Category: Ocean Beach

Local Artists Associated with San Diego Museum of Art Sponsoring Exhibition

A group of local artists associated with the San Diego Museum of Art are sponsoring an exhibit in downtown Ocean Beach starting Tuesday, November 3rd. The exhibition entitled Takeover: Small-Scale Works will consist of fifty-five paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, and mixed-media works by forty artists, none of which are larger than 16 inches in any direction.

This is all happening at SHIFT Gallery at 4847 Newport Avenue (across the street from Target) by the San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild. Barbara Sexton, nationally known artist and retired Mesa College art professor, selected the art from 221 entries in a juried competition.

Takeover will run November 3 through November 17 at SHIFT Gallery. SHIFT is open seven days a week from noon to six p.m. and by appointment. The public is invited to meet participating artists at a gallery reception on Thursday, November 5, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

By Scott Chipman / Times of San Diego / Oct. 30, 2026

San Diego is preparing to make one of the most consequential public-land decisions in its history. The proposed Midway Rising development would commit nearly 50 acres of publicly owned property to a private development arrangement lasting 105 years.

Before making that commitment, city leaders should answer fundamental questions about housing demand, public subsidies, infrastructure, and whether this project represents the best long-term use of irreplaceable public land.

First, where is the demonstrated demand for thousands of additional housing units?

California has experienced population declines in recent years, while San Diego’s population growth has been modest. Meanwhile, thousands of apartments have recently been constructed throughout the region, with additional developments underway.

Where is the independent analysis demonstrating that San Diego needs this concentration of new housing at this location? How much demand represents genuine population growth versus residents simply relocating from existing neighborhoods?

Relocation doesn’t necessarily create new housing demand. It can leave vacancies elsewhere, potentially undermining existing neighborhoods and property values.

Second, what does “affordable housing” actually mean, and who pays for it?

By Debbie L. Sklar / Special to the OB Rag

Some things can’t help but change even if we don’t like it.

Take Ocean Beach, Sunset Cliffs and the coastline around Point Loma, which surely looks different to locals and maybe even tourists who often visit. One of its most interesting natural features, the Devil’s Pot, has been gone for decades, but do you know why?

The Devil’s Pot was an unusual rock formation along the Sunset Cliffs more than 100 years ago. It was also what geologists call a “littoral sink,” formed through coastal erosion and the collapse of rock above a sea cave. How the Devil’s Pot got its name is unclear, but the unusual formation was a distinctive feature of the coastline, according to NSS News, October 2008. Here’s what it stated about Sunset Cliffs and the Devil’s Pot:

San Diego’s Sunset Cliffs region is pockmarked with a dense series of caves. On the bluffs above is a strikingly circular collapse pit surrounded by a fence, just a stone’s throw from Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. It drops about 40 feet into a short sea cave with a single seaward entrance. The cave is in thin-bedded marine siltstones and sandstones known as the Point Loma formation, and formed along vertical joints.

By Rhea Caoile / Fox5SanDiego / Oct 24, 2026

A woman riding an e-bike in Ocean Beach was seriously injured Friday evening, October 23, after she was hit by a vehicle driven by a man under the influence of alcohol, the San Diego Police Department said.

According to SDPD, a 52-year-old woman was riding an e-bike eastbound in the bike lane near 4700 West Point Loma Blvd. around 7:11 p.m.

By Laura Acevedo / 10News / Oct 29, 2026

The city is on the verge of evicting a decades-old business in Mission Bay, saying it’s millions of dollars behind on rent and other fees. The Mission Bay Sports Center has until Monday, November 2, to pay nearly $1 million in overdue rent to the city.

On its website, Mission Bay Sports Center advertises itself as a locally owned water sports destination, offering rentals for things like jet skis, powerboats, and paddle boards.

But according to the city, this business is $4.2 million behind on rent, interest fees, and things like water charges and audit-related penalties. According to a default notice, the Mission Bay Sports Center now has until Monday to pay nearly $1 million or face eviction proceedings.

Cyclists will roll through scenic San Diego, starting and ending in Liberty Station on Saturday, Nov. 7, to support pancreatic cancer research in the 13th Annual Jim Krause Memorial Charity Cycling Ride the Point.

The memorial ride, sponsored by Point Loma Rotary Club, commemorates the life and legacy of Jim Krause, an avid cyclist and a past president of Point Loma Rotary Club. Krause died in 2012 after a valiant battle with pancreatic cancer. In his memory, the club hosts the annual charitable fundraiser in his name to support pancreatic cancer research at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health in La Jolla.

The ride includes exclusive routes through historic neighborhoods going past some of San Diego’s most scenic areas. The event has hundreds of volunteers along the route, SAG support, and five fully stocked rest stops.

Ride the Point has three distances:

• The 5-mile Family Fun Ride along San Diego Bay and is perfect for cruisers, beginning riders, challenged athletes, and families.
• The 25 Mile and Metric Century are street rides, limited to 600 riders, with exclusive routes and challenging climbs.
• Healthy Lifestyle Expo: The public is invited to this free event at Liberty Station Conference Center, 2600 Laning Rd., from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. on event day featuring local vendors, music, and refreshments.

