14 Things to Do in San Diego This Weekend: Dec. 18–22

Before, during, and after the Fourth of July, San Diegans can commemorate America’s 250th anniversary with an abundance of stars, stripes and local celebrations. America The Beautiful: 250 at The Rady Shell and Lamb’s Players Theatre’s revival of American Rhythm will look back at the many songs which define our country. Liberty Station’s Anchored in Freedom celebration and the Independence Day Carnival offer community-centered fun and loads of family-friendly activities. And who can possibly forget the Big Bay Boom, which will resume its reign over San Diego Bay as the state’s biggest fireworks show. Outside of the holiday festivities, this week brings the yearly return of Little Italy’s Summer Sera and the Athenaeum Summer Festival, as well as a slate of championship matches for All Elite Wrestling.  

Food & Drink | Concerts & Festivals | Theater & Art Exhibits | More Fun Things to Do

Food & Drink Events in San Diego This Weekend

Sunset & Spritz at 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar 

July 3

Sip on refreshing beverages and savor a panoramic rooftop view this Friday from 6-8 p.m. during the 21-plus Sunset & Spritz at Margaritaville Hotel San Diego Gaslamp Quarter’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar. There will be a live DJ (until 9 p.m.), appetizers, pool and cabana access, a photo booth, and a cash bar (until 11 p.m.). To accentuate the summer theme, guests are invited to dress in white, pink, and orange attire. Tickets are $29 and come with a welcome aperol spritz. 

616 J Street, Gaslamp

The 250 Grand Tasting Menu at Amaya

July 3 & 4

Bring a patriotic palette to the Fairmont Grand Del Mar for The 250 Grand Tasting Menu at Amaya this Friday and Saturday from 5-8:30 p.m. Patrons will be treated to a five-course tasting menu, curated to exhibit a selection of standout regional flavors and culinary concepts that have shaped our country’s distinct food heritage. The meal will also include beverage pairings with each course, such as wine, cocktails, and artisanal drinks. Reservations are $330 per person (with tax and 20% gratuity) on OpenTable. 

5300 Grand Del Mar Court, Del Mar

Concerts & Festivals in San Diego This Weekend

Don Toliver at Pechanga Arena

June 30

Don Toliver thrives at being the life of the party (and the “After Party”). His fifth album Octane, released in February, is indicative of his thrill-seeking nature. As with his earlier releases, Octane sees Toliver operating in the space between hip-hop and R&B, with warbling vocals and blaring beats that are best heard at a high volume. This Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., Toliver will play at Pechanga Arena, with rappers SoFaygo, Chase B and SahBabii—who had a guest verse on Octane standout “K9”—as special guests. Tickets start at $156 for this concert. 

3500 Sports Arena Boulevard, Midway

June 26, 2026

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Blockbuster Broadway! at The Rady Shell

July 3

What makes musicals like Wicked, Cats, Chicago, and Jersey Boys so timeless is the legion of excellent songs that makes fans out of those who’ve never even watched the show. This Friday at 7:30 p.m. during Blockbuster Broadway! at The Rady Shell, conductor Evan Roider, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, and veteran vocalists Alex Getlin, Jessica Hendy, Scott Coulter, and John Boswell (also on piano) will perform an all-star theater soundtrack. In addition to the shows named above, audiences can expect songs from A Chorus Line, The Phantom of the Opera, Annie, and more. Tickets range from $57 to $129 for this concert.

222 Marina Park Way, Embarcadero

America The Beautiful: 250 at The Rady Shell

July 4

One night after recognizing the brilliance of Broadway, The Rady Shell will ring in the United States’ landmark anniversary with America The Beautiful: 250 this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Conductor Byron Stripling, joined by a five-performer ensemble and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, will lead a night of ballads that best resemble the red, white, and blue, including songs sourced from the Great American Songbook. After the show, concertgoers are invited to watch the nearby Big Bay Boom from their seats. Tickets range from $71 to $139 for this concert. 

222 Marina Park Way, Embarcadero

Athenaeum Summer Festival at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

Sundays from July 5-26

If you’ve ever squeezed yourself into a pair of black skinny jeans with a studded belt, sported a track jacket under a band t-shirt, or swept your Manic Panic-hued hair so far to the side that your part got caught in your cartilage earring, I have good news: Ocean Beach will get a shot of emo and pop-punk nostalgia when Drink 182 opens this July.

June 18, 2026

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The pop-punk bar and pizza spot comes with bonafide scene points. Co-founder Jay Nightride runs the music production studio Nightride Visuals, has worked with artists like Steve Aoki, Lil Jon, and Fall Out Boy, and also plays in Death Cab for Karaoke, a live karaoke band that performs every month at Soda Bar (among other venues). His partner Tony Jaw is easier to spot—he’s the guy with the sky-high mohawk manning the karaoke booth at Redwing Bar & Grill who’s been in the local bar and hospitality business for over a decade. 

