Pacific Beach's Two Holiday Saturdays Now Include the Old Library on Ingraham

Pacific Beach's holiday season this year comes down to two Saturdays, December 5 and December 12, and each one holds two events. The pier, Garnet Avenue and Mission Bay are the familiar settings. The new one is a mid-century building at 4606 Ingraham Street, on the corner of the Pacific Beach Middle School campus. It was built as the neighborhood's library 75 years ago and it is now becoming the PB Arts Center. On December 5, the same Saturday Santa arrives at Crystal Pier, the Arts Center holds a locals' Holiday Maker's Market.

The Pier and the parade return every year. The Ingraham Street building is the new part of the calendar. It sat empty for years, and the people behind it are building it while it is already in use.

The two Saturdays

Discover PB's Crystal Pier listing gives the end time as sunset in its description and 5:30 p.m. in its header. The Arts Center posts its market details and vendor sign-up on its own site. Vendor applications were extended into November and go through beautifulPB.

The building behind the Holiday Market

Before it was an arts center, 4606 Ingraham was the Pacific Beach Library, a 1950s mid-century modern building on the southeast corner of the middle school campus. Its most recent tenant was the Beach & Bay Family YMCA. After that it stood vacant until the grassroots group beautifulPB took on the project of turning it into a community arts center. The group also wants it to be the gateway to a proposed Pacific Beach Arts District.

Board member Chris Olson described the continuity this way to the San Diego Union-Tribune in March:

"Seventy-five years ago, the PB Library was built on the campus of what's now PB Middle School. It was for the good of the community; for education and for bringing the community together. We're just doing the exact same thing with the focus on arts."

The renovation keeps the building's bones. According to the same Union-Tribune report, no walls will come down, and a large share of the work goes to meeting Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. The planned rooms reuse the old layout:

• A large multipurpose room with a portable stage that opens into a classroom at the back
• A room with strong acoustics set aside for music instruction
• A naturally lit room planned as an art studio
• The existing kitchen, expanded into the former break room as a culinary teaching kitchen

A $500 rent and a donor-funded rebuild

The terms explain why the building could be brought back at all. The PB Arts Center holds a 20-year licensing agreement with San Diego Unified School District. The first year's rent was waived, and rent is $500 a month after that, the Union-Tribune reported. Olson said the partnership with the middle school, whose arts program has been strained by budget cuts, was a key reason the Arts Center was chosen over competing organizations to occupy the building.

With rent that low, the real cost is the rebuild, and the neighborhood is paying for it. The PB Woman's Club was the founding donor with a $250,000 pledge, and beautifulPB serves as fiscal sponsor. In March, Olson said interior construction would start once fundraising reached the $500,000 needed to complete it. By the time of the September 2 groundbreaking, the campaign had passed $600,000 toward a $1.25 million goal. Times of San Diego reported that this funded the stabilization work: ADA compliance, roof, flooring, plumbing, lighting and paint.

More than 100 supporters, volunteers, artists and residents came to the groundbreaking and signed their names on an interior wall. City Council President Joe LaCava told the crowd, "You have proven time and again that Pacific Beach gets things done," according to Times of San Diego. Phase 1 covers the 7,000-square-foot building and the 23,000 square feet of outdoor space called PB Commons, and as of September it was projected to finish by the end of 2026.

The Commons came first

You don't have to wait for the interior to use the site, which is why a holiday market can happen while construction continues. Times of San Diego reported that PB Commons has been in use since spring. The center's first Maker's Market drew arts and crafts vendors and live music by The Music Company, and the center calls it a success. December 5 is the second market and the first one billed as a holiday market.

Board chair Jennifer Nowak told the Union-Tribune that the lot is open to the whole community. "Our 23,000-square-foot lot is a blank canvas," she said, and local groups with an idea for an event can start planning to use it. Longer-term plans would turn most of the existing 65 parking spaces into a stage and a culinary teaching garden. In the center's community survey, visual arts, pottery and ceramics were the most requested programs, according to board vice chair Michelle Sexton.

The center holds a community meeting on the first Tuesday of each month, 6 to 7:15 p.m., at PB Commons. The entrance is on Felspar Street. That makes Tuesday, December 1, the last meeting before the market. Meetings used to be held in the gathering room at Christ Lutheran Church on Cass Street, so the Felspar Street gate is the current entrance.

Here is how the two December 5 events fit together. Christmas on Crystal Pier starts at 2 p.m. with photos with Santa and a tree lighting. The Holiday Maker's Market is inland on Ingraham, next to the middle school. The same Saturday holds both the shoreline tradition and the newest community space.

December 12, from Garnet to the bay

The second Saturday has its two events at different hours. The 46th annual Pacific Beach Holiday Parade steps off at 1 p.m. and runs along Garnet Avenue from Haines Street to Bayard Street under this year's theme, "Holiday Magic." Groups that want to march can still register through Discover PB.

At 5:30 p.m. the season moves to the water for the free Mission Bay Parade of Lights, which runs until 7:30. Mission Bay Yacht Club has organized it for decades, and SeaWorld fireworks open the night. Discover Mission Bay lists viewing parties along the route. One is the Winter Wonderland at The Dana on Mission Bay, from 4 to 6:30 p.m., followed by a Falling Snow Party after the boats go by. Mission Bay Beach Club lists a pre-parade holiday market, a Santa meet-and-greet and live music.

That leaves a gap of several hours between the end of the Garnet parade and the first boats on the bay.

Tuesdays in between

The weekly market keeps going under the holiday calendar. The Pacific Beach Tuesday Farmers Market runs from 2 to 7 p.m. at 901 Hornblend Street, and the City of San Diego lists an edition on Tuesday, December 29, on the Bayard and Hornblend blocks. The parade's last block, Bayard Street, is on the same grid.

Two established restaurants have been rethinking themselves this year. Pueblo, at 877 Hornblend Street on the same street as the market's 901 Hornblend address, has had a 10-year refresh. The owners and staff updated the interior and replaced the menu with modern Baja coastal dishes, with executive chef Angel Hernandez in the kitchen, the Union-Tribune reported. On Turquoise Street, Ambrogio15 marked its 10th year by renaming itself Ambrogio15 – Milano Pizza & Modern Trattoria and adding house-made pastas to its pizza menu, according to the Union-Tribune. On Garnet, Rush Bowls at 1418 Garnet Avenue opened in April as the Colorado chain's first California location. The Lopez family runs it, and the menu includes acai bowls, smoothies and cold brew.

If the Ingraham Street project stays on schedule, next December will have a finished building behind the Commons. For now, the market on December 5 is the best chance to see it while the work is still underway, and the PB Arts Center donation page is where the remaining campaign is being raised.

If you'd like to talk about what projects like the Arts Center mean for the streets around them, Adriana Prieto is glad to share a local view. Schedule a Free Consultation.