“I remember writing one jingle about the bread at Subway,” Berman recalls. “It was a gospel tune, and it was, ‘It’s risen, oh, yeah.’ I’ll never forget [that] the first three [jingles] that the chief marketing officer ended up choosing were all ones that I had written, and, of course, I couldn’t tell them that, but it gave me a lot of confidence that I was on the right path.”

That path next led him to San Diego, and he continued to build his career, working at and then starting creative agencies. But then, in 2015, he took a different tack and started writing a book called Return on Courage.

“It was a three-year listening lap where I had the opportunity to sit with what I now call the brave, the bullish, and the brainiac,” he says. “The idea was [that] I was going to go around the country and interview astronauts and Navy SEALs and CEOs, founders, people that were being or living courage, and try to see why some people leap.”

The book was intended as a guide for businesses. He says his research taught him that if you don’t have a courageous leader, “good luck on selling a courageous idea.”

Berman decided to apply what he was learning to his own life. He was co-founder and chief creative officer of i.d.e.a., an integrated creative agency based in San Diego, but “when I started to take what I was learning, it pretty much gave me the courage to fire myself in 2017,” he says.

Two years later, he published his book and launched his new company, Courageous, at the same time. Berman describes the business as a “think-feel-do consultancy.” 

Berman helps companies identify how different fears are limiting growth. “There’s industry fears, there’s product fears, there’s service fears, there’s perception fears, which is marketing. And then there’s personal fears,” says Berman. “[Courageous] helps corporations fight fear and gives them the tools, the framework, the words, and the confidence to be courageous and to lead courageously. Our job is to be good listeners and problem slayers and help them get unstuck. I’ve been able to do that.”

In addition to hosting a podcast based on his book, Berman gives keynote speeches to corporate staff and runs workshops where he helps companies find their sticking points.

“[We offer] something we call Courageous Summits. It’s a three-day, off-site [program] that we’re designing for our partners,” he says. “I think we can all acknowledge that with remote work … the connection time just isn’t there. We aren’t connecting like we used to. The cultures are broken, and we don’t need more face time like Apple FaceTime. We need more real face time. So what we’ve been doing is designing these courageous summits for our partners, and we’re listening to what the challenges are from the client, where there may be fear with the team, and then we’re coming back with this three-day agenda.”

Berman has now spoken at major companies like Google, Snapchat, Logitech, and Kellogg’s. Courageous also offers consulting and has worked with businesses including OGX, MeUndies, and The Good Patch.

“We’re helping companies figure out what their tomorrow might look like and helping them build a courageous action plan for … the next three to five years,” he says.

So, how much will that insight set companies back? “When you compare us against what a Bain or McKinsey charges for similar services, we’re just a pittance for the value and ROI we’re providing,” says Berman. “It’s pretty clear that there’s a need for what we’re doing.” The fact that he’s working with such big-time players speaks for itself, he says.

“It’s been cool to just sort of be an ally and a friend of the leader,” he adds. “I think the more time I’ve spent in this arena, the more I realize how lonely it truly is to be the leader. They need … a partner that can give them the clarity and the tools so they can continue to move their organizations forward.”

This post contains affiliate links to products and services. We may receive compensation when you click on links.

The post The Art of Teaching Fortune 500 Brands To Be Courageous appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Another fun fact? Dave Eggers loves San Diego.

“I mean, it’s one of my favorite places just because you can’t swing a cat without hitting the beach,” Eggers admits. Eggers digs beaches and us (and his two cats at home, who, he promises, he doesn’t swing). On the evening of October 9, Eggers is in our city for at the San Diego Public Library to discuss his latest novel The Eyes & The Impossible.

Take it in, SD. We’re cool. The reason may not be highfalutin’, but our sandy shores sealed in our je n’ai sais quoi.

Eggers’ love of California runs in his blood. “My dad’s side is all from California going back to 1860 … But the rest of us are from Boston,” Eggers says. “For some reason, I grew up in Chicago. So, none of it makes any sense.”

What does make sense is Eggers’ insatiable curiosity, a driving force in why he’s drawn to so many different genres and styles of writing (case in point: The Eyes & The Impossible is written from the perspective of a roving park dog). 

Though his career is steeped in fiction, journalism is his foundation. He studied it at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. “As a reporter, I always just kind of start out with a personal interest and see what’s going on and using that journalism degree as an entry point or as a bridge,” he says. “I was trained as a journalist, so I always had that sense that, every so often, there might be a way that I could explain things that haven’t been explained.”

He flexed those skills during his reporting on former President Trump’s campaign in The Guardian. “I would say 80 to 90 percent of the people I interviewed were shockingly normal,” he says. 

He preffered to talk with rally attendees who looked dressed for a major league baseball game versus the red-washed ones carrying effigies of Biden. “I always come out thinking that people are a little bit more swayable than you think and thinking things through, to some extent, with open eyes,” he adds.

Commonality can be found if you go looking for it, no matter what party you prefer. That sense of seeking finds its way into his works of fiction, as well. 

“I do toggle [or] pivot pretty hard between the two forms, because journalism is so rewarding and, you know, you have this excuse to ask questions and this way to get answers,” Eggers says. “And you can get very deep very quickly by asking the most knowledgeable people, but then, at the same time, writing up what you found out is a whole different task and sometimes very laborious and kind of a grind.” 

On the other hand, he says, “Writing fiction … is just when you get to make everything up. It is far more liberating.”

Eggers has found the ultimate liberation in his latest book, The Eyes & The Impossible, where the narrator assumes an entirely different species: a dog called Johannes. But this isn’t the first time Eggers has shape-shifted for literary purposes. In 2002, he wrote a short story called After I Was Thrown In The River And Before I Drowned, in which his narrator was also canine. “That was the most fun I ever had to that moment [in] writing,” he says. “It’s just totally untethered. And I think that you could sort of get away with a more sort of liberated kind of train of thought, and that I think a lot of us humans would be diagnosed with having some kind of, I don’t know, cognitive issue, I guess, now.”

The Eyes & The Impossible has other quirks lending it a fantastical bend. Seeing the book’s Flemish-inspired illustrations by Shawn Harris, you’d be tempted to wonder if this is Eggers dipping his quill into the YA market. Think again.

“I think there was a time when there was a lot more leeway between what was written for you know, one audience or another. There was a lot more in the way of fables and kind of classic storytelling that didn’t really have an audience of one age group or another and everybody could sort of come to it from a different place. And that was my hope with this,” Eggers says. “There are themes in it that kids might not pick up on as readily as adults and there [are] different ways you could read it, but I didn’t write any of it for any one age group at all. I sort of tried to kind of go back to a kind of, I don’t know, age-agnostic kind of storytelling.”

So, mark your calendars. Bring the whole age-agnostic family. Call your local bookstore for an inventory check. As Eggers says of these events, “the best thing is to get to meet people and chat with folks in person.” Who knows? You may get to be the person who tells Dave the best beach for swinging a cat.

This post contains affiliate links to products and services. We may receive compensation when you click on links.

The post Dave Eggers Loves San Diego appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Originally published March 2023 | Updated June 2023

“We are dedicated to making sure that we are highlighting the voices of underrepresented authors—queer people, people of color, nonbinary people—and making sure that those coming into the store are seeing those books,” says Becca Title, owner of Meet Cute Romance Bookshop in North Park.