Nightride says he’s had the idea for an emo enclave for years, but it wasn’t until after Covid that he partnered with Jaw and got the funding to move forward. “What I was looking to build was a place that I would want to be, where would I want to go to remember these nostalgic songs,” he says. 

Pending permits and final inspections, Drink 182 is slated to open the second half of July. The vibe will be dive bar meets emo night, with memorabilia from different bands who have supported the project splashed across the walls, plus a few arcade games, TVs, and (I assume) a decent sound system. The hours are still undetermined, but Nightride says they tentatively plan to be open until 2 a.m. on weekends and Wednesdays for the OB Farmers Market. In the mornings, they’ll serve fresh pastries and coffee from the similarly music-aligned James Coffee Company (whose co-owner David Kennedy is a member of Angels & Airwaves with blink-182’s Tom DeLonge).

But it’ll be the pizza that really stands out—or at least, they hope. “We’re doing New England beach pizza… a really niche pizza that not a lot of people would know about, unless you’re from North Shore, Massachusetts,” says Nightride, a former Bostonian. “It’s a thin crust, very sweet sauce, very simple, fast, go-to-the-beach kind of thing.”

June 23, 2026

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“Beach pizza” is characterized by its rectangular shape, very thin crust, sweet tomato sauce, and slices of Provolone cheese with minimal toppings. Drink 182’s version will feature homemade dough and sauce, as well as freshly sliced Boar’s Head Provolone. And yes, they are aware there are already a lot of pizza options in the area. It won’t be the same, Nightride promises. 

“Everybody’s first reaction when they hear ‘pizza’ is like, ‘Oh great, another pizza place in OB,’” he laughs. “But we’re trying to do something different, just enough to differentiate it and give people another option.” If you’re not keen on the style, try one of their “drunkables,” another nostalgic riff they hope the pop-punk and emo crowd will appreciate. And if you still need a reason to give Drink 182 a try, I have more good news—you don’t actually have to break out your old skinny jeans. (In fact, please don’t.)

Drink 182 opens July 2026 at 5049 Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach.

San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events

Beth’s Bites

• If the steak hype wasn’t hot enough already, The Heritage Steakhouse in Santee just announced Meredith Manée will serve as executive chef of the New York-style steakhouse when it opens in August. Her star-studded kitchen resume spans over 25 years, with stints at the Hotel del Coronado, the Four Seasons, and The Ritz-Carlton Maui, so I think it’s safe to assume we’ll be in good hands. 
• Rather than waste away in Margaritaville, you have the chance to support the San Diego Music Foundation at the annual Jimmy Buffett-inspired Day of Service at Margaritaville Hotel San Diego Gaslamp Quarter. On September 4 starting at 5 p.m., the rooftop bar will be rocking with live music and plenty of flowing cocktails, plus a silent auction and other activations to raise money for the local music education organization. I’ll drink to that. 
• The early bird gets the worm and you can get the early ticket to Celebrate the Craft, the annual culinary festival that takes place at The Lodge at Torrey Pines on October 18. If you snag your ticket before the end of June, you can save $50 (which is nothing to sneeze at), plus you’ll be helping support the San Diego Food Bank. 
• Mani e Grani, the pizza spot from the same people behind Ciccia Osteria, seems to be inching ever closer to opening its doors in Barrio Logan. I know I’m not the only one anxiously awaiting sinking my teeth into some wood-fired, chewy but crispy, hot-from-the-oven, authentic Italian pizza.

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Comebacks Are the New Kickoffs

If absence makes hearts (and stomachs) grow fonder, then shuttered restaurants quickly become the hottest tickets in town—something a number of iconic institutions found out after taking very public hiatuses after historically long runs. For instance, following a lengthy (and extremely flip-floppy) closing process after 92 years in business, Las Cuatro Milpas reopened two blocks away in Mercado del Barrio. Similarly, Carlsbad butcher shop Tip Top Meats reopened in the same location (albeit a smaller space) after the death of founder Joachim “Big John” Haedrich in 2023. Finally, after a whopping decade out of business, Sami Ladeki and chef Alfie Szeprethy brought back Roppongi to its original Prospect Street space, where it was the talk of the town in the late ’90s. All came back under the same proprietors, so they weren’t third-party nostalgia-licensing deals. The algorithm may have ravaged our attention spans away from all but the newest and shiniest, but this proves there’s still hope for our collective prefrontal cortex.

June 5, 2026

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New Generations Take the Reins

Other local eateries honored their pasts by bringing in new perspectives. The Lion’s Share in Embarcadero, Milton’s Deli in Del Mar, Dudley’s Bakery in Santa Ysabel, and J-K’s Greek Cafe in La Mesa handed over the keys to new owners willing to take on a big task: maintain the soul of icons through particularly rough economic circumstances for restaurants, navigate big feelings from longtime regulars (who often don’t take kindly to change), and make some necessary changes to keep going for another few decades. Taking over a project in process can be a lot harder than starting from scratch. But building that feel-good nostalgia doesn’t happen overnight, so it sure helps to have a well-established playbook of success passed down from those who came before.

