Just down the road from where the Padres train/play in Peoria, Arizona, is the Renaissance Glendale Hotel and Spa (9495 West Coyotes Boulevard). If you really want to pamper yourself, stay at the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North (10600 East Crescent Moon Drive), or, if you desire something wilder, lounge poolside at the funky Hotel Valley Ho (6850 East Main Street, Scottsdale).
EAT
Order yourself a juicy steak at the venerable Pink Pony (3831 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale). And you can’t go wrong with a Wiseguy pizza (roasted onion, smoked mozzarella and fennel sausage) at Pizzeria Bianco (623 East Adams Street,Phoenix). Need a postgame beer? Try the back patio at O.H.S.O. (4900 East Indian School Road, Phoenix). Also, dogs are welcome. For cocktails, try a drink at sunset at Degree 270 (Talking Stick Resort, 9800 East Indian Bend Road, Scottsdale) with a free, breathtaking view of the Sonoran landscape.
PLAY
Take a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s expansive campus, Taliesin West (12621 North Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard, Scottsdale), for a look at his distinctive architectural style. If nature is your thing, swing by the Desert Botanical Garden (1201 North Galvin Parkway, Phoenix). Work off those poolside margs with a hike up Camelback Mountain. Don’t forget sunscreen and water! Best spot to watch a game? Try the nearly new Salt River Fields stadium complex at Talking Stick in Scottsdale. Look for the free sunscreen dispensers.
SPA
Unwind with a massage at the Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa in Paradise Valley (5700 East McDonald Drive, Scottsdale). Want to go all out? You can have your own two-bedroom spa villa for the day with a flat-screen TV, private patio, and soaking tub at Royal Palms Resort and Spa (5200 East Camelback Road, Phoenix). Padres, what?
5 Padres To Watch
Yonder Alonso
Scott Wachter
1B Yonder Alonso hopes to follow up a big rookie season that saw him hit 39 doubles. With Petco bringing in the fence, it could mean more hits.
Yonder Alonso
Scott Wachter
3B Chase Headley won a 2012 Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, and led the league with 115 RBIs. What will he do in 2013? And will he get a contract extension?
Carlos Quentin
Scott Wachter
OF Carlos Quentin, the local kid, is signed through 2015. He’s cut some weight and is hopeful his surgically repaired knee allows him to stay on the field more in 2013.
Bud Black
Scott Wachter
Bud Black, the man who holds it all together. Manager of the Padres since 2007, Black—who is an SDSU grad—has command of the clubhouse and the respect of his team.
Brad Brach
Scott Wachter
RP Brad Brach had a nice rookie year in the Padres’ bullpen. A durable kid with a bright future. And, he’s dating Nashville singer-songwriter Jenae Cherry.
Can’t make it to AZ?
FOX Sports San Diego will air 10 games during spring training, March 3–30. First up: Sunday, March 3 vs. White Sox, 12:00 p.m. This year, four of the five San Diego cable providers will carry FOX Sports San Diego, up from two last season. Come on, Time Warner! Why are you holding out on us?
Consider this your annual reminder that Mother’s Day is not the time to improvise. What’s in: roses, peonies, and a card attempting to summarize a year’s worth of gratitude in three paragraphs or less. What’s out: pretending you “didn’t know it was this weekend.” In a city currently operating at full brunch capacity, San Diego responds as it always does—oceanfront tables, excessive buffet spreads, and sparkling wine refills. Whether it’s waffle stacks, chilled seafood displays, or carving stations doing the most, these San Diego restaurants have you covered.
All moms deserve elegance on Mother’s Day. Celebrate a beachfront with a beautifully timeless and tasteful brunch at the Crown Room in Hotel del Coronado. Indulge in options like lemon vanilla pancakes with berry compote paired with crispy bacon, made-to-order omelets or your very own egg benedict station, shucked oysters, whole in-house smoked brisket, Peach Melba Verrine, and more. Guests over 21 can enjoy a complimentary glass of Champagne.