By Bill B

I am writing to urgently report a persistent safety hazard near the Barnes Tennis Center.

Drivers visiting the facility are continuously running the stop sign on the street, often with minors in their vehicles.

This has become a major safety issue. I have nearly been hit by vehicles multiple times just attempting to walk to the bus stop, and the situation has led to verbal altercations.

A fight at OB’s famous seawall turned deadly deadly Wednesday night, authorities said.

Polce responded around 8:30 pm to a report of an injured person near Abbott Street and Newport Avenue, and found a critically injured man believed to be in his 50s. He was taken to a hospital where he later died from his injuries. Neither he nor the suspected assailant have been publicly identified.

SDPD Lt. Christopher Leahy, with the Homicide Unit, said witnesses told officers that the victim and another individual were involved in a verbal argument that escalated into a physical altercation. The fight is believed to have occurred at the low-slung seawall at the foot of Newport Avenue. It’s not clear yet whether some kind of weapon was used, or even who was the instigator.

OB Staff Report

With a week to go before the November 3 elections, the Rag is taking one last look at how much money candidates have raised in the Council District 2, 4, 6, and 8 races. The data are taken from Follow the Money.org (FTM), a self-described “coalition of non-partisan organizations working together to create transparency for campaign contributions and expenditures with local San Diego candidates.”

To help the public fully understand campaign finance, FTM, where one of the key groups is the League of Women Voters, reports what has been spent in support of a candidate (“why you should vote for X”) and what has been spent in opposition to the candidate (“why you should not vote for X”).

Money spent in support is generally considered “campaign contributions” that are given directly to the candidate or party. They are subject to contribution limits, and they must be publicly disclosed.

Money spent in opposition typically comes through “independent expenditures” by outside groups or individuals for public communications (ads or mailers) for or against a candidate. There are no spending limits, but funders must file disclosure reports and identify themselves in the materials, almost always in small print.

Here are the races:

From Voice of San Diego / Oct. 23, 2026

Ever since we broke the news that a huge data center might be built in downtown San Diego, local Democrats have been insisting its time to pump the breaks.

Thursday morning, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria posted a photo of himself signing an executive order that temporarily bans data centers on X.

“San Diego is putting clear rules in place before we allow data centers in our city,” he wrote.

San Diego Councilmembers Sean Elo-Rivera, Joe LaCava and Kent Lee gathered outside City Hall later that day announcing the proposal of a new city law that would place requirements on data centers built under their jurisdiction.

By Alysse Dodge / Fox5 – Yahoo News / October 22, 2026 

El Niño’s impacts are already being felt across the nation, including elevated sea levels and coastal flooding.

For example, Tropical Storm Rachel caused surf to overtop and breach the bulkhead protecting the Long Beach Peninsula on the weekend of October 11-12, collapsing part of one of the state’s oldest boardwalks and leaving eight buildings red-tagged as unsafe. The same storm severely flooded 15-20 blocks of Newport Beach’s Balboa Peninsula, prompting a local emergency declaration.

The East Coast is also being affected by the 2026-2027 El Niño, which the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration says has an 83% chance of being the strongest ever on record. New Jersey and New England coastal communities were flooded by a powerful nor’easter at the end of September.

After storms like these, the response is typically the same — rocks, sandbags and concrete are put on the beach under emergency permits. However, in most states, nothing ensures they ever come off.

The Surfrider Foundation released its annual State of the Beach report on Monday, which focuses on the negative impacts of emergency shoreline armoring.

Once a hard structure is in place, the beach is pinned in place, upland sand replenishment is cut off and erosion accelerates on neighboring properties, which creates a need for more armoring. In some states, temporary structures become permanent without any new permit.

Recent closures and management changes highlight challenges facing local musicians and student communities

by Ashley Bueno Leon / The Daily Aztec -SDSU / October 20, 2026

Independent music venues across San Diego face uncertain futures as leasing issues, ownership changes and closures reshape spaces that act as community hubs for local musicians and showgoers.

In August and September alone, three independent music venues underwent major changes to their operations. The venues face ambiguous circumstances that have raised questions about the long-term stability of mid-size and smaller musical spaces as a whole.

Closures and lease changes
Brick by Brick, a heavy metal venue in the Bay Park neighborhood, closed its doors Aug. 13. Although the owners did not respond to repeated requests for additional comment from The Daily Aztec, the closure followed a lease dispute, according to a report by ABC 10 News.

The Bancroft Bar, a dive bar and live music venue located in Spring Valley, finalized its run in August. Its website, which once highlighted upcoming shows, now emphasizes the venue as the past home for live music and cold drinks, displaying a list of past shows from 2013 to 2026.

In Ocean Beach, Winstons Beach Club, though not completely out of the live music scene, held its final show under the Winstons name on Sept. 26 before reopening under new management, according to the venue’s Instagram.