Stay Classy San Diego

Definitely the zoo, wild animal park, and Balboa Park (even if there's nothing explicit going on). PB has a good selection of thrift stores, as well as a ton of bars. Everything is pretty much on Garnet. I'm a fan of Tiny's in OB, but if you want to hit a bunch of bars in one night, you'll want to be on Newport Ave, so you can walk. http://entertainment.signonsandiego.com/ has a pretty good entertainment/dining section. I like the Shouthouse downtown -- it's dueling piano bar.

On Tijuana: pretty soon, I don't know if it starts on January 1 or not, they'll start requiring you to have a passport for re-entry into the US. Something to keep in mind if you plan on going down there. If you do go, definitely go for the daytime-type stuff; the nightlife is really just for college kids who can't get into a real bar. As for bars on this side of the border, the recommendations will kind of depend on what kind of bar you like. Downtown/Gaslamp is almost all trendy clubs and discos, generally popular with yuppie-type people in their late 20s and early 30s, as well as tourists. It might be something to check out for one night just to see it, and then go back if that's your thing. Garnet Avenue in PB has tons of bars and is where all the college kids and people who've just moved here after graduating college go; generally an early/mid-20s crowd. The bars there are generally okay, but they're basically giant meat-markets. I don't think I've gone there on a regular basis in more than 7 years. It's fairly convenient to you if you're staying in La Jolla, though. OB is kind of like our version of Venice Beach--an old -hippie-ish beach town. The bars on Newport are generally pretty divey, with the exception of the Sunshine Brewing Company, which seems more like it belongs in PB. I never thought I'd see someone else on here that was a fan of Tiny's--it's a good little bar that's expanded quite a bit in the last few years, and has a decent food menu and pool tables. They only have beer and wine though. Personally, my favorite place is the Aero Club in Middletown--kind of divey, with pool tables, a nice atmosphere, and one of the better jukeboxes in town. There are other places around too, like the Whistle Stop, Livewire, Scolari's Office, and Lancers, but if you want to go bar-hopping and hit more than one place in a night your best bets will be Gaslamp, OB, and PB. Sadly, La Jolla just doesn't have much of a nightlife so you're going to have to get out a bit. I used to go to Lou's records all the time, but they've fallen on hard times lately and don't have quite the selection that they used to, mostly thanks to people buying music online. You can still find some unusual stuff there, but they've reduced their inventory by at least one third from what it was even three years ago. Otherwise, there's Taang records in Hillcrest on 5th Ave, which is also a bit of a record label (they release some Spacemen 3 recordings), Off the Record in North Park on University near 30th, and M-Theory in Mission Hills on Washington. Those places are all pretty small, though. There's a bunch of thrift stores in the area around Off the Record, but I don't know if those are the kind you're looking for--they're mostly just cheap stuff, not really great places for "vintage" clothing, although you may find something. The area around Taang records in Hillcrest is probably our best shopping district, with used clothing store across the street and right next door. Outside of that and some other areas you're mostly looking at chain stores and malls. If you're looking for super high-class shopping, you're staying in the right area--downtown La Jolla (basically Girard St.) is hard to beat. The art museum can be good too, depending on what exhibitions they have. zerobyproxy mentions LA being somewhat closer since you're staying in La Jolla, but I live in center city, and La Jolla's less than 10 miles from me, so if you're thinking of going to the Getty Center or anywhere in the northern basin, you're chopping ten minutes of a 2.5 hour drive (on a really good day). Whoop-de-doo.

I'm really not a fan of the Cohn restaurants either - I had a deeply mediocre meal at the Prado. La Jolla & the Gaslamp, in my opinion, are overpriced. I recommend: - The Linkery in North Park (yummy handmade sausages) - Jyoti-Bihanga in Normal Heights is a weird cult vegetarian place that has amazing food & yummy chocolate milkshakes - Crest Cafe in Hillcrest for downhome style cooking & burgers. - Mama Testa's in Hillcrest for Mexican For entertainment, http://www.sdcitybeat.com/cms/index/ has good music listings. The zoo/wild animal park are always fun, and the baby panda has just started being displayed at the zoo. If you want to see whales, skip Sea World and go on a whale watch - the grey whale migration has just started. (You can also watch for the spouts at sunset from the cliffs in La Jolla or Point Loma).

For the record, I've never had a bad meal at any of the Cohn restaurants. They aren't the pinnacle of great gourmet cuisine in San Diego, but they're certainly worth the money, and worth trying.

No, no, no, avoid the Cohn restaurants unless you like plastic, overpriced food. (Sorry booknerd, but really!) I guess the happy hour at the Prado is okay, more for the atmosphere than the food. Check out http://www.mmm-yoso.typepad.com/ for great recommendations of amazing ethnic cuisine, or if you scroll down http://porterx.com/blog/there are some great places on the sidebar of that page that are a bit fancier.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/thirsty-moon-records-san-diego, http://www.yelp.com/biz/record-city-san-diego, http://www.offtherecordmusic.com/ and http://www.mtheorymusic.com/ in central SD. http://www.lousrecords.com/ is further north (as mentioned), in Encinitas. However, if you've never been to http://www.amoeba.com/, you should just drive to LA and record shop to your heart's content. SD record stores are all teeny tiny in comparison. If you like beer, I'd recommend http://www.hamiltonstavern.com/, in South Park. I'm not really going to throw other bar recommendations out because if you plan to visit OB and the Gaslamp, you probably wouldn't like any of the dive-y bars I go to. Shopping/walking areas that I like include North Park, South Park, Hillcrest, Mission Hills -- basically all of central San Diego. All of those record stores are in these neighborhoods too, and lots of cute little restaurants and bars, as well as all the thrift shops and second hand clothing places. The http://www.cohnrestaurants.com/cohn/cohnrestaurants/mrtiki.php has a number of classy, delicious restaurants (included the Prado in Balboa Park), but I particularly love Mr. Tiki's Mai Tai Lounge. That's in the heart of the Gaslamp, so there's also a lot of shopping around and bars and whatnot, so you could definitely make an afternoon/evening out of shopping, dinner, and drinks. You shouldn't skip Balboa Park and the zoo. They're really the best part of San Diego, by far. Also, I'm 23 and a San Diego native with entirely too much time on my hands, so send me an email if you want a tour guide while you're here. :)

Get some carne asada french fries from a taco stand. Especially good after a night partying.

the last time i was there, i went http://www.sandiegobikeandkayaktours.com/. it was a blast.

The Wild Animal Park animals seem to be in the most acceptable environment so I like it the best. I don't think there are any "shows" there, but it's cool. There's at least a bird show and an elephant show, but there's a lot more going on than just those. Nonetheless, for me, the bird show is the best animal park show in town.