The Beaches of San Diego
North to South:
Blacks
La Jolla
Pacific Beach (PB)
Mission Beach
Ocean Beach (OB)
Coronado Beach/Island
Imperial Beach (IB)
Blacks
There are two features exclusive to this beach: a glideport for hangliders and a nudebeach for naked people. Fortunately, as far as I know, nobody hanglides naked. Officially called Torrey Pines City/State Beach, the location is the reason for its special claims to fame. The glideport is at the top of 300 foot cliffs and offers a picturesque if daunting precipice for launching. Those same tall cliffs afford a privacy for the nude sunbathers who enjoy more the freedom of uncovered skin than the oogling of bystanders-not to say that some don’t enjoy both. But what really makes this beach great to locals is the surf. Surfers trek down the steep, winding cliffs (and by the time they get to the water every muscle in their body is loose, ready and sweating) to find some of the best surf in San Diego. Once on the beach, it’s a beautiful walk that seems more a distant tropical paradise than the edge of a major American metropolis. The difficult-to-get-to Blacks Beach is an adventure worth exploring-just don’t take small children that like to point.
La Jolla
La Jolla is home to San Diego’s rich beach folk and birthplace to the margarita (not Mexico, as often thought.) Its mile long stretch of sand is bookended by the Scripps Pier and the La Jolla Cove. This is where you go if you want to see the sea’s wildlife. There are a few volleyballs courts and a few more surf schools. The parking lot is always full and I almost pity the residents because their narrow streets are always littered with beachgoers’ cars. The water is full of waders, not swimmers as much as waders really, and surfers. The southern part of the beach is called ‘the shores’ and the northern part where the pier resides is ‘Scripps.’ Longboarders and novice surfers like the shores while the shortboarders rip at Scripps. Lots of retired people and rich house-spouses exercise on the beach. There’s a grassy area for those who want to barbeque or get away from the hot sand. Clean, usually friendly (though sometimes snotty), this beach is made for the brochures.
Pacific Beach
Corporate America mated with California Beach and they birthed Pacific Beach. Affectionately called PB, the locals muse that the ‘P’ stand for ‘perfect,’ and it quite possibly is for them, while others tease that it represents ‘preppy’ or ‘pretentious.’ Really it’s a long stretch of beach with an awesome boardwalk (welcoming skaters, bladers, bikers, runners, walkers, dogs, if your cat can walk, bring it.) Because its boundary with the southern Mission Beach is covered in sand, this is ideal for beachgoers who want the California forever-long (approximately 2 miles) beach experience. You can find everything here: boardwalk restaurants and shops; endless games of horseshoes, Frisbee, and whatever is the newest fad; plenty of breaks for surfing, body boarding, swimming and, the tourist favorite, wading. You can also find pretty much every fast food, video rental, grocery and catch-all chain-and yes, people do really line up outside the Dairy Queen. Lots of young people, lots of college students, lots of couples early in their marriage, lots of tourists.
Mission Beach
Mission Beach manages to do something quite phenomenal really. It is the only San Diego beach with a roller coaster. It is also the only beach to offer ocean or bay views. It also has more stop signs than the entire state of Mississippi. But what really makes all those things amazing is that this community manages all this on a strip of land two miles wide. Find a picture and you’ll see what I mean, I won’t try to scuttle your brain with trying to explain it with words but suffice it to say Mission Beach housing covers 1/926th the territory of Pacific Beach. The beach is full of even more tourists than Pacific quite possibly because all the locals have taken over PB and the pale-skins are forced to move south into Mission. The boardwalk extends through Mission so that you skate by shops that remind you of old Venice Beach. Mission is paradoxical in that it in some parts are run-down apartments and often times right across the street the homes are absolutely patrician.
Ocean Beach
“OB” is the Haight-Ashbury of Southern California. When Hollywood recently filmed a movie circa 1960s all they had to do to revamp the business district was bring in old cars. Yeah, it’s changed that much. In this relaxed and friendly community, everyone walks barefoot or wears flip-flops. The just-shy-of-a-mile beach curves around into Dog Beach and the San Diego River. Dog Beach is the playground (and often fire hydrant) of the city’s hounds. Walking along the marshy area that sidelines the river is a mellow stroll with stork sightings. At the other end of the beach, the longest pedestrian bridge on the west coast of the U.S. is a haven for fishing and walking. Bring a hungry stomach, because the pier’s sole cafÃ?© makes the greatest mango pancakes ever. The beach is great (if prone to pollution problems because of the river) because it feels snug with a river to the north and cliffs to the south. OB is definitely the most-diverse-in-the-smallest-area beach. Because the other beaches are easier to get to and more tourists go to them, you’ll get a feel for local beach life here. Very local. Very chill.
**The I-must-be-in-Northern-California Sunset Cliffs line the western edge of the Point Loma peninsula south of OB. They have their own walking trails, amazing surf breaks and hidden beaches. If you go to OB, you have to drive the winding roads along the cliffs above the ocean-you’ll feel like you’re in one of those TV commercials.
Coronado Beach
If you have seen the movie “Some Like It Hot,” Coronado will become that winsome black and white movie for you. The classic film starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis used the Hotel del Coranado and surrounding area for its setting, thus ensuring the small island and its castle-like hotel a chimerical legacy. Coronado is to San Diego as Cape Cod is to Boston, except without the ferry ride. People ride their bikes. The houses are as beautiful as they are expensive. The shopping district is understated but glorious. The beach is clean and expansive, plenty of rocks to climb over and hide under. There’s a yacht club. Lots of kites, not as much surfing, plenty of swimming. A stroll around the island, especially on the beach, offers stunning views of the San Diego metropolis. Yeah, there are plenty of tourists, but it’s a resort feel. Everybody is happy here. Here is one gets a genuine sense of having left the mainland behind.
Imperial Beach
When you reach “IB,” you have reached the most southwestern city in the continental United States. It’s worth going just for the visual image in your head. IB is a very long stretch of beach that is never as crowded like the other beaches. It is home to the Navy Seal training-don’t venture over there, they really don’t like that. The southern most point of the beach sees the biggest waves in San Diego. If you want to ride or watch others ride waves twenty feet tall, this is the beach for you. Its pedestrian bridge has speakers-so often when you’re playing in the waves you can jam to the some tunes, which is quite a surreal thing (though less pleasant when commercials come on the radio stations.) Unfortunately, IB is close enough to Mexico that it often suffers pollution problems. The expansive beach is a serious draw for the locals from southeastern San Diego because of its accessibility. If you make it in July, you have to go see the sand castle contest. This unbelievable three-day affair brings in 300,000 people and offers parades, fireworks and almost $15,000 in prizes.
For more information:
http://www.sandiego.gov/lifeguards/beaches/
