Elton John, Nov 9, 2022

Credit: Eric Scire/Petco Park Events

There’s an electricity and sadness in those epic hands, a bit amended by age but awesomely bedazzled. Hands that through the years have both composed some of the most memorably alive pop music the western world will ever know, and desperately dug through bags of drugs.

That last point is relevant because the man’s whole, unfiltered life is on display one last time. Plus, the best art has both hope and nihilism.

These aren’t just any hands. On the building-sized video screens lording over Petco Park, Elton John’s fingers are 30-feet-long and they dance, really dance. Some of the biggest songs in the history of western pop culture tumble from those fingers into the open air and ricochet off skyscrapers in downtown San Diego one last time.

Rocket Man.

Daniel.

Bennie and the Jets.

I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues.

Tiny ****ing Dancer.

Songs that billions of people over decades have cranked up to a medically irresponsible volume and sung their hearts out to—sung like these are national anthems to some amazing fictional country we pledge allegiance to and where people gladly fight on Saturdays. Songs we’ve made love to and songs for our burials. Songs that are no longer songs, but a shared history.

Seeing them played live one last time—23 massive mega-hits played over two and a half hours—felt like Don McLean’s song come to life. The “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour definitely marks the death of a rock ‘n’ roll era.

Elton and his band are going through major international cities, turning out the lights for good, tipping bartenders. And Elton, sober now a long while and I’m sure a bit tired at age 75, is fantastic. He is utterly himself. His eyeglasses hyperbolic, Vegas as an optometric expression. He is as he’s always been—the peacock of the piano, an ornamental and fiercely expressive exotic bird. He can’t hit the high notes anymore, and mercifully doesn’t try (nothing hurts quite like watching aging singers chase octaves that left them years ago). But you can still hear the good barroom beer swagger in his deep blues howl, and he is, always has been, one hell of an entertainer.

His bandmates are all there, now old men whose success trapped them in a young man’s game. And they visibly love it, completely unself-conscious about the long shelf life this circus has afforded them. Watching drummer Ray Cooper (also 75, band member since 1971) on the incredibly high-def screen is the highlight of the night. His goofy, constant grin rekindles the iciest of hearts. He rampages the drums, bobs his head, loses himself in this final grand spectacle. He seems so in love with this moment and the fact that they got to do this for so long—he is raptured, fully locked into that abandonment and glee most look for on dance floors and in bedrooms.

This being a baseball stadium, I hereby start the petition for a Ray Cooper bobblehead.

Elton John, Nov 9, 2022

Credit: Eric Scire/Petco Park Events

Guitarist Davey Johnstone (71-years-old, joined the band in 1971) has his sunglasses on, dead serious about his final run. He plays with a very British kind of rock star cool—as if he’s not putting on any airs… these airs were merely born on him.

The only lackluster part of the show at Petco is the crowd itself. I often say I love San Diego because there’s a Midwestern chill to people here, and sometimes that can come off as sleepwalkerish non-existence. More than a few times, Elton comes to the side of the stage and raises his hands, trying to get the crowd into it. Maybe they’re too sad at his leaving, maybe they are excessively white-zinfandeled, maybe they are San Diegans.

A show this large (Petco was beyond sold out at nearly 40,000 people) depends on massive, massive visuals to accompany what are, for most in attendance, shiny excited specks on stage. Four enormous, wildly vivid screens put on a Broadway-meets-Hollywood cinema that documents the life and times of Elton.Watching him, I am almost certain no rock star will ever be this big again.

I wasn’t alive when Reginald Kenneth Dwight came to be “Elton John.” So my nostalgia for this man and his songs is an heirloom that was passed to me. Taylor Swift and Rihanna and Bad Bunny will be billionaires and their songs will be global, but they simply can’t pierce the consciousness of humanity like Elton has.

They say nostalgia is a form of death, but hear me out. When Elton and The Stones and Zeppelin won the world, they only had a few forms of mass entertainment to compete with (professional sports, Hollywood, etc.). Now there are video games and social media and the internet and endless streaming (as well as pro sports and Hollywood). Rock ‘n’ roll isn’t dead, it’s just not alone anymore.When Elton became a hit in the ’70s, his songs went into every blockbuster film (which everyone went to see, because Netflix and HBO weren’t creating original movies yet). His songs were played obsessively on every radio station (which we all listened to because Spotify didn’t exist yet). Radio stations could only play a handful of artists a year, which built megastars. Now many of us listen to streaming services, where there are a billion artists (and thousands of pretty great ones).

