LOS ANGELES - San Diego could be improved. If the county had 75 miles of beaches instead of 70. If the Padres won a World Series or the Chargers won a Super Bowl. Or if the municipal sloganeers dropped "America's finest city" in favor of "You stay classy, San Diego."
But this is nit-picking. Besides its most obvious tourist attractions - the beaches, the zoo and Old Town - San Diego's downtown has interesting edges, several old neighborhoods are showing new vigor, and everybody seems to be brewing artisan beer. It's kid-friendlier than San Francisco, cooler than the desert and healthier than just about any place. It's true that many San Diegans claim to hate all things L.A., but between complaints, they've built a destination that's likely to keep Angelenos coming forever. Remember the sunscreen, leave your Dodger hat in the trunk and enjoy.
Here are 11 micro-itineraries in San Diego, Coronado and La Jolla - nothing comprehensive, just a beginning, based on one prodigal son's samplings in the last few months. (Before spending the last 20 years in Los Angeles, I spent about 24 in San Diego.) Later this year, we'll return for the northern part of San Diego County, including Del Mar, Carlsbad and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, formerly known as the Wild Animal Park.)
-Wild things on land
For all the attention it gets, the San Diego Zoo (2920 Zoo Drive, San Diego) boils down to about 3,700 animals on 100 acres - not unlike certain college campuses. But instead of four years, you spend a full day, beginning at the 9 a.m. opening. Use the bus or Skyfari aerial tram to trim walking time. And be glad that, unlike the Los Angeles Zoo, this one has a pleasant full-service restaurant: Albert's, in the Lost Forest. At $32 a kid, the zoo costs about half as much as SeaWorld, and parking is free. Of course, your teenager may still drag his or her feet. That's when you disclose that the first YouTube video ("Me at the Zoo," posted April 23, 2005) was an 18-second clip of YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of an elephant at the San Diego Zoo, mumbling about its trunk. Never mind the biology, kids. Come for the ancient Internet history!
-The park and the 'hoods
Even if you omit the zoo, Balboa Park (1549 El Prado, San Diego) is among the most inviting and enlightening public spaces on the West Coast. Its 1,200 acres include more than a dozen museums (fine art, folk arts, photographic arts, cars, planes, trains, anthropology, natural history, sports) and several performing arts venues, most notably the Old Globe theaters. Then there are the gardens, the reflecting pool and a few restaurants. When you've had enough, get a bite in one of the resurgent old neighborhoods nearby. In addition to downtown and Hillcrest, there's North Park, where craft beer and well-wrought sandwiches await at Tiger! Tiger! Tavern (3025 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego). Or South Park, where you can get a burger, beer and picnic-table seat while the kids gobble hot dogs and goof off in the play area at the Station Tavern (2204 Fern St., San Diego). Or explore Adams Avenue, about 2 miles north of the park. On the 2800 and 2900 blocks in the University Heights area, you'll find plenty of antiques stores. You'll want to pause for pizza and beer at the Blind Lady Ale House (3416 Adams Ave., San Diego). Then maybe catch an arty foreign film at Kensington's arty old Ken Cinema (4061 Adams Ave., San Diego). Adams Avenue's merchants host street fairs with music in April, June and September (www.adamsavenuebusiness.com).
-Play ball and eat well
The East Village (www.sdeastvillage.com), east of the Gaslamp Quarter, is beginning to outshine much of downtown. It helps that pleasant, intimate Petco Park (100 Park Blvd., San Diego) is tucked in amid the condos, hotels, retailers and restaurants. And it doesn't hurt that the ballpark has added Hodad's, a locally renowned burger joint, to its list of food purveyors. Start your evening early with a drink or modern Mexican meal at El Vitral (815 J St., San Diego), which sits next to the ballpark. After the game, or instead of it, proceed to the small but engaging Neighborhood (777 G St., San Diego) for a drink or a casual dinner. If you like craft cocktails, secret doors and texting your reservations a week in advance, you might be interested in Noble Experiment (www.nobleexperimentsd.com, open Wednesdays-Sundays), a speak-easy whose "secret" entrance is next to Neighborhood's bathrooms. After you're finished on G Street, you may or may not be ready to weave among the many conventioneer-friendly restaurants and bars of 4th and 5th avenues in the Gaslamp Quarter. When the time is right, flop at the Hotel Solamar (435 6th Ave., San Diego), a block from the ballpark. Oh, don't try any of this July 12-15. That's when Comic-Con takes over downtown.
