 4-7 p.m. the collective will open its newest environmental exhibition, Art of the River, at Santa Ysabel Art Gallery. Visitors are invited to peruse and purchase artwork, as well as partake in the San Diego River Park Foundation’s River Days initiative (May 9-17); A portion of sales from Art of the River will go towards the SDRPF.
30352 Highway 78, Santa Ysabel
A Room in the Castle at MOXIE Theatre
May 10 – June 7
No skull, no ghost, no ‘to be or not to be’ monologue, but still so much story to tell. Lauren Gunderson’s stage play A Room in the Castle, a modernized, female-centered retelling of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, will have a new production beginning Sunday at MOXIE Theatre. Though the actions of The Bard’s tragic hero hang like a dark cloud over the lives of Ophelia and Queen Gertrude, A Room in the Castle awards them the primary perspective. Tickets are pay-what-you-can, ranging from free to $88.
6663 El Cajon Boulevard, Rolando
Courtesy of San Diego American Indian Health Center
More Fun Things to Do in San Diego This Weekend
An Evening with David Sedaris at Jacobs Music Center
May 7
Drawing on your personal life—the ups, downs and hard-to-believe stories—can serve as a rich source of creative material. Just ask David Sedaris, best-selling author, renowned satirist and long-time contributor for The New Yorker. Throughout his writing career, Sedaris’ works contain a whole host of quirky insights, including a secret marriage divulged just a few weeks ago. This Thursday at 8 p.m. during ArtPower’s An Evening with David Sedaris at Jacobs Music Center, he’ll recite passages from both beloved pieces and unpublished stories, offering a detailed perspective of his humor and storytelling style. Tickets range from $60 to $108 for this event.
1245 Seventh Avenue, Downtown
San Diego Padres vs. St. Louis Cardinals at Petco Park
May 7-10
With the lack of elite closers in today’s game, Padres fans can rest easy knowing when the 9th inning arrives, they have a reliable arm ready to pounce. Mason Miller—NL Reliever of Month Mason Miller, that is—is a perfect 11/11 in save opportunities, averaging nearly two strikeouts per inning and recently compiled a 34 ⅔ consecutive scoreless inning streak, a franchise record. Not too shabby. Plus, the first 40K fans through the Petco Park gates for Thursday’s game (7:10 p.m.) against the Cardinals will receive a flame-throwing Mason Miller bobblehead. Tickets start at $35, with games Friday (6:45 p.m.), Saturday (4:15 p.m.) and Sunday (1:10 p.m.) at home.
100 Park Boulevard, Downtown
Gator by the Bay
May 7-10
It’s Fat Tuesday everyday at Gator by the Bay, Bon Temps Social Club’s yearly toast to bayou living. The festivities include Creole cooking demonstrations, seven live music stages, Zydeco dance lessons and 10,000 boiling pounds of crawfish. Gator by the Bay kicks off with a free party Thursday from 5-9 p.m. at Sheraton’s Lanai Lawn before heading to Spanish Landing Park Friday (4-10 p.m.), Saturday (11 a.m. to 10 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m. to 7 p.m.). Single-day GA (Friday: $80, Saturday: $90, Sunday: $85), any day GA ($90) and three-day GA tickets ($230) are available; admission is free for kids ages 17 and under with a paid adult.
3900 North Harbor Drive, Embarcadero
Balboa Park Pow Wow
May 9 & 10
The San Diego American Indian Health Center will host its 38th annual Balboa Park Pow Wow this Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. As is tradition, the Pow Wow spotlights a range of cultural regalia, music and dance, including gourd dancing and Kumeyaay bird singing. This free community event also offers the chance to shop from a lineup of Indigenous food and artisan vendors, with hand-crafted goods such as art, jewelry and apparel available for purchase.
Ryan Hardison is a freelance arts and entertainment writer and recent graduate of San Diego State. When he's not staring at his laptop, he's likely eating an adobada burrito or getting sunburnt at the beach.
Tickets to the Del Mar Wine & Food Festival get you in the door. The real fun is figuring out who you’ll run into once you’re there. This year’s weeklong schedule of exclusive events, running September 30–October 4, includes dinners, tastings, and loosely-supervised chaos where celebrity chefs and local icons finally let their hair down.
