Monday, July 07, 2003
Okay, I said I’d say something about how I like San Diego thus far. In short: a lot!
When I first arrived, so looking forward to the fabled San Diego climate, I instead found nothing but clouds and fog and drizzle and cool temps. My friends back in Minnesota were having better weather—that really frosted me! Unbeknownst to me, I’d arrived here right in the midst of an annual phenomenon known as “May Gray and June Gloom.” I don’t understand all the science of it, but apparently it has something to do w/ a cold, still air layer over the ocean hitting the land and stalling. This happens every year at this time, so the locals expect it, and consider May and June their “winter.” They told me to just wait a few weeks and I’d get the San Diego weather I’d been expecting. Sure enough, just as the calendar pages turned from June to July, the sky cleared and the temps rose.
Thus far I’ve found the city fairly easy to get around. I haven’t explored very far out of the Linda Vista/Fashion and Mission Valley/Hillcrest/CBD areas, however.
Like many/all? large cities, it’s really a collection of neighborhoods and small towns. The area to the east of USD is now heavily Vietnamese. Our nearest shopping center is all Vietnamese stores and goods. To the west it’s mainly a commercial area. South is a bit of residential, then a golf course and a freeway. North is some open space and lots of condominiums and apartments. Fashion Valley is a huge mall with all the wonderful stores I mentioned earlier, and adjacent Mission Valley is one huge shopping megaplex—a bunch of newish strip-mall centers w/ interlocking parking lots.
On Sundays I’ve mostly been going to St Paul’s Cathedral, which is downtown, in between Hillcrest and the Central Business District, adjacent to Balboa Park. Hillcrest is the gay quarter in San Diego. Rainbow flags flying above every boutique and café and restored bungalow. Once I have some free time I’m sure I’ll enjoy browsing and noshing down there. St Paul’s has a ton of gay members and has a long history of advocacy for lesbigay issues (and other justice issues too). So far I’ve liked what I’ve seen of the parish. The new Dean seems very energetic and a good preacher. I’m also in the process of checking out some other parishes in the area that I’ve heard good things about: All Souls Point Loma and St James LaJolla.
Two weeks ago I started my internship, which takes me down to the central business district. I’m at Gaglione, Coleman and Green LLP, whose offices are on the tippy-top floor of Symphony Towers, right next to the University Club. A very posh address, and killer views from the floor-to-ceiling windows. I can see the bay, the bridge to Coronado, the new Petco Park baseball stadium under construction. I was worried about the commute right at the heart of morning rush hour, but so far I’ve been lucky—there haven’t been any traffic tie-ups any of the mornings I’ve had to go in, and it takes me about 20 minutes door-to-door.
Speaking of traffic reports. . . . Neither Rochester MN nor Charlottesville VA had traffic enough to warrant regular radio traffic reports. San Diego has traffic reports all day long, sometimes 7 days a week. Yes, Sunday afternoon traffic frequently warrants a traffic report here. And I heard a report the other day that I certainly never heard in the metro DC area or the Philly/Trenton corridor:
“If you’re heading west on The 8, watch out for a surfboard in the right lane at Mission Valley.”
By the way, it’s a SoCal affectation to preface all interstate freeway numbers with “The.” So one takes The 8 to The 15. As near as I can tell, non-interstates don’t take “the”, but I’m not totally sure of the syntax quite yet.
In Minnesota folks pride themselves on being “Minnesota nice.” Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but so far I’ve found San Diegans to be as nice as the Minnesotans. Or maybe it’s that Rochester is cosmopolitan enough that it’s less “nice” than the rest of Minnesota, so my perspective is skewed.
I made my first pilgrimage to the beach Friday a week ago, spending the afternoon on the sand at Coronado, and then browsing the shops on the main strand. A very lovely day.
Well, that’s all I can think of to bore you with now. If you want to see pics of my surroundings, and of the beach, check out the “San Diego” album at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/esoterica1693
Now back to the books. . .