-Little Italy
In the early 20th century, when tuna fishing meant more to San Diego than conventioneers, Italian fishermen lived on and near India Street. Then the tuna industry began to shrivel, Caltrans put a freeway through the neighborhood, and Little Italy dwindled. Now it's back, with thematic emphasis, and India Street buzzes with shops, restaurants, bars, the occasional butcher and barber, and a handful of lodgings, all within about five blocks of the Embarcadero's historic ships (www.sdmaritime.org and www.midway.org) and eight blocks of the downtown train station. Stroll India between Beech and Grape streets, roll a little boccie in Amici Park at State and Date streets, maybe check out the galleries and design shops along Kettner Boulevard. For dinner, grab a table at Bencotto (750 W. Fir St., San Diego), where the Italian food comes with warm service amid cool, sleek design. Afterward, step over to Craft & Commerce (675 W. Beech St., San Diego), a bistro pub full of repurposed wood and red metal chairs, but no vodka or ketchup. (It's a flavor thing. Let your waiter explain.) Then La Pensione (606 W. Date St., San Diego) is waiting with 68 rooms upstairs. Failing that, the 23-room Little Italy Inn (505 W. Grape St., San Diego), which occupies an old building and feels more like a B&B, is just a few blocks away. Both offer rooms for less than $200.
-When San Diego was really Mexican
If you like celebrating a Latin culture that thrived in San Diego long ago, you need not stop with Little Italy. Follow the legions of tourists north to Old Town, which was the heart of San Diego in its years under Mexican control from the 1820s to the 1840s. Parking might be difficult unless you arrive by San Diego's well-developed trolley system (www.sdmts.com), but scores of shops, displays, kid-friendly attractions and adult-friendly margaritas await in and around Old Town State Historic Park (4002 Wallace St., San Diego). If you're shopping, check out the Fiesta de Reyes shops and restaurants (www.fiestadereyes.com) and don't overlook the nearby Bazaar del Mundo (www.bazaardelmundo.com) on the 4100 block of Taylor Street.
-Coronado
Begin with a greasy-spoon breakfast at Clayton's Coffee Shop (979 Orange Ave., Coronado), with its horseshoe-shaped counter and military specials. Then meander to the beach by the Hotel del Coronado (1500 Orange Ave., Coronado), where Navy SEALs often train and sandcastle master Bill Pavlacka often fashions amazing edifices. Because the Del is right there, you might as well get another cup of coffee at the snack bar (and if Christmas is at hand, check out the lobby decorations). From the Coronado Ferry Landing, near the north end of Orange Avenue, you can catch a ferry to downtown San Diego and back. The rest of the day can go two ways. You can get an affordable dinner at Miguel's Cocina (1351 Orange Ave., Coronado) and spend an affordable night in the same complex at El Cordova Hotel (1351 Orange Ave., Coronado). Or you can splurge with a room at the Hotel Del (rooms in the newer buildings are larger than those in the original building). Or for a more intimate scene (but no pool), try the 1906 Lodge at Coronado Beach (1060 Adella Ave., Coronado) a few blocks away.