Now the third romance-themed bookstore in the US, Meet Cute is focused on stocking books with traditionally underrepresented characters at the center of the narrative.

“Even in the amount of time that I have been working on opening this bookstore, the climate in the US for marginalized people has really shifted. The amount of anti-trans legislation and book banning has been spiraling out of control,” she says. “It’s really important in genre romance to make stories with happy endings [available] … about and by people of color because the representation of BIPOC stories and queer stories is overwhelmingly about trauma and tragedy.”

But her space is for more than just books. In the future, she plans to host a full calendar of events, a podcast, and Romance for Reproductive Justice, a virtual auction set to support a national network of abortion funds. “It was one of the reasons to open an indie bookstore,” she says. “That’s one of the things we can do that Amazon cannot: be a place for organizing and catalyzing a community.”

We spoke with Title to share her recommendations for new, returning, or regular readers of the romance genre seeking stories of the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. Here’s what she had to say:

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake 

Alexis Hall

“This is one of the funniest rom-coms I’ve ever read. Rosaline, a bisexual single mom (to one of romance’s least annoying children), is at the end of her rope. When she enters herself into a popular British TV baking competition that is, for legal reasons, definitely not The Great British Bake-Off, she has to deal with more than just soggy bottoms and accidentally phallic breads. But she may also find her very own cinnamon roll. As a side note, I will die on the hill that Alexis Hall is one of the best living writers.”

The Companion 

E. E. Ottoman

“The Companion is a cozy read from trans author E. E. Ottoman. It’s ideal for an evening curled up in an overstuffed chair with a mug of tea. It’s 1949, and after years of trying to break into New York’s literary scene, trans woman Madeline Slaughter takes a friend up on the offer of moving to the woods upstate as a live-in companion to a reclusive best-selling novelist (and trans man) Victor Hallowell.

There, she becomes entangled not only with Victor, but with his neighbor, and ex, Audrey (who is also trans). Can the three of them make a go of it?”

A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

Adriana Herrera

“In this delightfully steamy novel, Adriana Herrera takes on classic historical romance tropes while expanding the genre’s scope beyond the traditional cast of titled White Brits.

It’s 1889, and Luz Alana has set sail for Paris from Santo Domingo with her two best friends and 300 casks of rum, intent on expanding her family’s successful rum business. Of course, hijinks ensue, and she ends up in a marriage of convenience with a brooding whisky distiller who also happens to be a Scottish earl.”

One Last Stop

Casey McQuiston

“Filled to the brim with wacky coworkers and lovably chaotic roommates, One Last Stop is a love letter to found family and the queer liberation movement from nonbinary author Casey McQuiston. The life of amateur sleuth, part-time college student, and 24-hour pancake diner waitress August Landry takes an unexpected turn the day she accidentally spills her coffee on a subway hottie.

She soon discovers that her new crush, Chinese-American Jane, doesn’t only dress like a riot grrrl—she’s actually been trapped in a time loop since the 1970s.”

After Hours on Milagro Street

Angelina M. Lopez

“Set in small-town Kansas, and woven through with the history of the traqueros, the Mexican and Mexican-American workers who helped build our cross-country railroads, this book features a sexy romance between a prickly Latina bartender who has come home from Chicago to lick her wounds and the sweet local professor who has been welcomed into her messy, sprawling family in her absence.”

The Kiss Quotient 

Helen Hoang

“From author Helen Hoang, a local San Diegan with Autism Spectrum Disorder, The Kiss Quotient is a sexy but surprisingly tender read.

Stella, an autistic Bay Area econometrician, hires an escort, Michael, to help her complete the lesson plan that she created in the hopes of becoming more comfortable with physical intimacy.

Vietnamese-Swedish-American Michael is happy to help, if only to take his mind off his own problems. His mother is sick, his father is absent, and his life is stuck in neutral. Of course, the more time they spend together, the more their practical partnership begins to feel like something more.”

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb 

Cat Sebastian

“This is a witty delight full of pining and sword fighting that also manages to interrogate the entire system of British aristocracy. Edward Percy, future duke, finds himself in the inconvenient position of needing to steal a book from his own father.

He enlists the help of grumpy coffee shop owner Kit Webb, a reformed highwayman whose last job killed his best friend and left him walking with the aid of a cane. When sparks fly, it’s not long before Percy decides that a book isn’t the only thing he’d like to steal.”

Sailor’s Delight

Rose Lerner

“In Sailor’s Delight, Rose Lerner expands the traditional scope of historical romance, featuring a love story between two men with regular jobs, one of whom is Jewish. This quiet, slow burn, friends-to-lovers romance set during the Jewish High Holidays is threaded through with impeccably researched historical detail about daily life and filled with enough pining to stock a forest.”

A Marvellous Light 

Freya Marske

“In this sparkling and swoony queer Edwardian-set fantasy romance, Marske gives us a beautifully constructed system of magic, a meditation on bravery and vulnerability, and enough classic tropes (slow burn, grumpy/sunshine, himbo/nerd, forced proximity) to satisfy any seasoned romance reader.”

Get a Life, Chloe Brown

Talia Hibbert

“Talia Hibbert is well-known for her British wit and characters who feel relatable and real, and this book is no different. Chloe Brown is a Black British woman with fibromyalgia and chronic pain who works from home as a web designer.

She’s grumpy and funny and has excellent taste in cardigans. After she almost gets hit by a car, she makes herself a bucket list and her sexy, tattooed neighbor, who sometimes paints shirtless, insists on helping her complete it.”

Winter’s Orbit 

Everina Maxwell

“This is the best kind of space opera: atmospheric, adventurous, and warm. Set in a queernormative world and complete with a colorful cast of a deftly drawn side characters, Winter’s Orbit features a slow burn romance between a scandalous prince and a dutiful scholar who have a hastily arranged political marriage, only to discover that one of them is a suspect in his late husband’s murder.”

Partners in Crime

Alisha Rai

“A cross between a romantic comedy and a thriller that takes place over the course of one long night in Vegas, Partners in Crime has it all: a kidnapping, a high stakes heist, and a second chance romance between accountant Mira Chaudhary and her rejected suitor, the perfectly boring lawyer Naveen Desai. It is a delightful romp of a book in which nothing is quite as it seems.”

Hana Khan Carries On 

Uzma Jalaluddin

“A charming You’ve Got Mail retelling brimming with the warmth of family, faith, and food. Hana Khan hosts a podcast and dreams of a career in radio all while waitressing part-time at her family’s restaurant—the only halal eatery in their close-knit Toronto neighborhood.

When a more upscale halal restaurant is set to open across the street, Hana adds sabotage to her lengthy to-do list. If only the new restaurant’s owner weren’t quite so handsome…or quite so familiar…”

The post 13 LGBTQ+ & BIPOC Love Stories to Read This Year appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Now-philosopher, professor, and author Nick Riggle was once a professional inline skater who competed at the X-Games and played with fire.

Courtesy of Nick Riggle

What the hell are we doing here, and what does it mean to lead a fulfilling life?

Perhaps it’s due to living through Covid-19 and its aftermath that I’m significantly horrified at humanity’s social, political, environmental, and economic challenges. Whatever the reason, I find myself asking the big existential questions more than ever.

