San Diego, California, is a coastal city just 100 miles south of Los Angeles. As a laid-back, gay-friendly town, San Diego has a lot to offer gay visitors and residents, such as Old Town San Diego (for shopping, dining and culture), The Gaslamp Quarter (for dining, shopping, entertainment), Coronado Island, various museums and cultural exhibits, and the famous gay community known as Hillcrest. Within Hillcrest one will find a number of gay theme restaurants, boutiques, bars, and even a gay bathhouse called Club San Diego. But chubs should not waste their time at this bathhouse. There was a time when it was chub-friendly, but over the past few years it has changed, and it’s no longer the type of place where bigger men would feel comfortable. San Diego chubby men, however, frequent the Vulcan Sauna at 805 Cedar Street, near the marina. Within Hillcrest one will also find a number of gay restaurants, such as Urban Mo’s (formerly Hamburger Mary’s) which is known as a “hetero-friendly gay restaurant that makes the best burgers in San Diego hands down.” This place is definitely chub-friendly. They serve a wide range of menu items, have a great outdoor bar that gets wild and festive during the evenings and weekends, and they have drink specials all week long. The bar seems to attract a lot of chubby older men and bears, so it’s a good place to meet that big daddy you have been dreaming about.
Nearby, one will find a gay landmark bar called The Brass Rail, which has been serving the gay crowd for a number of decades. It’s a bear and chub-friendly bar, and popular with chubby dads and mature men during the daily Happy Hour events. A few years ago the bar hosted a number of “Club Chub San Diego” events, which solidified its reputation as a place where chubby men and bears were welcome. It should also be noted that Hillcrest has a yearly gay pride event and parade that features its very own gay bear float, maintained by the Bears of San Diego group.
A mile east of Hillcrest one will find a number of chub and bear friendly venues and bars. The Crypt Leather Shop (3847 Park Blvd) is a store where many men buy their leather goods, fetish gear, and sex toys. They also carry a number of bear and chub porn movie titles among their wide selection of DVDs. Numbers Night Club (3811 Park Blvd) just a few doors down from The Crypt, is a great bar to meet big men. The first Saturday of the month they have a “Bear Night” event that gets packed wall-to-wall with guys. All the local chubs and chubby chasers come out on that night for fun, cruising, and some great drink specials. Not far from Numbers is another wildly popular bear bar, called Pecs. This place is wall-to-wall chubs and bears, and the regular meeting place of the Bears of San Diego big men’s club. You can always meet big men at Pecs, no matter what time of the week.
So, whether you’re planning to visit San Diego for a weekend or for a longer period of time, you can always have lots of fun there with the local chubs and bears. All the bars in town are friendly, and the people in this town are very laid back. There are so many gay bars and restaurants in this town that one would need more than a week to visit every one of them. Gay visitors sometimes lodge in the local gay hotels. Our favorite is the Hillcrest Inn (3754 5th Avenue), which is very friendly, cruisy, and comfortable. It’s also walking distance to a number of the gay clubs and restaurants in Hillcrest. We have been there a number of times, and always enjoy the place and the hot men, chubs and daddy bears who visit this place.