San Diego Hotels, San
Diego Vacation
Despite
San Diego's reputation as a Republican stronghold, the gay neighborhoods
are as out-of-the-closet and gay-friendly as anywhere
.
Couples hold hands, gay papers are stacked at store entrances,
and straight businesses advertise in the gay press.
The Republicanism here seems not to be the fundamentalist type.
In 1995, a court blocked a small group of zealots called "The
Normal People" from marching in the huge pride parade down University
Avenue.
There's an open lesbian on the seven-member City Council. And
she's a Democrat. San Diego's gayest and most cosmopolitan neighborhood
is Hillcrest, centered at the intersection of Fifth and University
avenues.
Bars,
coffee shops, restaurants, bookstores, and kitsch outlets - many
of them gay-owned - stretch along University from Third Avenue
to Park Boulevard.
The strip also features America's only all-gay Ace Hardware store.
Several other neighborhoods - including North Park, University
Heights, Normal Heights, and Kensington - have large gay populations
and a smattering of gay businesses.
The bear/leather scene is centered in North Park. There are about
30 gay bars (plus eight more 15 miles south in Tijuana) and a
full range of gay businesses and organizations here in America's
sixth-largest city.
Hotels that charge about $50 a night may still be found throughout
the city; and at least four in Hillcrest target gay consumers.
Black's Beach, an extremely popular nude beach with a half-mile-long
gay section, is one of San Diego's unique gay offerings.
It
is 12 miles north of downtown below the Torrey Pines Glider Port.
(Exit I-5 West on Genesee Avenue.)
The sun shines here more than 300 days a year. The ocean is warm
enough for swimming about half the year. But be warned: San Diego
has been "discovered," and it's become more and more difficult
to find inexpensive housing.
