{"id":1030608,"date":"2026-08-29T08:53:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T08:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1030608\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T08:53:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T08:53:37","slug":"the-best-things-to-see-do-explore-in-balboa-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1030608\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Things to See, Do & Explore in Balboa Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the summer of 1999. MTV, The Matrix, and first-generation PlayStation glowed on tube TV sets all over America. What a time to be alive. Smartphones weren\u2019t yet stealing people from the moment. Cultural was a shared reality. During the last few minutes of the monoculture, Tony Hawk executed the first-ever 900 at X Games V in San Francisco<\/a>. That\u2019s two and a half aerial rotations with a side of the dizzies.<\/p>\n

The time had run out on the Vert Best Trick competition long before the 11th attempt when he pulled off the fateful feat. Nobody cared. Not the judges, not the competition, and certainly not the crowd. \u201cLet that bird fly,\u201d they said. Once the trick was landed, they partied like it was 1999 \u2026 because it was.<\/p>\n

That was the tipping point when the skateboarding world exploded, going from counterculture to a national phenomenon. Shortly after that, \u201cTony Hawk\u2019s Pro Skater\u201d video game came out, introducing millions of kids to what skate culture looked like. Oh, the game had a killer punk soundtrack, too.<\/p>\n

We can all thank Hawk for the globalization of skateboarding. But we can also recognize his local influence and how San Diego County continues to be a hub for skateboarders<\/a> young and old, for competitors and street skaters. To see it all, go to Park De La Cruz in City Heights\u2014or, heck, any other skatepark in the county\u2014which, at 19,000 square feet, is about twice the size of the average skatepark and has signature features like an M-shaped transition ramp. The amount of talent that continues to evolve in this county is a testament to deep-rooted skate culture and world-class athletes supporting the next generation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo Credit: Casiel Sanchez<\/p>\n

The Skatepark<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a little early for a skate lesson with pro skater Mike Owen<\/a> when I get to Linda Vista Skatepark. In the 2010s, Owen ranked as one of the world\u2019s top bowl riders. He\u2019s the founder of San Diego Skateboarding and has \u201chelped thousands of kids, teens, and adults learn to skate safely, confidently, and with style,\u201d the company\u2019s site says. And now it\u2019s my turn. We start the lesson on the nearby tennis courts, getting my basic foot mechanics down. Safety before style.<\/p>\n

In terms of street plaza features, the massive Linda Vista Skatepark is loaded with rails, stairs, manuals, and ledges. There are more bowls than you can get from Cava: a flow bowl, backyard-style pool, and vert bowl. The main feature is a full pipe for advanced line riders. It\u2019s a hell of a park, even if somebody just wants to watch the action from the 100-foot-long pedestrian skybridge overhead.<\/p>\n

Right now, San Diego has over 50 public skateparks<\/a> scattered throughout the county. \u201cThere are now more [skateparks], more resources for them, and more terrain,\u201d Owen tells me. \u201cNow, they\u2019re offering different competitive style skateparks that help for competitions. The best parks have a variety of different terrain where you have things for beginners and bigger transitions. Not every town has that.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Diego, luckily, does. But despite the bounty, Owen believes there should still be more\u2014public skateparks are safe spaces for all to learn and develop on-board skills. Without them, a huge portion of San Diego\u2019s culture withers. Encinitas could be the next city to add a skatepark<\/a> to the county\u2019s roster: In early July, the Encinitas City Council appointed 12 local skaters and community members for the newly established Skate Feature Committee. In partnership with two councilmembers, the committee\u2019s purpose is to design a working skatepark or feature for the city.<\/p>\n

But like any big project, Owen says, it\u2019s a long process to add another skatepark to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish it were easier,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen there are different contractors for different things, [there\u2019s only] a certain amount of time to build. It gets tricky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the matter of funding the actual construction and development of the skatepark. That usually comes from grants, fundraisers, and donations. For reference, Linda Vista Skatepark was built on a $4.46 million grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development in 2014. With an additional $40,000 donated by the Tony Hawk Foundation, the park opened in 2018 and is the largest in San Diego\u2019s Parks and Recreation system. The best way to get a skatepark in your neighborhood<\/a>, Owen says, is to start a petition and reach out to your city.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo Credit: Blair Alley<\/p>\n

