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September 6, 2007 at 7:48 AM #10185September 6, 2007 at 7:51 AM #83542
Alex_angel
ParticipantThe Best of San Diego survey listed things like Olive Garden as best Italian, In and Out as best burger, Papa Johns was in the top 3 of best pizza. I mean come one people. There has to be better Italian than Olive Garden or a place that makes a mean burger that is better than In and Out. This city is so predictable. For goodness sakes, Statbucks for 8 straight years was best coffee. There is just no character to this city or is there?
September 6, 2007 at 7:57 AM #83544(former)FormerSanDiegan
ParticipantBesides the weather ?
These aren’t hidden gems, but other 19 obvious things …
The obvious ones are the Beaches, Mission Bay, San Diego Bay, Sailing, taking 3/4 day fishing trips and catching Yellowtail, hiking along the coast (sunset cliffs, Torrey Pines reserve), Golf courses (e.g. Torrey Pines), Whale watching from Point Loma Lighthouse, taking kids to Sea World, Zoo and Wild Animal Park (off-season of course), taking trolleys to baseball and football games, Karl Strauss, taking the ferry to Coronado and renting bikes, good Mexican food, Del Mar Fair, No bugs.
September 6, 2007 at 8:06 AM #83547csr_sd
ParticipantBest Italian – Pasquales on prospect
Best Pizza – either bronx (too thin a crust for NY’er, but good) or the place on lomas santa fe (a little hole in the wall).
As a side, now that ralphs carries Boars head meat we can get a deli sandwich
Less silicone than Irvine
September 6, 2007 at 8:09 AM #83549ParticipantThe Best of San Diego survey listed things like Olive Garden as best Italian, In and Out as best burger, Papa Johns was in the top 3 of best pizza. I mean come one people. There has to be better Italian than Olive Garden or a place that makes a mean burger that is better than In and Out. This city is so predictable. For goodness sakes, Statbucks for 8 straight years was best coffee. There is just no character to this city or is there?
The character in San Diego is not the food. If you want that you need to go to New York, Paris, or LA.
September 6, 2007 at 8:45 AM #83551ParticipantThe obvious ones are the Beaches, Mission Bay, San Diego Bay, Sailing, taking 3/4 day fishing trips and catching Yellowtail, hiking along the coast (sunset cliffs, Torrey Pines reserve), Golf courses (e.g. Torrey Pines), Whale watching from Point Loma Lighthouse, taking kids to Sea World, Zoo and Wild Animal Park (off-season of course), taking trolleys to baseball and football games, Karl Strauss, taking the ferry to Coronado and renting bikes, good Mexican food, Del Mar Fair, No bugs
This is what you see in every tourist book, but what about what the locals know that you can’t find in a tourist book. This stuff is nice if you are visiting San Diego, but doing this every weekend gets boring fast.
September 6, 2007 at 8:57 AM #83553bubble_contagion
ParticipantBland Diego has great things going for it, like beach brawls and an absolute lack of culture.
September 6, 2007 at 9:01 AM #83554ParticipantI saw an article in today’s paper talking about how people in the Del Mar area hate the traffic that the fair and races bring. On the city’s web site they claim the San Diego fair brings it National publicity. I had to shake my head at that. This fair is pathetic unless you like gorging yourself on deep fried goods. Pathetic.
September 6, 2007 at 9:02 AM #83555slackerboy
ParticipantSan Diego has smog, poluted beaches, brawls as the beach, gridlock traffic, budget deficits, million dollar tract homes, and a lack of urban planning…what more could you want in a city?
September 6, 2007 at 9:07 AM #83556ParticipantYou asked about things beside the weather. I thought I would knock off the easiest ones first.
For the record, these are also things I miss since I moved away.
Compare these to the usual activities available in Phoenix, Dallas, Austin, or St. Louis. There’s no comparison.
