Learned to use/hide from summer heat.
If you find yourself w a few extra hours
Diff ideas for different parts of town
Hope you make it to a happy ending
First rule in life is love for your town
Map
Sections
12
Libraries
Parks
Pools at 24-hour fitness gyms (25 yards)
Volleyball
Golf
Sports Gear
Libraries
As an independent publisher I work exclusively from public libraries in SD
Covered parking stalls in part of open lot
Great place, chill while parked in the heat
Open conference room, free book FCFS
Call in the morning, reserve 2 hour slot
Several tables have 4 chairs each
Good place for tutoring or meet
Outdoor patio, many...
Serra Mesa-Kearny Mesa Branch Library
Great small library in National City
Attached to incredible, beautiful park
Near very popular community center
1 block from Home Depot
A dozen computers
Very few books
Lots of DVDs
Several open tables, 4 seats each
Community room has morning gatherin...
Mountain View/Beckwourth Branch Library
In a quiet and mostly undeveloped part of town, there is one strip mall back there with a discount grocery store and an Auto Zone
Drive east a little further there are nice residential communities around w small parks, very green area, military comm...
Tierrasanta Branch Library
Not my favorite library but they are all great. The smaller ones like this tend to pack the public computers into tighter cluster.
Claremont Helen Renwick Library
Never been there, I hear it's nice. This I believe is one of the two biggest branches
San Diego Central Library
Surprisingly nice library; where I get my hot spot, public computers on the second floor. It's one of the rare branches open Mondays
Logan Heights Library
Parks
As a stay home dad I suddenly saw the vital nature of getting my kid outside playing almost every day
Now he's older we keep our eyes on pickup hoops, drop into random street ball games or other stuff
Lively place near where I live, kid friendly
Laughter and livelihood every weekend
2 hoops courts, empty or a few players. On a nice summer night there is music and laughter till 9pm or so, very harmonious
Mountain View Park
What a vast, extensive, versatile and beautiful park. Great place to walk, bike, set up grass volleyball, park RVs, go tailgating or just fly a kite. I was married in the complex near the boat harbor- it may lift your spirits to see people taking wed...
Mission Bay
Nice locals park and rec center
Indoor schedule has hoops and vb
Check the schedule for specific times
Outdoor hoops often used but never full
The park is quite large, small walking track
Lots of space, set up outdoor vb, your net
Serra Mesa Recreation Center
Pools at 24-hour fitness gyms (25 yards)
Greatest single investment if you're low on money and stuck living in your car in SD
Largest central location gym, Balboa/805
Best Recovery room, largest pool
Great class schedule, yoga/pump
Tons of cardio bikes/treadmills
Barbells, curling bars, dead lift
Having a gym open around the clock is keyy to my lifestyle, not just bc im of...
24 Hour Fitness
Great locals gym, has a decent indoor pool
Steam room, sauna, weights, cardio.
Day pass $25 or member, upgraded member can use 2 massage chairs - no recovery room at this location (balboa has dry cold plunge and infrared sauna). Nat City is the un-c...
24 Hour Fitness
This is the North County location, the center of the nicer, newer suburbs near famous Del Mar, Carmel Mountain and Torrey Pines. Nice outdoor hoops courts, outdoor lift. Outdoor pool has two lanes only. North of 56 between 805 and 15; Grocery store n...
24 Hour Fitness
Volleyball
Sand training is great for the legs and this place is world famous. LA knows that San Diego is a top notch place to play ball; the talent you find here can rival the best skills on any beach anywhere.
If you don't have apartment complex or gym, and you want to play near the ocean, this is where you're going. Its just south of the small roller coaster at Mission Beach
Best locals play 6am-9am on Sat/Sun
South Mission Beach Volleyball Courts
Large facility has both sand and indoor VB as well as both tennis & golf range onsite.
2026: The best VB coach in San Diego just went away from Coast and into Wave, which is slightly more accessible for North County families. It appears Wave is ...
WAVE Volleyball Club
These make a huge difference
Sand Volleyball Shoes
Consistently one of the top boys indoor/outdoor volleyball training academies in USA. It's near LA Jolla and costs about as much yearly as my university degree. Some people move to San Diego to train at this club location. Top 5 locations consistentl...
