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Urban canyon crusader Tershia d’Elgin isn’t alone in raving about Café Chloe (721 Ninth Ave., 619.232.3242). But she says it best: “Delectable tastes at a reasonable price in a come-hither setting, unequaled as an experience, except by perfect love. Even the hand soap is flawless.”
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Wise Downtowners have long headed to family-owned Import Tires (771 13th St.; 619.291.9666) for new rubber. Here’s how a review on Yahoo described the business. “I’ve been getting tires here for many years. The service is wonderful, the owners are honest and the prices are about the best in town.” Limp in. Zoom out.
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Folks interested in practicing English-style driving before a trip to London can try C Street in the Downtown Core, where the traffic runs one-way in a single lane on the left side. The only traffic on the right is made up of trolleys, painted as red as omnibuses. Now if only your steering wheel were on the right.
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For a culture bargain, the Regency Room of the elegant Westgate Hotel (1055 Second Ave., 619.238.1818) provides the appropriately appointed portal for a trip to the 18th century Vienna of Mozart in “Amadeus.” The La Jolla Stage Co. presents the play with music at 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays Oct. 21 through Nov. 6. Tickets are $20-$25. The hotel is offering Friday dinner and Sunday high tea packages along with parking, meal and lodging discounts. Call 800.522.1564 or 858.454.7798.
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Hang out at Olé Madrid (751 Fifth Ave, 619.557.0146) and you never know when a celebrity might come by. “A few months ago I ran into three cast members from MTV’s ‘The Real World Paris’ in the midst of a reality bar crawl,” says Stacy Keck. “Ace, Christina and Adam were there dancing on the bar and pouring shots of Jagermeister for their fans. I’ll never forget the scene they created.”
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For a blended latte, stop at Caffe Italia (1704 India St., 619.234.6767). The yummy blended latte is only $3.74 and almost twice the size of Starbucks, which also is quite yummy.
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Blick Art Materials (1844 India St., 619.687.0050) is great for art supplies and gifts. “I feel like a kid in a candy store whenever I’m there,” says one fan. “It’s an artist’s heaven, but also a really cool store if you’re looking for unique picture frames, notebooks, greeting cards, etc.”
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For those looking for the best Italian sampler platter, Robert Arends suggests Ristorante Acqua al 2 in the Gaslamp Quarter (322 Fifth Ave.; 619.230.0382) which just celebrated its fifth anniversary.
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The Altitude Skybar atop the San Diego Marriott Gaslamp (660 K St.; 619.696.0234) is a favorite of many during baseball season for sipping a post-game cocktail while imagining the possibility of a fly ball traveling 22 stories up. “After enjoying a few Red Trolleys at the ballpark, we either head to Altitude or Jbar (616 J St., 619.531.8744),” says Lauren Clapperton. “Not only do we get to continue to be outside in the fresh air at the bars, but we also want to see the view the envious baseball fans at the bars had during the game.”
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Serving up a tasty get-away-from-the-office fish taco for lunch is Tin Fish (170 Sixth Ave, 619.238.8100). “The fish taco is great and the outdoor environment is almost better,” says Reid Carr, president of Red Door Interactive. “The breeze comes right down the alley between the Convention Center and the rest of Downtown; you can watch the kids play chicken with the street-level fountain and get a fair amount of tourist-watching in before you have to head back to work.”
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Downtown San Diego Partnership
Clean & Safe Program
The Downtown San Diego Partnership Clean & Safe program is the best resource for residents and business owners in the 92101 ZIP code. The Clean & Safe program is dedicated to improving the appearance of Downtown’s public right of way and enhancing the public safety for residents, employees, and visitors to the area. This mission is accomplished on a daily basis by the hard working Maintenance and Safety Ambassadors employed by the program. The Maintenance Ambassadors perform a variety of activities to supplement the city of San Diego’s base-line services, including sidewalk sweeping, trash and debris removal, power-washing sidewalks, maintenance of Downtown stations, graffiti removal and maintenance of landscaping, trees, public art and streetscape improvements.
One might wonder if the designer of some of the Clean & Safe equipment watches Teletubbies, a public television program for preschoolers.
The sidewalk sweeper closely resembles the Teletubbies’ Noo Noo, which cleans up all sorts of messes.