These are not questions I’m alone in wondering—the existence of university philosophy departments confirms this. Just pop into any late-night, booze-and-weed-soaked bonfire and eavesdrop on the chatter.

But these are questions that, at least in the United States, have been largely cast aside during the 20th century in formal philosophy—until recently, University of San Diego aesthetics professor and author Nick Riggle tells me. We’re discussing his book, This Beauty: A Philosophy of Being Alive (published December 2022), which provides a working manual for thinking through “The Question.”

To wit: How are we, as sentient beings, supposed to value a life we did not choose to live? We’re here, sure as we can pinch our skins, but why should we “want it, love it, care for it, make it mine?” Riggle asks.

Befitting an academic, Riggle tackles this quandary as a lecturer might, by speaking directly to readers in his text, walking them through each chapter conversationally and lyrically. The chapters appear as individually themed essays on life in general, time, the body, family, the concept of a single day, and, of course, beauty. This sprawling format is intentional.

Nick Riggle

“I don’t think, philosophically, that ‘The Question’ has a direct answer,” he says. “We don’t have enough information to have one. We don’t know enough… [W]ho we are, what we’re doing here, what the universe is. It’s all one great mystery.”

To help untangle this mystery, Riggle offers real-life examples of how to think about these concepts through relatable anecdotes about parenthood and his middle-class upbringing. He also interrogates the futility and vagueness of common inspirational phrases like “live like there’s no tomorrow,” “seize the day,” and “you only live once.”

He argues they all imply that life is precious and therefore inspire either recklessness or over-careful preservation. Both of these are overkill for the nuances of everyday life and recognizing the beauty and, consequently, the value therein.

Beauty as a subject, and the search for it, is what anchors Riggle’s entire philosophy (and book). To him, it’s very much in the eye of the beholder, something subjective and highly individual, with meaning beyond just pleasure and visual satisfaction. There’s also an inherently communal aspect. The personal and public aspects engage in a feedback loop that creates aesthetic value.

Riggle, who lives in El Cerrito, is a good candidate to explore the value of life: He’s lived many already. He dropped out of high school to pursue a professional inline skating career that took him to the X-Games and other international competitions and found him hanging out with Eminem, Dave Matthews Band, and Randy Savage by age 20.

Dissatisfied with living life rooted more in the corporeal, surrounded by material pleasures in a body-punishing discipline, he moved on to other pursuits. He got his bachelor’s degree at Berkeley after starting at community college, earned his PhD in philosophy at New York University, became a professor, married, and, more recently, became a father. There was also a stint as the head of a hip-hop-slash-folk music group in-between.

Nick Riggle

Courtesy of Nick Riggle

So why ask The Question now?

The book touches on other disciplines, but it’s fair to say that it is broadly an existentialist work. Academically speaking, this worldview fell out of favor after the writings of Søren Kirkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, John Paul Sartre, and others preoccupied with teasing out the meaning of human existence initially became popular.

For many, existentialism is too nebulous and tedious to consider. In San Diego, where championing good vibes sometimes trumps everything else, it’s easy to see how it rarely elevates beyond that aforementioned bonfire conversation. For Riggle, fatherhood provided a good opportunity to dig in.

Zooming out more widely, after decades of the decline of organized religion and the rise of buffet-style spiritualism linked to astrology, crystals, yoga, and other hodgepodge practices and philosophies, people are perhaps more primed than they have been in a while to consider what he’s offering.

Frankly, this line of thinking—and to know it’s again becoming en vogue—is refreshing, particularly in a city with crushing economic and social inequality. Even Foreign Policy argued in favor of it in a 2019 article, declaring, “French philosophy came to define the postwar era. As U.S. politics get ever more absurd, it’s time for a comeback.”

We may have a harder time addressing the material comforts of every human on earth, but at least we can try to provide a roadmap for mentally riding the waves. Or, as Riggle puts it, “engaging in aesthetic life [is] a way of keeping in touch with the value of being alive.”

The post It’s a Beautiful Life appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Shopping Small – main

Courtesy of Home + Hound

We love San Diego’s small businesses, and you should, too. In these pages we’ve highlighted a sample of the many independently owned and effortlessly cool retail shops that make up our city. At these brick-and-mortars, both old and new, you can score a secondhand statement piece, shop handmade accessories, discover local brands, and fall in love with shopping small all over again.

This holiday season, help support local by visiting some of our favorite haunts around town. Got your credit card? You’re about to do some damage.

Clothing & Accessories

Shopping Small – Whiskey Leather

Whiskey & Leather

Soon after One Paseo shopping center began welcoming tenants, fashion entrepreneur and self-described tomboy Ariel Hujar opened Whiskey + Leather fashion boutique. This high-end men’s and women’s clothing shop stocks luxury brands from across the country, including One Teaspoon, Spell, Scotch & Soda, and For Love and Lemons. They also carry stylish accessories and home goods such as candles, books, and barware.

3665 Caminito Court, Carmel Valley

Gold Dust Collective

Quality comes first at Gold Dust Collective, where all the accessories are handmade and sourced as sustainably as possible. The North Park storefront carries goods from three local artists: Flight of Fancy jewelry, Haberdash hats, and El Gato Montes leatherwork. Shop here for unique readymade pieces like beetle pendants and adorned felt hats, or to start customizing one.

3824 Ray Street, North Park

Shopping Small – Fresh Yard

The Fresh Yard

Hip-hop and street culture inspired the formation of The Fresh Yard. This independent boutique carries some of the most anticipated brands in streetwear, such as Raised by Wolves and Black Market Tailors, along with its own signature clothing and accessories like T-shirts, hats, and beanies. With a strong tie to the local art and music communities, The Fresh Yard releases exclusive collaborations and often hosts art shows and live events. When they’re not running the store, the team also organizes food and clothing drives to donate to people in need.

41 E 8th St, National City, CA 91950

Bradley Mountain

Tyler Axtell started this line of refined leather and canvas bags, backpacks, and jackets in a garage in Ocean Beach, and later moved to a store in East Village. All the items in this adventure goods collection—such as the best-selling camouflage Wilder backpack—are made to withstand travel and camping, but their polished look also works for the day-to- day. The bags are made to last, and free repairs are included for each purchase. The company had to close their 17th Street storefront, but they’re still crafting the line right here in San Diego and you can order online.

Shopping Small – Cradled

Cradled Boutique

Onesies, cardigans, teething necklaces— this just-opened Alpine boutique serves the wee one in your life. Consider Cuddle + Kind dolls, which are knitted by hand in Peru, and Stokke, a sophisticated Norwegian furniture brand specializing in cribs and high chairs that grow with your baby.

