Day 17: Gaslamp Quarter - San Diego, CA

Eric Fredericks • Wednesday July 18, 2007

We’re back in California today to one of America’s favorite cities, San Diego. I took this photo in one of my favorite entertainment spots in the country—The Gaslamp Quarter. This photo is looking down E Street toward Horton Plaza, the gigantic downtown outdoor shopping center.

The Gaslamp has one of the highest concentrations of restaurants and bars in the country—many of them with outdoor seating. Outdoor seating is a good thing to have in a city with such beautiful weather. There are dozens of ethnic restaurants and a wide assortment of bars and clubs for any type of nightlife lover. The downside of the Gaslamp is its elitist feel. It seems to be geared toward tourists and is very expensive. Don’t be fooled by some people calling it a tourist trap, however, as many locals also hang out here. I had such a blast and the people were incredibly friendly, though I’ve heard the opposite from locals.

Also, don’t be fooled into thinking that San Diego is a walkable paradise. There are many walkable neighborhoods in the San Diego region. The trolley system is pretty good. The new high rise condo and apartment towers exploding all over downtown is astounding. But, this region still has an addiction to the automobile, and in particular, freeways.

There is a freeway everywhere you look in the region, and where there is not a freeway, there’s a pedestrian-hostile arterial waiting for you. Many of the TODs you hear about are TADs in reality (transit-oriented development versus transit-adjacent development). There is just a lot of concrete everywhere.

I really do like San Diego, but I place it behind San Francisco, Sacramento, and maybe a few others for my favorite California cities. San Diego can easily become one of the most walkable cities in the world, and it’s on its way in some regards. The focus really needs to turn from the car to the pedestrian. It will (hopefully) always have the great walking and biking weather.

This article is a part of the Exploring the Walkability of America in 30 Days photo series.

 

Category: Urban Living •• Region: San Diego •• comments [1]

Day 14: Downtown - La Jolla, CA

Eric Fredericks • Sunday July 15, 2007

Downtown La Jolla, just north of San Diego, has many great shops and restaurants. It is situated along the Pacific Ocean, and has a long coastal trail with lots of parkland. This was another one of those places where it was hard to choose a photo.

This image probably would not have ranked this high on the list had it not been for the adorable kids that snuck into the photo. I always feel strange taking photos of random children because of all the paranoia associated with it today. In my line of work, it’s somewhat crucial to have photographs of children in walkable neighborhoods. So, I try and be clever about it. I also try to make sure I’m always in public space when I take photos. If I’m not, I make sure that it’s such a beautiful place that they can’t help but let me take photos.

A few days before I shot this, I was asked to delete some photos at the US Border Crossing in Tijuana, Mexico. I did not see the no photography signs and security came running after me. The Mexican guards had no problem with me taking photos, plus it was much nicer than the US side.

I think it goes without saying that La Jolla is worth a stop if you’re in the San Diego area. There aren’t many places along the coastline that aren’t worth a visit there. The downsides to La Jolla is that it does not seem to be as diverse as other California cities, and it’s really expensive.

This article is a part of the Exploring the Walkability of America in 30 Days photo series.

 

Category: Walkability •• Region: San Diego •• comments

Walking Storytime: Fred's Mexican Cafe in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter

Eric Fredericks • Thursday June 22, 2006

I promised I would give a shout out to Fred’s Mexican Cafe in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter on our site because: a) they had outstanding service, b) they had excellent food, and c) they were very walkable neighborhood friendly. So here you go, Fred’s!

The story behind my visit is somewhat interesting. I was in San Diego on business and went down to the Gaslamp Quarter one evening to check it out I was walking down 5th Avenue taking some photos. I had just shot the photo on the left (Fred’s outdoor seating) and the two girls pictured above asked me what I was taking a photo of. I told them what I was doing and why I was doing it. They also asked me to take a photo of them. They seemed very interested in walkable neighborhoods. Or maybe they were just interested in my business (I doubt it, though – they never pushed me to come in).

At any rate, I was intrigued by their happy hour specials after a long day of presentations, so I decided to go in. Once I sat down at their lovely outdoor seating venue, I could not resist ordering some of the food. I was not really in the mood for Mexican, considering that you can get Mexican anywhere in California and I wanted to try one of the many other ethnic restaurants in the Gaslamp. However, I was very impressed with their food. I especially enjoyed their black beans and salsa. I ended up chatting with the girls there for quite a while. They have really unique names that I could not possibly begin to spell correctly, so out of respect to them I will not try. But, if you see them outside of the restaurant, tell them hello from me. They are super nice.

So, the moral of the story is that if you are a restaurant owner looking for some shameless promotion, now you know I will gladly do it. – if there is great free food involved, of course! Fred’s did not give me a free meal, but I thought they deserved some promotion because the experience is one that you can only have in a walkable neighborhood. You are not going to have the same experience in a chain restaurant’s parking lot, that’s for sure. And besides, Fred is my most commonly used nickname and I felt right at home!

By the way, the Gaslamp Quarter is amazing. It is easily in my top ten favorite places in the United States. The residential towers going up all around the area are astounding. If you visit San Diego and skip the Gaslamp, you are missing out on at least half of what San Diego has to offer. I shot the night photo on the left in the Gaslamp. I will cover the district more in a future article about San Diego. I will also post the hundreds of photos I took there once the issues with my photo gallery are resolved.

 

Category: Great Places •• Region: San Diego •• Comments [1]

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