Once-overlooked Oceanside has a new vibe. Visit now before it becomes a tourist hotspot

For many years, a whole lot of vacationers neglected Oceanside. It was the blue-collar metropolis that operated within the shadow of Camp Pendleton, a seaside city with out the frills discovered farther south in Del Mar and La Jolla.

However possibly that popularity has reached its expiration date. It actually feels that manner now if you stand downtown, flanked by a pair of shiny new motels, watching the solar set past the outdated picket pier and deciding whether or not to eat vegan, tacos or barbecue on the weekly avenue truthful.

“It’s a wonderful seaside metropolis. It was a matter of time,” stated Harrison Dwelley, 33, who has simply taken over from his mother and father as co-owner of South Oceanside’s Seaside Break Cafe on the Coast Freeway.

Regardless of the pandemic, Oceanside has launched and sustained a brand new era of lodgings, eating places and retailers, together with a number of energetic locations within the neighborhood locals name South O.

When requested about his hometown’s picture, Dwelley acknowledged the outdated days, when billboards urged passers-by to “Tan Your Conceal in Oceanside,” typically in useless. He additionally talked about the continuing TNT drama “Animal Kingdom,” by which members of the depraved Cody household strut, tussle, surf and commit felonies in one in every of California’s final blue-collar seaside cities.

That present has truly lured some younger guests, Dwelley stated. But for 5 years now, as viewers have been watching the crime-soaked municipal caricature, the precise Oceanside has been edging in the wrong way.

In the midst of two journeys to the town in January, I got here to comprehend that Oceanside now could be a vacation spot with considerably extra avocado toast, artisanal espresso and designer surfwear than is required by the common TV outlaw or real-life Marine.

The truth is, the town’s final strip membership, the Principal Attraction, which endured for years throughout the road from the Chamber of Commerce, was leveled in 2021, quickly to get replaced by an upscale residence constructing. Gentrified in Oceanside.

South O

I began my South O explorations on the Inexperienced Room, a ’60s motel that’s been rehabbed right into a 12-room boutique resort. Opened final summer time, it has surf-minimalist white interiors, no foyer, forward-looking know-how and flat black exteriors.

I paid $184 (after taxes) for an evening and favored with the ability to go straight to my room and open it with my cellphone quantity. I largely favored the minimalist surfer-chic look of the place too. (Solely downside: The toilet had no place for me to put down my bathroom equipment. Extreme minimalism.)

Nonetheless in South O, I had a tasty polenta on the Plot, a vegan restaurant that opened in 2020, adopted by ceviche on the Wrench & Rodent a block away and a neighborhood brew from the Pour Home. The subsequent morning, I had half one in every of breakfast on the Buccaneer Cafe (between tiny Buccaneer Seaside and Buccaneer Park) and half two on the Captain’s Grounds, which is the star of a good-looking Coast Freeway shopping-and-snacking strip.

Alongside that strip you‘ll discover a espresso roastery, bikini store, natural hair-removal salon, yoga studio, apothecary and the Captain’s Helm, which sells classic jewellery, old-school T-shirts, torn denims and hipster books like “By accident Wes Anderson.”

As I realized, the Captain’s Helm is only the start of South O’s temptations for many who think about “thrift” a verb. Property Sale Warehouse takes up most of a metropolis block alongside the Coast Freeway, and Fortunate Road Productions antiques is throughout the road. Farther north, however nonetheless south of Oceanside Boulevard, there’s the deceptively massive Sea Hive Market with 13,000 sq. ft of classic vinyl, garments, artwork, furnishings and different bizarre outdated stuff.

Municipal Taco opened in 2020 in South Oceanside with a daring mural.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Instances)

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I had a glance in all of these locations (and was sorely tempted to purchase a forty five of Elvis Presley singing “Within the Ghetto”). For lunch and lager I ended at Municipal Taco, a brewpub that opened in spring 2021 with maybe the best mural in a city filled with cool murals: It’s Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, standing by a longboard in “American Gothic” style.

Typically, “It’s youthful locals or vacationers who’re drawn to us, as a result of we’re extra artful and upscale,” Municipal Taco common supervisor Mercedes Engren advised me. “They let if they’re native to Oceanside, and you’ll inform they need new eating places in the neighborhood to stay, so they aren’t shy about giving suggestions.”

Captain’s Grounds Espresso and Captain’s Helm classic put on are fashionable spots alongside South Coast Freeway in South Oceanside.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Instances)

Subsequent journey, I’ll attempt the Privateer, a coal-fired pizzeria, or South O Brewing Co., which opened in late 2021, pushing the town’s brewery tally to about 15.

Or possibly I’ll attempt to see a gig on the Oceanside Moose Lodge #1325, based in 1948, which now books rock exhibits and guarantees that “this ain’t your grandpa’s lodge.”

Anyway, I’m now a fan of South O. However the metropolis’s adjustments attain far past that neighborhood.

