A group of teenagers is taking selfies outside of Saguaro Coffee in downtown Indio, California. One adjusts her sunglasses on her nose and holds up her spiced pear matcha latte, and I can picture the shot: This smiling young woman in the foreground, largely unnecessary cardigan (it’s a textbook-perfect 76 degrees) laid just so over her shoulders; the green expanse of a community park in the background. Makers’ market booths dot the grass, with the angular new public library (opened in October 2025) beyond.
In other words, downtown Indio is a cool neighborhood for cool young people.
It wasn’t always so. Though I grew up minutes away, I seldom visited this place, except to buy my school uniforms at Yellow Mart—a cluttered sort of “general store” with firearms behind the counter and mechanic coveralls on offer in the back—and attend rehearsals at a warehouse-like community theater then surrounded by empty storefronts.
Courtesy of Rosemary HiFi
Yellow Mart and the theater have endured, and while unused buildings still dot the area, those teenagers can now make a loop between businesses that will look great on their Instagram stories: a few bustling cafés; Urban Donkey vintage store; Gabino’s, a Guy Fieri–approved spot for savory crepes. At night, locals flock to Rosemary HiFi, a listening lounge and wine bar owned by Adrian Romero, a Coachella Valley–raised kid whose first business, Hermano, was a florist’s shop turned if-you-know-you-know apparel brand. In glass windows, each storefront hangs posters promoting other local businesses and events. One beckons visitors to Field Day, Rosemary HiFi’s free, outdoor gathering of vendors, DJs, chefs, wine and beer makers, and activations.
“We’re continuing to grow at a higher pace than everybody else [in the valley],” says former Indio mayor Glenn Miller (late last year, he passed the head honcho role to Elaine Holmes, a requirement of the city’s rotating, one-year mayoral terms for all city council members). He and I are sitting in the recently opened downtown location of Everbloom Coffee, owned by Indio hometowners Efrain Mercado and Matthew Ortega. Their first outpost, off the nearby Highway 111, was sunny but cramped, with zero indoor tables and terrible parking. People came anyway, and now they have this 2,800-square-foot space busy with patrons working and chatting. The city of Indio helped make it happen.
“When land becomes available [in downtown], we purchase it,” Miller explains. The city council put a program in place to help entrepreneurs like Mercado and Ortega become tenants in city-held properties. “They have to come in with a full-fledged business plan and a proposition for tenant improvements. Then we say, ‘We’ll give you’—for example—‘a dollar per square foot to make those improvements.’ We’re keeping rents low, being partners with business owners, and then also investing back into the space, because we actually own it.”
The program’s capital comes out of Indio’s $141 million annual general fund. A one-cent city sales tax brings in another $18 to $20 million a year, funding one-time projects like Center Stage, an outdoor venue in the center of downtown. “That’s really our focal point,” Miller says. Honing in on entertainment makes perfect sense in Indio, considering it’s home to some of the most iconic music fests in the world, Coachella Festival among them.
But so far the stage—opened in April 2024—has taken some time to get off the ground, mostly hosting occasional community events and classic rock cover bands.
Miller has bigger dreams for the venue. “We’re going to use it for nonprofits to have events there,” he says. “We’re going to have acoustic guitar performances, yoga, other things.”
The city also hopes to bring in affordable housing, boutique hotels, and a train stop connecting Indio to the rest of the valley (like the town of Coachella to the east and the fairly orderly line of other desert cities—La Quinta, Indian Wells, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Cathedral City, Palm Springs—stretching to the west) and beyond, accommodating the city’s growing number of tourists and transplants.
Courtesy Visit Greater Palm Springs
Among them is Nicole Massoth, who runs a downtown marketplace simply called The Place. At a staggering 15,000 square feet, The Place, opened last August, is a living catalog of local creative entrepreneurship. More than 100 small businesses have displays inside, many immersive enough to feel like their own tiny stores within the concrete-floored space. In a mini ’70s-style living room, you can sniff the candles of Mijo Co.—a husband-and-husband team who make scents inspired by the tangerines their mothers used to pack in their school lunches and the aroma of fresh-cut grass that emanated from family members who worked as gardeners.
