The Best of San Diego 2007

We scoured the county, with a little help from readers and some notable San Diegans, to uncover the best spots, services and stuff in town.

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FOR THE FUN OF IT

SELF-GUIDED TOUR
Reputed to be the “cure for the common tour,” GoCars (2415 San Diego Avenue, Old Town; 639 Kettner Boulevard, 800-91-GOCAR) are GPS-guided tour vehicles that tell drivers about the coolest San Diego destinations. Approved for city streets, the three-wheeled, canary-colored cars seat two, have a lockable trunk and are small enough to fit in motorcycle parking.

PLACE TO CATCH A WAVE
Simulated surfing platforms let you hone your skills and style at the Wave House (3115 Ocean Front Walk, Mission Beach, 858-228-9300). Body-board on the FlowRider, a continuous sheet of water——or if you’re an experienced board rider, take on the 10-foot tube known as the Bruticus Maximus. Dude, there’s even a tiki bar and hammock lounge.

NEW BOWLING SPOT
East Village Tavern & Bowl (842 Market Street, 619-239-3339) is the place to knock back some pins and pints. Owned by the people who run the Gaslamp Tavern, the new spot offers the same cozy tavern vibe, six lanes of bowling and an upgraded bar menu by Kevin Roberts, known on local TV as “The Food Dude.” There are enough flat-screen TVs to satisfy the most severe sports junkie, as well as pool tables, arcade games and a stage for live entertainment.

PLACE TO PLAY BOARD GAMES
Get your game fix at The Whistle Stop Bar (2236 Fern Street, San Diego, 619-284-6784). Tuesday is Friends Chill night. Mellow music and glowing candles provide the backdrop as guests compete with old-school favorites Connect Four and checkers, or return to their youth with Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land.

PLACE TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES
Hot for Halo? Mad for Mind Ball? At Mudd Club (13510 Sabre Springs Parkway, 858-679-6833), gamers can choose from 50 high-end PC stations, where they can compete against each other or play online with people from around the world. Dare to dominate at Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars tournaments, or see how it’s done. Networked flat-panel displays allow everyone in the club to see real-time action.

KARAOKE BAR
We like to think we started something more than a decade ago when we introduced readers to the best combination karaoke club/dive bar in town: the Lamplighter (817 West Washington, Mission Hills, 619-298-3624). Since then, Karaoke Magazine, AOL Cityguide, Citysearch, City Beat and Sign On San Diego have also named it “best.” The bar opens at 6 a.m., but you won’t find “morning-after karaoke” here. It starts grooving around 10 p.m. most nights.

SKATEPARK
You might need a primer in skate-speak to understand why the Magdalena Ecke Family YMCA (200 Saxony Road, 760-942-9622) in Encinitas has one of the best skateparks in Southern California. But you can ask pro skateboarders Bucky Lasek, Tony Hawk or Shaun White——they all train and play at the skatepark, which features a street course (with pyramids, rails, quarter-pipe trannies, vert walls and ollie gaps), two bowls (like empty swimming pools), mini-ramps and a huge vert ramp. The Y offers lessons in a fun, safe and nonintimidating setting for people of all abilities.

POETRY SLAM
Some of the best poets in San Diego participate in the twice-a-year slams hosted by the Full Moon Poets at La Paloma Theatre (471 South Coast Highway, Encinitas, 760-944-6027). The standing-room-only event is held each summer and winter.

FREE CONCERTS
The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library (1008 Wall Street, La Jolla, 858-454-5872) was founded in 1970 by Glenna Hazleton, a devoted patron of the arts who died this year at 91. At noon on alternating Mondays from fall through spring, music lovers can hear jazz, classical, folk and world genres performed at the library and the Lyceum Theatre at Horton Plaza. Notable touring musicians, honors students, university music faculty members and local chamber ensembles participate.

SUMMER LUAU
You’ll think you’ve been whisked away to the Big Island. Feast on a generous buffet that includes kalua roast pig and watch traditional fire knife dancing and Polynesian girls hulaing to live Hawaiian music. It’s all happening Friday nights from June 29 to August 31 at the Catamaran Resort (3999 Mission Boulevard, 858-539-8668).

RESTAURANT POWDER ROOM
Downtown’s Oceanaire Seafood Room (400 J Street, 619-858-2277) resembles a lux ocean liner during Sinatra’s heyday. The ladies’ powder room has retro décor, with white-and-black tinytiled walls and old-fashioned freestanding white porcelain sinks. The toilets have individual wood-paneled rooms. Terry-cloth hand towels, cotton balls and Aqua Net hair spray grace the counter.

BEST URBAN RENEWAL
Owned and operated by Lyric Opera San Diego, the Steven & Mary Birch North Park Theatre (2891 University Avenue, Suite 1, 619-239-8836) originally opened in 1928. After being vacant for years, it was restored to its original elegance and represents the culmination of years of collaboration by the North Park community, the city of San Diego, developer Bud Fischer and Lyric Opera San Diego.

WAY TO WASTE A SATURDAY AFTERNOON
It’s not all about exercise, but it’s part of the equation: Ride your bike around Mission Bay. All the way around. All 19 miles. There’s a bike path, and it’s mostly sea level——as in flat. The only hump is the bridge east of the Belmont Park Roller Coaster. Be sure to stop along the way for re-hydration. Best bets: the draft beers at Cane’s Bar & Grill (3105 Oceanfront Walk, 858-488-1780) and the mimosas at World Famous (711 Pacific Beach Drive, 858-272-3100).