The festival has a track record of the unexpected: Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul once toasted their mezcal brand Dos Hombres with an intimate dinner at the Lodge at Torrey Pines (and then, evidently unsatisfied, kept drinking it on the cliffs above Blacks Beach with a rotating cast of San Diego and Food Network chefs. Alex Morgan showed up for a dinner under the lights honoring the country’s most badass women chefs). Drew Brees ran a celebrity pickleball tournament where the guy from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia got absolutely humbled by locals.
If you scored a ticket to last year’s Grand Tasting, you might’ve caught Guy Fieri doing exactly what Guy Fieri does: strolling the grass, signing t-shirts and foreheads, and hanging off the DJ surf van like it was built for him. Meanwhile, local chef Ethan Yang of Glass Box walked off with the Chef Competition surfboard.
So whether your plan for 2026 is to corner legendary San Diego chefs like Victor Jimenez of Cowboy Star and Jon Sloan of Juniper & Ivy in person, or just aim for a spontaneous golf cart ride with a Food Network star—here’s your cheat sheet for where to run into a celebrity chef, TV personality, award-winning winemaker, or pro athlete at this year’s Del Mar Wine & Food Festival.
Courtesy of Del Mar Wine & Food Festival
Troy Johnson, Karen Krasne
Signature San Diego Opening Night Party
September 30 | 6 – 9 p.m. | Monarch Ocean Pub
Consider this your soft landing into festival week—the walk-around tasting that eases you in before things get chaotic later on. Monarch Ocean Pub hands its patio over to the flavors that define San Diego eating: Baja seafood done right, coastal bites, Mexican flavors with some heat behind them, all the staples locals will fight you over.
The celebrity sightings here lean more “bump into” than “spot from across the room.” Troy Johnson—Food Network judge, San Diego Magazine chief content officer and co-owner, Emmy-winning host, a man who has eaten his way across the entire country professionally—is the type to materialize at whichever station has the longest line, because he already knows it’s worth the wait. Ask him what he’s had so far. He’ll have opinions.
Then there’s celebrity pastry chef Karen Krasne, owner and executive pastry chef of Extraordinary Desserts, James Beard House alum, and a woman Forbes once ranked among the top 10 pastry chefs in the country—which tracks, because you might find her holding court next to a tray of her roasted pecan shortbread dipped in white chocolate, explaining exactly why this is the flavor combination. You will listen to every word, too, because you’ll want to try that cookie.
This is an opening night party where the person next to you in line might just be the one who baked the thing you’re about to eat.
Courtesy of Del Mar Wine & Food Festival
Bryn McArthur, Mawa McQueen
Chateau Montelena’s 50th Anniversary Celebration
October 1 | 6 – 9 p.m. | Fairmont Grand Del Mar
Fifty years ago, a Napa Chardonnay beat France at its own game and rewrote what the world thought it knew about wine. This dinner is that legacy, poured by the family who built it, course by course.
Under the arches at Fairmont Grand Del Mar, Ernie Hahn and the Hahn family, who partnered with the Barretts to revive Chateau Montelena into the Napa powerhouse it is today, host an evening built entirely around the winery’s most iconic pours. Every course gets its own pairing straight from the Montelena portfolio, so you’re not just hearing about the Judgment of Paris, you’re tasting the wine that started it.
Chef Mawa McQueen, a former James Beard Best of the West winner out of Aspen, brings globally inspired cuisine and serious technique to the table. Alongside her, Fairmont Grand Del Mar’s executive chef Bryn McArthur leans into farm-to-table sensibility shaped by a career of global kitchens. Together they’re building a menu meant to hold its own against wine that already changed history once.
This is the rare dinner where the wine isn’t just accompanying the meal, it’s the reason the meal exists. Fifty years after Paris, the rematch is happening right here in Del Mar.
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.
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.
Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art
Now through Jan. 10, 2027
Sift through over 200 photographs, sketches, letters, and costumes from “The King of Vogue,” who photographed World War II, modernized royal portraits, and created the aesthetic for 1920s socialites in London.
Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea
Natural History Museum
Now through Feb. 28, 2027
Walk through an 18-foot whale ribcage (and a couple dozen other marine-creature sculptures) made entirely of plastic bottles, flip-flops, lighters, rope, and other plastic detritus found on the beach in the Nat’s 3,000-square-foot second-floor gallery.
Forging a Legacy: 15 Years of Landmark Acquisitions
San Diego Museum of Art
Now through May 31, 2027
Part of SDMA’s centennial, “Forging a Legacy,” highlights artists from the past (Picasso, Monet) and modern day (Hugo Crosthwaite) who contributed to the museum’s collection.
ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year
Fleet Science Center
Now through 2027
See the stars (without the smog) at their best from the winners of the world’s largest astrophotography competition—all in the Fleet Science Center’s new basement gallery, specifically dimmed to let the cosmos shine.
Begin Again
The Old Globe
Sept. 6–Oct. 11
From the 2013 silver screen to this year’s The Old Globe stage, you can “Begin Again” (again) with a world-premiere musical adaptation featuring new songs—courtesy of Train—and a story overflowing with hope.
Dear Evan Hansen
Cygnet Theatre
Sept. 9–Oct. 4
“On the outside, always looking in…” marks the emotional crux of the Tony-, Grammy-, and Emmy-award winning musical coming to the Cygnet Theatre.
Kumeyaay Comics by the Kumeyaay Visual Storytelling Project
Museum of Us
Opening Sept. 12
Learn the history of the Kumeyaay Nation from the perspective of the members themselves in an immersive exhibit inspired by graphic novels “Our Past, Present, and Future,” and “Beyond Gaming.”
Good Night, Oscar
North Coast Repertory Theatre
Sept. 16–Oct. 11
During Oscar Levant’s appearances on “The Jack Paar Show,” he explained his reality with mental illness—the institutionalizations, electroshock therapies, nothing was too taboo for him. “Good Night, Oscar” takes us backstage in the raw moments before his 1958 television appearance.
Visiones Nocturnas: Queer Nightlife in Contemporary Art
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Sept. 19–Jan. 17, 2027
A disco ball isn’t just a disco ball. It’s a symbol of where queer communities can finally exhale and be their fullest selves. “Visiones Nocturnas” uses paintings, sculptures, textiles, performances, photos, and videos from Latin American artists to explore what’s at stake when nightclub lights shut off.
Silent Movie Mondays
Balboa Theatre
Sept. 21, Oct. 26, Dec. 7
Guest organists from across the country will come to the Balboa Theatre to accompany a new silent film for each performance. This year closes out with The Headless Horseman (1922), Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1920), and a holiday triple feature of Laurel and Hardy films.
Oh, Mary!
Civic Theatre
Sept. 29–Oct. 4
“What if Abe’s assassination wasn’t such a bad thing for Mary Todd Lincoln?” was the question that inspired Cole Escola’s play “Oh, Mary!” In the production, Mary Todd desperately tries to return to the cabaret stage, but her husband (President Lincoln in the midst of the Civil War) keeps getting in the way.
Photo Credit: Anja Koehler
October
Payare Leads Strauss’ A Hero’s Life
Jacobs Music Center
Oct. 3–4
Conductor Rafael Payare opens the San Diego Symphony’s 2026-2027 season with a three-part concert featuring composers Sofia Gubaidulina, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Richard Strauss.
Emily–No Prisoner Be
Baker-Baum Concert Hall
Oct. 8
Two dozen of Emily Dickinson’s poems are turned into songs—composed by Pulitzer Prize winner Kevin Puts and performed by Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato—for a one-night-only exploration of love, loss, loneliness, and mortality.
Ripcord
The Roustabouts Theatre Co.
Oct. 8–Nov. 1
Roommate beef has no age limit. The latest play from Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire turns that experience into a comedy through retirement home roommates Marilyn and Abby and the bet between them to see who will break first and move out.
