San Diego has perfect weather, palm trees, beaches, “navy city” status (as the principal homeport of the U.S. Pacific Fleet) and is the eighth-most populous city in the entire U.S. SD’s sprawling network of busy downtown, chill beach towns and citrus grove-lined inland cities is, as you might guess, most heavily caucasian and Hispanic, with a nearly 11% Asian population ensuring authentic Asian restaurants, even if not near as dense or historic as LA and SF’s Asian populations and food history. Mexican food reigns and being minutes from Mexico border, the interweaving of cultures is happily apparent.
The city and region has echoes of LA but is more laid back, though likewise widespread. SD is underrated and multi-layered, a place that can be many things, from posh Ensenada where you can do a taco crawl, to a sophisticated big city in beach town clothes. Besides ubiquitous Baja fish tacos across the region, Mexican food and chefs have long imbued the region with foodie glory, while SD’s growth in the last decade as a fine dining mecca has been a happy surprise for those of us who dine out for a “living.” This change began when Addison by William Bradley (reviewed below) unexpectedly garnered three Michelin stars even before LA did.
SD was an early and heavy proponent of craft breweries these past few decades. While it’s not a leading cocktail bar city in the nation, the city has a strong cocktail scene now. Since it’s late start in the 2010s, the region offers a robust range of craft-y cocktail dens and historic dive restaurants/bars, like the fab Turf Supper Club.
When I Fell in Love with San Diego
Growing up in LA and Orange Counties ages 6 to 14 before we moved to New Jersey, I spent good time in San Diego, and again when I returned to SoCal ages 18 to 22. As a girl, it was mostly about excursions to the incomparable San Diego Zoo and Sea World. I also have beach memories, eating around the city with friends, as well as reviewing spots over the years, like this Old Hollywood hotel and restaurants for Food Republic and top SD bars for Distiller Magazine.
SD was a part of my youth to the point where I barely remember my initial memories in the region. But I have a nostalgic memory with my youthful circle of friends when most were in college but I was working full time to support myself since moving across the country solo from NJ at 18. We often met at different beaches with bonfires and conversation into the night (we were not the partying, drinking crowd; we made our own fun).
One night we crossed the OC border into San Diego County to a less populous beach where we talked by bonfire and watched the stars come out. A friend and I walked down the coast closer to the waves to try and sleep as the group stayed up talking. I’m a notoriously terrible, light sleeper and was worried random noises would wake me constantly, questioning if it was even safe to sleep on the beach, something I’d never done. She and I had our own sleeping bags, talked a bit and dozed off, the waves lapping just below us. I slept like a proverbial baby, all my worries for naught. Somehow feeling far from OC, I fell in love this chill coastline just north of Carlsbad, which nurtured me to sleep.
The Arts: Musicians, Writers, Films
San Diego is where some of the most iconic rock musicians grew up, including magic-voiced Eddie Vedder, Tom Waits, Andra Day and my vocal hero, Ann Wilson and her sister Nancy, aka Heart.
There are numerous notable writers from San Diego, most notably Dr. Seuss, or Theodor Geisel, who moved with his wife to La Jolla in 1948 where he wrote many of his greats, including The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Poets of note currently are Paola Capó-García (SD’s current poet laureate; appreciate her poem Kind), Jason Magabo Perez (I like i ask about what falls away) and Rae Armantrout (her poem Advent is power).
As for films set in San Diego, there is the greatest film about rock ‘n roll of all time, my beloved Almost Famous, written and directed by Cameron Crowe, who wrote his first screenplay, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, while posing one year undercover as a student at SD’s Clairemont High School. Many pop culture and film geek greats were filmed in “America’s Finest City,” like the Anchorman movies, Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick, Citizen Kane, the original 1976 Freaky Friday, Traffic and Some Like It Hot.
Charities
I appreciate charities housing and aiding the homeless like Father Joe’s Villages, Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank (feeding a few hundred million people over the years) and This Is About Humanity, helping children separated from their families at the border.
10 restaurants (6 casual, 4 fine dining), 10 bars and 3 hotels in San Diego County:
Read the rest on Substack: San Diego’s Gifts to the World