So maybe watching Elton play his last show isn’t a death of music, but more a sending off of the culture gods we once made.

The post The Day Music Died in San Diego appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

jurickson profar

James Tran

“Sometimes you know… I’m looking for hits,” says Jurickson Profar, poring over a selection of bats deep in the guts of Petco Park. “So I come in here and feel it out, listen to the bat… I feel it, hear it.”

The 29-year-old Curaçaoan left fielder is standing in a room few people besides players ever see. Where sewing machines on tables patch names of new arrivals. Wardrobe racks are lined with jerseys. Profar stands among sky-high stacks of bins filled with official Padres caps, bats, gloves, belts, socks, cleats, shin guards, wrist guards, pro gear—a dizzying collection of game-day memorabilia any fan would kill for.

“It’s exciting,” Profar says. “I’m a curious guy. So I like to always come in here and check what we got new.”

Let’s be honest, the Padres aren’t known as a colorful club. The clubhouse is brown carpet, brown doors, brown walls, brown trim, a splash of mustard. But hang a right on a Friday afternoon and it’s an almost disorienting blast of color. Bright, fresh, and polarizing. The team’s City Connect jersey—a blended cocktail of bright pink and electric banana yellow, garnished with mint—was designed to pay homage to our city’s unique border setting. They’re more Baja than Balboa Park. A sunset off the coast of el otro México perhaps, or a quinceañera.

Like all great art, the uniforms evoked strong and conflicted emotions. Some hailed it as the most stylish MLB uniform in eons. Others railed against its Miami-ness, how it evoked a rec league team sponsored by Taco Bell. Love it or hate it, these jerseys and hats made noise—and dollars. The Padres sold nearly a quarter million worth of City Connect swag on the very first day the uniform debuted.

“This is my favorite uniform to wear, by far,” Profar says. “Curaçao is a colorful island, so I love the colors.”

The post Inside the Room Powering the Padres appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

First, the upfront: This is a paid partnership with the Padres. Second, that’s not going to stop me from reliving one of my favorite kid memories.

I was 11 years old when the Padres played the Chicago Cubs in the playoffs. The Padres were a large part of my world. My mom, a baseball nut, taught me how to keep score in an official book that year. We had season tickets, which meant we were able to get seats for the playoff games. Padres lost the first two games, came back to San Diego on the ropes. 

Mom and I were sitting in the left field bleachers when Kevin McReynolds hit a towering fly ball in our direction. The ball got bigger and bigger and bigger. The Cubs’ left-fielder ran toward us, ran fast until he ran out of room. The ball landed, and the stadium exploded. It landed right… HERE. It landed at US. 

Up until that moment, I’d always envied the other, closer seats.

Three days later, I was sitting in the upper deck when Craig Nettles threw the ball to Alan Wiggins and the team rioted into a human pile of happy in the center of the field. The Pads’ first trip to the World Series. 

The bleachers are where us fans harvest homers. Send us your dingers, your dongers, goners, taters, oppo tacos, no-doubters, moon shots, your grand salamis, and your Machados. Slam Diego isn’t a fictional place. It’s a seat. And that seat… is right here. It’s a tad louder in the bleachers because, well, joy and happiness aren’t quiet. Welcome to the party at the end of the home run rainbow.

The Padres are now playing their final stretch of games. All of them at Petco. I split season tickets this year with a friend specifically for this reason. To have a chance to get those seats again, relive that McReynolds moment, that Garvey time. 

It’s down to the wire, the biting of nails. Machado and Soto and Joe and Yu and Snellzilla and all the players with great hair could use locals at the finish line. Get a seat. Any seat. All have their unique charms. And should you decide to become a member (partial or whole season tickets for 2023), the list of perks is pretty impressive, including:

—priority access to Postseason tickets (and, baseball gods be willing, World Series)

—before each game, it’s happy hour (more than half-off select beer, wine, and cocktails)

—invitation to watch batting practice to catch homers (if you get a ball with gold-stitching, you get a free Pads jersey of your choice)

—10% off all schwag (City Connect calling your name)

Go Pads.

