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In Hillcrest, San Diego seeks to balance new housing with protections for LGBTQ+ nightlife

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In Hillcrest, San Diego seeks to balance new housing with protections for LGBTQ+ nightlife


When Brian Jennings purchased Number One Fifth Avenue in 2019, he did so to preserve the historic Hillcrest gay bar for future generations. Shortly thereafter, he was confronted with a major decision.

A development firm had purchased a neighboring property — an eyesore that had been vacant since 1985 — and was planning to build apartments. The firm approached Jennings and his business partner asking if they were interested in selling.

Despite the opportunity to earn a quick profit on their investment, Jennings said they weren’t interested. He supports more housing coming to Hillcrest, but not at the expense of its history and culture.

“There has been a pattern where these neighborhoods that are being built up by the LGBTQ community become much higher quality than how they started,” Jennings said. “When the gentrification happens, a lot of these institutional bars are not in a position to be able to withstand the influx of new residences.”

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While another loss of one of San Diego’s gay bars was averted, the threat of displacement remains. That’s why city planning officials and Hillcrest activists are working to establish an LGBTQ+ cultural district that they hope can balance the need for more housing with protections for the neighborhood’s nightlife.

The cultural district is one element of the Hillcrest Focused Plan Amendment, a long-term growth plan that is expected to go before the City Council this summer. The latest draft of the plan was released last month. Public comment on the plan is open until April 29.

The cultural district calls for public art honoring the LGBTQ+ community’s history in Hillcrest. Landlords of new developments would be required to disclose to their tenants that they’re opting into a historically LGBTQ+ neighborhood that can get noisy on nights and weekends. And legacy businesses would get first dibs on new commercial spaces if their property gets redeveloped.

The push for the cultural district began in 2022, after the City Planning Department had proposed an LGBTQ+ historic district. Businesses and nonprofits argued a historic district would stifle new development in Hillcrest while failing to protect the things that really matter.

“The historic designation is much more about brick-and-mortar buildings, and the cultural district is much more about people and a culture that has been created here over the years,” said Susan Jester, a longtime lesbian activist and fixture of Hillcrest who has been advising city planners.

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The Hillcrest plan still includes a historic district, but city officials agreed to ease some of the restrictions on new development in the neighborhood’s core.

Jester said Hillcrest’s bars and nightclubs are more than just places to go drinking. They have been refuges for LGBTQ+ people, who, even today, can face violence for living their lives in public.

“I couldn’t go down to the Gaslamp Quarter or anywhere else in town to dance with my partner in 1980, but I could come here,” Jester said. “Same thing with mourning a lost friend or organizing our community … It’s sacred ground to us. And we want to keep it, not just for us and for the history, but going forward so that young gay people, LGBT people, come here and continue to feel that this is a safe and protected spot for them.”

The most controversial changes the city is proposing for Hillcrest are new allowances for high-rise buildings — though such developments would have to include new public gathering spaces, such as mini parks and plazas. Parts of the neighborhood would continue to be restricted to single-family homes and duplexes.

Still, the proposed zoning changes are too extreme in the eyes of some residents in and around Hillcrest. Residents in neighboring Mission Hills have threatened to sue the city over the plan, though previous lawsuits to block denser housing in the area have mostly failed.

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City planning officials say Hillcrest’s walkability and proximity to public transit and major employers like Scripps Mercy Hospital and UC San Diego Medical Center make it a prime location for high-density housing.

Jon Anderson, a renter in Hillcrest who has been advocating around the Hillcrest growth plans, said more housing, paired with the planned improvements to bike, pedestrian and public transit infrastructure, will make it easier for new residents to live without a car — like he does.

“If you build these high rises and you have the transportation network as it’s being proposed in the plan, people will move here and they won’t bring a car, or they might only bring one car,” Anderson said. “That’s going to be what allows the neighborhood to retain the charm that it has now, I think, while still bringing more people into the neighborhood to be able to afford to live here.”

Anderson said most of the new apartments in Hillcrest are out of his price range, but that they can still ease the demand for the neighborhood’s older homes that are more affordable. He lives in a one-bedroom apartment built in the 1940s.

“When I went to renew (my lease), there were enough other vacant units in my building that they tried to raise my rent, and I was able to ask them not to, and they didn’t,” Anderson said.

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The new apartments next to Number One Fifth Avenue range in price from $2,450 per month for a studio to $4,889 per month for a large two-bedroom apartment. The developer is offering up to six weeks of free rent — the type of incentive that is increasingly common as the housing market floods with new supply.

Sixteen balconies in the new complex open up directly onto the bar’s back patio, which frequently hosts late night karaoke, dance parties and drag shows.

In an effort to get ahead of potential conflicts with neighbors, Jennings said he is spending several hundred thousand dollars to enclose the patio and contain its noise.

“It’s one of the largest investments that this bar has ever seen in history,” Jennings said. “We’re taking a big risk, but we believe that we can make it work.”

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Game 21: San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Angels

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Game 21: San Diego Padres at Los Angeles Angels


San Diego Padres (14-7) at Los Angeles Angels (11-11), April 19, 2026, 1:07 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Angel Stadium – Anaheim, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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Solans, Luna, Guilavogui help RSL beat slumping San Diego, extend unbeaten streak to 6 games :: WRALSportsFan.com

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Solans, Luna, Guilavogui help RSL beat slumping San Diego, extend unbeaten streak to 6 games :: WRALSportsFan.com


— SANDY, Utah (AP) — Sergi Solans had two goals and an assist, Diego Luna added a goal and two assists, and Real Salt Lake beat San Diego FC 4-2 on Saturday night to extend its unbeaten streak to six games.