-Getting the point
Plenty of tourists overlook Point Loma, but not you. First stop is the Cabrillo National Monument (1800 Cabrillo Memorial Drive, San Diego), where an 1850s lighthouse overlooks dramatic cliffs and tide pools. On the way, you'll see the grassy slopes of Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, where about 100,000 service members and family members are buried. Then return to Point Loma Seafoods (2805 Emerson St., San Diego), a local haunt that upgraded in early 2012, and grab a table on the upstairs deck overlooking the marina. If you were more wholesome, you'd head next to Liberty Station (www.libertystation.com), where the former Naval Training Center now contains a shopping center, nine-hole golf course and vast expanses of grass. (Escondido-based Stone Brewing Co. is due to open a Liberty Station bistro later this year.) And if you were trendier, you might dine at Gabardine (www.gabardineeats.com), a seafood spot that opened in March at 1005 Rosecrans St. Instead you pop over the hill to scruffy Ocean Beach, where surf shops, antiques sellers and bars dominate Newport Avenue, along with the Black (5017 Newport Ave., San Diego), a head shop that opened its doors when Jimi Hendrix was still touring. At the north end of Voltaire Street, Dog Beach is set aside for unleashed beasts and their servants. For dinner, try pizza or pasta at Point Loma's upscale waterfront Pizza Nova (5050 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego). Most of the lodgings here are global brands, but well-priced independents include the Bay Club Hotel & Marina (2131 Shelter Island Drive, San Diego), which sits at the water's edge with a low-key Polynesian theme, and the Pearl (1410 Rosecrans St., San Diego), a 23-room midcentury motel (with restaurant) that's been revived with hipster style. The Pearl gets some noise from street traffic, but room rates often are as low as $99.
-Mission Bay and wild things in water
Shamu beckons, and if you can face entrance fees of as much as $73 a head, you'll answer. Founded in 1964 by four former UCLA frat brothers, SeaWorld San Diego (500 Sea World Drive, San Diego) has rides, shows and scores of animals, including dolphins, penguins, seals, sea lions, polar bears and killer whales. A new Manta coaster ride has just opened. Brace yourself for big crowds on summer weekends, especially July 14 and 15 and July 21 and 22, when the annual Over-the-Line Tournament on nearby Fiesta Island draws thousands of revelers. (It's like softball but with more drinking.) Later, retire to Paradise Point (1404 Vacation Road, San Diego), a self-contained 44-acre, 462-room family resort where you can rent paddle boats, feed ducks and play miniature golf. Daunting in summer, Paradise Point's prices drop substantially in cooler months.
-Pacific Beach, sleek or rustic
Just about the sleekest thing in hard-partying P.B. is Tower 23 (723 Felspar St., San Diego), a bright minimalist hotel that faces the waves and the old wooden Crystal Pier. If you have kids along, head instead for the pier itself - the Crystal Pier Hotel (4500 Ocean Blvd., San Diego) has some cottages that date to 1930 and hang above the waves. If the beachfront parade of joggers, bikers and skateboarders is too much, try a room on the quieter bay side of Mission Boulevard at the Catamaran Hotel (3999 Mission Blvd., San Diego).
-Cliffs, coves, tide pools of La Jolla
La Jolla's scenery speaks for itself, if you can hear it over the yawp of the harbor seals that have taken over the beach at the Children's Pool near Coast Boulevard and Jenner Street. Find your way early to Coast Boulevard so you can snag street parking. Then enjoy grassy Ellen Browning Scripps Park, the Coast Walk Trail between Cave Street and Torrey Pines Road, the upscale shops on Prospect Street and the galleries on Girard Avenue. The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (700 Prospect St., La Jolla) was born in 1915 as a private home designed by modernist pioneer architect Irving Gill, and his work is all around. Gill's other works include the La Jolla Recreational Center (615 Prospect St., La Jolla) - which has a nice kids' play area - and the Bed & Breakfast Inn at La Jolla (7753 Draper Ave., La Jolla), a civilized place to stay. Gill also remodeled Wisteria Cottage (780 Prospect St., La Jolla), where La Jolla Historical Society begins its walking tours two Saturday mornings a month (www.lajollahistory.org/historic-la-jolla/walking-tours).
-Big views and Torrey Pines
The epic scenery continues at Torrey Pines State Beach (North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla), Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve (12600 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla) and Torrey Pines Golf Course (11480 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla). You might want to sleep at the Spanish-style Estancia La Jolla resort (9700 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla) or visit Birch Aquarium (2300 Expedition Way, La Jolla), where admission is $14. Later, catch a show at La Jolla Playhouse on the UC San Diego campus at 2910 La Jolla Village Drive. But while the sun still hangs high, head past the stark, concrete symmetry of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (10010 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla) to the rambling bluff top of the Torrey Pines Gliderport (2800 Torrey Pines Scenic Drive, La Jolla). Grab a snack at the Gliderport's Cliffhanger Cafe, claim a picnic table, watch the hang gliders jump and swoop. Then look south to La Jolla Cove or down 300 feet to Black's Beach, where surfers hang out and nudists frolic (or maybe it's the other way around).
