It was really fun. When we arrived, we saw stages and we saw the Old Town Trolley BOAT TOUR…read more We split up. I did the SEAL TOUR, and my partner did the MARIACHIS AND DANCING. Afterwards, we walked around, THEN ATE. It was quite an experience. It was one my partner had remembered growing up in the South Bay!!! Thanks, YELP!!!

This is the first time this event has been back in 7 years. I think it's a good family-friendly…read moreevent with lots of small business vendors. I really liked how they had a dedicated kids' area with crafts and activities. They even had free kayaking. There were a lot of different food options. This part of the Chula Vista bay is really pretty and it's right next to a big resort, so we made sure to stop by the bar there. The performances were fun! I really liked this band called Blue Liquid. This is a free event, but as for the Tides and Taste pass, it's not worth the $50 price tag! I got two tickets for free through Yelp, so I'm glad I didn't pay for it. The VIP area had very little shade, and the "gourmet" tacos were just a basic taco vendor and a small serving. The drinks were tasty, but glad they came with the pass. I hope this event gets better after a long break.

I enjoyed the Adams Avenue Spirit Stroll very much this year and I have upgraded my review to 5…read morestars because of just how happy this event makes me each year! The Spirit Still is hosted by the Adams Avenue Business Association. During the stroll, local bars create mini (mostly holiday-themed) drinks and serve them in local shops in the spirit of small business Saturday. Also some restaurants provide there own sweets and some breweries provide their own drinks. The stroll goes from the west most part of Normal Heights (near University Heights) all the way to Kensington. For the first time this year, we made it to every single drink stop, skipping some of the dessert stops in order to do some shopping along the way. Usually, we dress up in fun holiday attire, start our Christmas shopping, and enjoy finding new spots to shop and drink I have discovered some new shops that are now favorites because of this. For example, Kiko and Sven is a regular favorite of mine because of this stroll, and this year I was introduced to Bench Home that I will return to for some Christmas Shopping soon. This year, my favorite cocktail was from the AC Lounge and it was a spiced bourbon peach cocktail. Ponces did a great display and Mission Brewing was able to show that they have more than just beer. My favorite sweet stop is always Incredible Cheesecake company, and pumpkin is always the best. One critique that I have is that the same bakery provides sweets for about four different places, and has there own stop which is way too much. The bakery is not my favorite and I would prefer a variety. Anyway, we had a blast and I am looking forward to next year.

This was my first year participating in this event and I will be doing it again next year. I loved…read morethe delicious bites and sips with a kick. It was wonderful seeing all the little shops and businesses along Adams Avenue that I would have otherwise overlooked. I got my steps and chit chat in with my bestie. All around good time! The price for this event was $35 and it was well worth it.

This last weekend was my first time attending this event, and I really wish I would have also…read moreattended the last two years I've been here! Apart from there being several venues where the bands were late or there was no actual music at all (despite it being advertised with set times), and the weird VIP tacos & beer deal, this event was a fun and unique experience for my partner and I. We had a friend tag along who seemed to maybe feel like there were more negatives than positives, but as someone who has been to ~30 music festivals and has lived in areas (not SD) where there are a ton of pretentious artists, I really liked how different this experience felt! Being able to bar hop to different live music sets is such a cool concept, and I loved that it was cover-free! We didn't feel pressured to buy drinks or food anywhere but we did end up doing that at almost every business we went to anyway. Some of the venues were packed and had a line for entry, but we were having enough fun that we didn't really mind the wait. We started around 3pm and headed home around 10pm, although the band we were watching still had two hours left (they were pretty good and super fun)! We got five different venues plus the "food court" in. There was a fun mix of music, a lot of which I don't usually listen to. So it was cool to experience something new. Now, the VIP meal deal thing was kinda weird. Yes, $25 is a great deal for three beers and a taco plate, but the setup was super odd. It was in a church which I believe is still being used as a church, or maybe it's just a community center now. The church is about a block or so from Adams Ave, and you can hear the music in the distance fade as you approach. We got inside and there was a bouncer in the hall, and it was pretty quiet. At first we were like "are we in the right place," but then we saw tacos and beer in the distance and thought "yeah probably." Inside there was a mission brewing tent with two dudes pumping two different kinds of beer from a mobile drink system thing, and over to the right there were long food hall-style tables with folding chairs and a self-serve taco station. I didn't love the beer options and later found out I could have opted for wine instead (from the church?). The tacos were actually fire, but they had run out of pico de gallo by the time we got our food (around 4:30). We also saw a lot of people use their hands to add cheese directly to their tacos and that was pretty gross... All in all, would do again!

