There are certain sounds I expect to hear while walking through Seaport Village: Gulls calling overhead. Jet skis darting across the bay. Music drifting from shops and restaurants. The constant murmur of people enjoying the waterfront area.
Clucking wasn’t on the list.
Tucked behind Seaport Village restaurant Malibu Farm, I recently came across something I wasn’t expecting to find in downtown San Diego: a chicken coop.
There they were—actual chickens scratching around just steps from one of the city’s busiest tourist destinations.
Malibu Farms came to downtown San Diego in 2023, sans chickens. The coop was built in late spring of this year, said server Victor Campos. He said there are about 10 chickens that lay upward of 16 eggs a day. No, the eggs aren’t used in the restaurant; they’re usually given to staff to take home.
I found that chickens aren’t out of place at Malibu Farm. Founder and chef Helene Henderson got off the ground by hosting cooking classes and farm dinners from her home. Henderson still raises free-range chickens there—chickens she says all have names—along with goats and a pig. In the early days of her Malibu Pier restaurant in Los Angeles County, eggs came from Henderson’s own flock and citrus came from trees growing on her property.
Eventually, the business became far too large for a backyard flock to supply. Henderson writes that her chickens produce around 30 eggs per day, while the Malibu Pier restaurant alone uses roughly 500.
The restaurant business has grown considerably since those backyard dinners. Malibu Farm now operates four locations along the California coast, including its largest outpost here in San Diego.
And now some chickens made it to downtown San Diego. That stopped me in my tracks.
Maybe that’s because we’ve become accustomed to thinking about cities and farms as opposites. Farms have chickens. Cities have high-rises. Walking through downtown keeps showing me how often boundaries blur.
I’ve spotted butterflies floating past my apartment window several stories above downtown. I’ve stopped to admire plants growing in sidewalk planters and restaurant patios. And now I’m egg-cited about the chickens of Seaport Village. SDSun
Award-winning columnist Deanna Ratnikova is the creator of The GO Deck – grab a deck today and be inspired to Get Outdoors and GO on new adventures.