Price: $235 per adult | $125 per child (6 – 10) | Ages 5 and under are free Hours: 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Address: 1500 Orange Ave, Coronado Reservations: Hotel del Coronado
Oceana Coastal Kitchen
Mimosas, marina views, and a Mother’s Day where the only thing on the agenda is enjoying it? We’ll cheers to that. Located at the Catamaran Resort, this Mother’s Day brunch literally has it all, from sushi rolls and nigiri to a charcuterie spread stacked with salumi, prosciutto, cornichons, pepperoncini, cherry peppers, and grainy mustard, plus waffle and omelet stations, cedar-planked salmon, and panko and herb-crusted mac and cheese. Kids can also create a bouquet for Mom that’s just chaotic enough to be adorable.
Price: $120+ per adult | $60+ per child (5 – 12) | Ages 4 and under are free Hours: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. (last seating at 2 p.m.) Address: 3999 Mission Boulevard, San Diego Reservations: Oceana Coastal Kitchen
Mother’s Day at Arlo transforms into an enchanted garden that’s equal parts lush and indulgent: a raw bar, fresh salads, delicate pastries, 12-hour braised short ribs, roasted prime rib, and Szechuan pepper–crusted swordfish from the Santa Maria grill. Spoil moms, grandmas, aunts, and every beloved mother figure with live music, a roaming mimosa cart, floral bouquets, and of course, a little retail therapy courtesy of the Kendra Scott trunk show—necklaces, bracelets, earrings, or, let’s be real, all of the above.
Price: $99 per adult | $40 per child (5 – 12) | Ages 4 and under are free Hours: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Address: 500 Hotel Circle N, San Diego Reservations: OpenTable
Rumorosa
Forget the CVS roses (respectfully). Rumorosa’s Mother’s Day brunch is back for its third year, pairing complimentary flowers with sun-drenched marina views. It’s coastal-modern meets Baja soul, where the food is bright and very much not an afterthought. Last year’s spread leans into Carrot Cake Waffles, a made-to-order omelet station, Café de la Olla French Toast, Roasted Lamb Tostadas, and other “yes, I’ll have everything” moments.
Price: $90 per adult | $40 per child (5 – 12) Hours: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Address: 1380 Harbor Island Drive, San Diego Reservations: OpenTable
Tidal
A boozy brunch overlooking Mission Bay with Mom? Say less. Celebrated at Tidal with a lavish spread of cheeses and charcuterie, a seafood bar stacked with oysters, shrimp, crab legs, and ahi specialties, and chef-attended carving stations with slow-roasted prime rib. Made-to-order omelets and pancakes, maple-glazed pork belly, roasted Baja grouper, vibrant seasonal salads, and brunch classics round it out, finishing with an abundant mini dessert selection.
Price: $125 per adult | $50 per child (5–12) | Ages 5 and under are free Hours: 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Address: 1404 West Vacation Road, San Diego Reservations: OpenTable
Animae
Mother’s Day at Animae is anything but expected. Tucked into the Marina District, this world-class steakhouse leans West Coast with a playful Asian twist. This year, treat Mom to a dim sum–style experience: a slightly more elevated, endlessly flowing take on the buffet, where indulgent small plates arrive tableside, perfectly complementing the Art Deco interiors and designed to be picked at, shared, and fully obsessed over. It’s less set menu, more choose-your-own flavor adventure.
Price: $104 per person Hours: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Address: 969 Pacific Hwy, San Diego Reservations: OpenTable
Isabella Dallas is a freelance writer for San Diego Magazine and the Arts and Culture Editor at The Daily Aztec in her final year at San Diego State University. She previously worked as an editorial intern for SDM, but when she’s not writing, you can find her trying the best coffee spots in SD, devouring the latest rom-coms, and indulging in anything and everything pop culture.
Tacos are San Diego’s lingua franca. The invention of food wrapped in corn tortillas is ballparked at 1000 to 500 BC. The word probably comes from the Nahuatl “tlahco”—meaning “half” or “in the middle”—a food meant to be folded and carried. Portable foods always have a way of sticking around.
San Diego was part of Mexico until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, so tacos didn’t arrive; they remained. After the treaty, they receded into the kitchens of families who stayed behind.
