Nicolle Monico

4 weeks ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Nicolle Monico

I didn’t text my ex happy birthday. His day was coming up, almost two months after we had broken up. I thought about it a lot leading up to it, asked everyone I knew whether it was a good idea and waited for someone to give me the “yes” I was looking for. No matter how I worded it, no one obliged. Subscribe and get 1 year for $18I imagined how he’d respond if I ignored my friends. Would Caleb* be glad to hear from me, or would he roll his eyes at the sight of my name on his phone?

1 month ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Nicolle Monico

San Diego’s got no culture. San Diego is a tourist town. San Diego is a nice place to retire. Meanwhile, cranking away under those well-worn clichés, the city’s creative edge is its best-kept secret. San Diego Magazine and Sony Electronics have partnered to tell the stories of the people building that culture from the ground up. First up: Mike Lynch, founder of San Diego’s Imperfects“San Diego is a cultural sleeping giant.”Mike Lynch made a name for himself by finding the crook in the straight line.

1 month ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Nicolle Monico

Sholeh Abounasseri calls herself an artist at heart, a dreamer with a huge imagination. Part of that imagination always led her back to a vision of opening a wine bar—a place where she could nurture her creative streak while offering her local community a place to gather and connect. “I’ve waited 10 years for this,” she says in a light, dreamy tone that immediately triggers a calming effect.

1 month ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Nicolle Monico

Around 14 million people visit Balboa Park every year, making it the fifth busiest urban park in the entire country—after Central Park, Chicago’s Lincoln Park, the National Mall, and Mission Bay Park (yep, San Diego has two of the top five). It’s also next door to the galactically famous San Diego Zoo, which draws in another five-plus million. So, while the park does have a few quality restaurant options (The Prado, Panama 66, Artifact), why are there not bars and bistros everywhere?

1 month ago | sandiegomagazine.com | Nicolle Monico

Oceanside’s oldest coffee shop is getting an infusion of star power, but it’s not Jitters Coffee Pub’s first brush with fame. Irving and Joni Richards owned and operated the Oceanside icon from 1992-2003, right around the same time their daughter, actress Denise Richards, was becoming a household name in movies like Starship Troopers and Wild Things. But when the shop’s lease was up, it forced a move across the street, and with Joni battling cancer, Irv started looking for a way out.