2507 Alpine Boulevard, Alpine

Rob and Sophie Machado, owner of Salt Culture

Salt Culture

Sophie Machado isn’t bashful to admit that, yes, being married to a professional surfer has its perks. She’s followed her husband, Rob, to countries around the world, including Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and his native Australia—but she jokes that in humid countries, you can only lie about for so long. So instead, her habit is to jump in a tuk tuk or taxi and drop into the heart of a city’s artisan district to see firsthand the care and craftsmanship that go into the imports we buy. Sophie’s never been one to gloat about those experiences. Instead, she’s on a mission to make something more of them, and that’s where Salt Culture comes in. The boutique stocks products from their travels and their favorite local brands.“Salt Culture is basically a scrapbook, and a place to tell our stories,” she says. It’s an homage to the girl she once was, a college student living on a shoestring; and the guy Rob’s always been, a surfer with an affection for supporting local. Salt Culture stocks Rob’s signature Smiley Face merch in the form of sweatpants and shirts, and it’s also the only brick-and-mortar storefront in the world where you can buy a custom-made Rob Machado surfboard. Sophie just launched her own loungewear line, too, named “Reawakening.”

930 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas

Beauty & Self Care

Four Moons Spa

Take a step into Four Moons Spa’s Bali-inspired oasis. The spa’s stated focus is on “wholeness”—meaning the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual layers of each guest. Visitors can experience everything from an astrological reading to a massage. They recently introduced a hammam treatment, inspire by Muslim public bathing culture, which can be done with a therapist or self-guided. A shop on site is full of products to keep up the Zen long after you leave.

775 North Vulcan Avenue, Encinitas

Shopping Small – Cleo

Cleo Skincare

You won’t find a sweeter skin care studio than Cleo. They specialize in “sugaring,” a hypoallergenic hair removal technique that uses lemon, sugar, and water to gently deplete your follicles. Go in for a service or grab some products from their retail space to ramp up your own holistic health routine. They make their own botanical hydrosols (aka toners), and Rose and Neroli are the best sellers— give them a go if you’re seeking hydration or an overall vibrancy boost.

5514 La Jolla Boulevard, Bird Rock

Stephanie J, owner of Formula Skin Lab

The Formula Skin Lab

When aesthetician Stephanie J saw her former students having a hard time finding work after they graduated from Bellus Academy beauty and wellness school, she knew she’d found a gap in the market.“You never saw in textbooks how to care for darkers kin tones,”she says.“There wasn’t really a place dedicated to them.” So, J opened up Formula Skin Lab, a beauty bar that specializes in acne correction, pigmentation, facials, waxing, makeup, and body treatments for darker skin. Book an appointment or stop in, and her team will offer a consultation to get to know you and your skin type, then recommend products and in-house treatments based on your specific needs.

The company opened in the middle of the pandemic, when J felt there was a community need for self-care. “For us, representation is a big factor,” she says. “We want this shop to be a casual vibe. You might hear Erykah Badu or Miguel when you walk in, have some wine. Our main goal is that you feel like you’re at home—or at your aunt’s house!”

6244 El Cajon Blvd #29 San Diego CA 92115

Shopping Small – Shop Good

Shop Good

It’s easy to swap out your run-of-the-mill beauty products with nontoxic replacements during a visit to Shop Good. This clean beauty and wellness boutique stocks items like natural makeup, deodorant and supplements. Founder Leah Kirpalani is committed to supporting female- owned and Black-owned beauty brands, such as Movita, 54 Thrones, and Unsun Cosmetics. In addition to browsing their large retail selection, you can schedule a facial at either location.

3665 Paseo Place, Carmel Valley; 3027 University Ave, North Park

Home

Shopping Small – Home and Hound

Home + Hound

Home + Hound is not your average pet shop. In fact, it’s not entirely a pet shop. The inventory’s a true 50/50 split between home decor and dog accessories— and an affirmation that, yes, dogs and people can live together stylishly. Owner Brittney Garbani, a dog owner (and cat and chicken owner), has carefully vetted the brands she carries, all of which skew sophisticated and never corny. Interspersed among them you’ll find homewares spanning textiles, planters, and kitchen goods for the humans.

3813 Ray Street, San Diego, California 92104

Shopping Small – Altered

Altered Decor

It’s all about the experience when you walk into Altered Decor. This home beautification shop is designed for you to easily envision your next home redo: owner Rochelle Manns arranged it to show you possibilities for a whole room at once, rather than standalone pieces. Shop high-end furniture, art, rugs, planters, vases, and more; the East Village business also offers patented floral reed diffusers so your space can capture all of your senses.

1227 J Street, East Village

Love & Aesthetics

The decor, gifts, and jewelry at Love & Aesthetics can only be described as unique, but even if it’s not to your taste, you definitely have that one friend who’ll dig it. From vases shaped like spacemen, peeled bananas, or anatomical hearts to coffee cups labeled “poison,” the foul-mouthed inventory is definitely something to be appreciated. Peruse, purchase, and leave feeling a bit more edgy.

621 West Fir Street, Little Italy

Mud Lily

Known for its pottery classes and workshops, Mud Lily doubles as a ceramics studio and retail shop selling locally made, one- of-a-kind planters, plates, mugs, bowls, vases, and pots. Co-owners Jo Ann Molter and Susan Tull think of it as a community gathering space for people to create with clay, and they welcome ceramicists of all skill levels. Shop here for an ever-changing selection of unique kitchenware and home accessories.

2888 Adams Avenue, Normal Heights

Urban Fusion Decor

Hunting for a sofa, sectional, or chair? Why not build it yourself? That’s Urban Fusion’s business model. You can also buy a piece right from their showroom, but the greater appeal is in customizing your own. Make an appointment and sink into the different styles—some are inspired by San Diego, like the Cardiff Sofa.

145 West Washington Street, Hillcrest;

Shopping Small – Small Batch

Small Batch

This boutique thrives on uplifting local makers and independent artisans, stocking decor and gifts like 1502 Candle Co. candles, Pan&Tea jewelry, and whole coffee beans from Fuzz Coffee Roasters and Cowpoke Coffee. It’s owned and operated by best friends Brittany Peña and Lacy Bird who recently rolled out Small Batch’s online shop, so you can support local in person or at a distance.

8332 La Mesa Boulevard, La Mesa

Logan Mitchell, co-owner of Collins & Coupe

Collins & Coupe

For cocktail hounds, Collins & Coupe is a true one- stop shop. Rimming salt? Check. Ice cube molds? You bet. Glassware? Married owners Gary McIntire and Logan Mitchell have amassed over 1,000 pieces. And that’s just their vintage collection.

Their names might be familiar from Cellar Door, the supper club they launched in 2011. After becoming ingrained in the culinary community, they saw a clear niche to fill in the form of a cocktail supply store. Enter Collins & Coupe in 2017.

“While many assume we’re only geared toward restaurant and bar professionals, we’re actually set up for the home bartender—even people who have never made a drink before,” Mitchell says. “We have chosen staff with a bartending background so they can help you every step of the way.”

The duo has taken the same care in selecting their inventory and regular vendors.“We implemented goals to bring on more Black, LGBTQ+, women, and POC vendors and employees. Using our money to uplift people and communities that have to work harder for every opportunity is not just important, but necessary.”

From women-made mixers like Perfectly Cordial and El Guapo to San Diego artist Susie Ghahremani’s enamel pins, Logan says, “There is nothing in the shop that we don’t fully stand behind.”

2876 El Cajon Boulevard, North Park

Vintage

La Loupe Vintage

At La Loupe Vintage’s two locations, you can shop unique clothing, like sweater vests decorated with cats or maybe a green two-piece suit from the ’80s. You can also find fun accessories like patterned scrunchies, costume jewelry, and classic denim from the ’70s to now (’90s patchwork included).