When I first arrived, so looking forward to the fabled San Diego climate, I instead found nothing but clouds and fog and drizzle and cool temps. My friends back in Minnesota were having better weather—that really frosted me! Unbeknownst to me, I’d arrived here right in the midst of an annual phenomenon known as “May Gray and June Gloom.” I don’t understand all the science of it, but apparently it has something to do w/ a cold, still air layer over the ocean hitting the land and stalling. This happens every year at this time, so the locals expect it, and consider May and June their “winter.” They told me to just wait a few weeks and I’d get the San Diego weather I’d been expecting. Sure enough, just as the calendar pages turned from June to July, the sky cleared and the temps rose.
Thus far I’ve found the city fairly easy to get around. I haven’t explored very far out of the Linda Vista/Fashion and Mission Valley/Hillcrest/CBD areas, however.
Like many/all? large cities, it’s really a collection of neighborhoods and small towns. The area to the east of USD is now heavily Vietnamese. Our nearest shopping center is all Vietnamese stores and goods. To the west it’s mainly a commercial area. South is a bit of residential, then a golf course and a freeway. North is some open space and lots of condominiums and apartments. Fashion Valley is a huge mall with all the wonderful stores I mentioned earlier, and adjacent Mission Valley is one huge shopping megaplex—a bunch of newish strip-mall centers w/ interlocking parking lots.
On Sundays I’ve mostly been going to St Paul’s Cathedral, which is downtown, in between Hillcrest and the Central Business District, adjacent to Balboa Park. Hillcrest is the gay quarter in San Diego. Rainbow flags flying above every boutique and café and restored bungalow. Once I have some free time I’m sure I’ll enjoy browsing and noshing down there. St Paul’s has a ton of gay members and has a long history of advocacy for lesbigay issues (and other justice issues too). So far I’ve liked what I’ve seen of the parish. The new Dean seems very energetic and a good preacher. I’m also in the process of checking out some other parishes in the area that I’ve heard good things about: All Souls Point Loma and St James LaJolla.
Two weeks ago I started my internship, which takes me down to the central business district. I’m at Gaglione, Coleman and Green LLP, whose offices are on the tippy-top floor of Symphony Towers, right next to the University Club. A very posh address, and killer views from the floor-to-ceiling windows. I can see the bay, the bridge to Coronado, the new Petco Park baseball stadium under construction. I was worried about the commute right at the heart of morning rush hour, but so far I’ve been lucky—there haven’t been any traffic tie-ups any of the mornings I’ve had to go in, and it takes me about 20 minutes door-to-door.
Speaking of traffic reports. . . . Neither Rochester MN nor Charlottesville VA had traffic enough to warrant regular radio traffic reports. San Diego has traffic reports all day long, sometimes 7 days a week. Yes, Sunday afternoon traffic frequently warrants a traffic report here. And I heard a report the other day that I certainly never heard in the metro DC area or the Philly/Trenton corridor:
“If you’re heading west on The 8, watch out for a surfboard in the right lane at Mission Valley.”
By the way, it’s a SoCal affectation to preface all interstate freeway numbers with “The.” So one takes The 8 to The 15. As near as I can tell, non-interstates don’t take “the”, but I’m not totally sure of the syntax quite yet.
In Minnesota folks pride themselves on being “Minnesota nice.” Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but so far I’ve found San Diegans to be as nice as the Minnesotans. Or maybe it’s that Rochester is cosmopolitan enough that it’s less “nice” than the rest of Minnesota, so my perspective is skewed.
I made my first pilgrimage to the beach Friday a week ago, spending the afternoon on the sand at Coronado, and then browsing the shops on the main strand. A very lovely day.
Well, that’s all I can think of to bore you with now. If you want to see pics of my surroundings, and of the beach, check out the “San Diego” album at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/esoterica1693
Now back to the books. . .
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