Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA

Ocean Beach sits where the San Diego River meets the Pacific on the city's western shore, and it still looks like a small beach town because San Diego adopted a 30-foot height limit along this coast in 1972. Plans for waterfront hotels and a marina were dropped after that vote, and OB has stayed low, loose and independent ever since. The housing stock runs small, with beach cottages, bungalows and modest houses next to two-story apartments. A cluster of Craftsman bungalows and cottages built between 1887 and 1931 is being recognized as an emerging historic district. Newport Avenue is the main drag, lined with surf and bike shops, tattoo parlors, bars and the antique stores that make up the Ocean Beach Antique District. Hodad's has been grilling burgers there since 1969. On Wednesday afternoons two blocks close to traffic for the farmers market, and the historic Strand Theater building is a city landmark. For coffee, Sine Wave Cafe on Santa Monica Avenue is the one people point to, with a strong batch brew, breakfasts built around tomato jam and enough outlets to settle in with a laptop. OB Surf Lodge, by the pier, is known for huge flaky biscuits with whipped maple butter, and surfboards hang from the ceiling over a patio full of dogs. The Ocean Beach People's Food Co-op on Voltaire Street dates to the hippie era and remains the local grocery of choice for many. The beach runs the length of the neighborhood. Dog Beach, at the north end by the river mouth, opened in 1972 as one of the first off-leash dog beaches in the country and is open around the clock. Robb Field next door has ballfields and a skate park, and Sunset Cliffs Natural Park starts at the south end. Newport Avenue and Voltaire Street cover a lot of errands on foot, and the I-8 begins at the edge of the neighborhood for trips inland. The Ocean Beach Pier, a 1,971-foot concrete landmark, has been closed since storm damage in January 2021 apart from brief reopenings, and the city plans to tear it down and build a new one. Newport Avenue still runs mostly on independent shops, even after a Starbucks and a Target opened over local objections, and that streak of stubbornness is part of everyday life in Ocean Beach.