By the early 1900s, US tacos had reached a sad state—mostly ground beef, cheddar cheese, and iceberg lettuce, because Mexican staples like cotija, cilantro, chiles, and freshly pressed tortillas weren’t in grocery stores. In San Diego, that started to change around 1930 in the abode of Petra and Natividad Estudillo, who lived on Logan Avenue in Barrio Logan, the heart of San Diego’s Chicano culture (it’s where many refugees from the Mexican Revolution settled). There, the couple created a teeny tienda, slinging homemade tortillas.
Behind the Estudillos’ counter, reportedly, you could see their living room, lined with furniture and tubs of fresh tortillas. You could tell sales (and tacos) were on the rise, because their décor got increasingly nicer. The couple opened Las Cuatro Milpas next door in 1933. It was the first Mexican restaurant in the city, a taco chapel for over 90 years. Around the same era, Ralph Pesquiera Sr. started pressing tortillas with his parents on India and Grape streets, later serving smaller, corn tortilla versions of flautas for defense workers during WWII. Credited with coining the term “taquito,” he opened El Indio in 1940.
The Bracero Program (1942–64) greatly contributed to taco culture, bringing over four million Mexican men to the US as guest workers, many in San Diego. The kitchens at bracero camps were filled with beans, tortillas, and chiles. The art of making fresh masa started to proliferate, and local grocery stores stocked dried chiles, salsas, and masa harina for their new client base.
San Diego’s taco culture quantum-leapt in 1964, when Roberto and Dolores Robledo, who’d previously owned a Golden Hill restaurant called La Lomita, opened a tortilla factory in San Ysidro. They quickly added a walk-up and drive-through window and called it Roberto’s—the city’s first “modern” taco shop and eventual legend. Two years earlier, up the road in Downey, Glen Bell had launched Taco Bell; by the time he sold it to PepsiCo in 1978, every American grocery store was selling “taco kits” with pre-fried shells, seasoning packets, and jars of salsa. Taco night became a middle-class ritual.
Surfers also deserve a taco nod. In 1983, SDSU student Ralph Rubio finally made good on the recipe gifted to him by a taquero on a San Felipe beach; he opened Rubio’s on Mission Bay Drive, launching the Baja fish taco into the national imagination (Rubio’s IPO hit NASDAQ in 1999).
Two government policies also helped further taco enlightenment. In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) legalized about 2.7 million immigrants, many in SoCal. Green cards and work permits meant access to leases, loans, and licenses. With that stability came confidence—and a wave of Mexican-owned small businesses. The late 1980s and ’90s saw the rise of family-run icons like Lolita’s, Rigoberto’s, and Cotixan. It’s no coincidence that two of San Diego’s proudest food inventions—the California burrito and carne asada fries (often credited to Lolita’s circa the late ’90s)—came onto the scene during this period.
This last point is an unsubstantiated connecting of dots. But Mexico’s a large country full of endless regional taco ideas (Oaxacan cheese, Sinaloan seafood, Texcoco barbacoa). And the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), signed in 1992, was probably what sprung that deep well of taco ideas. Corporations opened massive operations in border cities like Tijuana, drawing thousands of workers and tacos from every nook.
Which brings us to now. There are 1,700-ish taco shops across the county, and here’s the list of our favorites.
Courtesy of Tacotarian
San Diego’s Best Tacos
Gobernador Taco at Mariscos Mi Gusto Es
Chollas Creek
Located in the massive parking lot by an event center and a cannabis dispensary, Mi Gusto Es may just set the bar for the best gobernador (a Sinaloan-style shrimp taco with melted cheese and a flour tortilla—a wonderful thing). Loaded with sautéed peppers, it costs three bucks. Get the spicy shrimp. Always spicy.
Troy Johnson is the magazine’s award-winning food writer and humorist, and a long-standing expert on Food Network. His work has been featured on NatGeo, Travel Channel, NPR, and in Food Matters, a textbook of the best American food writing.
For the first time in history, San Diego has four teams competing in March Madness!
Both the SDSU Aztecs and the UCSD Tritons men’s and women’s basketball teams are headed to the NCAA Tournament. In UCSD’s first year of eligibility as a Division 1 team, the Tritons have done the unthinkable. Let’s get mad, San Diego!
