San Diego Magazine

01/03/2026

A little good news to start 2026: This handsome devil was spotted a few days ago in Cardiff by eagle-eyed photographer .

While bald eagles remain a very rare sight in San Diego County, winter’s a good time to keep an eye out for our national bird. As lakes freeze over up north, the majestic birds of prey make their way down to SoCal to scoop up fish and raise chicks in friendlier climes.

And the coming years may bring more and more glimpses. In the 20th century, the pesticide DDT nearly wiped eagles out, since it thinned the bird’s eggshells and made it nearly impossible for them to reproduce. By the 1970s, when DDT was banned, there were only 30 breeding pairs of bald eagles left in the wild. A major conservation push brought the species back from the brink, and bald eagles were removed from the endangered species list in 2007. It wasn’t until a few years back, though, that we began to see a real rebound in SD County’s eagle population—and now, observant and lucky locals can catch peeks of these beautiful birds soaring, swooping, and bugging other birds of prey such as kestrels (just like this little fella).

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12/19/2025

Healthcare isn’t just about healthy bodies. Dr. Kelly O. Elmore is dedicated to helping women live fuller lives—spiritually, physically, financially, mentally, and emotionally—by finding the root causes of the barriers they face.

A board-certified OB-GYN, retired U.S. Navy captain, and global wellness strategist, Dr. Elmore empowers organizations, small groups, and individuals to put them on the path toward holistic health.

Dr. Elmore’s KOE Medical Consulting partners with hospitals, corporations, and government agencies to elevate organizational wellness, while her VivaLife SPF ME program helps women around the world live their healthiest, wealthiest lives.

If you joined us at San Diego Magazine's annual Celebrating Women Summit last month, you'll recognize Dr. Elmore—she took the stage as our inspiring keynote speaker.

Learn more about Dr. Elmore and start your wellness journey here:

Dr. Kelly O. Elmore MD’s programs help organizations and individuals research and address the root causes of the barriers to living life more fully.

12/19/2025

The people of Cowboy Star Restaurant & Butcher Shop are (finally) striking again. Sister concept She Rode West will open in Bankers Hill in 2026. Get the story here.

The owners of the beloved steakhouse & butcher shop are working on its new sister concept She Rode West opening in Bankers Hill next year.

12/18/2025

Scenes from earlier this week: pelicans took over the condemned OB Pier.

The pier has always been an excellent spot to fish. This is true whether you have opposable thumbs and a bucket of bait, or a three-gallon mouth and a dream.

And it appears that every pelican in town heard through the avian grapevine that the pier is up for grabs. The railings look like a trolley during Comic-Con. Standing room only. At least one webbed foot per square inch.

Frankly, these pelicans just won the super lotto. They’ve acquired a giant, human-free perch, directly above their food source. Oh, to eat and work and live in a single sunny spot. A true mixed-use development.

(The pier's been closed to people since late 2023 due to structural damage; in 2024, the city announced that it's beyond repair and a replacement is in the works.)

These wild shots were captured by photographer Jim Grant earlier this week. We've heard there are fewer there today. Whether pelicans end up making the pier a permanent home remains to be seen.

San Diegans, please weigh in: have you ever seen pelicans congregate like this?

12/15/2025

It began in 1950 as a downtown soup line—PB&J sandwiches, a compassionate ear, and a mission to serve the poor. That effort grew into the St. Vincent de Paul Center, which expanded rapidly in the 1980s under Father Joe Carroll, the Bronx-born priest who helped shape the organization’s modern vision.

Under his leadership, the center evolved into a first-of-its-kind “village” model, bringing housing, healthcare, and supportive services under one roof. The organization would later be renamed in his honor.

Today, Father Joe’s Villages is the city’s largest provider of homelessness-related services, serving upwards of 3,000 people each night through shelters and housing, along with addiction recovery, medical and dental care, behavioral health services, job training, childcare, and food assistance—nearly a million meals per year.

Now operating on a housing-first model, the nonprofit is expanding affordable housing, street health teams, detox and sober-living facilities, and recuperative care for people discharged from hospitals.

As Deacon Jim Vargas says, “what breaks the cycle of homelessness is a home.”

Read the full story by .sapeda at the link in bio.

12/14/2025

🚨DESSERT ALERT! WE REPEAT: DESSERT ALERT! 🚨
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San Diego, we’re on the hunt for the best desserts in the city. And we want to know what you’d put on your Mount Rushmore of locally made sweets. The brownies that made you believe in love again. The cookies that haunt your dreams. The baked Alaska that made you shed a single tear of joy. The Basque cheesecake that tastes like heaven if heaven were a custardy circle with a lightly caramelized top.

Tell us all about those desserts, including where to find ‘em. (And while we believe with our whole hearts that your great aunt might make the best berry cobbler known to man… we are solely looking for publicly available desserts from local makers.)