The pier, the Corps and the delicacies

Since lengthy earlier than the primary Marine confirmed up, newcomers to Oceanside have been beginning with the pier. In-built 1887 and rebuilt 5 instances since then, it stretches for 1,942 ft, which makes it a focus of the town’s three-mile shoreline and one of many longest picket piers on the West Coast.

It’s acquired loads of anglers, a bait store midway out, an empty restaurant area on the finish the place a Ruby’s Diner was, and normally a number of surfers beneath, using harmful near the pilings.

Tourism officers say a brand new pier eatery in all probability will open later this yr, as will new restrooms and different enhancements just under the pier and alongside the Strand, a mile-long beachfront avenue that’s largely pedestrian and filled with runners, walkers and cyclists, particularly round sundown.

Is the beachfront scene a random humanity state of affairs just like the Venice boardwalk? No. Is it a pageant of volleyball and prosperity just like the Manhattan Seaside Strand? No once more.

It’s in between, with loads of surfers and strolling {couples}. On the afternoon I first walked the pier, a younger guitarist named Zachary LaMontagne was taking part in “Stairway to Heaven” for ideas. He was match, his haircut was brief, and I had him pegged as a moonlighting army man.

“Nope,” he stated. “I simply appear to be a Marine.”

A surfer works the water close to the Oceanside Pier.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Instances)

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Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (inhabitants about 38,000) has been the northern next-door neighbor to Oceanside (inhabitants about 174,000) because it was established throughout World Battle II. Round downtown, you continue to see a number of army surplus shops, tattoo parlors and barber outlets, the place many Marines get their “high-and-tight” haircuts weekly.

With so many lively and retired army readily available, the town has a extra blue-collar, conservative really feel than most different SoCal seaside cities. It’s additionally extra culturally numerous, in line with the latest U.S. Census numbers.

However, as new companies multiply, Oceanside is wanting a bit extra like its civilian neighbors to the south (Carlsbad and Encinitas) and north (San Clemente).

“We favored it the best way it was. However it’s acquired to maneuver,” stated Jonny Gomez, 84, proprietor of the Esquire barber store because the early Nineteen Sixties.

Exhibit A within the metropolis’s evolution is likely to be the Tremont Collective, a restaurant-retail advanced that opened in November, changing an outdated warehouse. Tenant companies embrace Communal, a very fashionable espresso shop-florist-gift boutique; Bottlecraft, a beer bottle store and bar; Atacama Surf Store; the web surf journal Stab; Brixton clothes; a courtyard biking studio known as Verve; and a poke-and-tacos-and-beer place known as Shootz.

Bagby Beer Co., a brewery and pub that opened in 2014, stands again to again with the collective and faces the Coast Freeway. J.S. Industries — the Australia-based surfboard empire of shaper Jason Stevenson — opened final yr on Wisconsin Avenue, providing $800 surfboards in a transformed storage that’s painted flat black, just like the Inexperienced Room.

“I consider we’re now as much as eight espresso outlets in downtown,” stated Gumaro Escarcega, chief operations officer of the civic nonprofit MainStreet Oceanside. With the price of dwelling rising quick — Zillow estimates that residence values are up about 25% within the final yr — “we have now to watch out due to gentrification,” he added.

Oceanside’s restaurant growth started a few decade in the past, maybe pushed by the town’s excessive industrial emptiness fee and low rents as compared with neighboring seaside areas.

Escarcega stated the town’s restaurant surge started with ventures together with 333 Pacific (seafood, since 2009), The Flying Pig (American gastropub, since 2011), Miss Kim’s by That Boy Good (Southern barbecue, since 2012) and Native Faucet Home (American gastropub, since 2014), later joined by others together with Dija Mara (Balinese, since 2017) and Matsu (Japanese, since 2019 as a pop-up, now in a everlasting area).

Since then, the inhabitants hasn’t modified dramatically, however the variety of eating places and bars has jumped from about 50 to greater than 100, Escarcega stated.

The brewpub depend is past a dozen, augmented by Oceanside Distillers (opened in 2017, tasting by appointment) and Pacific Coast Spirits, a small-batch distillery and restaurant that opened in 2019.

The Switchboard restaurant and bar, Oceanside.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Instances)

Town’s foods and drinks choices multiply additional on Thursdays, which start with the Oceanside Farmers Market.

It runs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on a stretch of Pier View Approach simply west of the Coast Freeway. Then, from 5 to 9 p.m., you may attempt the Oceanside Sundown Market, a avenue truthful that fills two blocks of Pier View Approach and two blocks of Tremont, typically that includes stay music and scores of retailers, together with Frida’s Grill, the place I grabbed a pair of fantastic tacos whereas the night’s Grateful Lifeless cowl band was getting began.

“Good night,” the frontman stated, stepping as much as the microphone. “We’re Not All Lifeless.”

The Fin, the Brick and the massive fellas

The 2 huge new motels close to the pier are the Mission Pacific Lodge and its sibling, the Seabird Resort, each opened in Might. They’re each six tales, throughout the road from the seaside, close to the pier and managed by sub-brands of the Hyatt chain.

