The Bus

I went to San Diego recently and was a bit befuddled. The nightlife district was mostly empty at night and during the day the areas with large office towers had empty streets as well. I understand what San Diego is (a city with a famous zoo, a whale-torture park, and a Comics Convention). I also understand where it is: drive south on I-5 until you come to a standstill then wait an hour in traffic and you’ve arrived.

However, I need to understand Why is San Diego? and How is San Diego?

To be clear I do not dislike it. I enjoyed a good fish taco and a lovely coffee in Bird Rock. But I could not understand the city. Your help will allow me to understand it more when I return.

thank you in advance

andicus

San Diego is like gossamer, and one doesn't dissect gossamer.

VinVega

They have great weather.

X

When I lived there I hardly ever went into the city. There are many other areas to work and play, particularly if you like a more laid-back environment. The San Diego area is one of the top 2 places I've lived.

Deadman31

Paff

What "nightlife district" did you go to? If you mean downtown, aka The Gaslamp Quarter, I don't recommend it. Right now North Park is the "hip" place to be for nightlife, with many bars and restaurants.

joeblow69

Hillcrest is the gay district, where you will find Urban Moes.... which has highly rated drag shows every wednesday. Very popular with gays and straights alike.

Paff

Hillcrest in general is pretty cool, although from my knowledge the best drag show in town is Lips in North Park.

There's cool shops and restaurants in Hillcrest, but if you're straight you might not fully appreciate the nightlife there. Well, except for The Alibi, a classic dive bar that a gay friend once told me "we let you straights have" in that area of town, although it's still considered a gay bar.

If you want to see a band, best place is The Casbah near the airport. It's not as fancy-schmancy as The Observatory in North Park, or maybe the Belly-Up in Solana Beach, but it's a good dirty intimate rock and roll club with great sound. National acts do filter their way through, you'd be surprised.

dex14

Coronado is pretty nice.

I go to San Diego once a year for work (going in a few weeks) and stay at a resort in Pacific Beach. It is alright. A decent amount of bars. But I'm there really briefly so never get to take much in.

One time I stayed by Petco Park and decided to walk back from a train stop that was a little farther away. HOLY SHIT. The number of homeless people or just straight-up shady looking people near the Goodwill over there... it was like Night of the Living Dead.

joeblow69

Meth is a major problem in SD.

Abob Teff

Essentially toaster waffles except it’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.

General Zod

This sentence made no sense to me. Please make sure to word it correctly for us Californians.

I also understand where it is: drive south on the I-5 until you come to a standstill then wait an hour in traffic and you’ve arrived.

Paff

One of the things that "explains" San Diego is that it's a very "spread out" city.

You can visit the Zoo, go to a nice beach, get a great taco, do some shopping, have some drinks and/or craft beer, and enjoy a night out, and literally none of the things I just described are within 5 miles of each other.

Mabuse

I believe San Diego is an old, old wooden ship.

fujishig

This is kind of true of SoCal in general as well.

beavis69

Yea San Diego is kinda weird, the downtown area is nice but its really just for tourist/folks in on business. Most people live North or South of the city. I didn't particularly get the appeal of San Diego when I lived there (horribly expensive and stuck up people), but it had some great beer and a very good metal music scene that I do miss. Modern Times brewery might be my favorite brewery.

X

"us Southern Californians" you mean. We Northern Californians never add the "the". It just sounds weird to us. Do you also say "take the El Camino"?

LurkerDan

Don't they leave the "I" out? That is, wouldn't they say "take the 5"?

Vibiana

It's a lot nicer place with Dan Broderick dead.

General Zod

Well we would say "Take the San Diego Freeway" .. we wouldn't say "Take San Diego Freeway" because that would just be dumb.

And yes LurkerDan we pitch the I in the name.. The 405 to the 118 to the 101.. No point in throwing an I in there.

X

We don't tend to give our highways cute names like that. We're used to dealing with numbers.

Paff

We don't use the names, because (and I am not making this up, this is 100% true) the San Diego Freeway is not in San Diego. It does not go to San Diego. It's in Los Angeles, and ends in Irvine.

The Bus

This is all fascinating, thank you.

Looks like the mistake was mine in staying near Petco Park on a random weeknight.

RichC2

Bet the weather was nice.

TheBigDave

Head over to Normal Heights. There's a great bar crawl on Adams Ave. Lots of casual pubs with good food and live music. It's been a long time since I was there last. But a lot of the old places are still around like The Ould Sod and Rosie O'Grady's.