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The San Diego places that keep getting named

2,725 places on the Hot Tip map have been named by a local publication or have come up on Reddit. This page lists the 457 that are both in print and regulars on Reddit, with the sources for each. Found, never bought: a business cannot pay to be on this page, and being on it does not make it more likely to be your tip.

Matched to the live Hot Tip map on . Listings start from OpenStreetMap and are corrected by hand.

In print: where the links go

  • San Diego Magazine951
  • The Infatuation230
  • San Diego Beer News212
  • San Diego Reader188
  • Time Out115
  • San Diego Tourism Authority88
  • SanDiegoVille72
  • YouTube videos55
  • 88 smaller publications697

2,608 links to 719 articles, guides, directory pages and videos from 96 publications. San Diego Magazine is 36 percent of them, and it is better to say so than to let a number of links stand in for a number of voices. The videos are creators eating their way round town, and are marked as videos wherever they are linked.

On Reddit: where the threads are

  • r/FoodSanDiego2,045
  • r/sandiego1,409
  • r/SanDiegan618
  • r/northcounty380
  • r/asksandiego249
  • r/Oceanside117
  • r/chulavista75
  • r/escondido60
  • r/Carlsbad44
  • r/encinitas17
  • r/northpark8
  • r/lamesa5

5,027 links to 2,368 separate threads on 12 subreddits. A place links to three threads at most, and comes up in more: counted for every place, that is 30,817 times a place on the map comes up in a thread. A thread is people talking. It is counted as talk, never as a write-up, and it is not a recommendation: the place came up, for better or worse.

In print, and regulars on Reddit 457

The rule, exactly: a place is on this list when at least 1 local publication has named it and it comes up in 10 or more Reddit threads. A publication is anybody who put the name out under their own: a magazine, a news site, a guide, a business district's directory, a creator's video. Within an area, the places more publications named come first, then the ones in more threads. A name goes to the place's own page, with its hours, the headline of each thing written about it and the threads themselves.

Central San Diego 264

Little Italy 30

North Park 26

Convoy and Kearny Mesa 24

Normal Heights 17

Gaslamp Quarter 16

East Village 14

Mira Mesa 14

University Heights 14

Hillcrest 13

Mission Hills 10

Clairemont Mesa 8

South Park 8

Barrio Logan 7

City Heights 7

Old Town 7

Downtown San Diego 6

San Diego 5

University City 5

Bankers Hill 4

Golden Hill 4

San Carlos and Del Cerro 4

Mid-City 3

College Area 2

Kensington 2

Linda Vista 2

Middletown 2

Mission Valley 2

Scripps Ranch 2

Balboa Park 1

Latine Corridor 1

Midway District 1

Miramar 1

Serra Mesa 1

Tierrasanta 1

Coastal San Diego 72

La Jolla 23

Pacific Beach 17

Point Loma 16

Ocean Beach 11

Coronado 2

Mission Beach 2

Torrey Pines 1

North County coastal 57

Encinitas 18

Carlsbad 8

Carlsbad Village 7

Oceanside 7

Solana Beach 7

Del Mar 6

Cardiff-by-the-Sea 2

Carmel Valley 2

North County inland 27

Escondido 8

Poway 5

Rancho Bernardo 4

Vista 4

San Marcos 3

Fairbanks Ranch 1

Rancho Peñasquitos 1

Valley Center 1

East County 17

La Mesa 7

Lemon Grove 4

El Cajon 3

Julian 1

Santee 1

Spring Valley 1

South Bay 20

Chula Vista 12

Nestor 3

National City 2

Bonita 1

Imperial Beach 1

San Ysidro 1

Everybody else 2,268

2,268 more places have been named without clearing that bar: 527 in print only, 1,285 on Reddit only, and 456 that are both but come up in fewer than 10 threads. The index lists every one by area, and each name goes to a page with its sources.

The places were on the live map on 5 October 2026. One that closes comes off this page when it comes off the map, and goes on the list of what has closed.

One of these, picked for you, open right now.

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