The Mission Pacific and Seabird motels, simply south of the Oceanside Pier, opened in Might 2021.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Instances)

Of the 2, the 161-room Mission Pacific Lodge caught my eye first. It goals to be extra modern and its Rooftop Bar is a superb spot for sunset-viewing.

Look from that roof deck and also you’ll see that the U-shaped resort is wrapped round a tiny Victorian seaside cottage. Why?

The reply is Hollywood. That little residence was Kelly McGillis’ home within the 1986 Tom Cruise Navy-pilot film “Prime Gun.” It was moved to the resort website from elsewhere on the town and is anticipated to open quickly as a dessert bar known as the Prime Gun Home.

As for the 226-room Seabird Resort simply south of the Mission Pacific, it goals to be extra timeless. It options loads of convention rooms on its floor ground, together with the inland-facing Piper restaurant. Charges at each motels begin at about $250 nightly plus a hefty $42 “visitor amenity charge.”

The Inexperienced Room, previously a `Nineteen Sixties motel, is now a 12-room boutique resort in South Oceanside.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Instances)

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The Fin Lodge, on the Coast Freeway, opened in 2018 with 27 rooms in a reclaimed Nineteen Twenties constructing with uncovered brick partitions. The resort is a part of Hilton’s boutique Tapestry assortment, but it surely seems like an indie. Weekend charges begin round $170. Its ground-floor restaurant (Hawaiian delicacies) and bar is named the Switchboard as a result of the constructing served as a communications middle throughout World Battle II. (I like to recommend the island-style French toast.)

In the meantime, there’s one other boutique lodging about to open just a few blocks away in a equally historic area. The Brick Lodge, owned by a fourth-generation native household, is because of be unveiled someday this spring. It’s a 10-room resort with a restaurant and rooftop bar in a brick constructing (now bolstered) that dates to 1888. Charges will begin round $135 nightly.

Within the subsequent few years, extra resort openings are anticipated, together with an bold mixed-use redevelopment of the Oceanside Transit Heart, the place Amtrak trains cease.

Additionally proposed: Ocean Kamp, a 92-acre mixed-use venture on the inland website of the town’s outdated Valley Drive-In that would come with housing, a resort, retail area and, consider it or not, a synthetic wave lagoon for surfers.

Not for surfers solely

Some day, possibly, that faux lagoon will likely be defined within the California Surf Museum on Pier View Approach, which must be on the itinerary of any Oceanside go to.

The museum explains the science of wave motion, particulars the historical past of the Boogie Board and features a board minimize from a 2,700-year-old sequoia. The highest attraction, nonetheless, is the surfboard that 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton was paddling off Kauai in 2003 when a 14-foot tiger shark took her left arm.

The shark’s jaws additionally took an infinite crescent-shaped chunk out of the board. Trying on the injury, it’s arduous to consider Hamilton survived the assault, returned to the water inside a month, went on to win a number of tournaments, has written a number of books, acquired married in 2013 and has three kids.

Hamilton’s story is a exceptional story of resilience and adaptation, and it’s a pleasant one to bear in mind as you wander downtown Oceanside, the place the evolution continues.

The California Surf Museum is a mainstay of downtown Oceanside.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Instances)

IF YOU GO

The place to eat

The Switchboard Restaurant & Bar, 131 S. Coast Freeway, Oceanside; (442) 266-2781; theswitchboardrestaurant.com Hawaiian-inspired delicacies in a constructing that was a communications middle throughout World Battle II.

The Plot restaurant, 1733 S. Coast Freeway, Oceanside; (442) 266-8200; theplotrestaurant.com Bold vegan delicacies.

Captain’s Grounds Espresso, 1832 S. Coast Freeway, Oceanside; (760) 522-4271; captainsgroundscoffee.com Espresso, tea, smoothies, breakfast.

Municipal Taco, 2002 S. Coast Freeway, Oceanside; (760) 231-1999; municipaltaco.com Taqueria and bar.

The place to remain

Mission Pacific Lodge, 201 N. Myers St., Oceanside; (855) 365-5078; missionpacifichotel.com 161 rooms, a number of eating places, fashionable store. Weekend charges begin at about $360 earlier than taxes, weekdays round $300, plus a $47 visitor amenity charge. Costs are largely the identical on the 226-room Seabird Resort throughout the road, 101 Oceanside Ave., Oceanside; (855) 413-7573; theseabirdresort.com.

The Inexperienced Room Lodge, 2020 S. Coast Freeway, Oceanside; (760) 978-1191; thegreenroomhotel.com 12 rooms. Weekend charges begin round $275, weekday charges round $155.

The Fin Lodge, 133 S. Coast Freeway, Oceanside; (760) 231-1897; thefinhoteloceanside.com 27 rooms. Weekend charges begin round $230, weekdays round $150.

The place to go

California Surf Museum, 312 Pier View Approach, Oceanside; (760) 721-6876; surfmuseum.org