3337 Adams Avenue, Normal Heights; 4646 Park Boulevard, University Heights

Seaweed & Gravel

Here, motorcycles are parked next to dresses. Surfboards beside lived-in boots. It fits considering owner David Patri’s history in the apparel industry, and his love for motorcycles and surfing. The shop partners with custom moto builder Brady Young to rev up the inventory.

1144 North Coast Highway 101, Leucadia

Bad Madge

Shop all that is fun, funky, and thrifted at Bad Madge. Tanya McAnear’s vintage shop stocks both kitschy and cool finds from the early 1900s through the ’90s. In one stop, you could score a midcentury chair, grab some 1920s cocktail glasses, and round it out with a bold dress from the ’80s.

2205 Fern Street, South Park

Mila

Just as the name Mila combines the names of co- owners Michelle Gonzalez and Laura Weiss, the inventory is a mashup of their personal styles. There’s “the delicate” (Laura), represented in feminine-forward apparel like heels and silk scarves, and “the daring” (Michele), statement pieces like chunky jewelry and shoulder- padded blazers.

2879 University Avenue, North Park

Brittany Joseph, owner of Badlands Vintage

Badlands Vintage

Time your visit to Badlands Vintage just right: The vintage furniture shop opened last November in Oceanside with weekend-only hours. That’s because the rest of the time, owner Brittany Joseph is usually sourcing more one-of-a-kind pieces to add to her store’s stylish postmodern collection.

“I take time to find pieces because I want everything to feel really timeless,” she says. “Instead of having to replace your interiors once a trend is over, everything here is a statement piece that you can keep forever.”

Joseph collects design-forward furniture, vases, mirrors, and more, with an equal emphasis on form and function. “I look at all of my furniture as art,” she says. “Yes, you want it to be functional. But you also want it to reflect your personality and style.”

The Badlands style embraces Southwestern and desert influences with an urban touch mixed in. They are all pieces that speak to her, and to her dedicated repeat customers. In some cases, Joseph has helped people design an entire space with Badlands.

That’s why accessibility is incredibly important to the longtime thrifter, who says she keeps her price point at a place where it’s not going to break the bank. “Vintage should be for everyone,” she says. “I started with vintage because I didn’t have a lot of money, but I still wanted my house to look amazing; I wanted pieces with character, pieces with a story.”

She started selling her finds out of her home. Then she moved to a booth inside Sea Hive Marketplace, and even got her own warehouse to store the larger items and sell through Instagram. It all led to her finally opening up shop last year, and she hasn’t slowed down since.

1845 S Coast Hwy, Oceanside

Sea Hive

This 13,000-square-foot antique mall in Oceanside displays the antique treasures and thrifted must-haves of more than 100 sellers. But in between the bountiful vintage offerings, you’ll also come across handmade goods from local artisans, like leather wallets or ceramic mugs and vases. In short? You’re walking out with something.

1555 South Coast Highway, Oceanside

Gifts

Vitreum

Takao Saito originally came here from Japan to study English, but later opened the minimalist gift shop Vitreum to sell modern Japanese tableware and other specialty home decor items. Most of her inventory is made in Japan—or by Japanese artists in the US—including bonsai trees, vases, incense, kimonos, ornaments, hanging terraria, and skin care products. The small shop is a great place to find unique gifts for those who need some extra Zen in their home.

619 West Fir Street, Little Italy

Shopping Small – Simon Limon

Simón Limón

This “shoebox of a shop,” as owner Alexandra Pérez Demma affectionately calls it, is brimming with brightly colored gifts crafted by independently owned businesses and artists on both sides of the border. She supports over 40 of them, mainly Latinx- and female-owned—and Pérez Demma is a jeweler herself, who crafts her accessories right on site. Pop in, say hi, and you won’t leave empty-handed.

2185 Logan Avenue, Barrio Logan

Rosamariposa

After successfully landing the San Diego Zoo as her first wholesale client, Monica Covarrubias felt confident she could turn her dream business into a reality. Now, as the owner of Rosamariposa, she hand- selects jewelry and textiles that are custom-made in Indonesia, Turkey, and Brazil. The shop carries affordable earrings and necklaces, seed bead bracelets, headbands, mala beads (used for meditation), dreamcatchers, and other handmade textiles.

611 West Fir Street, Little Italy

Re-Find Off Main

An old pickup truck is parked outside this rustic storefront in downtown Vista, which offers an indoor-outdoor experience for shoppers to browse gifts, accessories, and unique items for the home. Every month, the shop moves outside for a Saturday market featuring handmade products from local vendors, with the goal of supporting other small-business owners.

146 Eucalyptus Avenue, Vista

Claudia Rodríguez-Biezunski, owner of Sew Loka

Sew Loka

Claudia Rodríguez-Biezunski says she never imagined she’d own a sewing studio. Growing up, she was no stranger to the art: Her father owned a denim factory, and her mother sewed clothes for her and her five siblings. But she wanted to study upholstery design. A class project to construct a cover for a couch cushion changed her path—she sewed on handles and made a handbag instead. That’s when it clicked. “When you learn how to sew, you can make anything,” she says.

Rodríguez-Biezunski opened Sew Loka in 2013, first in Bankers Hill, then she relocated to Barrio Logan. Over the years she developed a line of bags and clothes that she markets as “exclusive and wearable AF.” There’s quilted purses, leather crossbody bags, and denim jackets, all made from upcycled materials.

Sew Loka was one of the innumerable stores that had to close their doors in March 2020 and come up with a new plan. At first, she leaned into her sewing skills and made masks (10,000 of them). Summer came, and she started to worry—not only about her business, but her neighbors, too. She says the shops along Logan Avenue are owned by people with community ties to Barrio Logan, and if they close, that puts the neighborhood at risk for gentrification.

This led her into another role she never expected for herself: community organizing. She teamed up with Alexandra Pérez Demma, owner of Simón Limón, to find a way to bring much-needed foot traffic back to the barrio.

Rodríguez-Biezunski figured out how to apply for grants and a permit to operate outdoors, and she helped other business owners navigate the process. This led to Walk the Block, a weekly event that transforms Logan Avenue’s sidewalks into an outdoor market. Rodríguez-Biezunski says it saved her business, and that some artists have since been able to open their first storefront: “That’s basically what we wanted—for there to be a strong business community here, where we could all lean on each other.”

2113 Logan Avenue, Barrio Logan

Vinyl Junkies Record Shack

Vinyl Junkies was born out of a mobile record shop turned swap meet that was eventually realized into the permanent South Park store it is today. Co- owners Eric Howarth and Tim Mays (the latter also owns The Casbah) accept all genres of used records, from funk to punk, classic rock, jazz, soul, and hip- hop. Head to the “Digger’s Den” for rare and oddball titles, all priced at $3 or $5.

2235 Fern Street, South Park

Shopping Small – Little Dame

Little Dame

You never know what you might find in Little Dame. The proudly female-owned boutique along Normal Heights’ Antique Row opened in 2015, and in 2019 it became a combination gift shop/tattoo parlor—yes, every tattoo artist is female, too—making it a perfect place to find some art to give away, and some to keep forever.