Morgan Guilavogui scored his first goal in MLS and had an assist for Real Salt Lake (5-1-1). The 28-year-old designated player has five goal contributions in his first six career games.

RSL hasn’t lost since a 1-0 defeat at Vancouver in the season opener.

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San Diego (3-3-2) has lost three in a row and is winless in five straight.

Luna opened the scoring in the fifth minute when he re-directed a misplayed pass by Duran Ferree, San Diego’s 19-year-old goalkeeper, into the net.

Moments later, Solans headed home a perfectly-placed cross played by Luna from outside the right corner of the 18-yard box to the back post to make it 2-0. Solans, a 23-year-old forward, flicked a header from the center of the area inside the right post and past the outstretched arm of Ferree to make it 3-1 in the 37th minute.

Guilavogui slammed home a first-touch shot to give RSL a three-goal lead in the 45th.

Marcus Ingvartsen scored a goal in the 14th minute and Anders Dreyer converted from the penalty spot in the 66th for San Diego.

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Ingvartsen has five goals and an assist this season and has 10 goal contributions (seven goals, three assists) in 16 career MLS appearances.

Rafael Cabral had three saves for RSL.

Ferree finished with five saves.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer

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How San Diego Has Quietly Emerged as One of America’s Great Dining Destinations

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How San Diego Has Quietly Emerged as One of America’s Great Dining Destinations


When John Resnick opened Campfire on a quaint little street in Carlsbad, Calif., in 2016, some locals weren’t sure what to think. The coastal enclave wasn’t exactly awash in innovative, chef-driven establishments, so it was a shock to see the dining room consistently full. Early on, one woman wondered aloud to Resnick, “Where did all these people come from?”

It’s a moment he remembers vividly. “I was struck by her statement, because I think she was surprised that so many other people in Carlsbad were there,” Resnick says. 

The rest of the culinary world would take some time to catch up to what was happening. In 2019, when Michelin expanded to rate restaurants throughout all of California—not just the San Francisco area—Addison was the only one in San Diego to earn a star. But since emerging from the pandemic, the region’s food scene has grown dramatically. Driven by outstanding farms, ingredients, a bumper crop of talented chefs, and a G.D.P. approximately the size of New Zealand or Greece, San Diego County has become one of America’s most underrated dining destinations.

Campfire’s octopus, chorizo, and celery-root entrée.

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Gage Forster

Perhaps no single restaurant is a better emblem for this shift than chef William Bradley’s Addison, which opened in 2006. After landing his first star, Bradley knew he wanted more. To get them, he transformed his French-leaning fare to serve what he calls California Gastronomy, which combines the cultures of SoCal with impeccable ingredients and wildly impressive techniques, prizing flavor over flair. Michelin responded, awarding Addison a second star in 2022, and making it the first Southern California three-star restaurant just a year later. The accolade has created a halo effect, attracting culinary tourists from around the world.

Berry beet tartlets at San Diego’s three-star stalwart Addison.

Berry beet tartlets at San Diego’s three-star stalwart Addison.

Eric Wolfinger

“Earning three stars forces the global dining community to pay attention to a place that may not have been on their radar before,” says chef Eric Bost, a partner in Resnick’s four Carlsbad establishments. 

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Resnick recruited Bost, who spent time at award-winning outposts of Restaurant Guy Savoy, to run Jeune et Jolie, which he led to a star in 2021. They’ve since taken over an old boogie-board factory down the street and converted it to an all-day restaurant and bakery, Wildland. The space also hosts an exquisite tasting-counter experience called Lilo, which was given a Michelin star mere months after opening in April 2025. And as Resnick and Bost grew their successful Carlsbad operation, chef Roberto Alcocer earned a Michelin star for his Mexican fine-dining spot Valle in nearby Oceanside.

The stylish tasting counter at Michelin one-star Lilo in Carlsbad.

The stylish tasting counter at Michelin one-star Lilo in Carlsbad.

Kimberly Motos

About 25 miles to the south, another affluent coastal community is going through its own culinary glow up. In La Jolla, chef Tara Monsod and the hospitality group Puffer Malarkey Collective opened the stylish French steakhouse Le Coq. Chef Erik Anderson, formerly of Michelin two-star Coi, is preparing to launch Roseacre. And last year, Per Se alums Elijah Arizmendi and Brian Hung left New York to open the elegant tasting-menu restaurant Lucien, lured by the ingredients they’d get to serve. “A major reason we chose San Diego is the quality and diversity of the produce,” Arizmendi explains. “San Diego County has more small farms than anywhere else in the U.S., and its many microclimates allow farmers to grow an incredible range of ingredients year-round.”

Wildland’s spicy Italian sandwich.

Wildland’s spicy Italian sandwich.

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Gage Forster

Chef Travis Swikard has also been a tireless advocate for the region’s ingredients since he returned to San Diego, his hometown, and opened Mediterranean-influenced Callie in 2021. There’s no sophomore slump with his latest effort, the French Riviera–inspired Fleurette in La Jolla, where he’s serving his take on classics like leeks vinaigrette and his San Diego “Bouillabaisse” with local red sheepshead fish and spiny lobster. Its food is bright, produce-driven, and attentive in execution, while the dining room maintains a relaxed and unpretentious style of service. And Swikard sees that approach cohering into a regional style with a strong network of professionals behind it.

“It’s really nice that we are developing our own identity, not trying to be like L.A. or any other market, just highlighting what’s great about the San Diego lifestyle and ingredients,” he says. “Similar to New York, a chef community is starting to develop where chefs are supporting each other. There is a true sense of pride to be cooking here.”

Top: In La Jolla, Lucien serves ocean whitefish with tomatoes turned into concasse, sabayon, and other expressions.





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