The Street Skaters<\/p>\n

Jordan Thrower\u2019s first street skate sesh at San Diego City College in 2003 ended with a police chase. The campus was swarming with skaters riding rails, jumping stairs, and grinding tricks on benches, curbs, and ledges. When the cops got on their loudspeaker telling them not to run, everyone obviously ran. Back then, cops would give tickets and confiscate boards. The vibe has loosened since. \u201cNow, the police don\u2019t really care,\u201d Thrower says. \u201cThey just make you leave. It\u2019s not anything crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Street skating is when riders use real-world urban obstacles, rather than pristinely designed bowls or ramps\u2014such as in college campuses, downtown areas, corporate buildings, and malls. Abandoned mini-golf courses and construction sites do the trick, too.<\/p>\n

Thrower says the street skating hub here isn\u2019t as huge as it once was. Thanks to modern technology and social media, skaters aren\u2019t tied to any certain place to create skate videos. You know, those videos that could have been taken this year but have the low-fi vibe of 2004, where skaters carve down stairwells into parking lots, over mailboxes, or across park benches. The silver lining: Even though there are fewer street skaters than there once was, those who stayed in San Diego are still tight.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone skates with each other and knows each other here,\u201d Thrower says. \u201cIn LA, it\u2019s not really like that. It\u2019s small there, but not everybody knows each other, and they don\u2019t really skate with each other too much. They just have a lot of little crews.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in 2015, Thrower started his own street team and brand that sells boards and shirts called Tantrum. The Tantrum team is split between San Diego and San Francisco. It doesn\u2019t take much to be a part of a skate team. You just have to be a good hang.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way I pick people [for the team] is if I can get along with them,\u201d he says. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t even really matter if they\u2019re that good. If you\u2019re likable and funny, you can pretty much be on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo Credit: Marc Wierenega<\/p>\n

The Future<\/p>\n

Running it up to North County, a Vista-based nonprofit organization called Exposure Skate has been shaping up the youth since 2012. Its mission is to give more opportunities to otherwise underrepresented women, girls, and non-binary individuals by offering classes and camps. This, to build up confidence and community. We could all use a little bit of that, eh?<\/p>\n

Thanks to Exposure Skate<\/a>, 13-year-old Joey Yarbrough has found herself competing in the LA Olympic trials. (Her first time on a skateboard came at just 18 months old at an Exposure Skate Rising event.) <\/p>\n

While competing for Team USA in Rome in June of this year, she finished 13th at the first Olympic qualifier for LA28. Currently ranked 21st in the world and 5th among American women, the young prodigy is blooming. And she\u2019s in good company and mentorship from her biggest influence, Bryce Wettstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe taught me at the first Exposure Skate Rising when I was little,\u201d Yarbrough recalls. \u201cI compete and skate with her all the time now, and it\u2019s super fun. [At Exposure,] it feels so good to have someone there to help me whenever I need it. They\u2019re like my family, always encouraging me and always there for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yarbrough will be just 15 years old when the Olympics go down in LA. She\u2019s following the Olympic torch carried by other locals such as Wettstein, Ruby Lilley, Jordyn Barratt, and Exposure Skate\u2019s Amelia Brodka.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m working my hardest to get there,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ll also work my hardest to go higher in the Olympics, maybe on podium. That\u2019s just my dream. So, hopefully it\u2019ll come true.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was the summer of 1999. MTV, The Matrix, and first-generation PlayStation glowed on tube TV sets all…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1030609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,8159,390536,1582,276,18473,3549,7264,8735,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1030608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-balboa-park","tag-best-of-san-diego","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-everything-sd","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-things-to-do-in-san-diego","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117177957175711122","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1030608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1030608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1030608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1030609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1030608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1030608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1030608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}