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Matt Thomas/San Diego Padres

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Petco Park

Andy Hayt/San Diego Padres

Big-league baseball is a game of inches. A deep-deep-deep fly ball could become a game-winning home run—or disappoint millions. It’s also a numbers game. Few know more about the stats behind Petco Park than Ken Kawachi, VP of ballpark operations. Kawachi oversees more than 50 full-time employees—and over 500 part-timers during baseball season. He breaks down the numbers behind one of MLB’s most iconic fields.

60

Permanent concession stands

58

Portable concession carts.

4

Hours to mow the iconic crisscross on the

98,000

Square-foot field.

4,331

Hot dogs on average consumed per game.

18,474

Beers consumed per game. Those numbers spike on weekends and when the Dodgers come to town to collect their losses

61.2′ x 123.6′

Left-field video board by Daktronics

716

Solar panels, the largest solar array of any MLB facility.

50%

of Petco Park events in 2021 were baseball. There were:

19

Concerts (this year: Red Hot Chili Peppers, July 27; Bad Bunny, September 17)

18

Graduations

4

Drive-in movies

2

Weddings

The post Over 4,000 Hot Dogs and 18,000 Beers per Game—We’ve Got the Stats on Petco Park appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

(Here’s a wealth of general information about accessing Petco Park, for further inquiry.)

By Car

If traveling by car, God help you. Game day parking is limited, generally costing $21 to $40, unless you’re bringing hiking boots and trekking poles. For this reason, pre-purchasing parking is a good idea. Find specific lot locations and prices here and information on parking for disabled guests here.

Rideshare services like Lyft and Uber are a good method, but be prepared to walk a few blocks or more—hoofing it may be quicker than sitting in a traffic jam.

By Trolley

Conveniently, all three trolley lines swing by the park, with beefed-up service following night games—you can’t beat that for $2.50. Petco is best accessed by three stations: 12th and Imperial Transit Center, the Park and Market Station (at 12^th and Market Streets), and the Gaslamp Quarter Station (at Fifth Avenue and Harbor Drive).

Park-and-ride is a good option—there are 5,000 parking spots at SDCCU Stadium (except of major event days) and Hazard Center.

By Coaster

Avoid I-5 traffic on the Coaster with regional roundtrip day passes ($15 for adults or $7.50 for kids) that grant free trolley connections to Petco. To get back home, Northbound trains leave Santa Fe Depot one hour after the end of the game or fireworks, but no later than midnight.

For Padres fans in Orange County and L.A. (bless your hearts, children) ride the Pacific Surfliner to Santa Fe Depot, just a 25-minute walk or quick trolley ride on the southbound Green Line to the park.

By Bus

An abundance of bus routes pass by Petco, including Routes 12 and 901, which pull up practically on home plate. Routes 4, 12, 901, and 929 arrive at the nearby 12th and Imperial Transit Center. Routes 3 and 5 put riders within easy strolling distance of park entrances.

By Ferry

If you live on Coronado Island, start your mainland leg of the journey at 5th Ave. Landing. But you already knew that.

Bicycling

Cyclists can lock their trusty steeds on public racks on these corners: Park Boulevard and Tony Gywnn Drive; Park Boulevard and 10th Avenue; J Street at 8th and 9th Avenues; near the 7th Avenue Gaslamp Entry Gate.

Look for bike share stations and wayward share-bikes scattered about downtown to pedal to Petco.

By FRED

AKA the Free Ride Everywhere Downtown Shuttle. All that’s required is waving one down during their operating hours. View the schedule here.

How To Get to Petco Park (Sanely, and On Time)

Photo courtesy of MTS

The post How To Get to Petco Park (Sanely, and On Time) appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

The Experience at Comic-Con

Where: Petco Park’s Lexus Premier Lot

When: July 19-22

What was known as Petco Park’s Interactive Zone is back with a new name but the same concept of a “pop-culture playground.” Three acres of Petco Park’s parking lot will host the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, a very hungry Sharkzilla, and a semi-truck equipped with gaming pods equipped with Forza Motorsport 7 on Xbox One X, and a lot more. Did we mention food trucks?