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 NCAA tournament, including where to catch all the action in San Diego.
When are the 2025 March Madness Brackets Announced?
March Madness kicks off on March 16 with Selection Sunday, when the NCAA Selection Committee officially announces the full tournament brackets for the men’s and women’s divisions, deciding on teams, seeds, and matchups.
Women’s bracket: 5 p.m. PT
Men’s bracket: 3 p.m. PT
Courtesy of San Diego State Aztecs
When Does the NCAA March Madness Tournament Begin and End?
The first round of the men’s tournament begins March 20–21, while women’s games start March 21–22. The women’s NCAA basketball championship game takes place on Sunday, April 6, and the men’s finale is the following day on Monday, April 7.
How Can I Watch the 2025 NCAA Basketball Tournament from Home?
Fans can catch all the March Madness action live on CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV. Streaming options include: HBO Max, Paramount+, or any other services with access to the above cable networks, including YouTube TV, Sling TV and Hulu + Live TV.
Courtesy of UC San Diego
Best San Diego Sports Bars and Watch Parties for March Madness
Park 101
This Carlsbad BBQ joint is a family-friendly destination for basketball fans featuring a multi-level complex, an outdoor patio, and a massive projector screen. Enjoy St. Louis ribs, pulled pork sandwiches, and Maine lobster while cheering on the teams in your bracket this year.
3040 Carlsbad Boulevard, Carlsbad
Home & Away
A Kansas City Chiefs bar at heart, this Old Town spot is still a top venue for March Madness watch parties, featuring an oversized outdoor screen and a lively atmosphere. The kitchen closes at 11 p.m. daily so don’t fret if the game goes into overtime.
Just steps away from Swami’s Beach, Union Kitchen & Tap is a local hotspot pairing cool vibes with game-day camaraderie. The gastropub prides itself on its extensive drink menu along with quality game-day fare that make it the ideal atmosphere for March Madness watch parties.
1108 South Coast Highway, Encinitas
Ballast Point Brewing
Catch the game at Ballast Point in Miramar, a massive, indoor-outdoor brewery and restaurant well-suited for big groups of fans. Track your bracket picks as you dine on bar bites and down Sculpins. During halftime, challenge your friends to a round of cornhole on the heated patio.
9045 Carroll Way, Miramar
Nautilus Tavern
La Jolla’s go-to sports bar offers an excellent weekday happy hour from 3–6 p.m., with half-off select draft beers, well drinks, and house wines, plus discounted appetizers—perfect for catching this year’s afternoon matchups.
6830 La Jolla Boulevard, La Jolla
Bay Hill Tavern
This Clairemont bar streams every game of the tournament and serves up brunch, dinner, and boozy slushies. Try the tequila-watermelon Lava Flow for a perfect game-day refreshment and accessory to an Aztec-red jersey.
3010 Clairemont Drive, Clairemont
Pacific Beach AleHouse
Visit this Pacific Beach staple for ales, hoops, and impressive ocean views this March. TV screens downstairs run 360 degrees along the perimeter and along the rooftop, so you never miss a moment.
721 Grand Avenue, Pacific Beach
Draft
Located on the Mission Beach boardwalk, Draft offers 70 beers on tap and more than 25 TVs. Pair a 394 AleSmith pale ale with their fan-favorite beer-battered fish and chips for the ultimate game-day experience.
3146 Mission Boulevard, Mission Beach
Dirty Birds
Home to some of the best wings in San Diego and featuring five San Diego locations throughout the city, Dirty Birds is a prime spot for catching NCAA basketball. Students can visit the UCSD location to cheer on the Tritons on their home turf.
Cole Novak is an award-winning writer with a passion for highlighting local figures, small businesses, and nonprofits. Born and raised in San Diego, Cole is passionate about photography, surfing, art, the local food scene, and the great outdoors.
Implementing a farm-to-table model hardly deserves acknowledgement these days. It’s not a stretch. It’s not innovative. “It’s the bare f**king minimum,” says Herb & Sea‘s executive chef Aidan Owens.