The Expansion Class Arrives

It wasn’t just restaurant groups from Los Angeles that decided to put down roots en masse, although San Diego saw plenty of LA transplants recently (Sugarfish, Mr. Charlie’s, For the Win, Katsuya Ko, Bacari). Global brands like Chef Fei, Zuma, and Pepper Lunch have locations of their own on the way, and upscale Canadian eatery Joey joined to the inescapable gravitational pull of Westfield UTC’s culinary cosmos for its first spot in America’s Finest City. Good to see the rest of the world is catching up with what we’ve been seeing the last few years—San Diego is a dining destination already on the rise.

Choosing To Not Choose

Between the never-ending news cycle of doom and perimenopause brain fog, I’m at the stage in life where I’m more than happy to let someone else make a decision for me, especially when it comes to what’s for dinner. And based on the way a lot of menus look right now, I’m not alone. It seems like half the places I visit offer some version of a prix fixe, omakase, or tasting menu. Restaurants are embracing the curated experience to solve the problem of affordability (a fixed menu reduces food and labor costs, guarantees an acceptable check average, etc.) and critical thinking in one fell swoop. Omakase (meaning “I leave it up to you”) is far from a new concept in high-end Japanese sushi culture, but now that it’s popping up everywhere from coffee experiences to grab-and-go sushi and sandwiches, it’s gone from somewhat niche to nearly omnipresent.

Local Coffee Hit the World Stage

The world got an up-close look at San Diego’s coffee industry when we hosted the premier specialty coffee expo World of Coffee for the first time this April. San Diego’s long and rich coffee history stretches back to the late 19th century. Things percolated fairly quietly for around a century before really picking up steam. Today, there are nearly 200 specialty roasters and cafes across the county, with many earning national accolades like the Good Food Award (Steady State Roasting, 2020; Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, 2023, 2021, 2019, 2017, 2016), Roaster of the Year by Roast Magazine (Mostra Coffee, 2020; Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, 2012), and the Specialty Coffee Association Coffee Design Award for packaging (Rikka Fika, 2026). Now that we’ve moved past the comically insufferable coffee snob era of the early 2000s, even java newbies can feel comfortable walking into pretty much any coffee shop in San Diego, asking questions, trying a few things, and feeling confident they’re going to get great service and a great beverage.

Summer has officially kicked off, and San Diego is celebrating the sunny season with a myriad of fun events. From San Diego Pride week and a fairytale performance at Civic Theatre to a Santigold concert and Comic-Con, there are dozens of opportunities to make memories worth adding to your scrapbook. Here are all the best things to do in San Diego this July:

Concerts & Festivals | Theater & Art Exhibits | More Fun Things to Do

Concerts & Festivals in San Diego This Month

3

Divine inspirations, operatic ballads, and symphonic pop production elevate Rosalía’s Lux to heavenly levels. Hear angelic vocals ascend—in up to 13 languages—during her performance at Pechanga Arena.

June 18, 2026

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15

Enjoy a night of feel-good indie rock and sing-along anthems at the Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre courtesy of Young the Giant and special guest Cold War Kids.

29

Santigold collects genres like gold stars: musical accouterments that brighten her uniquely alternative sound. See her live in concert with dancehall producer Troy Baker Sound at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay.

Theater & Art Exhibits in San Diego This Month

7–12

Be the Civic Theatre’s guest for “Beauty and the Beast” and discover that a fairytale love sometimes lies beneath the surface.

10–12

Two male government workers pursue a secret romance amid the Lavender Scare in the San Diego Opera’s production of “Fellow Travelers” at the Balboa Theatre.

June 26, 2026

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7/11–8/1

The deep blue sea is home to countless ecological treasures, including the remarkable marine organisms documented by Oriana Poindexter. Study her educational and experimental imagery at The Photographer’s Eye via Field Notes.

7/11–1/10/27

Audrey Hepburn. Marlon Brando. Salvador Dalí. What do these icons have in common? Each was the enigmatic focus of a Cecil Beaton portrait. Step inside Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World, an alluring showcase of 20th-century style at San Diego Museum of Art.

More Fun Things to Do in San Diego This Month

1

The Little Italy Mercato will trade morning rays for golden-hour glow through its free Summer Sera, an expansion of the neighborhood’s farmers market with live music, artisanal finds, and a fetching amount of pet activities.

11–19

San Diego Pride week starts with a Dyke March and ends with the two-day “Pride Shines On” festival. The days in between? Run a 5K, march in the parade, visit the rainbow-lit St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, and more.

