Watching the Watchers

IN THE IMMORTAL WORDS OF OSCAR LEVANT, "Imitation is the sincerest form of plagiarism." Here at San Diego Magazine, we're up to our eyeballs in the sincerity of other magazines.

Some three decades ago, we were the first local publication to bring you an annual "Best of San Diego" feature - offering scores of insider tips for tracking down the ultimate San Diego stuff, from after-hours bars to hip ZIP codes. Now, it seems, everybody and their sister publication wades in with their take on San Diego's best.

Not long after that first "Best of San Diego" issue, we brought you the first of San Diego's "Best Restaurants" surveys. And again, it seems, every editor with a desktop computer followed with an imitation.

A quarter of a century ago, we published our first "People To Watch" list. You get the drift. This monthís issue marks the 25th consecutive year we've introduced you to an elite group of San Diegans expected to make news - if not waves - during the coming year. Our track record is enviable.

Take our class of 2006 - from A to Z. A stands for city attorney Mike Aguirre. Was he watchable? Was he avoidable? Z is for Michael Zucchet. At the beginning of the year, in a stunning twist, a judge had thrown out seven of the former San Diego councilman's nine unanimous jury convictions in the Strippergate scandal. By year's end, the U.S. Attorney had finally announced plans to appeal the judgeís ruling.

Neither Aguirre nor Zucchet is on our People To Watch list this year, but it's a safe bet they'll continue to bear watching in 2007. Meanwhile, the rest of the stories in our January issue certainly bear reading.

How about a trip to Paris with our intrepid restaurant critic/columnist David Nelson? His assignment: Track down San Diego chef Gavin Kaysen of El Bizcocho, in the City of Light prepping for this month's Bocuse d'Or as the sole U.S. representative at the top international cooking competition.

While your bags are packed, consider a road trip with Driven columnist Laura Byrd in a 2007 Range Rover Sport. Or maybe you'd rather join associate editor Julia Beeson on an island-hopping adventure to the French Polynesian islands of Tikehau and Moorea. A dirty job, but . . .

Back home, take an advance tour with arts writer Marcia Manna of downtown's expanded Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Go Lounging with Maury Harris at the popular East Village bar and urban kitchen aptly named Basic. Or try a little time travel with executive editor Ron Donoho's Journal column, which offers up a dozen tongue-in-cheek predictions for San Diego in the new year.

This month's San Diego Magazine is a trip.

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