The Safety Ambassadors are an equally critical component of the Clean and Safe Program. One of the primary goals of the Safety Ambassadors is to enhance and complement the city of San Diego’s Police Department services. Using NEXTEL technology and patrolling on bicycles and foot, Ambassadors act as an extra set of “eyes and ears” for law enforcement and property owners, and respond to Clean and Safe service calls in a matter of minutes. Their presence helps reduce and prevent crime, deters aggressive panhandling, and makes the public right of way more safe and friendly for pedestrians Downtown.
This past June the Clean & Safe contract was overwhelmingly renewed for 10 years by a vote of Downtown property owners. Clearly, this popular program is a staple of the Downtown community that allows both residents and visitors to move throughout a clean, beautiful Downtown with ease and security.
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How does the joke go? “Why are divorces so expensive? Because they are worth it.” Funny, but often financially wrenching untrue. A more affordable way to get unhitched is by using the services of the National Conflict Resolution Center, which used to be known as the San Diego Mediation Center and remains located at 625 Broadway, Suite 1221 (619.238.2400).
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It is hardly a secret, but be early for sunset viewing. The Top of the Hyatt (One Market Place; 619.232.1234) remains the tallest waterfront bar on the West Coast and never fails to impress guests, dates and even the old spouse. Your fault if you haven’t been.
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For a healthy, quick-quick lunch before your next meeting, munch out on a pick up from Salad Style (807 F St.; 619.255.6731). The menu is online — saladstyle.net — and you can call ahead for quicker service.
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Saturday night with the kids? Laurie Black suggests a 4 p.m. movie at the Pacific Gaslamp Theatres (701 Fifth Ave., 619.232.0400), some walking, shopping and early people watching in the Gaslamp, then dinner at Buca de Beppo (705 Sixth Ave., 619.233.7272). “Don’t forget the incredible bread pudding,“ Black says. “Ask for extra caramel sauce or after dinner go to Ghirardelli (Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop, 643 Fifth Ave., 619.234.2449) for hot fudge sundaes.”
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Best place to send out-of-towners: Seaport Village (849 W. Harbor Drive, 619.235.4014), now celebrating its 25th birthday. Easy parking, great views of the harbor, good food selection and an eclectic selection of retail certain to satisfy the needs of any souvenir-seeking tourist.
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Bless those who pay $20 for ballpark parking. The economy needs you. For the rest of us, there are better deals. The two city-owned structures on Sixth Avenue are $10. If you’re entering the game through the outfield, use Park It On Market (Sixth Avenue and Market Street). Those with seats down the left field line should use the Sixth & K Parkade. Warning: After a Friday or Saturday night game, be sure to exit onto Seventh Avenue to avoid being detoured onto Fifth Avenue and into reveler congestion. If it happens, though, the people watching is spectacular. The best $5 parking is at 10th Avenue and C Street, a pretty straight shot into the ballpark, but one complete with a bit of street life. The best $8 parking is at the Convention Center. For those on the ultimate budget, about an hour before weeknight games test out G and F streets east of 10th Avenue for street parking after 6 p.m. Also, yellow loading zones are free after 6 p.m.
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The irreverence of Dick’s Last Resort (345 Fourth Ave., 619.231.9100), with its napkins and other items flying among waiters and patrons, brings out the kid in Downtown veteran Larry Nuffer and should put a smile on the face of all but the most curmudgeonly patron.
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Attorney and Downtown resident Larry Marshall says the urban scene makes for great lunchtime dog walking opportunities. “My current favorite place to walk my dogs, Archie, 6, and Taffy, 9 months, over the noon hour starts at Embassy Suites where Taffy loves to drink from the mini-waterfall near the entry, then on to the Embarcadero toward the Midway, then circle the waterfront past the Fish Market and back home by way of the Tuna Harbor. When time permits, an extended tour circling Seaport Village and the North Embarcadero Park is an option. There are lots of grassy areas for the dogs (golden retrievers) to run, play, and ‘take care of business’ along the way, and you are always in sight of the harbor. Lots of activity on shore and off.”
