“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 56 in an ongoing series.
Name: Sharay McCain.
Neighborhood: East Village.
Personal deets: From Milton, Delaware. I’ve lived in San Diego for four years and been downtown for two months. I’m a full-time journalism student, work as a model and am a veteran.
Armed services: I joined after the sudden death of my boyfriend, Jeff, in 2015. He was a Marine and I wanted to honor his life. I was in the Navy for six years. My greatest accomplishment was being the first woman corpsman to serve at my command since its inception in 1949. I was stationed in Pensacola and Coronado.
Journalism: I’m a full-time student at San Diego Mesa College. My journalism goals are to go into broadcast news and travel. I hope to become someone people trust with their stories.
Modeling: I did San Diego Swim Week for two years. My biggest modeling accomplishment was for Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS brand. It was my first major publication and just so happened to drop on my 30th birthday. This was right after I’d been told it would be hard for me to model because of my age.
Pets: Two of the best dogs in the world. Mason is a Frenchie and HNDRXX is an XL American bully. Both my boys are three years old.
Best aspect of living downtown: I’ve always wanted to live downtown but just recently got the chance. The city is walkable and close to everything I enjoy.
Worst aspects of living downtown: Guest parking when friends come over.
Describe Downtown SD in 3 words: Community. Walkable. Fun.
Transportation breakdown: I walk about 90 percent of the time.
Fave coffee shops: Rikka Fika on Thirteenth Avenue in East Village is a fav. I love the ambience and the iced matcha lattes.
Best breakfast/brunch: Werewolf has amazing brunch. I love the country fried steak, pork belly Benedict and nachos.
Go-to lunch place: I’m a big fan of Beshock Ramen & Sake Bar. The La Jolla sushi roll is my favorite.
Dinner spot: I love the food at Royal India, and I always order chicken vindaloo and samosas.
My take-out place: Hodads is great for takeout! Love their burgers.
I’m watching: I love true crime, but currently am watching The Penguin on Max.
Podcasts: Two great podcasts are “This is Actually Happening” and “The Deck.”
Best place to take visitors: I always bring my family and friends to Balboa Park.
Scariest downtown memory: I’ve been followed two separate times by men while I was out walking.
Padres: Been to one Padres game and it was amazing. Living downtown made parking easy – because we didn’t have to worry about it. We just walked. I would tell everyone else to Uber.
The city needs more: Homelessness plans of action (it makes me sad because I hate to see people struggling) as well as cracking down on drug usage on the streets.
The city needs less: Paid parking options…some free parking would be nice.
Parting advice: Everyone should experience downtown living one time in their life. SDSun