Sea Hive in Liberty Station, 2750 Dewey Rd #103, San Diego

The Rising Co.

This co-op retail space is shared by small-business owners who value local, handmade, and sustainably sourced products. Five new merchants recently joined their roster, and under one roof you can shop their variety of home goods, gifts, plants, and more. There’s even a coffee shop to keep you caffeinated while shopping. As a community-focused hub, The Rising Co. also offers an outdoor space to bring people together for socially distanced events or fitness classes on the weekend.

332 South Coast Highway, Oceanside

Books

Nancy Warwick, owner of Warwick’s

Warwick’s

Books are in Nancy Warwick’s blood. The store was founded in Minnesota in 1896 by her great-grandfather, W. T. Warwick, who ran it there and at a new location in Iowa for 43 years altogether. After his wife died, W. T. sought to relocate again, and saw that the former Redding’s bookstore in La Jolla was up for sale. W. T. bought the store, changed the name, and married the former owner’s widow. Ownership of the store passed down through the generations, and it’s now the oldest continuously family-owned and operated bookstore in the country. Nancy was just two years old when her parents took over, and her grandmother worked there until age 98.

“The store was part of our daily life, and every night at dinner my parents talked about it,” Nancy says. “They talked about the customers and staff, about what was selling or not. If there was a problem, they invited our input.”

Nancy’s parents wanted her and her sister to know from a young age that the store belonged to all of them, and over time it became part of her identity. Today, the staff still uses the dumbwaiter she used to ride up and down as a kid.

While Warwick’s has always carried a mix of products—books, gifts, art supplies—they haven’t been immune to changes in the retail environment, including the emergence of big-box stores, evolving technology, and the dominance of online shopping. She credits their success to exceptional employees (their head bookbuyer has worked there for 33 years!), loyal customers, and a great selection of goods. The store is also known for its events and signings with local and nationally acclaimed authors, and continues these events virtually.

7812 Girard Avenue, La Jolla

Shopping Small – Verbatim

Verbatim Books

Verbatim houses a wide selection of titles to please every customer, whether you’re looking for classics or books by local authors. They stock both new and used (and even plastic dinosaurs). It’s a place not only for shopping but also selling and trading books, or (current health rules permitting) curling up in the big room in one of their cozy chairs to read.

3793 30th Street, North Park

Farenheit 451 Books

Stuff your eyes with the wonder of this eclectic collection—works dedicated to The Wizard of Oz, poetry books bound in leather and gold, comic books, even a signed copy of the store’s namesake. They just added an art gallery, dispersed among the books to mix in a little visual art with your reading.

325 Carlsbad Village Drive, Carlsbad

The Book Catapult

Stop into The Book Catapult for recommendations from co-owners Seth Marko and Jennifer Powell, who share their top reads on their website and one “book of the week” on their Instagram. Check in for their next virtual author interview or book club discussion.

3010 Juniper Street, South Park

Hillcrest Newsstand

This newsstand may be the last of its kind in San Diego, especially after Paras Newsstand closed in 2019. Magazine readers will appreciate the variety: there are fashion titles, celebrity gossip, and publications on hobbies such as coin collecting and fishing stacked alongside popular national titles. They also own Newsstand at Westfield UTC mall. Long live print!

529 University Avenue, Hillcrest; 4545 La Jolla Village Drive, University Town Center

Plants

Botanica Home and Garden

Half garden center and half woodworking space, this shop equally reflects the interests of its married owners, Caitlin Brooks and Ellis White. She’s got the green thumb; he’s the owner of Anvil Metal & Wood Works. Together, they’ve created a collection of healthy plants and White’s handmade plant accessories, along with other home goods.

The couple also carries San Diego makers, like Paradise Native’s macramé and Eliza Sloane Jewelry.

1909 Cable Street, Ocean Beach

Shopping Small – Wild Island

Wild Island Collective

Wild Island Collective doesn’t stop at stocking run-of-the-mill houseplants. They’re pros at sourcing foliage plants, or plants grown for decor that often sport leaves with pops of color. Think Pink Princess Philodendrons and Alocasia Black Velvets. Owner January Newland and her fellow plant experts also provide plant styling services: They evaluate your space, propose plants that would prosper best in it, and help you place them.

3504 Adams Avenue, Normal Heights

Eden

You could say green thumbs are in Jeff and Marsi Thrift’s DNA. Both grew up in and around agriculture; they lived on a farm together, and they even dabbled in floristry before operating their first plant shop, North Park Nursery. All that led to where they are now, running their second family-owned nursery, Eden. Their daughters have even joined to source products from local growers and vendors.

“We like to consider ourselves a plant- lover’s paradise,” Marsi says. “We want to give the plant community the therapy they’re looking for. We want to be known as a community shop, a place where you get the customer service you might not get at the box stores.”

Eden operates as a boutique plant nursery, specializing in interior plants, pots, and food gardens. They opened in 2017, and thanks to the support of the community, the Thrifts were able to double in size in 2020. Looking ahead, Marsi says they plan to host events when it’s safe to open at full capacity.

“We love being in University Heights,” she says. “Our customers are our priority. If they aren’t happy, we are out of business.”

4636 Park Boulevard, University Heights

Emerald & Ivy

In between creating floral masterpieces, Mishele Freeman opened a plant-filled storefront for when you need to add a little more green to your everyday. The shop carries a rotating selection of popular plants, along with ones that you might not find elsewhere. Whether you’re a green thumb or a greenhorn, Freeman has tips to keep your plants healthy.

2367 30th Street, South Park

Thistle

This shop has been in Ocean Beach for over 47 years, under its current ownership for over 22. Select field-fresh flowers designed by floral experts Melanie Freed and Shannon Pierce, score locally grown succulents, and find houseplant varieties sourced from area greenhouses. Inside, find small-batch gifts like handmade candles, soap, and pottery.

4822 Santa Monica Avenue, Ocean Beach

The post Our Essential Guide to Shopping Small in San Diego appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

In The Boys, Katie Hafner explores love in the time of Covid.

Katie Hafner was on a bike tour through Italy with her daughter when she got to chatting with one of the guides. She asked if they’d ever had someone be such a problem that they were uninvited from future trips. Turns out, they had.

“The example was like, ‘Oh my God,’ and that’s when my daughter turned to me and she said, ‘Mom, that’s a novel,’” Hafner says. “Most rational people would just say, yes, it is, and leave it at that. But I just decided I needed to write it.” Hafner won’t reveal what that banned bicyclist did—it spoils the ending of the book—but she managed to turn the incredible twist into her first novel, The Boys, published by Spiegel & Grau this year. The book has earned rave reviews in The New York Times and The Washington Post.

The Boys is a breeze to read, with characters who feel alive—thanks to small details like her male lead Ethan loving to re-engineer Furby toys and his girlfriend Barb wanting to get married at The Mütter Museum, which celebrates the oddities of the human body. The characters feel like friends you love catching up with—like when Barb can’t decide what to order at a restaurant, Ethan breaks out his impersonation of Lieutenant Columbo: “Barb, do you mind if I call you Barb? No disrespect intended, ma’am, but I’ve been watching you study this menu and I see your eyes keep coming back to the same thing.”

