Reviews & Comments
Oceanside, CA
The most affordable beach city in So Cal for now -
7/2/2017You'd be hard pressed to find a city with more recreational opportunities and as culturally rich as Oceanside, and increasing numbers of affluent young families are choosing Oceanside over other San Diego County cities for the great values still available here. Oceanside is San Diego's northernmost beach city and is the only San Diego County city other than San Diego itself that can boast having one of the original 24 California Missions (with its own indigenous community and Franciscan theological seminary), a yacht harbor and miles of beaches that have long attracted international surfing competitions. However what makes Oceanside UNIQUE is its Transit Center that connects the San Diego light rail system to the Los Angeles/Orange County/Inland Empire rail system, giving environmentally conscious tourists and Oceanside residents the most Southern California transit options of any San Diego County city; this fact, along with Oceanside's ongoing Coast Highway Renaissance and the Oceanside Boulevard Biotech Corridor appears to be what is supporting the downtown resort building boom and its local coastal "hipster" reputation as THE place in the county to eat, play, create and invest. Indeed, gourmet food vendors from as far away as Los Angeles are now regulars at Oceanside's renowned weekly Thursday night Sunset Food Fair now in its tenth year and now the largest weekly festival of international foods and music to be found anywhere in California (and probably the West Coast). With all of the instrumental talent being showcased on Thursday nights watch for more music spots to pop up among Coast Highway's pubs and restaurants to compete with The Pourhouse, some of which have established "open mic" (The Hill Street Cafe) and "comedy" nights (The Privateer) featuring both local North County and regional talent.
With all of the recent excitement one only hopes that Oceanside will retain its affordability that guarantees her cultural diversity and creativity. Also, it remains to be seen if City leaders will preserve enough open space and parks from out of town speculative developers who are pumping out condos for all the newcomers that want to move or vacation here.