Mere feet away, visitors can shop the shimmery face gems (the same ones worn by actors on HBO’s Euphoria) of GetStonned founder Megs Cahill or the undulating vases of Mojave Desert artist Stray Ceramics.
“I [wanted] to bring in artists and entrepreneurs that were committed to investing in the community,” Massoth says. “It feels really good to be intentional about keeping the wealth within the community versus gentrification—small businesses are taking over the eastern Coachella Valley, not big box stores. [Right now,] so many young people are like, ‘Wait, there’s something here.’ I think that we’ll be less of a limited area—[soon,] anything you can do in LA, you can do in the Coachella Valley.”
That sentiment runs counter to the valley’s reputation as a “playground of the stars,” who flocked to Palm Springs precisely because it wasn’t LA. In the 1950s, actors’ contracts often required them to be within two hours of their Hollywood studios, so the desert city offered a private, relaxing, rule-abiding escape. Generating $9.1 billion a year as of 2024, tourism is still the valley’s number-one industry—out-of-towners flock there for the festivals; sporting events like tennis’s BNP Paribas Open; and Modernism Week, a biannual celebration of the area’s abundant mid-mod structures by luminaries like Albert Frey and John Lautner, as well as more standard vacation pursuits like golfing, hiking, and celebrating bachelorette parties.
At the hushed wellness resorts in the valley’s western end, visitors soak off their stress in the natural mineral waters that gave the city of Desert Hot Springs its name. A proposed 200,000-square-foot indoor sports facility with 10 regulation-sized basketball courts may host amateur and youth tournaments and help bolster tourism during the trickier summer months, when temperatures rarely dip below 100 degrees. All together, that equals a whole lot of jobs in hospitality.
Courtesy of The Place
Yet other fields are on the rise, helping the area balance serenity with opportunity. “We’ve got this growing group of people with extensive experience in technology. [We have] healthcare, the creative economy, AI, clean energy, agriculture,” says Sean Smith, the director of economic development at Visit Greater Palm Springs. “We have a lot of the strengths that you would look for in a destination for economic development.”
Where it’s historically faltered is offering a real community for the young people who live there. The valley’s 65-and-older population is about 25 percent higher than the California average and, with no major university (there’s College of the Desert, a three-campus junior college system, and commuter offshoots of Cal State San Bernardino and UC Riverside), high school graduates tend to see a mass scattering of all their friends. Locally owned businesses like artist Angie Chua’s are helping provide a place to gather.
Chua moved to the desert and opened her stationery shop Bobo Palm Springs in 2021. She now operates two locations: her flagship Palm Springs store, sandwiched between fellow local, woman-owned businesses like jeweler Adrienne Wiley’s Covet and Stephanie Maynard’s Illumine Gallery at the multi-use space Flannery Exchange, and a vendor space in—you guessed it—The Place.
“This town thrives on small business, but it’s also a really, really hard place to operate a small business,” Chua adds. “We have to deal with seasonality, not just with the weather, but even with labor and finding people to work full-time. It’s such a competitive market with the hospitality industry.” Population growth in the valley is relatively slow (a 2023 report by the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation estimated a 2.1 percent increase by 2027—by contrast, some fast-growing cities in Texas are seeing new residents at a rate of up to 30 percent), and a fair share of the valley’s population flees for cooler climes during the dog days of summer, meaning even your most loyal regulars aren’t always stopping by regularly.
Courtesy of Visit Greater Palm Springs
Chua has endured the ups and downs partly by hosting sketching and journaling meet-ups at the Palm Springs store on Friday evenings, including in the summer months. “We have anywhere between 15 and 25 people that come every Friday,” she says. “Palm Springs is historically known as kind of an older town, but it’s got such a vibrancy and hipness and an openness to creativity and inclusivity.”
