San Diego Weekend Guide: April 25-27 – Beats & Bling

This San Diego weekend is chock full o’ fests. Art. Cars. Culture. Music. Even sake. Some are at coffeehouses – you might need the caffeine. Ready, set, go!

The La Jolla Playhouse’s Without Walls Festival – or WOW – continues Friday at multiple venues around UC San Diego, including the Epstein Family Amphitheater and the Geisel Library. The slate runs the gamut from theater and puppetry to dance, music and more. For instance, there’s “Summer Break,” where a school bus is the stage, “Escape the Box,” a time-travel escape game and “Firebird,” described as a “most out-of-this-world concert experience.” Some WOW performances are free, while others require tickets, starting at $12.

Great works from the San Diego Museum of Art take on new life in floral form at “Art Alive,” a temporary showcase that opens at noon Friday. The 2025 edition of “Art Alive” also celebrates art and architecture, inspired by Lord Norman Foster and his studio Foster + Partners. For more, return at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday for the Garden of Activities, a family friendly chance to dabble in floral art. General admission costs $40.

By the way, you could just settle in at Balboa Park for the weekend. The Japanese Friendship Garden happens to be hosting the San Diego Spring Sake Festival at noon Sunday. Drop by for a taste. Admission starts at $82.

Here’s some art you can take home. ArtWalk begins its two-day stay on the streets of Little Italy at 11 a.m. Saturday. The free fest features more than 250 painters, sculptors and much more, music on four stages and interactive art for families along India Street. Featured artists include Peter Campbell, Benito Del Aguila, Joshua Dopp, Kate Joiner and LaMonte Lamoureux.

The upstart cousin of the Adams Avenue Street Fair, Adams Avenue Unplugged, begins at noon Saturday with free music all the day long. The journey, across two miles of Adams, features more than 80 free musical performances inside restaurants, bars and coffeehouses and on patios too. Stroll from University Heights through Normal Heights and on over to Kensington. Terry Reid headlines; the main stage is at Normal Heights United Church.

The annual New Year’s car show brings consumer and sporty cars to San Diego, but the La Jolla Concours d’Elegance brings the bling. Lovers of luxury autos can indulge in more than 170 vintage classics and modern marvels beginning Friday. But the 19th annual event celebrates many eras, from “pre-war American and European classics” to “iconic American hot rods.” The Porsches & Power on Prospect event, at 5 p.m. Saturday, is free. General admission for the main show, at 9 a.m. Sunday with live music and champagne tasting, is $139.

Prefer your fests a little more community-oriented? Try these – both are free:

• Encinitas Spring Street Fair – the 40th annual fair, featuring vendors, arts and crafts and live music, opens at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday on Coast Highway 101 between J and E streets.
• Southern California Asian & Pacific Islander Festival – showcases local artists performing traditional and contemporary cultural works at the Oceanside Civic Center. Also try AAPI eats; opens at 10 a.m. Saturday.

You may just want to relax and curl up with a good book after this packed weekend! The San Diego Book Crawl can help. Fourteen stores join in beginning Saturday, so you can show support to your local bookseller across San Diego and in Coronado, Del Mar and La Mesa. You have until Monday to visit, find a good story and collect Book Crawl swag.