Coast Volleyball Club
Golf
90+ outdoor courses in SD + indoor, range
World famous golf course open to locals who show drivers license w address in one of 9 san diego counties. It used to be $35 - haven't checked in a while. Golf fanatics who move to SD often run (not walk) to get a local ID which is used to pay local...
Torrey Pines Golf Course
Stunning course, 10-15 year wait for membership; expensive to join as member but last checked was not expensive to play. Surrounded by water it's great for staying cool during peak of hot days mid summer
Coronado Golf Course
Indoor golf, 24/7 for members
Carlsbad: 45 minutes N of downtown SD
It's incredible they invented a way to golf around the clock, around the calendar and even give members a boosted experience
Back Nine Golf | Carlsbad, CA
Best central location for range balls. Hit from grass, or two levels from mat. Nearby batting cages are a nice touch. They used to give discount range plans. There's a pro shop there w gear for sale, easy parking.
Stadium Golf Center & Batting Cages
Sports Gear
Specialized sports equipment local in SD
All my gear: Goggles, caps, fins, swimsuits
Ask for discount by providing your email
Very large selection of goggles and occasional clearance rack items are nice
SwimWest USA (Paradowski's)
Love going in there
Shoes, socks, goggles
Stadium chairs, many options
Air rifles, gel blasters and ammo
Tennis, soccer, football, baseball sections
Sunglasses, blutooth wireless speakers
Ski coats and thin warm layers, hats
Big 5 Sporting Goods
Always amazed how enormous this place!!
Buckets of baseballs, volleyball, jerseys
Bikes, winter sports, athletic tape bulk
Long single line fans to many registers
DICK'S Sporting Goods
Sand is hot yo! Rocks hurt ya feet
Sand Socks
For playing on grass or turf
Adidas Turf Shoes
For grass or turf
Nike Turf Shoes
These are key before & after hard sports
Massage Guns | Powerful Muscle Massage Devices
They have a nice and do it well, this is the main location for this in San Diego though not the only vendor. I like the people I've chatted with there, San Diego is a place where people are both sharp and hip
House of Scuba
Laundromat
For when you might need to clean up
Nice locals laundromat in mid Nat City
Coin Laundry 43rd Street
My favorite laundromat
Fill large jugs of water
Brazilian jiu jitsu next door
Overpriced coffee other next door
Also next to convenience / liquor store
Heads/ changer gives tokens and quarters
Mission Village Laundry
Park free, bathroom next door at taco shop
Easy Breezy Laundromat
Comic books
SD is famous for this, good costume ideas
Great place to find unusual things, sadly they got rid of the clothing racks which is sad because they had a lot of fierce swag
Comickaze Comics and Pop Culture Store
Closest comic shop to convention center
Now Or Never Comics
Trading cards, collectibles 4 your inner nerd Maybe you can sell the old Pokémon cards but word is you'll do better on TGC Gamer
Comics-N-Stuff
Use this site to sell your Pokémon cards instead of getting fleeced at comic shops
TCGplayer
UTC Mall LA Jolla
Classy La Jolla, epic food court, ppl watch
Even if you're not skating, it's wonderful to watch skaters at the food court in UTC. When my son was a baby I went there every week, it's great people watching. The best was when girls hockey teams go to practice
UTC ICE
Absolutely incredible selection of upscale restaurants w indoor/outdoor seating but the real joy here are the many kitchen choices inside food court near the ice rink
Westfield UTC
Many selections but I often choose this
Charleys Cheesesteaks
Tennis
Best place in the world to play hard
This is the boss place, kids tennis lessons
Barnes Tennis Center
Rules for reserving court are posted. If you've got the time, why not drive over that freaky Coronado bridge, make a short hop across the small island, play on the ocean
Coronado Tennis Center
Where to get your racket, shoes, gear, restring by appt done in 1-2 days. Indoor alley she lets you hit with demo rackets
Ray's Tennis Shop
Grocery Stores
Restaurants alone will kill the budget
There are several Northgate locations south of San Diego, I can't believe I didn't find it sooner. You get a couple bucks off just about everything because the expire date on eggs and milk is often within a week. I love love this place. There's an op...
Northgate González Market
This is the major grocery store you find in San Diego. It has a deli counter with many side dishes, you can get things like hot meatloaf and fried chicken when you walk up. Full bakery, donuts, produce, canned and deli soups, frozen, dairy plus bever...