IF YOU GO:
WHERE TO STAY:
Hotel Solamar, 435 6th Ave., San Diego; (610) 819-9500, www.hotelsolamar.com. A block from Petco Park, neighbored by the lively Gaslamp District. Rooms for two usually $175-$300.
La Pensione, 606 W. Date St., San Diego; (619) 232-4683, www.lapensionehotel.com. 68 rooms in Little Italy. No pool. Rooms for two usually $109-$179.
Little Italy Inn, 505 W. Grape St., San Diego; (619) 230-1600, www.littleitalyhotel.com. 23 rooms, some with kitchens. Continental breakfast included. Rates usually $99-$199.
Hotel del Coronado, 1500 Orange Ave., Coronado; (800) 468-3533 or (619) 435-6611, www.hoteldel.com. Its 368 rooms are divided among the original 1888 building and its Towers and Cabanas buildings, built in the 1970s. Rooms for two usually $275-$575.
El Cordova Hotel, 1351 Orange Ave., Coronado; (619) 435-4131, www.elcordovahotel.com. 42 rooms, pool. Rooms for two usually $104-$199, more for suites.
1906 Lodge at Coronado Beach, 1060 Adella Ave., Coronado; (619) 437-1900, www.1906lodge.com. Stylish. Two blocks from the beach. No pool. Rooms for two usually $209-$399.
Bay Club Hotel & Marina, 2131 Shelter Island Drive, San Diego; (800) 672-0800, www.bayclubhotel.com. Rooms for two usually $120-$180.
Pearl Hotel, 1410 Rosecrans St., San Diego; (619) 226-6100, thepearlsd.com. Midcentury motel with 23 rooms, redone for frugal hipsters. Rooms for two usually $99-$169.
Paradise Point, 1404 Vacation Road, San Diego; (858) 274-4630 or (800) 344-2626, www.paradisepoint.com. A 44-acre resort island, pricey but great for kids. Rooms for two usually $150-$300. For bay frontage, add about $300.
Tower 23, 723 Felspar St., San Diego; (858) 270-2323, www.t23hotel.com. Beachfront minimalism. Opened 2005. 44 rooms, most with partial or full ocean views. No pool. Rooms for two usually $229-$409, sometimes lower in winter.
Crystal Pier Hotel, 4500 Ocean Blvd., San Diego; (858) 483-6983, www.crystalpier.com. Whitewashed cottages over the water in Pacific Beach. 28 Cape Cod-style units, 27 with kitchens, dating to 1930. Most units $250-$370 a night. Summer can be fully booked up to 10 months ahead.
Catamaran Hotel, 3999 Mission Blvd., San Diego; (858) 488-1081, www.catamaranresort.com. 313 rooms. Facing Mission Bay, across the street from Pacific Beach. Rooms for two usually $189-$309.
Bed & Breakfast Inn at La Jolla, 7753 Draper Ave., La Jolla; (858) 456-2066, www.innlajolla.com. Fifteen rooms in a 1913 Irving Gill building. Rooms for two $210-$289, more for suites.
Estancia La Jolla, 9700 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla; (858) 555-1000, www.estancialajolla.com. 210 rooms on 91/2 acres next to UC San Diego. Pool, spa and hacienda-style grounds. Opened in 2004, changed owner and management in late 2011. Rooms for two (starting at about 640 square feet) usually $229-$319, plus a services fee of $17 daily. Fifteen-minute walk to ocean. Discounts for Costco members and San Diego residents.
WHERE TO EAT:
Tiger! Tiger!, 3025 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego; (619) 487-0401, tigertigertavern.blogspot.com. Draft beer and sandwiches, with prices topping out at $10. Many hipsters. No reservations.