When I arrive at the Encinitas restaurant, I’m ready to talk sustainability, farm-to-table stuff, with Owens. “Did you see the chin on that?” he says of the extra big jiggly chin on the sheephead that just arrived with the day’s fresh catch. I did. It was Jay Leno adjacent.
I learn quickly that he somehow oozes both charm and stone-cold honesty. Maybe he could construct a new dish with chin goo, like he did when he had a bunch of tuna scraps and voila’d it into a smooth and crowd-pleasing ‘nduja. “I want to know what’s in there,” he says.
Courtesy of Herb & Sea
The instinct to look closer, to dig into what others might discard, says a lot about the chef’s approach. I guide him back to our topic, but he has something else on his mind. “We’re overcomplicating food—what happened to just cooking good food and having fun with it?”
Owens grew up on a farm in Byron Bay, Australia, where sustainability wasn’t a concept you chat about so much as a way of life. Think dirt roads, backyard chickens, pulling vegetables straight from the ground, and a mother who believed that if you couldn’t pronounce the ingredients on a package, you shouldn’t eat what was inside.
Food wasn’t precious or performative. Making it was what you did because you were hungry and that’s still what inspires Owens today. “I like to cook good food because I like to eat good food,” he says.
His approach to sustainability at Herb & Sea began so naturally that it felt just like instinct. “I was just like, ‘Let’s order food from the people who live and work here,’” he says.
Courtesy of Herb & Sea
And why wouldn’t he when lives in San Diego? Cities all over the world vie for our goods. Our tuna is sent overseas. Our spiny lobsters hit dinner plates in China and Japan. Not to mention California’s producing a third of the country’s vegetables and three-quarters of its fruits and nuts.
“Why would we outsource when it’s all here?” Owens asks.
Sustainability, in this context, is about cooking what exists in abundance, nearby, right now. “I love the local fish here. It’s f**king delicious and San Diego citrus, I mean, it is so f**ing good,” he says.
Instead of importing ingredients, Owens also looks for nearby alternatives. “You can find really cool things in the local waters,” he says, pointing out that stingray cheeks taste similar to scallops.
Courtesy of Herb & Sea
Whatever he finds in that sheephead chin might just be the next substitute for marrow. But to make this work, it means getting diners amped up about the slightly unfamiliar.
Tasting menus, where diners are completely in his hands, become an opportunity to gently push boundaries. “I’ll serve mackerel, because people think they hate it,” Owens says, noting that the abundant local fish can have some fishiness. “But when it’s fresh, it’s arguably one of the best fish in the ocean.”
He also tweaks the language on the menu so people might feel more compelled to give dishes a try without preconceived notions. He might use “lengua” instead of “tongue.” “Whelk” instead of “snail.” When he puts “stingray throat” on the menu, he disarmingly calls it “skate.”
To reduce waste, scraps aren’t always discarded but rather turned into something new. Sometimes they’re smoked, cured or fermented. Apples going bad turn into apple ponzu. Lemons turn to marmalade, which stretches their usefulness far beyond peak season. “And it’s super tasty on our pizza,” he says.
What makes the food even richer, is the relationships he’s built with farmers. Though it didn’t always feel natural, Owens sought personal connection first. He recalls approaching a fisherman at the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market. “I was awkward,” he says. “I went up to him and said, ‘I like your fish.’”
Owen’s is now so close to his suppliers—like fishermen Ryan Sebo and Joe Daly—that he gets texted pictures of fresh catches right as they flop on the boat. The messages always ask if he wants first dibs. “I say yes to a lot of fish,” Owens says, noting that Herb & Sea can go through 2,000 pounds of seafood a week.
Courtesy of Herb & Sea
The next evolution of sustainability, in his view, will be chefs working directly with producers such as his alliance with Sebo, cutting out middlemen and purveyors where possible. “It will put more money in the pockets of the people doing the work,” he says.
It will mean that chefs can’t just know their local farmers and producers, but they’ll choose to work with the ones who have the best practices. Dining and sustainability will become much less about the final plate. “It will be more about the impact that plate has on the Earth,” he says.