Des Canyons aux Étoiles
La Casa del Zorro
Oct. 12
Composer Olivier Messiaen has chromesthia, so for him, sound evokes a visual connotation. His work “Des Canyons aux Étoiles” brings desert rock and the night sky to mind. See what he means from La Casa del Zorro in the Anza-Borrego Desert, in this performance immersed within nature.
San Diego International Film Festival
Locations Vary
Oct. 13–18
San Diego International Film Festival salutes the silver screen for a 25th time, now with a sixth day adding extra time for parties, screenings, and movie-star tributes.
Considered one of the masterpieces from opera great Giuseppe Verdi, San Diego Opera’s “Rigoletto” sees what happens when the prurient Duke of Mantua and his sharp-tongued court jester become entangled in a fatal curse.
Grim
La Jolla Playhouse
Oct. 27–Nov. 29
When the Grim Reaper’s job becomes too…grim…and he retires after 300,000 years, his daughter picks up the family business. But when she falls for a human and finds beauty in the souls she’s meant to reap, she questions her purpose.
Photo Credit: Ron Kerner
November
Skate Craft
Mingei International Museum
Nov. 21–May 9, 2027
San Diego is nothing without skate culture. Mingei’s “Skate Craft” portrays skateboarding as “living folk art” via its DIY roots (skateboards built in garages) and shows how that ethos shapes the future.
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.
Ryan Hardison is a freelance arts and entertainment writer and recent graduate of San Diego State. When he's not staring at his laptop, he's likely eating an adobada burrito or getting sunburnt at the beach.
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.
San Diego is full of people who deserve a few thousand words on what they make, who they bring together, and how their work changes the city around them. The artists, makers, advocates, and behind-the-scenes talent below are a small part of that larger ecosystem.
To help us narrow our list, we looked for names that kept coming up, work that reflects the diversity of our region, and people building something bigger than themselves.
Jackie is a long-time freelance journalist covering cannabis, food/restaurants, travel, labor, wine, spirits, arts & culture, design, and other topics. Her work has been selected twice for Best American Travel Writing, and she has won a variety of national and local awards for her writing and reporting.
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.
Matt Eisenberg is an award-winning writer and photographer based in San Diego. A former ESPN editor, his work has also been published by CNN, Bleacher Report and the New York Daily News.
Aaryn Belfer is a writer and editor specializing in nonfiction across art, architecture, and culture. Once upon a time, she wrote a provocative column for San Diego CityBeat (RIP). She was a runner up in the 2025 Matchbook Stories contest at the San Diego Central Library and is irrationally happy about it. Currently in her Soft Girl Era, Aaryn has expensive taste in (mostly flat) shoes and will choose a great art exhibit or live jazz concert over almost anything else. Except, possibly, Javier Bardem.
Lili Kim is a content coordinator and writer for San Diego Magazine, with experience highlighting local businesses and communities. When not writing or shooting film, she is likely brewing her seventh cup of tea of the day or strolling along Sunset Cliffs.
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.
Gail Czyszczon is owner/copywriter at Z3 Writing and best-selling author of a children’s book series. As a strategic communications professional and editorialist, she's passionate about discovering untold stories and themes that ignite fresh conversation and true change in communities.
People remember the first time they see Joe Dreamz.
Mine was a mile into the 2023 Carlsbad Half Marathon. He was standing on a speaker in the middle of the course, singing: “Hey you with the shoes, are you living Joe Dreamz?” Clearly not. I’m running uphill at 7 in the morning, I thought.
Months later, walking out of The Rady Shell, there he was again—parting the crowd of concertleavers Moses and the Red Sea style, singing the same song: “Hey you with the purse, are you living Joe Dreamz?”
Who’s this man at every public spectacle, singing metaphysical questions in a hand-altered, color-coordinating suit that would make James Brown proud and standing on a Soundboks speaker with a microphone and tip bucket?
A few years ago, San Carlos–born, El Cajon–based Joe Dreamz wasn’t exactly living Joe Dreamz—making $5 footlongs at Subway, dealing with croissant coworkers at Costco’s bakery, and selling life insurance. After he got let go from the life insurance gig and his car broke down in the middle of a 2020 road trip in Seattle, he used his emergency savings to buy a microphone and a speaker; a self-taught musician, he pulled from the only skillset he knew to monetize. He’d set up at Seattle’s Pier 55 and ask people what their dreams were. Then, for $5, create a freestyle rap to commemorate (and hopefully activate) those dreams.