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Unique gifts are a specialty of Little Italy’s French Garden Shoppe (2307 India St. 619.238.4700). “I think I need, yet don’t need everything in there,” says Jennifer Whitelaw.
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Overdue trend? How about renovation of the east Broadway corridor where the private sector is investing tens of millions to dazzle us with new and improved versions of the US Grant, Fox Building, Fletcher Building, First National Bank Building and the courageous trend setters behind the Marriott that so gracefully inhabits the old San Diego Trust & Savings.
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When Jennifer Viane Riese gets a break from her work for American National Investments Inc., you might find her lunching alone at Horton Plaza, people watching at the Concerts on the Square. “Good music and really fun people kicking up their heels,” she says. “Plus the ‘yummy yummy’ chicken guy from the Horton Plaza food court, who hands out samples at the teriyaki joint, makes me laugh.”
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Coolest public project you’ll see next year: The Centre City Development Corp.’s $20 million Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge project not only will look good, it will make traffic feel good, allowing the street in front of Petco Park to be opened across the railroad tracks to cars. Pedestrians will use the Safdie Rabines-designed bridge, which connects to a Port District parking lot next to the Convention Center. Construction should start by the second quarter and it might be finished before the Padres’ 2006 season is.
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Sushi Deli One (828 Broadway, 619.231.9597) has been astounding working urbanites with its good, cheap food for decades. Many of its customers have become “important people” and half the fun is eavesdropping on them at the really close and small tables.
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The best free tour of Downtown is offered the first and third Saturdays of the month from the Downtown Information Center. (225 Broadway, 619.235.2222). Call for a reservation.
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Jeanne Rawdin, a reporter and the executive producer for “San Diego Insider” on Channel 4 San Diego, likes to head off the beaten path to 57 Degrees, (1330 G St., 619.234.5757), a unique urban wine bar and storage operation. The name refers to the ideal storage temperature of wine.
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With his tenants occupying more than half of Downtown’s Class A commercial office space, Jason Hughes could rightly proclaim himself the Best Leasing Broker in 92101. If you ask him, he likely will. But Hughes also gets the nod from a third party, John Stoia, the managing partner of Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins who Hughes signed up for the top seven floors (140,000 square feet) of the new Broadway 655 office tower. “He is an aggressive, smart and savvy negotiator who plays his cards close but uses his interpersonal skills to get the deal done when it appears no deal will be done at all,” says Stoia. “Need I say more than Broadway 655, a project that is going on its fifth year of negotiations and multiple issues? When most brokers would have been long gone after the lease was signed two years ago, Jason has stood right beside me through many tense negotiations and multiple amendments to the lease. Without his insight, knowledge and humor, I never would have gotten through the process nor would we be moving in a few weeks to our new offices.”
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When real estate consultant and otherwise adventurous diner Alan Nevin wants to take a client to a dependable good meal, his list is short: Dobson’s (956 Broadway Circle, 619.696.0398).
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Bread on Market (930 Market St., 619.795.2730) gets a toast from James Bonggat, a Centex sales agent, for being a great place to grab a sandwich. “I feel like I am dining at a sidewalk cafe in Paris when I visit the shop for lunch or a snack. We have Bread on Market cater events at 930 Market and our guests can’t stop complimenting the food.” Also, if you need to bring rolls for Thanksgiving, call and order in advance from Bread on Market. Mom will think you are even more amazing.
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Seemingly each week, you can discover a best new restaurant Downtown. Banker Robert McNeely’s favorite is Po Pazzo (917 India St., 619.238.1917) in Little Italy. “The owners have come up with a winning combination — a warm, friendly greeting when you enter the restaurant, superb service, outstanding food, great ambience, an all around wonderful experience. The art that adorns the walls is tasteful and in theme.”
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For a terrific change of pace lunch, hit Monsoon (729 Fourth Ave., 619.234.5555) where the Indian food is best sampled by affordable buffet rather than as entrées off the menu.
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When Aimee Cebulski is looking to embark on a high-cardio walk, she heads up Sixth Avenue along Balboa Park, from Ash to Laurel street. Coming back is easier.
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Stuck on an idea for a gift? Stop by the Shopping Concierge at Westfield Horton Plaza. You’ll find it on the first level, by the water fountain, near Victoria’s Secret.
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