Culture of San Diego, California

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The culture of San Diego, California, is influenced heavily by American and Mexican cultures due to it's position as a border town.

Contents

[edit] Tourism

Tourism has affected the city's culture, as San Diego houses many tourist attractions, such as Seaworld, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park, and nearby Legoland. San Diego's Spanish influence can be seen in the many historic sites across the city, such as the Spanish missions and Balboa Park. Cuisine is San Diego is diverse, but there is an abundance of wood fired California-style pizzas, and Mexican and East Asian cuisine. Annal events in San Diego include Comic-Con, San Diego/Del Mar Fair, and Street Scene Music Festival.

[edit] Arts

San Diego, California, USA has a small, but growing art scene. "Kettner Nights" at the Art and Design District in Little Italy has art and design exhibitions throughout many retail design stores and galleries on selected Friday nights. "Ray at Night" at North Park host a variety of small scale art galleries on the second Saturday evening of each month. La Jolla and nearby Solana Beach also have a variety of art galleries.

Many popular museums, such as the San Diego Museum of Art, the San Diego Natural History Museum, the San Diego Museum of Man, and the Museum of Photographic Arts are located Balboa Park. The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) is located in an ocean front building in La Jolla and has a branch located at the Santa Fe Depot downtown. The Colombia district downtown is home to historic ship exhibits as well as the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum featuring the USS Midway aircraft carrier.

The San Diego Symphony at Symphony Towers performs on a regular basis and is directed by Jahja Ling. The San Diego Opera at Civic Center Plaza was ranked by Opera America as one of the top 10 opera companies in the United States. Old Globe Theatre at Balboa Park produces about 15 plays and musicals annually. The La Jolla Playhouse at UCSD is directed by a two-time Tony Award-winner Des McAnuff. The Joan B. Kroc Theatre at Kroc Center's Performing Arts Centeris is a 600-seat state-of-the-art theatre that hosts music, dance and theatre performances. The San Diego Repertory Theatre at the Lyceum Theatres in Horton Plaza produces a variety of plays and musicals. Serving the northeastern part of San Diego is the California Center for the Arts in Escondido, a 400-seat performing arts theater.

[edit] Gay and Lesbian culture

San Diego has a fairly large gay population and gay culture. The annual Gay Pride Parade usually draws crowds in excess of 100,000 people. According to U.S. Census data from the year 2000, San Diego had a gay index of 186 (gay male index of 226 and a lesbian index of 144); the national average gay index is 100.[1] Most of the gay community, including the LGBT center and every gay bar in San Diego is located in Hillcrest and surrounding neighborhoods of University Heights and North Park.

[edit] Annual events

2007 Corso degli Artisti Street Painting Festival in Little Italy
2007 Corso degli Artisti Street Painting Festival in Little Italy

[edit] Sites of interest

SeaWorld
SeaWorld
See also: Parks in San Diego, California
See also: Beaches in San Diego, California

(* An asterisk designates National Historic Landmarks)

[edit] Cuisine

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Owing to its privileged position on the Pacific Ocean and its warm Mediterranean-like climate, San Diego enjoys an abundance of quality produce and dining. The renowned Chino Farms in nearby Rancho Santa Fe provides fresh organic produce both to local restaurants and restaurants in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, California, and San Francisco. There is also a wine growing industry in nearby San Pasqual Valley and Temecula.

Given its ethnic and cultural mix, it is not surprising that San Diego has a wide range of cuisines. One can find Mexican, Italian, French, Spanish, Filipino, Vietnamese, Greek, Latin, German, Indian, Central and East Asian, Middle Eastern and Pacific Islander food throughout the city. In addition, there are numerous seafood restaurants and steakhouses. The city's long history and close proximity to Mexico has endowed the area with an extensive variety of authentic Mexican restaurants. Regional homemade specialties, border fare and haute cuisine are all readily available.

San Diego's warm, dry climate and access to the ocean have also made it a center for fishing and for growing fruits and vegetables. Long a center of the tuna industry, San Diego benefits from an abundant supply of seafood.

Many of the most popular restaurants can be found in the Gaslamp Quarter, Little Italy, La Jolla, Hillcrest and Old Town.

Local specialties include:

  • Mexican (carne asada, street tacos, California burritos, fish tacos, enchiladas, carne asada fries, and ceviche)
  • Wood-fired, California-style pizza
  • Southeast Asian specialties of all kinds.
  • Local Wines (San Pasqual Valley, Rancho Bernardo)
  • A vibrant craft brewing community featuring 22 brewpubs and/or microbreweries. San Diego brewers have become famous for pioneering several specialty beer styles, most notably the American Double India Pale Ale. Three San Diego County breweries are consistently rated in the Top 10 breweries in the world by RateBeer.com (AleSmith Brewing Company, Pizza Port/Port Brewing, and Stone Brewing Co.). Unfortunately, none of San Diego's old breweries (such as Aztec Brewing Company) survived the spread of big national brewing companies.
  • Locally produced (from the mountains near Julian) hard and sweet apple cider
  • Various fruits and vegetables (including avocados, tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, eggplant, oranges, lemons, limes, strawberries, grapefruit, grapes, apples, pomegranates, persimmons, and melons)

Several chain restaurants made their start in San Diego. These include Jack in the Box, Pat & Oscar's, Souplantation (March 1978), Rubio's (1980s), Filippi's Pizza Grotto, Sammy's Woodfired Pizza, and Anthony's Fish Grotto (1950s). Rubio's fish tacos were also featured at the 1996 Republican National Convention which was held in San Diego.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ San Diego, CA (San Diego County) - city gay Index. ePondunk (2007). Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
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