September 6, 2007 at 9:37 AM #83558gandalf
ParticipantThe Dude abides…
September 6, 2007 at 10:34 AM #83572JES
ParticipantHow exactly do we quantify ‘culture’ anymore? Museums, ethnic enclaves with nice restaurants, historical buildings, or perhaps professional football and baseball franchises? If you live in a city with a rich history, I guess that counts as culture, but I’m still confused. Many of these ‘historical’ areas have given way to urban ghettos and empty buildings. The few times I’ve been to Paris and Munich, it was apparent to me that there was more of this ‘culture’ going on, but it was hard to quantify. Lots of neat churches, but nobody attends them anymore! We are a country that over time has largely abandoned many of the traditions, langauges and customs of our mother countries, wherever they may be, but defining what we have replaced them with is the hard part.
African Americans have very little, if anything, in common with African culture, even though many would claim African cultural identify. Similarily, of the 60 million + German Americans, how many have you met who speak the language, can cook wiener schnitzel or wear leider hosen? As time passes, even our religious identities are changing. I used to be a member of the United Church of Christ – the first church in America, and one that the Puritons planted. I now belong to an evengelical church and have abandoned the UCC, ironically, due to the rapidly changing cultural ideals within the church that have made this once conservative church now the most liberal church in America.
The real challenge is defining exactly what American culture is all about in this day and age. We champion diversity, but isn’t that an antiquated and exclusionary way of looking at culture that risks alienating everyone? But the alternative – a true American culture – is increasingly hard to define. We are becoming a culture defined by mass consumption and secularism. In our house, we don’t cook any meals that are remotely ethnic, but instead go out to eat. Our great cultural traditions are dominated by consumption with the original meaning lost in translation. Christmas is about getting presents, and Thanksgiving is all about turkey and the parade.
And our historical religious institutions are being abandoned for mega churches. EG: Look to the Lutheran ELCA, or any other mainline protestant denominations decline. At school our children are being taught that every opinion or belief, no matter how extreme, needs to be valued for its diversity. So what exactly are they supposed to believe, and by what values will they be defined? We were once defined as a Christian nation, but even that has become controversial and is going by the way side.
So how exactly do we define ‘American’ culture?
September 6, 2007 at 10:46 AM #83578Anonymous
GuestIt sound like your problem is the same as the people in the survey. You don’t get out enough. If Olive Garden and In and Out are the best you could come up with for a survey, you probably spend most your weekend at your local suburb strip malls. I challenge you to leave San Diego and see how much “culture” is in the new city you choose. I am speaking from experience as I have done so. I have also visited friends and family in various cities and find that most cities have nothing to offer but a place to call home. Try to spend one weekend in SD without hitting any chain stores/restaurants or strip malls. It is very easy to do when compared to other cities out there. Hit up Coronado, Balboa Park, Gaslamp, Mission Bay, PB, La Jolla, Del Mar, Torrey Pines, Solona Beach, Encinitas, etc.
Wait…..On second thought, San Diego is not great at all. Everyone should know that all others cities are much more exciting, cultural, diverse, and overall pleasing. Please leave so that you can make more room for the rest of us to be miserable.
September 6, 2007 at 10:51 AM #83580greekfire
ParticipantBacione Ristorante (pronounced bahch-ee-oh-nay) in Hillcrest is my vote for best Italian. I recommend the seafood linguine.
September 6, 2007 at 10:54 AM #83581taz
ParticipantJES makes the accurate (imho anyway) observation that our “culture” has been reduced to “mass consumption.” While I personally don’t mind secularism’s rise, it saddens me that Americans seem to have abandoned an active “public” realm for a consumption based private realm. Everyone retreats to their McMansions after shopping in the big box stores, never mind working to get a real public library downtown, more public parks in our older neighborhoods and a truly functional public transportation system.
In response to the OP’s question, some of San Diego’s hidden gems for me are: the summer “Concerts in the Park” series in Mission Hills (other neighborhoods have similar events I believe, e.g. Scripps Ranch and University Heights), Hornblower bay cruises, hiking in the Cuyamacas, Birch Aquariam, Balboa Park and its many museums, the Hotel del Coronado, and the annual airshow at MCAS Miramar.
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