The shops that line Palm Canyon Drive in downtown Palm Springs reflect the area’s diverse and shifting identities: There are the souvenir shops and slightly scruffy bars and date-shake vendors I remember from my youth; the vintage furniture stores and galleries central to the valley’s reputation as a hub for midcentury design lovers;and a new guard of stores that combine a savvy, social-media-informed coolness with hometown pride.
In the cheeky boutique Windmill City Super #1, some merch is universally giftable (“P.S. I love you”), while other products are a little more of an inside joke (“Desert Rat” or “Higher Than San Jacinto,” the mountain range that rises tranquilly behind the storefront, tourists riding the famous Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to its peak).
Courtesy of Windmill City Super #1
This is still a place to bathe in a hot spring, tour a Donald Wexler house, or go to a music festival, but it’s become a dynamic cultural destination in its own right. Gone are the days when I tell people I’m from Palm Springs and they shrug and say, “Oh, my grandparents have a timeshare there.” Now, impossibly, they’re sometimes jealous.
Maybe Gabriel Woo knew it was always going to turn out this way. The chef got his start washing dishes at a Rancho Mirage country club at age 15, and now he’s one of the most successful culinary minds in the valley. “I never thought of leaving,” he says. “I’ve traveled a lot, but I like it here.”
We’re sharing fruit and burrata and a California artichoke dip I could eat by the spoonful at his restaurant Livs, which opened in the Palm Springs Art Museum a year ago. Our table is surrounded by sculptures and an angular, ornamental pool. Woo also owns the Michelin-recommended Bar Cecil in Palm Springs, and he’ll launch the Italian spot Donna Forte in downtown Indio this year.
Two decades ago, he was in culinary school, looking to find a place to try out fine dining. “There was nothing here. [Palm Canyon Drive] was dead. There were some legacy restaurants, but they were doing, you know, Rat Pack stuff. So, I said, ‘You know what? When I become a chef, I’m gonna open restaurants and be the destination for people when they come to Palm Springs.’”
A handful of years later, he adds, the city started its metamorphosis. “I could see the younger people opening up places, talking, building things together—“Let’s do this; let’s do this.” I started feeling that,” he reflects. “And I could tell, ‘Oh, now it’s getting fun.’”
Courtesy of Thompson Palm Springs
Where to Stay in Palm Springs
After nearly 20 years of development and construction, the Thompson opened in October 2024 between downtown Palm Springs and the city’s artsy Uptown Design District. A stay at the sprawling property puts you walking (or cycling, if you grab one of the hotel’s free bike rentals for guests) distance from Palm Springs’ shops and restaurants and a little over half an hour from downtown Indio on the other side of the valley.
It’s a bit of a maze here, but that just means surprise delights await around every corner: boundary-pushing pieces from world-class artists, many of whom also have work on display at the nearby Palm Springs Art Museum (no staid landscape prints here); cozy outdoor fire pits; a glass-walled pool deck that offers prime people-watching on the stretch of Palm Canyon Drive below.
The Thompson is a partnership between Hyatt and developers, philanthropists, and winemakers Craig and Kathryn Hall, so you’ll find a tasting room for the couple’s Napa Valley wines onsite, along with Bar Issi, a chic spot for pasta, pizza, and spritzes. The hotel’s other restaurant, Lola Grand Mezze, serves Mediterranean food all day in a high-ceiled space that looks like the giant living room of your rich, worldly aunt. Try the Santa Barbara spot prawns; the baklava old fashioned; and (believe it or not) the fenugreek chicken wings, drizzled with chili oil and sprinkled with hazelnut dukkha.
Amelia Rodriguez is a writer and journalist and winner of the San Diego Press Club's 2023 Rising Star Award and 2024 Best of Show Award, she’s also covered music, food, arts and culture, fashion, and design for Rolling Stone, Palm Springs Life, and other national and regional publications. After work, you can find her hunting down San Diego’s best pastries and maintaining her five-year Duolingo streak.
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. 10, 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.