Ultimately, he believes sustainability doesn’t need to be loud. It doesn’t need hashtags. It just needs to be honest.
“We aren’t saving lives. We’re feeding people good food,” he says.
And yet, in feeding people well—simply, thoughtfully, responsibly—something meaningful happens. Guests leave satisfied. Ingredients are respected. Local ecosystems are supported and food returns to what it has always been at its core: nourishment, pleasure, and a quiet reflection of the place it comes from.
In the 2010s, pickleball started to emerge as a new way for people to enjoy racquet sports without the physical demands of other such activities like tennis or racquetball. Compared to tennis, it offered a slower pace, smaller courts, and even had simpler rules. During the pandemic, pickleball picked up steam among millennials and Gen Z who, along with adopting a new sport, also took to the courts to find their next love interest.
By 2023, pickleball became a $1.5 billion sport globally, being played by individuals of all fitness levels and ages. But now, a new activity is gaining popularity in the US and across the pond: padel. Originating in Mexico, the sport blends elements of tennis and squash and is played on an enclosed court about a third the size of a tennis court.
Padel typically is played in doubles on courts surrounded by glass and wire mesh walls. The ball must bounce on the ground before hitting the walls and can touch the glass but not the metal fence post bounce. It can also only touch the turf once before being returned. Points are scored when the ball bounces twice on the opponent’s side.
With underhand serves and stringless padel racquets, it’s a fun game of strategy more than just skill. Today, there are more than 30 million padel players worldwide and an estimated 90,000 in the US—with California and New York being among the first to adopt the sport.
Thankfully, our city already has seven padel courts to play on if you’re looking to learn more or are already a devoted enthusiast. Check out our list below of where to play padel in San Diego so you can earn some bragging rights about enjoying it when it was still “under-the-radar.”
Courtesy of Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa
Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa
Already considered one of the best resorts for tennis aficionados, Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa recently added three new padel courts to their racquet sports roster in partnership with sporting goods company, Wilson. Designed by Spain-based company Grupo Padel Galis World, guests can find a number of ways to enjoy the courts including drop-in sessions; beginner, intermediate, and advanced clinics; and monthly Americano tourney play. Or, reserve a private instruction with a USPTA certified professional starting at $125 for 60 minutes or $185 for 90 minutes.
The Fairmont Grand Del Mar recently debuted its new padel court in partnership with Taktika padel, a group aiming to expand the sport throughout the US, starting with San Diego. Taktika will now manage all of the resort’s racquet programming with its certified Paquito Navarro Academy coaching staff. With one main padel court and two shared pickleball courts, players can book group clinics, private lessons, tournaments, join leagues, or participate in other events by calling 858.314.2000 or visiting the hotel’s website.
5300 Grand Del Mar Ct, Del Mar
Courtesy of Barnes Tennis Center
Barnes Tennis Center
Home of the official San Diego Padel team, the Stingrays, Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma is equipped with seven padel courts alongside 25 tennis courts. Club memberships start at $350, but non-members can reserve courts for $52 for an hour. The tennis center also hosts pro padel events throughout the year so keep an eye on their schedules.
Along with a 27-hole championship golf course, a driving range, eight tennis courts, and eight pickleball courts, the members-only La Valle Coastal Club now offers two padel courts for players of all skill levels. The Rancho Santa Fe club hosts a variety of programs including Padel 101 for beginners wanting to master the basics and Challenger Clinic which helps individuals advance their game on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Members can also book private lessons or participate in padel events and tournaments throughout the year.
5690 Cancha de Golf, Rancho Santa Fe
Courtesy of King of Padel
King of Padel
Sprawled out across six indoor pickleball and padel courts, King of Padel in Bay Ho offers $15/hr open play Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 6-9 p.m.; Saturday 11-2 p.m.; and Sundays from 2-5 p.m. Guests can also choose a monthly membership for $59 which includes priority booking six-days-a-week, unlimited open play, and a five percent discount at the pro shop. Players can also participate in seasonal leagues which guarantee a set number of matches on weekends, prizes, and women’s- and men’s-only leagues or mixed groups.
