Pacific Beach, San Diego, CA

Pacific Beach was laid out in 1887 on a broad grid of streets with gemstone names, Garnet and Tourmaline among them, and it has been San Diego's easygoing beach town ever since. The neighborhood fills the coastal plain between Mission Bay and the hills below La Jolla, and its boundary also takes in much of Mission Bay Park. Most of the community was built out after 1930. Small single-family houses, many rebuilt or topped with rooftop decks, share blocks with condo buildings and apartments, and the mix gets denser closer to the sand. On the north side the streets climb toward Mount Soledad, and homes up there look back over the bay. The water defines the place on two sides. A paved boardwalk runs about three miles along the ocean into Mission Beach, busy with skaters, bikes and drummers. Crystal Pier, built in the late 1920s at the foot of Garnet Avenue, still rents its small over-water cottages, and Tourmaline Surfing Park on the north end is set aside for surfers. On the bay side, Crown Point, De Anza Cove, Fiesta Island's off-leash dog area and the Rose Creek trail give runners and paddlers calmer water. Kate Sessions Park, high on the slope, is where people go for picnics and a view across the whole basin. Kono's Cafe, near the pier on Garnet, serves cheap, heaping breakfasts, and its Big Breakfast #2 is the standard order. Oscars Mexican Seafood started as a food truck and is known for seafood tacos and ceviche. For coffee, Better Buzz has several shops along Garnet and Grand. Daily needs are close. Trader Joe's and Vons sit on Garnet Avenue, Ralphs is on Mission Boulevard, and a farmers market fills a block of Garnet on Tuesdays. The Pacific Beach Library is on Cass Street. The Balboa Avenue trolley station on the eastern edge connects to Old Town and UC San Diego, and Interstate 5 runs along that side too. Garnet Avenue doubles as a nightlife strip, so weekend nights near the beach run loud and parking gets tight. A few blocks inland, Pacific Beach settles into a quieter rhythm, where people bike to the sand with a board under one arm.