Marina, San Diego, CA

High-rise condos and hotels line the bayfront in the Marina district, the southwest section of downtown San Diego between the Gaslamp Quarter and the water. These blocks held mostly warehouses and empty lots before the towers arrived. Homes here are almost all in mid-rise and high-rise towers, a mix of condominiums and apartments sharing the blocks with hotels, medical offices and ground-floor retail. Parks are the neighborhood's front yard. Embarcadero Marina Park North and South sit right on the bay, and Ruocco Park and Tuna Harbor Park sit along the waterfront nearby. Pantoja Park, on G Street, is the city's oldest park. The USS Midway Museum and the Maritime Museum of San Diego are both along North Harbor Drive, and the area mapped as Marina even stretches across the bay to Cabrillo National Monument at the tip of Point Loma. The Fish Market on North Harbor Drive has been shucking oysters since 1976 and is known for simple grilled fish with a view of the water, with a retail seafood counter for cooking at home. Carnitas Snack Shack on the Embarcadero serves its Triple Threat pork sandwich and hosts movie nights on its waterfront patio. For coffee and a real breakfast, Achilles Coffee Roasters at Fourth Avenue and J Street makes scrambles, burritos and French toast to order. Daily life runs on foot. Ralphs on G Street covers groceries, and restaurants, the waterfront and the Gaslamp are steps away. The San Diego Convention Center and Seaport Village are both part of the district, which keeps the sidewalks busy. Crowds come with the address. Big conventions and waterfront events fill the hotels and sidewalks, and long-discussed redevelopment plans for Seaport Village could bring years of construction along the waterfront once they move forward. Even so, the Marina district offers something rare downtown, a front door that opens onto the bay.