4370 Jutland Dr, Bay Ho
Courtesy of Padel California
Padel California
Padel California was founded to bring the sport to cities across the state, starting with San Diego and Los Angeles. The club features two padel courts, coaching, tournaments, social events, and membership packages starting at $180 per person for three months and up to $500 a person for a full year. Memberships include perks such as private coaching lessons, shop merch, 20 percent off retail products and services, guest passes and exclusive tournaments. Non-members can book a 90-minute session for $88 per court.
222 S Coast Hwy, Oceanside
Rendering Courtesy of Padeln9ne
Padeln9ne
Opening soon, Padeln9ne will be a 100,000-square-foot wellness facility in Sorrento Valley featuring eight padel courts, two tournament courts with stadium seating, a fitness and wellness complex, on-site dining, and more. This massive facility is set to become a hub for serious players.
Hannah Elizabeth Williams Is an editorial intern at San Diego Magazine in her last year as a literary journalism major at University of California Irvine. She is a passionate reader that has a ‘to be read’ pile that extends into the afterlife. Will constantly talk about her dog Daisy.
Nicolle Monico is an award-winning writer and the director of creative projects, digital editor for San Diego Magazine with more than 16 years of experience in media including Outside Run, JustLuxe and The San Francisco Chronicle.
New year, new San Diego sports. Not only does San Diego FC finally take the pitch this month, but also an innovative and interactive golf league with deep San Diego roots tees off. The changing of the calendar also brings some familiar events. The annual Farmers Insurance Open takes over Torrey Pines Golf Course, and Viejas Arena echoes with the sound of college basketball—but it’s just not the men’s team making waves this season. With so much going on already, it’s not a stretch to say 2025 might be one of the biggest years ever in San Diego sports.
Courtesy of Monster Jam
Monster Jam
January 4-5, 11-12 | Snapdragon Stadium
After the new year, a few things go like clockwork. The holiday decorations are put away, the rest of the country gets jealous of our weather, and Grave Digger comes to town. Monster Jam may seem like a minor event, but it sells millions of tickets each year and in San Diego it fills two weekends of events and competitions at Snapdragon Stadium. Tickets start at $44, and festivities kickoff early with a Pit Party, where fans can see the massive trucks up close and meet the drivers and crews.
Two notable San Diegans are connected to TGL, the interactive, 3-on-3 golf league founded by some of golf’s biggest names, which starts play this month. Agustín Pizá’s San Diego-based design studio created eight of the holes for the new league, which plays on a massive indoor simulator in Florida. And world No. 2 golfer and Scripps High alum Xander Schauffele leads the New York Golf Club, one of six teams competing in the made-for-TV competition.
“I think it’ll be a lot of fun. Hopefully, people enjoy the entertainment that comes out of it,” Schauffele told San Diego Magazine. Schauffele and his teammates kickoff TGL on January 7 at 6:00 p.m. on ESPN.
Courtesy of Gensler
San Diego FC First Training Session
Monday, January 13 | San Diego
San Diego FC’s first training session won’t be televised and it isn’t open to the public, but it’s an occasion worth celebrating. After nearly two years of press releases, roster moves, and fan events, San Diego’s newest major sports team is at long last hitting the pitch. It’s the first step toward finalizing its inaugural roster and preparing for its Major League Soccer debut on February 23, in Los Angeles against the LA Galaxy.
The field isn’t finalized for the annual Farmers Insurance Open, but last year’s champion and world No. 30 Matthieu Pavon will tee off at Torrey Pines Golf Course to defend his crown. Several top golfers will join Pavon, including Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama, and Justin Rose. So far, the field includes ten players in the top-50 of the Official World Golf Ranking, six major championship winners, and five past winners of the Farmers. But San Diego’s Xander Schauffele will no doubt be the fan favorite if he joins the field. Schauffele has won two majors, an Olympic gold medal, and a Ryder Cup, but one thing missing from his résumé is a victory in his hometown. If he joins the field at this year’s Farmers, then Schauffele will try to become the seventh San Diegan—following Phil Mickelson, Scott Simpson, Craig Stadler, Greg Twiggs, Billy Casper, and Gene Littler—to hoist the trophy.