Station Tavern & Burgers, 2204 Fern St., San Diego; (619) 255-0657, stationtavern.com. Burgers up to $7.
Blind Lady Ale House, 3416 Adams Ave., San Diego; (619) 255-2491, www.blindladyalehouse.com. Pizzas $7-$16.50.
El Vitral, 815 J St., San Diego; (619) 236-9420, www.elvitralrestaurant.com. Modern Mexican food, next to Petco Park. Dinner main dishes $18-$28.
Neighborhood, 777 G St., San Diego; (619) 446-0002, www.neighborhoodsd.com. Bar and grill. Dinner main dishes $10-$14.
Bencotto, 750 W. Fir St., San Diego; (619) 450-4786, lovebencotto.com. Mod Italian in a sleek building. Opened 2009. Main dishes and pasta dishes $12-$24.
Craft & Commerce, 675 W. Beech St., San Diego; (619) 269-2202, www.craft-commerce.com. Gastropub offering lunch, dinner and many drinks. Opened 2010. Dinner main dishes $11-$16.
Clayton's Coffee Shop, 979 Orange Ave., Coronado; (619) 435-5425; no website. A greasy spoon dating to 1941. Dinner main dishes to $10.95.
Miguel's Cocina, 1351 Orange Ave., Coronado; (619) 437-4237, www.brigantine.com/miguels(underscore)cocina/location-coronado.html. Unpretentious Mexican food across the street from the Hotel del Coronado. Dinner main dishes $9-$18.
Point Loma Seafoods, 2805 Emerson St., San Diego; (619) 223-1109, pointlomaseafoods.com. Fresh seafood in a newly renovated two-story building overlooking the harbor. Hours 9 a.m.-7 p.m. most days, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sundays. Main dishes up to about $16, sandwiches $8-$12.
Pizza Nova, 5050 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego; (619) 226-0268, www.pizzanova.net. Waterfront views and wood-fired pizzas in an upscale dining room. This local chain has three locations. Dinner main dishes and pastas $9.25-$16.95.
FOR MORE INFO:
San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, www.sandiego.org.
Urbanistguide.com for listings of independent restaurants, shops and other businesses in older neighborhoods south of Interstate 8.
Christopher Reynolds: chris.reynolds@latimes.com
Source: www.sacbee.com
California deficit drives shift in state's welfare philosophy - Los Angeles Daily News
LOS ANGELES - Pressured by a $16 billion budget deficit, Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing a major overhaul of the state's welfare-to-work program with the strategy of slashing people's benefits to motivate them to get jobs faster.
The move, if approved by the state Legislature as part of the 2012-13 budget package, would save $880 million, but beyond the savings, analysts say it represents a shift in the philosophy of how the Golden State helps its neediest residents.
"It's a reversal of the state's historic commitment to these families and children," said Scott Graves, senior policy analyst with the California Budget Project. "It's a very significant change."
California is the national leader in welfare recipients. About 3.8 percent of state residents were on welfare in 2010, the highest percentage in the country. In fact, California houses about a third of the nation's welfare recipients, while only housing one-eighth of the national population.
Most of the recipients, however, are children - more than three-quarters of the 1.5 million in the welfare-to-work program CalWORKs, which stands for California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids. The rest are mostly single mothers who must work or participate in job training and related activities to receive cash assistance.
The state has traditionally held a relatively generous attitude toward welfare. For instance, CalWORKs gives cash grants to children even when their
parents are ineligible for benefits for various reasons, such as being illegal immigrants, receiving disability, or failing to abide by the program's rules. Only three other states - Indiana, Oregon and Arizona - have such an expansive policy.California also allows parents to receive job services and cash grants for up to four years. Before last year, the limit was 60 months.
The policies have made the program an expensive budget line - the state spends $2.9 billion on CalWORKs and related programs - and an easy target for lawmakers looking for costs to trim with little political fallout. In years past, lawmakers have proposed doing away with benefits to children with ineligible parents and even slashing the whole CalWORKs program.
