City Heights

Regional specialties from many of the cultures that call City Heights home can be sampled and enjoyed at this annual event, held along University Avenue within walking distance of the City Heights Transit Plaza. From Mexican to Filipino and Thai cuisine, food is the focus of this global block party, but attendees can also shop from local vendors, partake in an on-site beer garden, and enjoy live entertainment that includes performances by dancers and musicians, with funds going to support community development initiatives.

Thought to be the oldest Ethiopian restaurant in San Diego — opened by a collective of African refugees in the 1980s — Red Sea offers a dining experience enhanced by a traditional coffee ceremony in which the beans are roasted and brewed right at your table. Its menu encompasses traditional Ethiopian specialties, including tibs — meat sauteed with berbere, a spice blend, and aromatic vegetables — as well as flavorful stewed chickpeas and braised collard greens. The specialties can be ordered in combination platters that come with fluffy rolls of injera, a spongy, slightly tangy unleavened flatbread used to scoop up bites of each dish.

This local roastery and coffee bar is housed in the historic Rock Palace, an Art Deco-style building and former live music venue that was recently renovated after sitting dormant for many years. Founded by coffee industry veterans, the company operates with a model designed to provide fair equity to the farmers that it works with to produce the coffee, and espresso that fuels classic cortados and creative palo santo lattes. The cafe also specializes in zero-proof drinks, including matcha tonics and blood orange spritzes, paired with mostly vegan food offerings that range from waffle tacos to brioche breakfast sandwiches.

Spanning six blocks on El Cajon Boulevard, one of the main thoroughfares that anchors City Heights, this city-designated district between Euclid and Highland Avenues is ripe for culinary exploration. The district brims with Vietnamese restaurants and businesses, including such standouts as A Chau, a Vietnamese sandwich-and-snack shop popular with students from nearby Hoover High School, and Saigon Restaurant, a spacious eatery with a 30-year history, known for its expansive menu of traditional Vietnamese dishes. Little Saigon also hosts regular cultural events: The neighborhood’s free annual Lunar New Year Festival is a three-day affair that features lion and dragon dances, art installations and eating competitions.

This local landmark’s eye-catching “tower” stands tall above University Avenue, where the Art Deco-style building was established in 1932. Though it started as a drive-in soda fountain and has been home to various restaurants throughout the decades, its longest-tenured tenant has been the Tower Bar, a dark and classic dive bar that pours potent drinks, including a wide selection of absinthe. Outfitted with a well-curated jukebox, the bar is known for booking a dynamic calendar of live music shows by punk and alternative rock bands.

First planted more than 15 years ago by a coalition of refugees and community volunteers, this 2-acre urban greenspace has been recognized and visited by former First Lady Michelle Obama. With more than 70 garden plots, it affords farmers from many different backgrounds the opportunity to feed nutritious food to their families and neighbors, earn supplemental income through local farmers markets, and grow familiar plants and produce from their home countries that may not be readily available in San Diego. Addressing food security while encouraging the sharing of cultures through education and community, the garden is also open to the public.

Located just east of City Heights in the community of Oak Park, this nature-filled urban oasis is open daily from 6:30 a.m. until 30 minutes before sunset. With free parking and entry, the park is one of the most family-friendly in San Diego, centered around a 16-acre lake that is the sole youth-only fishing lake in San Diego County. A fishing clinic is offered on Sundays for kids ages 15 and under, and the 0.8-mile path around the lake is suitable for walking, jogging or biking. The site also features a children’s play area, native plant garden and picnic tables with barbecue grills.