Summer’s penultimate weekend promises beers, zines, festivals, and many other ways to spend your free time. Those looking to eat (and drink) out can embark on the Taste of Gaslamp, explore the many eateries participating in San Diego Restaurant Week, and check out Stone Brewing’s free 30th anniversary celebration. On the festival circuit, there’s the return of both the Sessions Surf Festival and Cardiff Greek Festival to the shores of Encinitas, as well as the first-ever Alley Cat Art Fest in Downtown El Cajon. Additional experiences include Pierce the Veil’s tour finale at Petco Park, the beginning of Our Lady of the San Diego Convention Center’s citywide run, and the COMPRESSED Zine & Music Fair.
It all began in 1996 with a humble San Marcos warehouse and the soon-to-be-famous Stone Pale Ale. Now, three decades and several award-winning beers later, Stone Brewing is marking its thirtieth anniversary with a free, jam-packed celebration at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station. This Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., there will be arcade games, dog adoptions, ‘90s movies, live music, a cigar lounge, craft brews, and much more. VIP tickets ($133), which come with perks like exclusive two-ounce rare beer pours, are available online.
2816 Historic Decatur Road, Point Loma
Taste of Gaslamp
September 12
Channel your inner foodie during the 30th annual Taste of Gaslamp, San Diego’s longest-running neighborhood culinary tour. This Saturday from 1-4 p.m., tasters can roam through the Gaslamp Quarter (16 blocks to be exact) for bites from over 20 participating locations, with five extra bites and sips for VIP ticketholders. Before and after the event, all attendees are invited to party with cocktails, music and even more food on the Sunbird Rooftop at AC Hotel (noon to 2 p.m.) and at the 5 O’Clock Somewhere Rooftop Bar (4-7 p.m.). Ticket options include general admission ($62) and VIP admission ($88).
Gaslamp
San Diego Restaurant Week
September 13-20
Searching for a specific cuisine? Looking for a new date night spot? Interested in a prix-fixe meal at a familiar favorite? Then consider checking out the over 120 local eateries taking part in San Diego Restaurant Week, with meals starting at $20. From Coronado’s Blanco Cocina + Cantina to Oceanside’s Piper and dozens of restaurants in between, search by price, cuisine, meal type, dietary desires, and neighborhood. Plus, patrons can enjoy seasonal ingredients by choosing dishes that feature Specialty Produce’s huitlacoche mushrooms and artisan romaine lettuce.
Citywide
Courtesy of Sessions Surf Festival
Concerts & Festivals in San Diego This Weekend
Buddy Guy 90 at The Rady Shell
September 11
See two generations of blues talent, and celebrate a legendary guitarist’s 90th birthday, this Friday (7:30 p.m.) at The Rady Shell. Fresh off his acting role in Sinners, Buddy Guy is coasting through something of a late career revival, and like the name of his 2018 album, it’s clear the blues are alive and well. Buddy Guy 90 continues the Louisiana native’s nationwide tour with a little help from rising blues artist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, who is 63 years younger than Guy. Tickets range from $68-$173 for this concert.
222 Marina Park Way, Embarcadero
Kamasi Washington at Music Box
September 11
Hours upon hours can be spent dissecting a Kamasi Washington record—especially 2018’s Heaven and Earth—and each listen will still surprise. Every release from the jazz saxophonist and bandleader feels like an event, whether it’s a wondrous solo project, a supergroup team-up (ex: Dinner Party, West Coast Get Down), or a contribution to projects by the likes of Kendrick Lamar, St. Vincent, and Thundercat. This Friday at 9 p.m., Washington will take his talents to Music Box along with special guest DJ Ratty. Tickets are $68 for this 21-plus concert.
1337 India Street, Little Italy
Alley Cat Art Fest
September 12
One year after the first-ever Artivál, the event is merging with the Alley Cat Art Walk, a longtime Downtown El Cajon favorite, to form the inaugural Alley Cat Art Fest. This Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., stroll through Prescott Promenade, Main Street and Arts Alley for murals, live music, food, drinks and the works of over 50 participating artists, including photography, painting, sculptures, and more. Plus, festival proceeds will go towards supporting the area’s existing murals and future public art projects in the area.
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.
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.
