Gleaming glass towers and modern condominiums characterize the architecture of San Diego’s Columbia district. Look beyond this business and residential façade to uncover a downtown neighborhood with a superb art, food and music scene. Visit Columbia’s waterfront for scenic parks and maritime history.
Art buffs will enjoy browsing exhibitions by established, emerging and unrecognized artists at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. The gallery draws from a collection of over 4,700 works, which include paintings, photographs and sculptures, among other media. Look at avant-garde expositions and attend lectures and poetry readings at the SDSU Downtown Gallery.
Some of San Diego’s best concert and theater halls are in the Columbia district. Attend ballets, musicals and operas at San Diego Civic Theatre. Touring Broadway plays, classical music recitals and tribute bands entertain fans at the Copley Symphony Hall. See well-known bands and up-and-coming acts at the House of Blues San Diego and Music Box.
Columbia’s food scene ranges from innovative doughnuts to elaborate hot dogs and mouthwatering Asian and Mexican street food. Visit the Karl Strauss Brewing Company to sample 11 beers year round in addition to seasonal varieties. Opened in 1989, the brewery was a pioneer of the city’s craft beer industry.
Spend a day exploring areas of the lively Embarcadero promenade and cruise ship port. Step aboard historic tall ships and browse exhibits about the area’s seafaring heritage at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. The adjacent Waterfront Park has splash fountains, tree-shaded lawns and a children’s playground. Climb into the cockpit of warplanes, try a flight simulator and learn about the work of the United States Navy at the USS Midway Museum.
Columbia sits between the Gaslamp Quarter and Little Italy in Downtown San Diego. Get here by taking trains and the trolley to Santa Fe Depot railway terminal. The Orange and UC San Diego Blue lines of the city’s light rail system travel through the heart of the district.