The state's budget woes have given renewed impetus to whittle away at CalWORKs. Last year, the maximum five-year benefit period shrunk to four years and monthly grants were diminished 8 percent. A family of three currently receives $638 a month, less than the rate in 1988.
For the next fiscal year, the governor is proposing more sweeping cutbacks, including a 27 percent cut in cash assistance to children with ineligible parents and further slashing the time limit for full benefits from four years to two years.
Other rule changes would restrict benefits to mothers of younger children and families earning poverty-level wages and increase sanctions on those who violate program terms.
"We felt the program was losing its focus of welfare-to-work," said Todd Bland, deputy director the state Department of Social Services' welfare-to-work division. "The reason we wanted to refocus is because of the very difficult budget environment."
The changes also come at a time when California is appealing federal penalties of $160 million because it failed to move enough welfare recipients to private sector jobs of at least 30 hours a week in 2008 and 2009, a requirement to receive federal money that helps pay for CalWORKs. Many California recipients are given part-time, publicly subsidized jobs so they get work experience.
CalWORKs recipients say getting a regular job that pays enough to support a family is not easy as lawmakers think.
Sarah Smith, a 31-year-old divorced mother of four in Los Angeles County, had been a stay-at-home mother since the age of 18, only working sporadically between having children. She was forced to turn to CalWORKs a year ago after her husband stopped paying child support. She received $850 a month in cash aid and $700 in food stamps.
She's also been able to make herself more marketable through the job services the program offers. She's beefed up her clerical skills, self-confidence and resume with a minimum-wage, temporary job as a customer service assistant with the county Department of Social Services, but the job ends this month.
She's hoping she now will be able to find a permanent job. If not, she will try for a subsidized job program where the county pays half her salary and the private employer pays the rest.
Policymakers don't realize that people need a chance to rebuild their lives, Smith said, adding that CalWORKs aid is far from enough to live on.
"It's still a juggling act," she said. "People are trying to get jobs. No one really wants to be on welfare. Most people are trying to get off it."
Nearly half of CalWORKs families move off the program within two years, but about 18 percent are long-term. Those families are often have very young children and headed by parents who lack a high school diploma or job skills, or have a family member with a disability, according to a report by the Public Policy Institute of California.
Brown's reforms aim to get parents off welfare before they become entrenched. The plan calls for parents to be hired or employable within two years of entering the program by providing job training and counseling, mental health, substance abuse and domestic violence support services, and child care. They must either work or participate in those activities to get the cash aid.
After two years, the services and some money would be cut off if they do not find a private sector job - a move that would affect about 130,000 parents, according to the state Legislative Analyst's Office.
Those parents could still receive a much-reduced cash benefit for child maintenance. A parent with two children would receive $375 a month, a drop of $263.
If parents do find employment, they could still be eligible to receive services such as child care for another two years and some cash aid if their income remains below a certain level.
Social service providers say it's overly optimistic to expect the private sector to absorb tens of thousands of people, many with minimal job skills, with California's unemployment rate the second highest in the nation at 10.9 percent in April. Only 11 percent of CalWORKs parents had private sector jobs of at least 30 hours week in 2009, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
"CalWORKs recipients are living on a shoestring as it is," said Frank Mecca, executive director of the County Welfare Directors Association of California. "This is going to plunge many children into poverty and likely increase homelessness. You're shredding the safety net at a time when it's needed most."
Republicans say it's about time California pushed harder to get people to self-sufficiency, and say more is needed. Halving the time limit is a good move, but continuing to give parents cash for children with no strings attached defeats the purpose of welfare-to-work.
"It removes the responsibility from the parent. You're taking away the accountability from the oversight of the program," said Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, vice chairman of the Assembly Human Services Committee.
Instead of focusing on half measures of welfare reform, the governor should concentrate on job-stimulation strategies so people have a place to go, he said. "If there's no regulatory reform, he's wasting his time," Jones said.
The debate over CalWORKs' mission is likely to continue, especially if state revenues continue to fall short, said Caroline Danielson, policy fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.
"The interest is in reorienting the program toward work," she said.
Source: www.dailynews.com
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