The plot takes you from a charming and totally believable meeting between the introverted Ethan and everyone-loves-her Barb through their marriage and eventual struggles, especially during Covid. The wife becomes a go-to expert, spending much of her time conducting Zoom media interviews, which drives her husband crazy. Plot twist: Hafner’s husband is Dr. Bob Wachter, the chair of the UCSF Department of Medicine, who became a real-life Covid media celebrity.

katie hafner, the boys poster

Hafner now lives in San Francisco but has deep roots in San Diego. She worked for a time as a business reporter at The San Diego Union (pre -Tribune) covering General Dynamics and the aerospace industry. She first moved here in 1965 when her mom was a mathematics graduate student at UCSD and lived in graduate student housing on Torrey Pines Road while going to Scripps Elementary.

“My mother had no money, so it was really a scrappy existence,” she says. Then in middle school, she moved to the East Coast to live with her dad. But Hafner returned in 1975 to go to UCSD. She says she badly wished she could instead go to Dartmouth, but her family couldn’t afford it. She studied German literature—or, as she likes to tell people, “I studied Kafka—I was obsessed,” and that prepared her for writing her own fiction. She’s previously written half a dozen nonfiction titles.

“I was completely taken by how Kafka in his diaries would go from something that was a pure observation, like, ‘I ate lunch today,’ and in the middle of a diary entry go into one of these crazy inventions of his, like, and then I turned into a bug,” she says. “I felt like a trespasser upon the inner life of this man.” While she doesn’t emulate the surrealism in Kafka’s work, his willingness to stretch the bounds of reality inspired Hafner to stretch from journalism into fiction.

“I’m very interested in when our minds go to fiction,” she says. “A lot of what interests me in fiction is you look at something and you think to yourself, what if that happened?”

The post Katie Hafner’s The Boys appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

CH + SDM Book Club

Books are Airbnbs for your brain.

Thanks for wanting to join our literary side hustle: the CH Projects and San Diego Magazine Book Club. It’s a clunky name, but it’s ours.

We created this club because we believe in the regenerative power of independent bookstores. And the power of a well-chosen cluster of words to shift whole lives. The club will be based around the books that shaped our own.

To join this sexy book club, enter your information in the form below. As esteemed members, you’ll be the first to know each month’s selected book. Expect to receive an email soon announcing the October book.

We also announce each month’s pick in San Diego Magazine. We encourage you to subscribe (this is also a scheme to support local media and creatives).

Please visit one of the participating local, indie bookshops listed below to get your copy. Keep your receipt, snap a photo, and email it to us at [email protected].

We’ll randomly select one member each month to win $300 to any Consortium Holdings Projects establishment (Born & Raised, Neighborhood, Polite Provisions, Ironside, Craft & Commerce, Part Time Lover, Fortunate Son, etc.).

More details to come.

A sincere thank you,

Consortium Holdings Project & San Diego Magazine

Enter your information below to sign-up for the CH x SDM Book Club

Participating Bookstores

La Playa Books

Point Loma

1026 Rosecrans St.

San Diego CA 92106

619-226-2601

Warwick’s

La Jolla

7812 Girard Ave.

La Jolla CA 92037

858-454-0347

Diesel Books

Del Mar

12843 El Camino Real, Suite 104

San Diego, CA 92130

858-925-7078

Verbatim Books

North Park

3793 30th St.

San Diego, CA 92104

619-501-7466

The Book Catapult

South Park

3010-B Juniper Street

San Diego, CA 92104

619-795-3780

Bay Books Coronado

Coronado

1007 Orange Ave.

Coronado, CA 92118

619-435-0070

Libélula Books & Co 

Barrio Logan

950 South 26th St.

San Diego, CA 92113

619-775-4040

How to Enter to Win a CH Gift Card

1. Purchase the month’s book at one of the local bookstores below.
2. Email a photo your receipt to [email protected]. (For a bonus entry, snap a picture of your book and tag us on Instagram: @sandiegomag.)
3. We’ll announce the winner at the beginning of the following month.

Discussion Questions, Member Events, Happy Hours, and More

Check back soon for the latest.

The post CH x SDM Book Club appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Mike Sager at his Bird Rock home

Photo Credit: Ariana Drehsler

“You should call this piece ‘The Not So Lonely Hedonist,’” says journalist, author, and independent book publisher Mike Sager as we look at the ocean from his home in Bird Rock. He’s referring to the title of one of his essay compilations, The Lonely Hedonist.

It’s filled with stories about other people, but the title is an apt description of Mike. If anyone else in the world tried to tell me how to title my piece, I’d have bristled. But one of the quirks of writers writing about writers (also why we typically avoid it) is that it becomes a collaborative process.

Collaboration is something the now-publisher knows well. Though if someone asked him, he’d say he’s been going it alone for years. He moved to La Jolla in 1997 from Washington D.C., where he began his storied journalism career in 1978 at The Washington Post.

“I was a rogue hire,” he says, downplaying his success, per usual. Sager was just the copy boy who freelanced on the side, but after 11 months, he broke a story on abuses in the Department of Agriculture and, instantly, famed editor Bob Woodward promoted him.

What followed is a long, still-active career writing for titles like Rolling Stone, Esquire, where he’s been a contributing editor for 20 years, and many others, including this magazine. At Rolling Stone, Sager was the rag’s contributing editor who wrote about drugs and getting paid actual American dollars to smoke crack with Rick James, among other anecdotes. But he also ghost-wrote for Hunter S. Thompson when the gonzo wordsmith was too inebriated to file copy on his own.

Sager’s since become one of history’s best chroniclers of people—often the world’s most interesting people. He has an uncanny ability to pick up on the quirky things they do, identifying the fascinating contradictions they inhabit that make them both relatable and also utterly foreign. To that point, it’s no wonder he’s especially drawn to writing about celebrities, sports, and various drug cultures.

Sager posing in his home office, shadowed by Marlon Brando

Ariana Drehsler

Sager’s pieces are so vivid, the characters so alive that it’s no surprise more than a dozen of his articles have been turned into films. Ever heard of Boogie Nights? That was thanks to Sager’s Rolling Stone piece “The Devil and John Holmes.”

So was Wonderland, starring Val Kilmer, as well as 2012’s The Marinovich Project, an ESPN documentary based on Sager’s 2010 Esquire piece on the former No. 1 NFL draft pick and the disastrous effects of the all-consuming, lifelong training regimen from a young age. There are also stories about “The Pope of Pot,” who ran New York’s first marijuana delivery service, and another dispatch from the underground world of Southern California’s hash scene.

Sager John Holmes Book Cover

These days, he also runs his own publishing house, The Sager Group, which is HQ’ed at his oceanfront home. Sager started the eponymous press in 2012 as a “multimedia content brand” geared towards “empowering those who create.” Sager knows better than anyone that a media career these days doesn’t exactly guarantee riches, even more so with print journalism.

And though he’s made out okay—he calls his La Jolla perch the “house that Hollywood built”—he also knows he’s been lucky, and he wants to pay it forward. Plus, he likes staying in the mix.

To do so, Sager finds who he considers the best, brightest, and most underexposed writers kicking out the most interesting stories. He works with them to develop and bring to completion books and e-books. He lends a hand with heavy edits and helps with product design, and thanks to Sager’s Hollywood connections, the press also helps authors turn their books into documentaries and feature films.