PLACE TO CUDDLE A COCKATOO
Freeflight Aviary (2132 Jimmy Durante Boulevard, 619-481-3148) in Del Mar is a bird sanctuary filled with fine feathered friends in every hue. Cockatoos and parrots chirp for attention in a tropical fern-filled garden, and a nursery contains the newly hatched.

EXAMPLE OF BIGGER IS BETTER
Move over, David Copley: There’s a new super-yacht in town. Hornblower Cruises & Events recently introduced In- spiration Hornblower (1066 North Harbor Drive, 888-467-6256), a 222-foot, three-story, luxury catamaran-style yacht. Available for charter, it has two ballroom-size decks, panoramic windows and two 30-foot-long granite-top bars. Throw in a team of chefs that prepares gourmet food onboard, and you’ve got the granddaddy of local yachts.

SAND ART
To Leucadia artist Kirk “Kirkos” Van Allyn (kirkos.net), the sandy stretches of Beacons, Swamis and Stone Steps beaches in Encinitas make the perfect canvas. Using “special ergonomic tools,” Kirkos creates elaborate geometric designs in the sand. The labyrinth design is “a walking meditation,” a sandy maze that invites onlookers, who gather en masse, to pause, ponder and even participate.

BEST GALLERY FEATURING URBAN ART
Melissa Inez Walker and Sam Pulvers opened their own gallery to fill a perceived void in the vibrant Escondido arts scene. Distinction (317 East Grand Avenue, 760-781-5779) showcases contemporary and cutting-edge artists, with “a soft focus on urban surrealism,” or urban underground art. Exhibits change every two months. The gallery occupies the bottom floor of the 7,000-square-foot building; 14 artist studios upstairs housepainters, sculptors, photographers and a jewelry designer (check out martitadesigns.com). See their work the second Saturday of every month, during an open house from 5 to 9.

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FOR YOUR HEALTH

YOGA STUDIO
After studying with the world’s top yoga masters in India, Amy and Michael Caldwell opened their downtown studio, Yoga One (1150 Seventh Avenue, 619-294-7461), which just celebrated its five-year anniversary. Amy was recently featured on the cover of Yoga Journal and appears in a new pictorial calendar created by acclaimed dance photographer Lois Greenfield.

LOCAL DIET AND FITNESS GURU WITH A TV SHOW
He’s been described as a cross between Emeril Lagasse and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Best known for his line of protein powders and weight-loss books, Carlsbad’s Jay Robb (jayrobb.com) brings his nutrition and fitness expertise to a new 30-minute TV program, The Fat Burning Chef, airing Tuesday mornings at 7 on My13 (for Time Warner and Cox subscribers) and Channel 49 (Direct TV). Robb reveals his favorite fat-burning recipes and takes viewers to the gym, where he shares exercise tips.

TRAINER FOR BABY BOOMERS
For more than six years, Addie’s Studio One on One (4440 Ingraham Street, Pacific Beach, 858-483-271; 8935 Towne Center Drive, Suite 105, University City, 858-677-9480) has specialized in keeping baby boomers fit, flexible and functional. Each client receives an extensive health and fitness assessment, nutrition advice and a customized plan from expert trainers to help optimize daily living and stay injuryfree. Owners Addie and Tyler Merrill offer an appointment-only, relaxed gym environment where working out is enjoyable and safe.

INDOOR/OUTDOOR GYM
Founded by former Charger Michael London, Pure Fitness (501 West Broadway, San Diego, 619-231-8991) offers wellness programs that include personal training, nutritional counseling, even massage therapy. There are other Pure Fitness locations (Chula Vista, El Cajon and Carlsbad). But only downtown can you go outside and Spin, lift weights or pound a boxing bag alfresco——with the downtown skyline as a welcome distraction.

WAY TO GET DIRTY WHILE EXERCISING
There’s good reason why the Camp Pendleton Mud Run (camppendletonraces.com) always sells out early. The “world-famous” 10K run/obstacle course/mudslinging event tests participants over hills, tire obstacles, river crossings and two 5-foot, mud-soaked walls. There’s also a tunnel crawl and the final 30-foot mud pit. All this while Marine personnel scream in your face. Getting fit has never been so filthy——or fun.

BIKE RIDE
Cruise the easy, 7-mile San Luis Rey River Bike Trail (760-435-3065), a long and level path in Oceanside with no street crossings. The main route travels southwest and west along the south bank of the river, passing under the College Avenue, Douglas Drive, Foussat Road and Benet Road bridges. The path is accessible from both sides of all four bridges. Bikers also can choose to take the Coaster to the trail; the west end is a few blocks from the Oceanside Transit Center.

MORNING HIKE
Take in the ocean views on an interpretive nature walk at Torrey Pines State Reserve (12600 North Torrey Pines Road, 858-755-2063), home to the Pinus torreyana, the rarest pine tree in the United States. Naturalists lead easy hikes every weekend at 10 and 2 p.m., and guests can check out nature exhibits and the history of the reserve in the visitor center. Restrooms and water are available at the beach and visitor center parking lot. Don’t forget to bring cash for the $8 parking fee.

2008 OLYMPIC FRONTRUNNERS
Two San Diegans to watch in Beijing: Monique Henderson (track and field) won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens on the 4x400-meter relay; she was an alternate at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Meb Keflezighi (track and field) won a silver medal in the men’s marathon at the 2004 Olympic Games and was 12th in the 10,000-meter at the 2000 Olympic Games.

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