Another great Unplugged day in the books…read more Maybe I'm biased (I am the Baron of Normal Heights), but I always have a great time at Adams Avenue Unplugged. It's easily one of the best events that the Adams Avenue Business Association puts on. Lots of great music hosted at some great bars, restaurants, cafes, Adams Avenue Theater, and even Normal Heights United Methodist Church where I caught California Guitar Trio. Mark your calendars for next year. I suggest taking public transportation or ridesharing. Recommended restaurants: Blind Lady Ale House and Zia Gourmet Pizzeria. Friendly suggestion for the Association: please offer vegan options for the next VIP Beer and Food Deal. Thanks, AABA!

Oh boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I took my GF to this just now we watch movie call "Fountainhead" with Gary…read moreCooper it old and in black and white but this make it more interest (-_-) I have a lot of fun and look at other girl when my GF getting all romantic about the movie. I recommend to bring sweater and blanket because it can get chilly but the best thing that my GF impressed that I bring her to "cultural/ artistic event" (-_-) Really I am happy because it free and also not going to get bedbug like from indoor theater :/

Ingredients: summer night, outside, under the stars, movie, people having a good time, blankets on…read moregrass, food, wine, free and in one of the most beautiful spots in the city: Balboa Park. Can't give this anything less than 5 stars.... I absolutely love this event, and couldn't wait for it to start. I was there the first run this year and will go again next week. Only a couple of nights each year, on Thursday summer nights, the San Diego Museum of Arts hosts free movie nights where they show oldies, like Hitchcock movies on a screen in Balboa Park. It attracts a big crowd, and everybody comes there about one or two hours before the start of the whole thing, and brings chairs, tables, blankets, Snuggies (saw one!), board games, food and wine. The movie starts at 8PM, but if you want to be sure to see anything, be there no later than 6-something. Most people come right after work or are 65+ so don't work to begin with. That's the beauty of the event: you see a great variety of people: young, old, fat, rich, poor, families with kids, groups of friends, dates, students... all share the love of living in San Diego and spending time outdoors. So unless an obese person sits in front of you or you have screaming kids around, you will love everyone and everyone loves you. The movies are cultural and usually oldies so if you're not into that, you might not like it. But even if I couldn't see a thing or if they showed reruns of Sesame Street (I love Elmo in fact), I would still go. It's worth going solely for hanging out on a blanket on a summer night with friends, watching the stars or other people having a good time. One of my favorite things to do is crab food on the go and a bottle of wine at a deli downtown or in Little Italy, then head over to the park with friends. You often meet cool new people too since everybody is in a good mood and shares blanket spots. The very first time I got here, I was unprepared and fashionably late... I arrived one minute before the movie started, so it was packed... then cool people offered us perfect spots close to the screen... all in exchange for my Mona Lisa meatball sandwich. Well worth to starve for. I'm bummed that next week is the last one of this year.... then another whole year of waiting until it starts again. So one more chance to go this year... I even like this a bit better than Cinema under the Stars, although that's a good (paid) substitute and runs more often and until October. If you go, bring a pillow or a chair (or something to lay your head on, believe me you want to alternate sitting/laying down and it's awkward not being able to rest your head on something), a blanket, food, drinks, friends or anyone you don't want to talk to for two hours and you're ready to picnic!

Enjoyed Vavi's NYE party at the Catamaran, great place to have the party. Paid the extra $30 for…read morethe VIP ticket which gave you an hour and a half on triple decker boat ride around the bay. They had the same hors d'oeuvres and drinks on the boat that they had in the resort. The description of the VIP tickets did say there was to be casino style games on board which was why I purchased it, thought it would be fun. There was no games whatsoever. :( There were multiple rooms with DJ's playing dance music, would have liked to see more variety of music, or a live band would have been nice. The bar included two beers, Cores light and Saint Archer blonde, along with wine, champagne, and your typical well alcohols. There were plenty of places to get drinks and food, plenty of places to hang out indoor and outdoor, and a photo booth. All in all, it was fun, but unless you like to dance for 5 hours there wasn't much else to do besides hang out, which we did.