At 12-2 on the 2024-25 season, the San Diego State women’s basketball team has more wins and fewer losses than the celebrated men’s team, and recently opened their Mountain West Conference schedule with a resounding win over Boise State. Adryana Quezada led the team with 19 points on 9-for-12 shooting, a performance that resulted in the senior forward winning the Mountain West Player of the Week. Quazada’s Aztecs wrap up January with a game against another conference foe in UNLV, and great basketball isn’t the only thing they’re offering. The first 1,000 fans get a free replica jersey.
Torch Heroes: Why San Diego’s Most Trusted Businesses Win by Doing the Right Thing
In a world overflowing with shortcuts, marketing fluff, and “good enough,” there are still companies that choose a different answer. And in San Diego, there are plenty of them.
In a world overflowing with shortcuts, marketing fluff, and “good enough,” there are still companies that choose a different answer.
Integrity guides how they show up every day. They make hard decisions, hold themselves accountable, and build trust the old-fashioned way, one action at a time. At the Better Business Bureau, we call these businesses Torch Heroes: leaders who demonstrate that ethical leadership strengthens businesses and drives long-term success.
And in San Diego, there are plenty of them.
Take House Collective Marketing Solutions, a Carlsbad-based digital agency that won the 2025 Torch Award for Ethics for its people-first approach to marketing. Instead of pushing flashy campaigns, the team often takes a step back to make sure clients’ foundations are strong before going big. Their philosophy? Truth over transaction builds partnerships that last.
Or look at Young Black & N’ Business, where integrity shows up through community action. When a local school lost art funding, founder Roosevelt Williams III and his team stepped in with workshops, mentorship, and hands-on support to help restore creative opportunity. That kind of engagement reflects ethical leadership rooted in real impact.
And in Vista, Lotus Sustainables carried its commitment to ethics all the way to the product line. After discovering defects in a shipment of eco-friendly products, the company issued full refunds and redesigned its offerings at its own expense, a choice that shaped its identity and reinforced to customers that ethics guide every decision.
In North County, Greenway Landscape Design & Build brings integrity into everyday service. When a client’s glass was damaged, likely not by their crew, owner Scott Lawn chose responsibility over blame and covered the repair personally. For Greenway, doing the right thing serves as a north star, guiding every interaction through transparent pricing, accountable partnerships, proactive communication, and follow-through long after the job is done.
Other honorees include At Your Home Familycare, whose leadership turned down a lucrative state contract during the pandemic to protect vulnerable clients and staff, and Bill Howe Family of Companies, where hiring practices, training, and service centers around shared values, every day, on every call.
What connects these diverse businesses, from marketing to nonprofit support to home services, isn’t size, industry, or revenue. It’s something deeper: a commitment to trust as a business strategy.
In San Diego’s competitive marketplace, that trust gives companies an edge. Clients invest in relationships. They refer friends. They stay loyal when others fade.
As one Torch Award winner puts it, integrity isn’t a section in the employee handbook. It’s the operating system of the company, the invisible code that determines every choice, every day.
And that’s exactly the point of the BBB Torch Awards for Ethics: to spotlight companies that dispel the myth that ethics and success are at odds. These businesses show that when leaders choose honesty, fairness, and accountability, especially when it’s hard, they build brands that matter.
At BBB, we see nominations come in from clients, employees, and business partners who have witnessed ethical leadership up close. These submissions aren’t polished promotions. They’re stories of moments when a company chose people over profit, clarity over confusion, and trust over convenience.
The nomination window for the 2026 Torch Awards for Ethics is open through March 31, 2026, and there are more Torch Heroes waiting to be recognized.
Who comes to mind in San Diego’s business community?
A vendor who always delivers — and always explains why.
A competitor who chooses the high road even when shortcuts tempt.
A team within your own company whose day-in, day-out choices reflect deep character.
And yes, businesses can nominate themselves. We encourage it. If you’ve built your business on principles rather than buzzwords, we want to hear your story.
Because in a world full of noise, integrity still deserves the spotlight, and San Diego is full of stories worth telling. Nominate your hero now.
