How to Lounge in San Diego

Enlarge Photo

  First there were the bars. Then there were the dance clubs. Now, spreading like an East County wildfire, there are the lounges. San Diego culture is all about relaxation, and lounge culture fits right in with the local mindset. So what exactly does lounging consist of? Simply kicking back classy cocktail amidst elegant surroundings, chilling with friends, and surveying the scene against a backdrop of laid-back beats.

    As you might expect, Downtown San Diego hosts the widest variety of lounges. The majority offer gourmet cuisine to attract crowds early, which then tend to stay late into the night. Relatively new lounges springing up in the Gaslamp and around its borders, like Heat Supper Club and Confidential are giving older lounges like Red Circle Café and Aubergine a run for their money. Superclubs Belo and On Broadway also boast lounging multiple nooks within their redoubtable bulk.

    Stingaree is the definitely Downtown’s top-shelf destination for wandering loungers. While Belo and On Broadway concentrate on dance spaces, Stingaree is designed to offer party people the most stylish lounging experience, especially atop its 2,500 square-foot, impossibly sleek Mezzanine level. Laying supine along one of the lounge’s perfect couches, with a delicious martini in your hand, encircled with beautiful people, you’ll feel like Hollywood royalty.

    But you don’t necessarily have to head downtown for San Diego’s best lounging. Designed to look like a plane’s interior, Airport Lounge, on the periphery of Little Italy’s main drag, is an establishment with a skyscraping chic-factor. When empty, the lounge’s absence of embellishments gives it a sanitized feel. However, as soon as the Technicolor lights switch on and the space fills with fabulous people, you’ll feel like you’re a character in a psychedelic seventies film.

    When you’re ready for a breath of fresh air, or rather, a cigarette, Airport Lounge has a stylish little patio with outdoor lounging capability. Every ten minutes or so, a plane soars overhead with a deafening rumble, which is actually cooler than it sounds.

    Air Conditioned Lounge, called the A/C Lounge by those in the know, is another cool venue - just check out the handle. The lounge consistently draws crowds of desirables to up-and-coming arts district North Park. Unfortunately, on some nights A/C is a little too crowded, which might cramp your lounging style. But if you arrive early and secure a sofa in the James Bond-themed subterranean underlevel, you’ll enjoy the envious glances of onlookers crammed together in the standing-room-only spaces above.