19

Dress up for a Mediterranean-themed tea time at the Estancia La Jolla, a laid-back yet refined afternoon planned for the resort’s monthly Tea in the Garden series.

23–26

Nerd culture’s biggest gathering returns to the Convention Center. San Diego Comic-Con welcomes fans of everything from comic book cinema to ultra-rare collectibles for panels, exhibits, sneak peeks, and much more.

You may not know his name, but if you were one of the millions of people who traveled in and out of Terminal 2 at San Diego International Airport in 2024, you’ve seen his work. David Mont Virgen was born and raised in Tijuana. He earned a degree in international business and studied interior design in Madrid. In early 2020 during the global pandemic, he made one of life’s impactful pivots and decided to pursue art full time. 

David works between San Diego and Tijuana, in the cross-border corridor that is, depending on who you ask, either one of the most complicated places to build a life or one of the most generative creative regions in the country. He makes minimalist work—paintings, sculpture, objects. To do minimalism well, you have to be very good, because there is nowhere to hide. That airport piece? It’s officially entered the permanent collection of the San Diego Museum of Art. David is very good.

While his work was gaining real traction in San Diego, his marriage ended. When that relationship dissolved, the legal and physical ground beneath his feet shook: The future of his citizenship was now in limbo. David looked at his options and chose yet another life pivot.  

April 23, 2026

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An accomplished working artist with a piece in a museum’s permanent collection enlisted in the U.S. Army, at a time when this country is at war. David describes this period of his life with grace, as “…an opportunity to choose myself and move forward with greater clarity and intention. For the love of self.” 

That phrase, “For the Love of Self,” became the title of his show, which opened at the Guild Hotel in January 2026 with support from Oram Hotels and the Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego. Jennifer Findley of JFin Collective led the curation. Within weeks of the show’s debut, David shipped off to train with the army. It would be easy to read his enlistment as purely practical, and citizenship was part of his calculus, but he is precise about his reasons: He wants to continue building a future in this country and building a future for this country. Because service, he says, feels connected to art. “Both are rooted in the belief that we are responsible for contributing something larger than ourselves.”

David is one creator out of many whose story hasn’t yet been told, but whose path reflects the world we live in. The truth he represents is that the artists in this city are creating under increasingly challenging constraints even as their work actively shapes the world we move through—the places we gather, the neighborhoods we love and live in—whether we know their names or not. 

It’s time their stories are told.

This fall, we’ll be publishing an ambitious arts and culture issue made possible by the support of two organizations who are underwriting an expanded freelance budget with one question at its center: Who makes San Diego, San Diego? 

The Art & Design District—a Prebys-supported initiative to develop and shape a dedicated area of the city for creative work, led by Jonathan Glus—has joined as co-publisher of our September issue. SDFC Playmakers led by Sebastian Morúa, the MLS team’s program dedicated to showcasing San Diego’s creative community, has also joined as digital co-publisher for the next six months. 

With their support, our freelance budget has tripled. In the spirit of radical transparency, and because our readers deserve to know how our work is funded, our typical monthly print freelance budget is about $6,000. That supports writing, photography, and design across more than 100 pages. Our monthly digital budget is $2,500. 

June 15, 2026

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With the support of our co-publishers, we’ve brought on Aaryn Belfer, one of San Diego’s most respected editorial voices, as the issue’s special editor. Alongside Troy Johnson, content chief; and Emma Veidt, editor; she is helping shape the editorial vision of the issue.

With an expanded team, we’ll soon bring on a digital producer and an additional art designer. We’ll produce an expansive portrait of the artists, makers, performers, and institutions defining this region’s creative life, commission original photography, and create a comprehensive fall arts and culture calendar. The issue will anchor a six-month editorial program that will extend across digital, social media, video, podcast, and newsletters through early next year.

We have been doing this for 78 years, and we have learned how to do it well with limited resources. But the conversation happening in San Diego right now—about the role arts and culture play in shaping a city and the role a city plays in shaping arts and culture—is one that demands more than what our standard monthly budget can produce. Until now. 

This partnership model is new to us but the challenges that precede it are not new to media, particularly on the local level. And yet, this collaboration serves as real proof that civic organizations and local media can work together to document and preserve the story of a place and the people who make it, for the record.

June 10, 2026

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David told me that San Diego gave him a sense of belonging. That he felt supported and encouraged to keep growing. Not because life got easier, but because he learned to trust himself through uncertainty.

Today, he’s somewhere in basic training. But he is still an artist and he will keep making work. The artists in this city are almost never just one thing. They are painters and soldiers, sculptors and teachers, dancers and mathematicians. David is a minimalist artist and a U.S. Army recruit. He is Tijuana and San Diego. He is, in the most literal sense, still becoming.

A great city knows its makers. I want San Diego to be that city. 

September is on newsstands soon.