Hulu’s Castle Rock House

Where: Front Street and Island Avenue

When: July 19-22

There will be no pause button when you get freaked out at this real life house at Front Street and Island Avenue. The house will embody scary stuff from the Hulu original series Castle Rock, based on the work of Stephen King.

Family Con

Where: Liberty Public Market

When: July 18, 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Though parents are probably the real superheroes, kids get to strut their stuff while dressed as their favorite superhero in this costume parade through Liberty Public Market. Scooped ice cream shop will reward the best-dressed groms with free ice cream scoops (while parents can find their own boozy milkshakes at Mess Hall Bar). There’s also a petting zoo.

The Movie Music of John Williams 

Where: Jacobs Music Center

When: July 18, 7:30 p.m.

Hear the rousing soundtracks of Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, and Star Wars in the setting they were intended: a symphony hall. The concert will be preceded by a costume contest. Because Comic-Con. Tickets are $30 to $45.

4 Fun Things to Do at Comic-Con 2018, No Badge Required

Comic-Con International in San Diego | Photo: Kelly Kennedy

The post 4 Fun Things to Do at Comic-Con 2018, No Badge Required appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

No.

Bartenders in suspenders only make stiff, brown drinks that smell like grandpas. Not Hawaiian-shirted grandpa. The serious one who drank because killing something is illegal.

Now, of course, craft is mainstream. Birthday-song chain restaurants are test-marketing Sazeracs. So it makes absolute sense that Consortium Holdings—a major force in proliferating “craft” beverages in San Diego—is doubling back to boat drinks.

Welcome to Fairweather, a patio bar dedicated to “drinks from sunny places”—daiquiris and piña coladas and mai tais and zombies. Terribly good mezcal. Ice cold, refreshing concoctions served in the sun along the treeeline. The name is an ode to San Diego’s perky climate. It also fits its location beyond the outfield fence of Petco Park (795 J Street), home to the San Diego Padres and their fair weather fan base.

FIRST LOOK: Fairweather

Fairweather is the brainchild of Anthony Schmidt, Consortium’s cocktail guru and one of the more respected drinks men in the country.

“Why hasn’t anyone embraced this vacation mentality in a proper cocktail bar?” he asks. “San Diego is such a beautiful place. At Consortium, we are very critical of ourselves and our service and our product. We take ourselves too seriously. But it doesn’t mean we don’t **** around and have a good time. Engage the sunshine.”

They’re talking luaus. Pig roasts. Skrillax will play in the “Park at the Park,” which Fairweather overlooks (free show!). Paul McCartney is playing Petco soon (free show!). They’ll be making their own pineapple juice and blending their own rums to try to recreate the classic mai tai rum—a 17-year Wray and Nephew, which is no longer in production. They’re doing a spin on the Zombie with mezcal called The Oaxacan Dead. The menu is divided into two parts: The Classics (all historically true recipes) and Fairweather Signatures (Schmidt’s own riff on those classics).

Fairweather is poised atop Consortium’s newly opened deli, Rare Form. It’s also next to the new Stone Company Store. But with no street visibility on the inner rim of Park at the Park, which really hurt the former tenants (Proper Gastropub), how will Fairweather manage?

“That’s an excellent question,” says Schmidt. “The drinks better be delicious.”

The full menu for those drinks is included below. Fairweather opens this Saturday with a limited version. Next week the full menu will be available. They’ll be open 5PM to close Monday through Friday, all day on weekends.

FIRST LOOK: Fairweather

The post FIRST LOOK: Fairweather appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

No.

Bartenders in suspenders only make stiff, brown drinks that smell like grandpas. Not Hawaiian-shirted grandpa. The serious one who drank because killing something is illegal.

Now, of course, craft is mainstream. Birthday-song chain restaurants are test-marketing Sazeracs. So it makes absolute sense that Consortium Holdings—a major force in proliferating “craft” beverages in San Diego—is doubling back to boat drinks.

Welcome to Fairweather, a patio bar dedicated to “drinks from sunny places”—daiquiris and piña coladas and mai tais and zombies. Terribly good mezcal. Ice cold, refreshing concoctions served in the sun along the treeeline. The name is an ode to San Diego’s perky climate. It also fits its location beyond the outfield fence of Petco Park (795 J Street), home to the San Diego Padres and their fair weather fan base.

