Ocean Beach, CA

I moved to Ocean Beach about three years ago to be an uchi deshi (live-in student) at Sunset Cliffs Aikido. I swore I'd never live here, but it turns out I love it! Alas, however, after 15 years living in San Diego, I'm moving to Philadelphia to start a job with Teach For America.

Technically, Ocean Beach is a community of San Diego and not a city in and of itself. But, it's definitely a world unto itself. OB sits on a peninsula (Point Loma) and is somewhat removed from the rest of the city. It also has a fairly well-deserved hippie-dippy reputation. It's an eclectic blend of Hells Angels types, homeless beach-goers, quirky locals, lots of tourists and an inordinately large number of seagulls.

It's hard to accept leaving this place. I've lived half of my life here and consider it home more than the town where I grew up. Plus, the weather is hard to beat! Still, I'm looking forward to Philly. Everyone I talk to says it's a great place.

But, before I go, here are some of my favorite OB hangouts.