Now, we’re keeping our definition of dessert somewhat loose. We’re not the pastry police. Is a muffin a dessert? Sure. A donut? Eh… now we’re getting dicey. But we can definitively say this: no, almond moms, fruit is not a dessert. Perhaps if it’s the world’s finest peach.
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From here, editor and team will eat a heck of a lot of sweet treats, round up the best damn desserts in SD, and publish them all in an upcoming issue.
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We always start these searches with you guys.⁠
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Go ahead and drop your favorite spots in the comments. Your pick could make it in our upcoming issue.⁠

Pictured here: , one of the GOATs of San Diego sweets.

12/13/2025

Tonight: the Geminids meteor shower reaches its peak.

They say nothing good happens after midnight. And they are correct, especially when it comes to dark alleyways and most bars in PB. But tonight is the exception. The Geminids are putting on a SHOW.

The Geminids shower stems from Asteroid 3200 Phaethon — a fairly small (3 miles across) rocky metallic mass. (Quick refresher: asteroids are metallic, comets are mostly ice.)

If you want to watch, here’s how to do it right.

Step one: head to as remote of an area as possible. (Promise we’re not trying to lure you anywhere, though that does sound like the start of a true crime podcast. Just a necessity to avoid light pollution.) You could do Mount Laguna, Julian, Anza-Borrego, Palomar Mountain, or Joshua Tree… as long as you pack it in and out, are respectful of the locals, and don’t you dare shine a flashlight at any wildlife, you heathen.

Step two: dust off your trusty Boy Scout compass. (Or put your phone’s compass feature to work for once. Make it earn its keep.)

Step three: lay flat with your feet facing south.

And after ~30 minutes of your eyes adjusting, you should be able to spot the Geminids. (Today would be a lovely day to be an eyepatch-wearing pirate, but alas.)

The show should last til dawn. The darker it gets, the more you can see. Likely between 100 and 150 meteors per hour.

How considerate of the celestial powers that be for choosing a Saturday. And how kind of the moon to not outshine the shower, either. It’s at around 30 percent visibility. A modest queen.

Are you planning to stargaze? Or does the thought of lying down in a pitch-black, remote area sound, uh, less than enticing? (You can also try to view them from suburbia, to be clear! Just don’t come for us if it’s less than stellar.) Let us know below.

Photos from a previous shower by . Reminder: your eyes and a camera lens do not “see” the same way. So your naked eye probably won’t get this much detail. If it does, we envy your prodigious retinas.

12/12/2025

Look. This is serious, Pulitzer-worthy stuff. A few months back, we made some unbearable who’s-a-good-doggie sounds and set out to find the most soul-fluffing, adorable pets we possibly could. Why? To fill our December issue with six pages of serotonin.

We asked the public to submit photos of their little buddies and opened public voting for the first annual “Cutest Pets” competition. A biblical flood of cat glamour shots ensued.

To oomph up our selfish pursuit with a little positive social impact, we partnered with the San Diego Humane Society (). As part of this campaign, we were able to find four shelter animals a new home.

We organized a meetup between some of the winners and one of the city’s top pet photographers, Allison Shamrell (). And in our December issue, we tell their stories, from Remy (who overcame a broken back and is now all smiles) to La Vie En Rouge (a former dog show grand champion). Link in bio to read.

Note: Much as expected and beloved about cats, only one showed interest in the photo session. So, please enjoy the dogs (and cat). And, for a full list of winners, visit cutestpets.sdmag.com.

12/10/2025

Gilbert Frank and Salvatore Ercolano collect restaurants. Specifically, legendary restaurants across San Diego, like The Butcher Shop, West End Bar & Kitchen, The Godfather Restaurant, and Studio Diner. Their Iconic Eateries Group acquires beloved establishments whose owners are ready to retire, but don’t have a succession plan in place.⁠
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That’s exactly the case with Milton’s Delicatessen in Del Mar, which the group is slated to take over in January.
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Barry Robbins and David Levy opened Milton’s as a traditional Jewish delicatessen and bakery in 1995, serving classics like matzo ball soup, pastrami sandwiches, hot corned beef, bagels with lox, and what Frank calls the best challah bread in town.⁠
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Levy retired a few years back, and Robbins, who’s 70, started thinking about what was next. Something must have been in the air, because he didn’t call Frank. Frank called him, on a hunch.⁠
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Though Robbins is staying on as a silent minority owner, handing off the keys to the kingdom he and Levy built is bittersweet.⁠
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But don’t worry–Frank says he and Ercolano have no intention of doing anything but rejuvenating the menu.⁠
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“We want to take something that’s already working," he says, "but you can always strive to do better.”⁠
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Get the full story here.

https://sandiegomagazine.com/food-drink/miltons-deli-new-owners-in-del-mar/