Meet ArtsConnect, UC San Diego’s Invitation to SoCal Arts Lovers
ArtsConnect brings those experiences into view, helping residents discover what they can see, hear and create at UC San Diego while experiencing the campus in a new way.
Ask most people what UC San Diego is known for, and the arts may not be the first answer. Yet this fall, San Diegans can watch Ghostbusters with a live orchestra, try their hand at glassmaking and wander among more than 20 works of public art woven throughout the university’s La Jolla campus.
ArtsConnect brings those experiences into view, helping residents discover what they can see, hear and create at UC San Diego while experiencing the campus in a new way.
Courtesy of UC San Diego | Photo Cred: Erik Jensen
“The arts are at the heart of UC San Diego’s student-centered mission and vision,” says Alysson Satterlund, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life. “Whether creating, participating in, or experiencing performances, the arts are essential to a healthy and truly fun Triton student experience.”
That invitation often begins where the arts intersect with other fields.
“Some of the most innovative work and discovery happen where disciplines don’t usually share a stage,” says Cristina Della Coletta, Dean of the UC San Diego School of Arts and Humanities. “So through our unique intersection of the arts with science, technology, and medicine, we are improving lives, physically and emotionally.
Take The Inaudible Ocean, a collaboration between Department of Music Professor Lei Liang and Scripps Institution of Oceanography Assistant Project Scientist Josh Jones. Over eight years, the pair recorded earthquakes, ship noise, whale songs and other sounds in remote underwater locations. They transformed those recordings into a live music experience that allowed audiences to hear the ocean in an entirely new way. The work premiered on campus in May and continues to evolve.
The arts also connect the campus to the global art world and diverse perspectives. Chief Campus Curator Jessica Berlanga Taylor recently curated the Mexico Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale, featuring RojoNegro, the collective formed by Noé Martínez and María Sosa. The collective will unveil a compelling new permanent installation for UC San Diego’s celebrated Stuart Collection later this fall.
ArtPower offers another easy entry point, bringing touring performers to venues including the outdoor Epstein Family Amphitheater and the intimate Loft. The nearly three dozen performances featured through its 2026-2027 season span music, dance, film, theater and conversation.
Among the fall highlights is Ghostbusters in Concert on Sept. 25, pairing the beloved 1984 film with a live performance of Elmer Bernstein’s score. Tickets start at $35, and the amphitheater is located next to the UC San Diego Blue Line trolley station.
“Every member of our community should have access to world-class art, so we work hard to remove the barriers that stand in the way,” says Colleen Kollar Smith, executive artistic director of the Campus Performances and Events Office. “That means affordable ticket prices, and performances, voices and experiences where people see themselves reflected on stage and know they belong.”
The arts at UC San Diego are not only something to watch. The Craft Center offers public classes and workshops in ceramics, jewelry, woodworking, culinary arts and even surfboard shaping. At the new Glass Center, beginners and experienced makers can explore glassmaking through classes, demonstrations and studio experiences.
Whether you want to attend a performance, make something yourself or spend an afternoon exploring public art, there is an easy way in. And the invitation extends well beyond students and alumni.
Kollar Smith says it best: “Visit, participate, spectate or create. You’re invited, and we hope you’ll connect with us soon.”
Imagine being the song continuously getting skipped on the playlist. Not because no one wants to hear you, but because you never quite fit the moment. For years, San Diego has been that song on the touring circuit. Artists who have outgrown intimate clubs but aren’t yet filling arenas and stadiums have often passed us by, heading north to venues better suited to the size of their show. San Diego wasn’t missing the audience, it was missing the room.
That’s all about to change.
On August 17, Live Nation Entertainment announced plans to transform the historic Wonder Bread Building, which it purchased in June for $16.8 million, into a 4,000-capacity indoor venue slated to open in fall 2028. The new space will host music acts as well as private, corporate, and community events.
Currently, San Diego’s concert landscape jumps quickly from intimate clubs like the Casbah, Winston’s, and Belly Up to larger theaters, amphitheaters, arenas, and stadiums. What’s largely missing—particularly downtown—is a modern indoor room built specifically for roughly 4,000 concertgoers. This leaves a gap in mid-size venues for touring acts that land stages like the Hollywood Palladium or Boston’s MGM Music Hall at Fenway.