“The goal is that someone listens to a Joe Dreamz song, and they don’t have to wait until metaphorically their car breaks down before they chase their dreams,” he says.
Photo Credit: Matt Furman
A chance encounter with an airport worker led to a free flight back to San Diego, and Joe Dreamz came home “transformed,” he says. He started busking at the Mission Beach boardwalk, Kate Sessions Park, outside Gaslamp bars; then Padres games, farmers markets, marathons. He also hit the mic outside of Coachella this year (“Joe-chella,” he says).
It’s not a get-viral-quick gimmick; people’s lives are changing. One fan finished writing her book after a dose of Joe Dreamzpiration. Another named his own daughter Joy Dreams.
Now, he’s working on the upstart “Tell Me Your Dream” podcast and DREAM Week in local schools, where each day represents a step toward achievement (D is destination day, R is reason day…). He doesn’t want inspiration to reach you only after hearing a song or watching a video: He believes in this message so much that he literally got DREAM tattooed onto his forehead.
“It’s on my face, so people have no choice [but to see it],” he says. “I’m a local celebrity here, so everywhere I go, people ask me for pictures. In every selfie, the message goes along for the ride too.”
Emma Veidt is an editor at San Diego Magazine. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the Missouri School of Journalism. She loves running, hiking, and rock climbing, but really, she mostly loves encounters with the street cats around North Park.
SeaWorld dazzles with a drone show, big-name entertainers, new animal adventures and more
By Partner Content
Nights are heating up at SeaWorld San Diego. The quintessential summertime staple on Mission Bay is transforming into a destination for unforgettable day-to-night adventures, bringing back some of its most popular Summer Nights programming and introducing exciting new experiences sure to delight both kids and adults alike.
The 2026 Summer Day to Night at SeaWorld San Diego is the park’s most ambitious season yet. SeaWorld has planned a highly anticipated entertainment lineup that features nine weeks of throwback concerts featuring R&B and hip‑hop favorites from the ‘90s and early 2000s, including Jordin Sparks, Too $hort and Warren G, Ashanti, and an array of boy band heartthrobs performing together as part of the Pop 2000 Tour.
New this season is perhaps the park’s most visible update: a nightly drone show, Ocean of Dreams, which illuminates the sky with hundreds of synchronized sparklers. Drones form sea otters, sharks, dolphins, and a majestic orca that tell a breathtaking 12-minute story of marine life and underwater ecosystems. The show culminates with a spectacular electric neon finale celebrating hope, wonder, and ocean stewardship.
Nighttime visitors are also in store for animal adventures that fuse education with high-energy fun and the dreamy ambiance of nighttime. The park has launched two all-new animal presentations: Shamu’s Celebration:Light Up the Night and Dolphins: Touch the Sky. Shamu’s Celebration:Light Up the Night features vibrant lighting, music, and dynamic choreography that celebrates the power and beauty of killer whales. Dolphins: Touch the Sky showcases playful bottlenose dolphins and the special connection between humans and the natural world. And back by popular demand is fan-favorite Sea Lions Tonite. See the charming pinnipeds splash, play, and parody pop culture in this refreshed crowd-pleaser.
More must-sees: a newly reimagined Shark Encounter, one of the country’s more immersive exhibits highlighting 11 different species up close, SeaWorld’s beloved BMX Blast! stunt show, and high-seas escapade, Pirates Ahoy! The Battle for Mermaid Cove. And don’t miss the park’s all-new Deep Sea Disco, which encourages guests to dance the night away under the glow of the SkyTower, and vibrant closing time laser light display Laser Reef Summer Spectacular.
Amp up the nighttime vibe with local craft beers, curated cocktails, and nostalgic theme park treats with $1 beer all summer long. SeaWorld is the place for day to night summer fun. When the sun goes down, SeaWorld lights up, and inspires guests of all ages to embrace their inner whimsy and see why generations of San Diegans head to SeaWorld to make memories they’ll never forget.
