Once-Lively Gaslamp & Waterfront Now Resembles A Ghost Town
Was that a tumbleweed I saw?
Perhaps. Perhaps not. Maybe it was just some loose debris from one of the disassembled outdoor dining areas blowing in the breeze.
With the California-mandated stay-home order in effect, once-vibrant San Diego is now a ghost town. A walk through the Gaslamp Quarter, Seaport Village, Broadway Pier and the new and highly popular Portside Pier restaurants revealed, well not much.
Silence sometimes speaks volumes.
The streets are quiet. Vehicles are infrequent and delivery trucks are few. There’s no music coming out of any place, which is really strange in the Gaslamp Quarter. Restaurants and bars are shut; not a single patron is sitting outside at a table.
In fact, there are not even tables outside any more at some places. When Barleymash, the highly popular “go-to” spot in the Gaslamp for food & drink, disassembles its tables, you know things are bad.
its outdoor dining tables you know things are bad. Photo: PubClub.com
The same can be said of Portside Pier on San Diego Bay. There’s no lineup of people standing outside Brigantine or Ketch waiting for a place to come open for them. In fact, the only activity I noticed were a couple of curious onlookers staring at the abandoned hostess area looking somewhat dumbfounded.
It’s all as still as Christmas Eve. All through the city, not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse.
San Diego is alone in having this scene. It’s the same all across California, as well as other places in the USA and certain places in Europe.
But it really hits home when it’s, well, home.
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