Great party with many dig rooms to choose from with all kids of styles of music! I absolutely…read morerecommend it BUT!!! Take your own pics because they're nowhere to be found! There were many photo booths but no way to obtain the photographs That's the only reason why I didn't give them a 5. Free drinks all night tho

All other reviews for North Park Music Fest should be null and void…read more They all seem to be for something called North Park Festival of Arts. As far as I can tell, this ended years ago. Here is the real website for North Park Music Fest: https://northparkmusicfest.com/ Over thirty live acts perform in fifteen venues over the course of a Saturday. Some offer free admission, other require a wristband, which is only $25 in advance. My wife and I had a blast this year and we are looking forward to the next one. I hope Lion Cut returns. Support the arts and come on out!

[Yawn.] A street fair. The same food stands you see at every other street fair. The same…read moremerchandise vendors you see at every other street fair. Spin the many promotional wheels to win more free worthless stuff that you'll never look at or use. And, of course, a beer garden... just like every other street fair. And where exactly are the "arts"? The first paragraph is admittedly a harsh commentary of this particular festival, and more a judgment of all of these sorts of things than this particular one. But aren't they mostly all basically the same cookie cutter event, transplanted to a different neighborhood to make that neighborhood feel important for a day? True, the North Park version is definitely above average on musical talent, but that aside, a half hour lap of the venue produces something far less interesting than deja vu. I guess it's somewhat fun having a ton of people flood the streets of your hood, even more fun if alcohol is involved, but I just don't see what differentiates this festival from the many, many others. Also, for a "Festival of the Arts," there really wasn't much art. There was an artist making (yet another) Instagrammable mural and a very few other works in progress and artist booths, but actual visual art comprised a tiny fraction of the event. Something more like the annual Little Italy art walk and chalk art events seem much closer to a festival of arts. Instead, this event is merely a decent, albeit musically well-booked, generic street fair. [Yawn.]

Taste of Hillcrest is a fun event. For $40 you can hit up 32 spots and even get a little walking…read moretour of Hillcrest. Each spot will have a small food sample or drink. Most of the drinks were alcoholic but there were a few coffee sips. There's early bird pricing for $35. Buy tickets online but seemed like you could purchase day of. Pick up your drink wristband and map/checklist at one of two will call locations. Standouts were the taquito at Origen, the ramen at Baikohken, frose, and chicken wings from Hillcrest brewing. Some interesting non food spots like goodwill and ace hardware handed out pre-purchased food and offered a coupons to browse the shop. Overall, a fun event.

this was a cool experience but I'm unsure if I'll do it again. I ordered the early bird tickets for…read more$30 and attended the entire event from 12-4. A highlight from this experience was that everyone at each stop was kind and welcoming. I started my tasting from park ave and walked west on university as the website suggested and was glad I did- I avoided a lot of the crowds. I didn't use the shuttles because I wasn't sure where each shuttle stop was and never saw any during my experience. I was fine walking because it was a beautiful day. A bummer was that there were some last minute cancellations for several stops, out of the 25 bites/sips advertised, 22 were on the map. A couple of stops that we walked to were also cancelled or closed which I would have appreciated knowing ahead of time to have saved the time it took to walk. Overall it was ok, I appreciate the experience to learn about the businesses in the area and there were some very good bites! I hope they continue to hold these.

This is the place you go to not only see exhibitions but also to know everything La Jolla related…read more Thanks to my Italian friend Sofia for introducing me to this little gem a couple years ago. Today we both attended a fantastic walking tour lead by historian, former journalist and definitely fashionista, Carol Olten. The tour was dedicated to Raymond Chandler, the creator of detective Marlowe. Many of his books became successful Hollywood movies. He lived in La Jolla and also wrote a book titled Playback where the action took place in Esmeralda (the ficticious name of La Jolla in his book). During our walk Carol read some paragraphs of the book and we visited houses and buildings where either the author lived or his characters hang out. Fascinating and gave me another perspective of La Jolla past. Special moments in the tour were for me when we visited La Valencia hotel and she read a paragraph describing the lobby. I could feel myself transported to another time, a time of elegance, glamour and affluence. Another special moment was to walk to an alley following the steps Marlowe. Great job. I love this initiative and would attend more of these free events. Thanks to Eventbrite I found this!

We are thinking of attending the Mid Century Modern Homes Tour, and I called and spoke to someone…read morewho answered questions about the event. We last attended an event by the La Jolla Historical Society called the La Jolla Concourse 2023, and it is wonderful. We hope that this new event will live up to that one. If so, it will be another great day!!!