Notice how the line ups have been a little more crowded the past few years? How about all the new homes popping up? Taking a little longer to get a table for dinner (I was told recently there would be a 3 hour wait for my table at Solterra. Seriously. Don't they know who I am?!). I blame the media.
We've all known north county San Diego is a great place to live. Heck- the North County Surf blog reports on it weekly. But now it's on a global stage. The 3rd national publication in as many years has rated Encinitas one of the best places to live and surf.
Travel+Leisure just came out with an article claiming it was one of the
'World's Coolest Surf Towns'. Their reasoning? "Browse among the 700 boards at family-run
Hansen’s Surf Shop, and take your pick to world-famous Swami’s beach, named for the nearby Self-Realization Fellowship Retreat, Gardens, and Hermitage. During winter months, the right point break, reef breaks, and beach breaks lure a steady stream of local and international surfers. Stroll the short walk to downtown Encinitas, full of Mexican restaurants like Juanita’s, whose fish tacos are worth the wait in line. And get your beach-tunes fix at Lou’s Records, an institution for SoCal vinyl lovers.
The 'Bible of the Sport', Surfer Magazine, claims
Encinitas is the #3 Surf Town in the United States. Their take: "Almost all of Southern California’s oceanfront communities can be classified as “surfy,” but Encinitas seems to embody this spirit better than most.
You’d be hard pressed to find a lineup—or a line at the local Starbucks—that isn’t occupied by some level of surf celebrity or industry insider.
Add the fact that fun-to-excellent surf can be ridden here almost every day of the year—if you’re willing to drive the coast for 30 minutes in either direction—and that you’re plugged into a laid back microcosm that harbors all the best qualities of the greater San Diego surf community (without the snob-factor of La Jolla, the post-collegiate-party-factor of Pacific Beach, and the street-kid-factor of Ocean Beach), and you’ve got a surf town that stands out among a dense—and very inviting—pack."
And one magazine that seems to have an article on Encinitas almost every month is Coastal Living.
One recent article says "Encinitas sits in the sweet spot 25 miles north of San Diego and 95 miles south of Los Angeles. But the vibe here is decidedly more San Diego chill.
Peder Norby, the Highway 101 corridor coordinator, traces downtown’s novelty back to its incorporation only 24 years ago. “We didn’t want to see what has happened to a lot of beach towns up and down the West and East coasts where they lose the downtown character,” he says. Encinitas implemented a Main Street program from the beginning so business owners and residents take part in the planning process.
But of course you know all of this already- that's why you live in North County. From Del Mar to Oceanside there's not a better mix of towns and surf anywhere. Just don't tell anybody.