“We are filling a void in the market,” says John Schalk, Live Nation’s Vice President, San Diego Market. “There are other venues in town, but this […] building is just something that doesn’t currently exist.” Although SDSU’s Cal Coast Credit Union Amphitheater serves the 4,000-capacity range, its outdoor, fixed-seating arrangement isn’t as versatile as the proposed Live Nation project.
Located at 171 14th Street, just a six-minute walk from Petco Park, the building carries a century of history. Architect Eugene Hoffman designed it in 1924, a year after completing the Barcelona Apartment Hotel in Bankers Hill. The landmark brick building served as a bakery and warehouse for the Southern California Baking Company before Continental Baking Company, producers of Wonder Bread, took over in the 1950s and operated there through 1988 continued at the site until 2007.
In the early 2000s, Bob and Gay Sinclair, the couple behind a portfolio of East Village properties, purchased the building. After Bob—the founder of Pannikin Coffee & Tea—died in 2011, Gay sold much of their real estate portfolio but held onto the Wonder Bread Building. Mission Brewing eventually took over the space, where it operated for more than a decade before announcing its 2026 departure.
Now, the building is preparing for another reinvention. Live Nation plans to preserve the historic bakery’s four exterior walls, red brick façade, grain silo, barrel-vaulted trusses, and skylights as part of its next chapter.
Live Nation isn’t looking to erase its history but to celebrate it, allowing the building’s past to give the new venue some soul. “It’s really important for us that we maintain the integrity and the history of that building,” Schalk says. “There will be new construction and design elements as we go through the process to create the concert venue, but we’re working really hard to preserve it.”
Blueprint Studio, Live Nation’s in-house design and development group, and Gensler, the architecture firm behind San Diego International Airport Terminal 1 and Snapdragon Stadium, will be heading the project. The plan is to design the ground-floor space as an open, general-admission area with a premium level above with 600-plus fixed seats, in addition to box and suite sections. There will also be an additional structure built on top of the historical portion of the building (the four original walls that house the lobby) called the Vinyl Room—a Japanese-inspired hi-fi listening VIP lounge serving elevated food options.
One of the most reassuring aspects of the project is the focus on the concertgoer’s experience—specifically the “pet peeves” we all know too well: long bathroom lines, cramped exits, obstructed views. According to Schalk, one of the best things about building upon the existing structure is having the ability to consider potential obstacles and tackle them before construction begins. “I’d say we are ‘purpose building’ the entirety of the project for a music venue,” says Gensler lead project architect Garrett van Leeuwen. “As part of our design process, we do an in-depth sightline analysis to make sure that sightlines are optimized from every point and seat within the venue.”
Circulation design is also being implemented to ease traffic flow, alongside acoustic optimization and a transformative outdoor beautification effort. According to van Leeuwen, this “public realm space” will grow the existing 14-foot sidewalk to a 32-foot sidewalk complete with plazas and landscaping.
“This venue is for the fans. For the music lovers,” Schalk explains. The vision is intimate: “I want a fan to walk up to that building, see that red brick facade, grab their ticket from the box office, go into the lobby and see some of the history that will present itself… and feel like you entered a home.” Schalk also expressed a “keen interest in making sure that we work with the local artists, the local bands, the local musicians in town.” It’s a project that recognizes San Diego as a growing market that is hungry and ready to see a vibrant arts and culture community thrive.
According to an analysis by Oxford Economics analysis shared by Live Nation, the venue is projected to deliver a significant boost to the local economy, generating approximately $97 million in annual economic impact and supporting 660 jobs. This also includes welcoming 316,000 fans each year—with 126,000 traveling from outside the San Diego metro area—and driving $53 million in local spending at nearby restaurants, hotels, and retail establishments.
