(I wanted to get the A-to-Z series up first. More details/pictures from the full weekend to follow).
San Diego is California’s city for everyone. The idyllic weather writes the invitation, and then the city itself provides hospitality for guests ranging from the nerds of Comic-Con to the Navy men on the bay. The swells can cavort at the beaches of Coronado, but the grandeur of Balboa Park belongs to the whole grateful public. It is a comfortable metropolis, with full self-knowledge, a friendly spirit, and none of those rivalries that preoccupy its few bigger brothers.
It’s a treasure trove of letters – sometimes fresh, sometimes faded, almost-always splendid. This A-to-Z series actually came about during two separate expeditions into downtown’s Gaslamp District, which explains the emphasis on restaurant signs and vintage hotel logos. Both are in teeming, cosmopolitan abundance there – during my stay I enjoyed Persian cuisine, Italian dessert, and cocktails from Hipsteristan. My general rule is to try and achieve the whole alphabet in one trip, but I was taking my photos while on holiday with a lady; and you don’t keep a lady waiting for dinner when the sun is going down in the Gaslamp.
Once downtown San Diego had an F Street, it was pretty inevitable that a sex shop would open there.
It’s easy to find an “H” in a neighborhood with this many hotels. I wanted to find one that had some seniority.
Sometimes I don’t love a letter but I snag it anyway, just because I don’t have it yet and know I may be pressed for time later. And yet I rather like the way this ended up cropping.
Needed a little something to honor the history and presence of the military in town.
Double W’s!
Unusually, this Z was the first letter I got. The Hotel Cortez, was once the tallest building in San Diego, was right across the street from our Holiday Inn Express, and its lighted sign is a historic landmark.