Keating Hotel

A weekend in San Diego...

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San Diego, California’s second largest city, offers picture-perfect weather and pristine beaches, plus a vibrant cultural and night-life scene. Add to that the new crop of design-conscious hotels and restaurants that have been springing up in hip neighbourhoods like the Gaslamp Quarter, a 16-block district in downtown, and this becomes one city you just shouldn’t miss.

Stay
The historic US Grant Hotel (from $479, 800-237-5039, www.usgrant.net) has reopened after a $52 million makeover. This 1910 building near the Gaslamp Quarter was built by the son of president of Ulysses S. Grant. The 270 rooms and 47 suites are decked out in Empire-style furnishings, and the Grant Grill, under executive chef Andreas Nieto, serves California cuisine.

Althought the 35-room Keating Hotel (from $289, 877-753-2846, www.thekeating.com) is an 1890 Romanesque Revival building, its interior is ultramodern, courtesy of Pininfarina, the Italian firm that designs Ferrari cars, among others. To see and be seen, head to the 159-room Ivy Hotel (from $450, not taking reservations until February, 619-814-1000, www.theivyhotel.com), whose restaurant and four-story Envy nightclub are prime social spots, as is its sexy rootfop pool in the Eden bar.

See
This month, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (www.mcasd.org) will open it’s much-anticipated expansion. The 1915 Santa Fe Depot’s landmark baggage building has been turned into an airy exhibition space for large-scale sculptures and installation art. Its Spanish Mission-Colonial Revival exterior was maintained and is complemented by a new contemporary building next door. Artists Richard Serra and Jenny Holzer are creating specially commisioned pieces for the museum.

Eat
The latest offering from Jason Seibert, chef and owner of Cafe Cerise, is Jade Theater (www.jadetheater.com), a multilevel restaurant in downtown San Diego. Design elements include waterfalls and a jellyfish aquarium, and the progressive Asian menu features dishes like Canton-style duck with sesame-scallion flat bread and steamed black bass with rice noodles. After dinner, hed to the lower-level Buddha Ultralounge for speciality sake and tea-based martinis.

Shop
San Diego’s Little Italy may have plenty of great trattorias and cafés, but it’s also becoming known for it’s eclectic boutiques. Scoop up hoodies, leather jackets, Sharon Segal T-shirts, and vintage handbags at Niche Boutique (www.nicheboutique.com), or head to Boomerang for Modern (www.boomerangformodern.com) for stylish home furnishings, including mid-century-modern pieces like Eames chairs and George Nelson maple platform benches. Owner David Skelley also has rotating exhibits for local craft artists in his in-store gallery.