Mike Sager home

Ariana Drehsler

Since 2012, The Sager Group has published more than 80 books, including a Women in Journalism series, which Sager claims is the “world’s only three-volume textbook or anthology of great women writers.” A cursory Google search confirms that. Many of these books are being turned into movies.

Shaman and Labyrinth of the Wind have been optioned by TIME Studios, plus Bang Bang Productions in India. They’re working with fiction and long-form journalism publisher NeoText, whose parent company recently became part of Jake Gyllenhaal’s Nine Stories Productions.

Sager Dante Book Cover

Currently, the dual production teams are creating a film, podcast, and documentary to accompany Deadliest Man Alive by Benji Feldheim, published earlier this year. It’s about Chicagoan John Keenan, a martial arts expert with a “Most Interesting Man in the World” sort of pedigree. He also ran occult and pornography shops, harbored a lively cocaine habit, and was rumored to be linked to the mob.

I joke to Sager that he could qualify as “the Most Interesting Man in the World.” A tour through his office and studio is a look into where he’s been, what he’s seen. Pictures of Sager with various celebrities line the walls next to his many books—some he wrote, the rest classic and obscure works, many penned by famous friends.

One photo shows Sager cautiously, with some distance, putting his arm around Paris Hilton. In another, he’s got fists up in a defensive boxing pose with “Freeway” Rick Ross, the crack kingpin of 1980s L.A. In yet another, he’s chatting with the second-to-last king of Nepal, King Birendra, who was later assassinated by his own son.

Sager Brando Book Cover

Life is much quieter and more consistent for Sager these days: he’s in a new relationship, he lives next door to his mom, and he spends most of his time at home, promoting the writers of The Sager Group. He’s got a few recent releases of his own. Hunting Marlon Brando, which is also available in audiobook, details Sager’s experiences across the globe trying to interview the iconic late actor (spoiler: he eventually succeeds—sort of).

A Boy and His Dog in Hell is an anthology of what Sager calls his “greatest hits.” Upcoming releases include My Father’s Con by octogenarian Pat Jordan, the great sportswriter for Sports Illustrated and The New York Times, as well as The Devil Took Her by New Zealand “off-kilter short story writer” Michael Botur.

While finishing this story, I asked Sager if there’s anything I missed, a fascinating anecdote we somehow overlooked. Over the next few minutes, I watch the text bubbles on my phone appear, then disappear, when a photo of him and a white-haired man appears. It’s Sager with Jonathan Goldsmith, of Dos Equis commercial fame.

Another text bubble, then: “One of these guys is the Most Interesting Man in the World.”

The post The Not-So-Lonely Hedonist appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Adam Gnade

Adam Gnade

Novelist, musician, and general multihyphenate Adam Gnade misses San Diego.

Some might remember him as the editor of San Diego’s groundbreaking but all-too-short-lived alternative newsweekly Fahrenheit, while others may have caught his concerts at clubs like Space in City Heights. He’s also done well for himself as the author of moving novels  and best-selling, zine-style self-help guides.

After Tonight, Everything Will Be Different

His new novel, After Tonight, Everything Will Be Different, is something of a love letter to San Diego, albeit one filled with hardcore punk kids drowning their sorrows in booze and greasy burritos. Quite a few iconic eateries show up by name in the book (more below), but we caught up with the author himself to ask him what places he still comes back to San Diego for, and what new-ish places he’s discovered on his visits.

Old Haunts 

Pokéz

947 E Street, East Village

“Pokéz is like a 1920s Parisian salon for San Diego punks, and the Tom’s Deep Plate is their all-you-need number-one chart-topping hit with refried beans, rice, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and great tortillas.”

Cotixan Mexican Food

4370 Genesee Avenue, Clairemont

“Just like with Pokéz, there’s a chapter in After Tonight, Everything Will Be Different set at this trustworthy, venerable place. For years I lived off the chile relleno burrito at their Genesee location, but nowadays the simple, no frills, zero-BS veggie burrito is my guy.”

Saguaro’s

3753 30th Street, North Park

“Order a beans, rice, and guacamole burrito to experience perfection. Also, the best flour tortillas in town. Go to Verbatim Books afterward, then Holsem Coffee, and have a perfect day like Lou Reed.”

Fresher Fare

El Veganito

5500 Grossmont Center Drive, La Mesa

“The lovely, picturesque burrito on the cover of my book is the eponymous “El Veganito” from this cool little gemstone in the Grossmont Center mall. Choice of adobada or carnitas, rice and beans, pico de gallo, and chipotle cream. Your heart shall be a marching horse.”

Donna Jean

2949 Fifth Avenue, Bankers Hill

“Donna Jean’s pizza will make you feel happy and wild, like Godzilla stomping his worst enemies to tiny, stupid pieces. Try the Four Horsemen pizza—fermented wheat dough, mozzarella (both hard and soft), ricotta, Parm, garlic, oregano, pesto, crushed tomatoes, and the truest true love.”

The Plot

1733 South Coast Highway, Oceanside

“Order in courses here like a fancy French restaurant. Start with the Taköyaki hush puppies, then the unbelievably good Chronic sushi rolls, followed by the Chickën & Waffles as the final boss.”

The post No Place Like Home appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Darkroom: A Dinner Series

Where: Uptown Tavern

When: May 9, and monthly

It’s lights out at this monthly, five-course tasting dinner where guests might be left in the dark by the surprise menu, but won’t be distracted from its flavors by any light whatsoever. Uptown Tavern’s executive chef Mark Molina designs the menu around in-season ingredients. Each month’s event—limited to no more than 20 guests and guaranteed to sell out quickly—features a new menu for $49.95 per person, including a welcome aperitif cocktail.

Sweat San Diego

Where: Catamaran Resort Hotel and Spa

When: May 12, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Yes, the focus of San Diego Magazine‘s very own annual fitness event is to break a sweat while sampling workouts from a long list of the hottest studios like Orangetheory Fitness, Barre 59, Club Pilates, and Define U Fitness. But fitness is a lifestyle that should include delicious bites, drinks, and other ways of feeling good. Round out your day with healthy bites and beverages from names like Califia Farms, Bonafide Provisions, Fizzique, and Café Moto, plus live music, swag bags and mini-massages. Tickets ($46) include two 20-minute workout sessions.

Eat. Drink. Read. A Culinary Event for Literacy

Where: San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park

When: Thursday, May 17, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The “read” part of the San Diego Council on Literacy’s annual food event and fundraiser refers to the fact that proceeds go toward literacy programs and books for kids. Which means you can feel even better about the “eat” and “drink” parts: dishes and drinks inspired by local chefs’ favorite books or literary characters. Diners can sample creations from more than 20 chefs from notable restaurants like Civico 1845, Waypoint Public, Stone Brewing Co., Pacific Del Mar, and Galaxy Taco, and watch them go head-to-head for a number of awards granted by celebrity judges. Tickets are $75.

3 Unique San Diego Food Events Not to Miss in May

Chefs create dishes inspired by their favorite literary characters at Eat. Drink. Read. | Photo: Council on Literacy

The post 3 Unique San Diego Food Events Not to Miss in May appeared first on San Diego Magazine.