Week 57: An Adventure in Oceanside

Week 57: January 28 - February 3rd, 2024

Taking advantage of my free time and the last bit of sunny weather before the rain hit this week, I went on a mini adventure up to Oceanside. Unfortunately, all of my friends were otherwise occupied (ugh, employment, am I right?), so this was a solo adventure.

A gorgeous sunny day in Oceanside!

After my drive up, I realized any mini adventure must start with a fun beverage! So, after a quick Yelp search, my beverage of choice was a vanilla sweet foam nitro cold brew from Camp Coffee Company. It was a small, corner shop underneath a massive luxury apartment building and across from the Downtown Oceanside transit center.

Outside of Camp Coffee

Inside of Camp Coffee - industrial vibes

Like any trendy coffee spot, there was merch for sale

They were also selling Bird Rock Coffee!

My beloved beverage to start my adventure

Beverage in hand, I walked back into the sun. My adventure was off to a good start. I walked past tons of new apartment buildings and breweries. I was surprised by the lack of people out and about, but then realized it was midday on a weekday. Oh right, employment. Downtown Oceanside is very pretty, especially on a sunny day, and Oceanside Pier was a couple blocks away.

With last week's insane flooding and record high rain, I wonder how piers like this are going to hold up as the weather continues to change. The pier seemed pretty weathered but well maintained, and some of the slats in the fence got replaced. Each slat, both old and new, had a name carved into it. According to this page, "people now assume the names carved into the wooden railing on the pier were sold to help build the pier.  However, the money raised by each name carved went to help fund Oceanside’s Centennial Celebration in 1988." Interesting.

The rickety ladder onto the maintenance level for the pier

There were clanging sounds amid the seagulls from what I assume was maintenance work in preparation for more storms underneath the pier. The bait shop and funky building at the end of the pier were interesting. Even though there were a couple people just walking along the pier and enjoying the view, I felt like I was interrupting the calm fisherman vibes as I wandered around.

San Diego County in particular is such an interesting mix of people, surf culture and the military. The glittery waves filled with surfers were almost sparkly enough to distract from the helicopter doing rounds overhead and the massive naval ship perched on the horizon.

The naval ship blocking a clear view

The Top Gun House in Oceanside

On my way back to the car, and as I rolled my eyes one last time at the naval ship, I passed by the Top Gun house (hi, scientologist Tom Cruise!) and this shop called Ozone. It was a super cool, trendy store with designer coffee table books, records and expensive clothing.

Outside of the Ozone

Alongside fun bar cart items and fun goodies, there were many neon signs and acrylic decor pieces for sale. I made a mental note to return to this store only when I have my own place and the financial means to properly decorate.

My last stop on my little Oceanside adventure, and the whole reason I decided to venture north, was the Thread Spun pop-up shop at Atacama Surf Shop. A few months ago, I stumbled across an Instagram page for @threadspun and dropped them a follow. They recently posted about the unfortunate flooding at their shop in Leucadia. They were forced to close their store because of flood damage. So, in an effort to keep business going, they created a plan.

The Thread Spun plan after the flooding!

Thread Spun's Leucadia location that got flooded!

Since I follow their Instagram but had never actually been to the store, I figured I would check out the pop-up.

The little sign for Thread Spun's Pop Up

The stuff they sell is really cute, great for gifting, and the shop owners are very vocal about ongoing events and social activism. I was particularly moved by their dedication to spreading awareness and resources regarding the occupation and genocide in Palestine. I admire any business, but especially a small local one, that uses their platform for good, risking controversy and backlash by posting things like that. Their website has a great overview of what they're about if you want to check it out here. (https://www.threadspun.co/) I didn't buy anything from Thread Spun but I will definitely make the trip to their Leucadia location when it re-opens.

A cool mural near Atacama Surf Shop

Ok, I lied, my last stop on my adventure was actually to treat myself to another beverage. I got another coffee, this time from Communal Coffee down the block from Atacama, because why not?

My 2nd beverage for my adventure

See you next week.