“Living In The City” is The San Diego Sun’s feature Q&A with downtown San Diego residents. It’s a way to get to know the city by meeting the people who live here. This is number 49 in an ongoing series.
Name: Caleb Minnick
Residence: East Village
Personal deets: Born in Havre, Montana. Lived in San Diego for 17 years, the last four in downtown with my wife, Keri, and son, Aaron.
Work deets: I moved my vinyl record store, Normal Records, downtown from North Park in 2019. It’s basically my dream job. It’s a small store but we have a really great variety and everyone is always impressed with how we utilize the space. We stock pretty much every genre, and are adding more items every day. We also sell t-shirts and totes.
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Best reason to live downtown: Being close to lots of cool destinations, cool bars, trendy restaurants, baseball games at Petco Park (the best ballpark in the country) and concert venues like Music Box and Quartyard.
Worst part of living downtown: Dealing with the homeless issue. Many people have told me they changed their mind about patronizing my business when they saw the encampments. Personally, I don’t think it’s very dangerous, but as long as there’s that perception it’s going to hurt downtown’s image.
Movies: I watch a lot of old horror movies– 1950s Hammer films like Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula. I’m also a history nerd, so I like The Gilded Age on HBO.
Podcasts: As a huge Simpsons nerd, I listen to Talking Simpsons, where they analyze every episode.
Musical Artists: I bounce around with what I’m listening to–obsessed with a band a few weeks, then move on. I’ve been listening to Nirvana this year after I read Heavier Than Heaven by Charles Cross. I know all the studio stuff, so I’ve been jamming all their live stuff. I’ve also been listening to ’90s rap. The sampling was the best at the time. I really like Group Home, Mobb Deep, Jeru Tha Damaja. Old favorites: Spacemen 3 and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. A newer band I’ve been listening to is Slow Pulp.
Coffee shop(s): Spill The Beans in the Gaslamp Quarter; Black Market Bakery in East Village. Just a regular iced coffee, no sugar.
Let’s do lunch: TNT Pizza is a great place to grab a good slice.
Go-to dinner: Ale Tales Taproom has good options. I also like Doggos Gus in the Lost Abbey Bar. Hot dogs are an underutilized bar food.
Best bars: I usually go to Ale Tales, but I also like Knotty Barrel. Both great neighborhood bars.
Tops for take-out: Beshock Ramen once in a while.
Homelessness: It’s hurting my business, and downtown business in general. I am certainly sympathetic, but we all have bills to pay each month. I should not have to deal with drug use outside my door, no matter what the circumstances.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria: I’d say to him stop worrying what the loudmouths have to say, and do what needs to be done. Everyone downtown is sick of the situation, and will support him taking action. Loudmouths at community meetings are a tiny fraction of the people who have to deal with this situation every day.
District 3 City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn: Same advice. Stop worrying about what loudmouth “activists” have to say, and listen to the people who actually live and work downtown.
Pets: Two rescue cats. Mac is adventurous. Pretzel is a fraidy cat.
Parking advice: There’s not much advice to give! Give yourself extra time to find a spot.
Parting thought: We need some magic to make things cheaper! Everyone knows this is the most expensive city in the country. SDSun