FIRST LOOK: Fairweather

Fairweather is the brainchild of Anthony Schmidt, Consortium’s cocktail guru and one of the more respected drinks men in the country.

“Why hasn’t anyone embraced this vacation mentality in a proper cocktail bar?” he asks. “San Diego is such a beautiful place. At Consortium, we are very critical of ourselves and our service and our product. We take ourselves too seriously. But it doesn’t mean we don’t **** around and have a good time. Engage the sunshine.”

They’re talking luaus. Pig roasts. Skrillax will play in the “Park at the Park,” which Fairweather overlooks (free show!). Paul McCartney is playing Petco soon (free show!). They’ll be making their own pineapple juice and blending their own rums to try to recreate the classic mai tai rum—a 17-year Wray and Nephew, which is no longer in production. They’re doing a spin on the Zombie with mezcal called The Oaxacan Dead. The menu is divided into two parts: The Classics (all historically true recipes) and Fairweather Signatures (Schmidt’s own riff on those classics).

Fairweather is poised atop Consortium’s newly opened deli, Rare Form. It’s also next to the new Stone Company Store. But with no street visibility on the inner rim of Park at the Park, which really hurt the former tenants (Proper Gastropub), how will Fairweather manage?

“That’s an excellent question,” says Schmidt. “The drinks better be delicious.”

The full menu for those drinks is included below. Fairweather opens this Saturday with a limited version. Next week the full menu will be available. They’ll be open 5PM to close Monday through Friday, all day on weekends.

FIRST LOOK: Fairweather

The post FIRST LOOK: Fairweather appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Petco Park

Petco Park

Petco Park, home of the Padres, may be one the craftiest beer ballparks in the country. The venue, which has introduced several craft beer options in recent years, has added a 2,800-square-foot Stone Gardens above Hodad’s. The Gardens, a 12-tap stop with big views and big, hoppy beers, will look much like the new Liberty Station Stone location, as well as the massive Escondido campus.

In addition, Ballast Point, which already has a beer garden at the ballpark, has unveiled a 4,200-square-foot tap room called “The Draft.”

“We live in the Napa Valley of craft beer,” says Scott Marshall, vice president of concessions and retail for the Padres. “We want to celebrate local craft beer.”

So much so that the team will also launch six iconic craft beer carts at the ballpark this season, selling Karl Strauss’ Red Trolley, Mission Brewery beers, and Green Flash. The large carts can’t be missed—especially the one shaped like a lifeguard tower.

The ballpark’s efforts are a clear sign that management is listening to fans, who have asked for more craft beer in-house.

“We’ve really tried to create a great destination for fans,” Marshall says.

That includes craft in cans, too. Fat Cat Beer, a contract brewer with offices in La Jolla, will bring four styles of beer to Petco.

Can’t wait for game time? East Village’s popular Southpaw Social Club is emphasizing its outdoor biergarten-style seating. And Stone just opened a tap room at Eighth and J, facing the Park at the Park.

This summer, The Quartyard, a pop-up marketplace, will open a 30,000-square-foot spot at Park and Market that will push craft beer options. Rounding out the influx, a brewpub called Half-Door Brewing Co. will open in the East Village this October. Play ball!

The post Don’t Miss Petco Park’s Full Roster of Craft Brews appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

SHOOT IT, SEND IT

Submit your best San Diego shots
to [email protected].

Location: Downtown looking north at Petco Park from the Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge

Camera: Nikon D600, shot at focal length 14 with a 14mm wide-angle lens

Evgeny Yorobe, a healthcare IT professional and fine art/wedding photographer from Tierrasanta, was drawn to the movement, lines, and lights of this downtown scene. “I knew I wanted the bridge and Petco Park in a photograph, and all the movement and activity around the bridge made me decide on a nighttime long-exposure shot,” says Yorobe, a devoted Padres fan. The time of the day mandated a tripod, but he realized that a wall blocked the composition. In a pinch, Yorobe shortened the length of one tripod leg to lean it and the camera to the very edge. The result was a view of the city’s after-hours buzz—traffic, twinkling lamps, and light trails from the planes, trains, and automobiles.

Looking north at Petco Park from the Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge

The post Picture-Perfect: A City Scene appeared first on San Diego Magazine.