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San Diego,
Culture Culture: Tickets for cultural performance and events are available for purchase from Ticketmaster (tel: (619) 220 8497; ). Cultural listings are available online at San Diego’s premier performance and events website (www.sandiegoartandsol.com). San Diego Magazine () is another well‐regarded source of information. Music: The San Diego Symphony, 1245 Seventh Avenue (tel: (619) 235 0804; fax: (619) 235 0005; ), is known as much for its versatility as for its excellence. Its concerts range from classical symphony pieces to indigenous cultural music and summertime pop concerts at the seaside. Its indoor events are generally held in the historic Copely Symphony Hall, 750 B Street (tel: (619) 235 0804). There is also the Annual Mainly Mozart Festival in June, featuring music by Baroque, classical and Romantic composers (including Mozart), at selected venues in San Diego and Baja California (tel: (619) 239 0100; ). Theatre: The Lamb’s Players Theatre, 1142 Orange Avenue, Coronado (tel: (619) 437 0600; ), is one of San Diego’s oldest venues for professional theatre. Its European‐style seating and intimate character lends to its success as a popular contemporary theatre. The Tony award‐winning Old Globe Theatre, located in Balboa Park, north of the Museum of Man (tel: (619) 239 2255; ), has three stages. Summer productions usually include Shakespeare. The Starlight Theatre company (tel: (619) 544 7827; fax: (619) 544 0496; ), is one of San Diego’s oldest and most respected musical theatre companies, with a classical repertoire. Its year‐round venues include the Starlight Bowl, Presidents Way and Park Boulevard, Balboa Park, Spreckels Theatre, 121 Broadway (tel: (619) 235 0494), and Civic Theatre, Third Avenue and B Street (tel: (619) 615 4100). Dance: The California Ballet, 4819 Ronson Court (tel: (858) 560 5676 or 6741; fax: (858) 560 0072; e‐mail: info@califoniaballet.org; ), has seasonal performances of contemporary and classic ballets, performed at a variety of venues, including the Civic Theatre (see above) and the David and Dorothea Garfield Theatre, Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, La Jolla (tel: (858) 362‐1348 or (858) 362 1365). Film: Most San Diego malls have cinemas. The Horton Plaza Shoppingtown mall, Downtown, has a United Artist theatre (tel: (619) 234 8602) that shows first‐run movies. The Mission Valley Centre, Mission Valley, 1640 Camino del Rio North (tel: (858) 296 2737), has a 20‐plex AMC theatre, which is the largest of its kind in the western United States. Arthouse films are shown at Cinema Star Theatre, Chula Vista (20 minutes south of San Diego), and the Hillcrest Cinema, 3965 Fifth Avenue (tel: (619) 299 2100), which is a well‐respected arthouse cinema that shows quality films from around the world. The San Diego Latino Film Festival takes place every March at the Cinema Star Theatre. Showings include productions from the United States as well as Latin America. Most films are in Spanish with English subtitles. The most famous San Diego film is Top Gun (1986), which starred Tom Cruise. The Kid from Left Field (1979), starring Gary Coleman and Robert Guillaume was a San Diego favourite, about a small boy who guides the San Diego Padres baseball team to the World Series. James Cameron’s epic movie Titanic (1997) was filmed less than an hour from San Diego, near the Mexican resort town of Rosarito. The studio now includes a Titanic Museum of sets, props and relics from the film. Cultural events: There are festivals and events to celebrate just about every culture in San Diego. The Santa Fe Market brings together artisans and performers from the Navajo, Cherokee, Hopi, Pima, Isleta Pueblo and Santo Domingo Pueblo Indian tribes, along with other cultures, at Old Town’s Bazaar del Mundo, each Spring (April). The Border Voices Poetry Fair, also in April, at San Diego University, links writers and musicians from Latin America and the United States, in an unusual presentation of the written word. San Diego’s Cinco de Mayo (Fifth of May) celebration in Old Town (Bazaar del Mundo) is one of the best on the West Coast. Celebrating San Diego’s Hispanic heritage, it is a blending of dance, theatre, food and history. The Sony Artwalk (tel: (619) 615 1090; e‐mail: info@artwalkinfo.com; ) takes place in April and is an excellent way for visitors to experience some of the city’s unusual history. Centred primarily around the Downtown quarter of Little Italy, the self‐guided walking tour takes the public into artists’ studios, through galleries, to musical performances and short plays. One of the Artwalk’s most popular points of interest, is the ‘Refrigerator Art’, where old refrigerators are used as makeshift canvases for student art projects. The refrigerators are then sold to raise money for the local school art programs. Literary Notes Home to L Frank Baum, author of Wizard of Oz (1900), and Dr Seuss, San Diego has enjoyed a thriving literary community for many years. Authors who currently call San Diego their home include world‐famous novelist Harold Jaffe, playwright Lonnie Burstein Hewitt and poet Terry Hertzler. Jaffe’s work has been translated into German, Spanish, French, Czech and Japanese and has been anthologised in a number of leading American books, including the Pushcart Prize and Best American Stories. Lonnie Burstein Hewitt has co‐authored plays and musical productions for Broadway and the children’s TV production Sesame Street. She is known locally for her non‐fiction guide of San Diego, Walking San Diego (1989), which she co‐wrote with Barbara Coffin Moore. Terry Hertzler is a long‐time resident of San Diego and the founder of a locally known publishing house, Caernarvon Press, as well as several San Diego literary organisations. His poetry has been widely published in the United States. The much‐loved Dr Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel), author of The Cat in a Hat (1957) and Green Eggs and Ham (1960), resided in San Diego. His book How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957) was turned into a film starring Jim Carey in 2000. Dr Seuss was born in Massachusetts in 1904 but called San Diego his home for most of his adult life. His residence at 7301 Encelia Drive, Mount Soledad, included a tower with a spectacular 360‐degree view of the countryside. Following his death in 1991, his widow had the main residence renovated, although Dr Seuss’s ‘tower’ still remains. L Frank Baum’s most famous residence, ‘The Ozcot’, may have been in Hollywood, California, but he was a regular visitor to the shores of Coronado Island. Baum and his wife spent many months at the famous Del Coronado Hotel, which is considered to have been his inspiration for the architecture of the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz. He is also credited with designing the chandeliers in the historic hotel. Born in New York, in 1856, Baum was a prolific poet, novelist and playwright. The house at 1101 Star Park Circle, on Coronado Island, is the only remaining house owned by the author. The San Diego Writers Cooperative () sponsors readings and classes for local writers. Many bookshops host readings from local authors, including D.G. Wills Books, 7461 Girard Avenue, La Jolla, Rendezvous Caffe, 4644 College Avenue, and Claire de Lune, 2906 University Avenue. |