Considering its proximity to other major event spaces and overall busy urban areas, traffic and parking may be a concern, especially on nights of overlapping events. But in those cases, Schalk said they would work together on communication efforts; parking availability; and staggering start, end, and loading times; as well as providing easy access to designated rideshare areas. With transit stations nearby (the closest one being a 4-minute walk at 12th & Imperial), public transportation is another great option for enjoying your night out.
There are still two years of design, construction, and plenty of logistics between now and opening night. But the bigger promise of the Wonder Bread Building is simple: San Diego finally gets a venue built for the artists who have historically passed it by. After years of getting skipped on the touring playlist, the city may finally be getting its turn on repeat.
Camila Ibarra Gallego is a CaliBaja native pursuing a master's degree in culinary journalism at the Basque Culinary Center. Shaped by the culturally rich, bicultural megaregion, she's passionate about sniffing out stories that connect people, territory and culture through food. When she's not tumbling down internet rabbit holes, you can find her pretending to be a wine connoisseur at a local wine bar or nose-deep in a good book.
September is San Diego’s unofficial second summer—the crowds thin, the weather stays warm, and the city’s calendar somehow gets even busier. This month brings stadium-sized rock shows, Broadway’s buzziest comedy, a new anime convention, world-premiere theater, gallery openings, food festivals, and the first signs of spooky season. Whether you’re ready to lean into fall or determined to keep summer going, here are the best things to do in San Diego this September.
As Guns N’ Roses storm into decade five, their appetite for destruction persists. During their Snapdragon Stadium concert, hear the hard rock anthems, new material and a set from The Black Crowes.
9/23
Kehlani is proof that the romance and earnest sensuality of old-school R&B will never go out of style. Hear her take it back to the aughts at Viejas Arena.
From the silver screen to The Old Globe stage, John Carney will Begin Again (again) with a world premiere musical adaptation featuring new songs—courtesy of Train—and a story overflowing with hope.
9/12-10/17
The concept of work is a guiding principle for San Diego native and multidisciplinary creative noé olivas. Observe his community-informed approach via Tierra y Cielo (Earth and Sky) at Best Practice Gallery.
9/18-10/25
Two workers grapple with the weight of their roles at a temporary migrant shelter in Mario Vega’s world premiere play Our Lady of the San Diego Convention Center, set for citywide performances.
9/26-2/28/2027
Luminous visions of peace and the Punjabi-American roots of Rupinder Kaloti inform The Gathering, a wondrous unification of family foretold via paintings at Oceanside Museum of Art.
9/29-10/4
It’s Mary Todd Lincoln’s world and we’re just living in it. See the presidential paramour barrel to her way to stardom at the Civic Theatre during Oh, Mary!, Cole Escola’s political spoof.
Courtesy of SeaWorld
More Fun Things to Do in San Diego This Month
9/5 & 9/6
Pros and Con(vention)s: Anime San Diego will debut at the San Diego Convention Center with cosplayers, panels and more than 400 vendors well-versed in Japanese animation.
9/11-10/31
Scaredy cats beware: SeaWorld San Diego’s Howl-O-Scream embraces frights forged in darkness. Enjoy an ominous lineup of live shows, scare zones and bloody bars ahead of Halloween.
9/12
The best parts of Artivál and the Alley Cat Art Walk have united for the free Alley Cat Art Fest, an all-day outing for live music and immersive artwork in Downtown El Cajon.
9/12 & 9/13
Take a Grecian vacation for a fraction of the price during the annual Cardiff Greek Festival, two days of immersive cuisine and culture—with plenty of dancing—on the Encinitas coast.
9/13-9/20
Step away from the stove! The California Restaurant Association has eight days of eating experiences with your name on it. During San Diego Restaurant Week, explore by meal, neighborhood or cuisine for your personal dining plan.
9/16
Nourish yourself with an all-inclusive spread of Pacific Beach eats and locally-crafted artwork during the HeArt of PB Restaurant Walk on Garnet Avenue.
9/19
When it comes to stand-up comedy, Chelsea Handler is always ready to roast. See Handler tell anecdotes and skewer an assemblage of victims during her Balboa Theatre performance.
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.
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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