The Adams Avenue Spirit Stroll Is Mostly a Normal Heights Walk

The tenth annual Adams Avenue Spirit Stroll runs Saturday, November 28, from 2 to 5 p.m. It is the Adams Avenue Business Association's event for the national Small Business Saturday promotion. The association describes the route as running from University Heights through Normal Heights and into Kensington. That's accurate, but it can make the afternoon sound longer and more spread out than it is.

If you map the stops by street address, most of them are on Normal Heights' stretch of Adams Avenue. The will-call booth, at Smitty's Auto, 3441 Adams Ave., sits between the stroll's two tightest groups of stops. For anyone who lives within walking distance of that block, the afternoon is mostly a walk along their own street, with the Kensington and 30th Street stops as optional trips out.

Bartenders Pour Inside the Shops

The format is the reason the event works. The 19 "Spirit & Sweet Stops" are mostly independent retailers. At each one, guests get a holiday-themed cocktail taste or a sweet treat. The cocktails come from bartenders at the avenue's bars and restaurants, and breweries pour their own tastes.

That means the drinks are poured in shops, not bars. The association lists 12 bars, restaurants and breweries supplying the mixologists: Bosforo, Et Voila! French Bistro, Heights Market, Kensington Club, Make Cafe, Mission Brewing, The Ould Sod, Polite Provisions, Ponce's Mexican Restaurant, The Rabbit Hole, Rosie O'Grady's and Sycamore Den. Their bartenders spend the afternoon behind other people's counters, and guests come into a pottery studio, an optometry practice or a thrift boutique to get a drink. On a day set aside for small retailers, the event's design sends ticket holders into the shops.

The 19 stops, as the association lists them: Back From Tomboctou, Coco & Jules Cookies, The Divine Bubble, Earthwell Refill, Heights Optometry, Home-Start Thrift Boutique, The Incredible Cheesecake Company, Kiko & Sven, Latin Treasures, Maya Moon Collective, Mission Brewing, Mud Lily, Noble Learning, Paleo Treats, Pet Me Please, Ponce's Mexican Restaurant, Rose Reggae, Soul Side Vinyl and Zac's Attic.

Where the Stops Sit

Fifteen of the 19 stops have street addresses in the Adams Avenue Business Directory. Ten of those 15 are on the 2800 through 3600 blocks of Adams Avenue. Two of those ten, Back From Tomboctou and Maya Moon Collective, describe themselves on their own sites as Normal Heights businesses.

The middle of the table matters most. Noble Learning at 3333 and Coco & Jules Cookies at 3415 are less than a hundred address numbers apart, and four stops sit between them. Smitty's Auto at 3441 is just past that group. A short walk east, Rose Reggae, Pet Me Please, Back From Tomboctou and Home-Start Thrift Boutique fill the 3500 and 3600 blocks. That's eight stops on either side of the ticket booth, about a quarter mile of Adams Avenue in each direction.

The bars supplying the bartenders cluster on the same blocks. Heights Market is at 3355 Adams Ave., The Ould Sod at 3373, The Rabbit Hole at 3377 and Rosie O'Grady's at 3402. In other words, many of the bartenders pouring in Normal Heights shops come from bars a few doors away.

Three Hours for 19 Stops

The time limit shapes the day more than the distance does. The stroll lasts 180 minutes and has 19 stops, so trying all of them leaves a little under ten minutes per stop. That has to cover the walking, the line, the taste and any browsing, and browsing is the reason the shops signed up. On top of that, the Kensington stops are a walk east of the 3600 block, and the 30th Street stops are off Adams entirely.

Doing everything means going quickly. Starting with the two groups around will call means taking your time at eight stops that are close together, then deciding at the halfway point whether to head out to the ends.

The other four retail stops are The Incredible Cheesecake Company, Kiko & Sven, Latin Treasures and Soul Side Vinyl. They round out the 19, and the association's 2026 stroll map is the place to find them before you set an order on foot.

A Route That Starts at the Ticket Booth

Because everyone has to pick up a physical ticket at Smitty's Auto, the afternoon starts at 3441 Adams Ave. no matter where you live. A route built from the published addresses looks like this:

1. Pick up your ticket at Smitty's Auto, 3441 Adams Ave. The booth opens at 1 p.m., an hour before the first pour.
2. Walk west through the 3300 and 3400 blocks. Coco & Jules Cookies at 3415 is a 100% gluten-free bakery that sells cookies, cupcakes, muffins and Krispies. Heights Optometry at 3404 offers eye care and eyewear. Maya Moon Collective at 3349 is a cacao café that serves cacao drinks, sweets, pastries and savory bites. Noble Learning at 3333 completes the group.
3. Turn back east to the 3500 and 3600 blocks. Stop at Rose Reggae, Pet Me Please and Back From Tomboctou, a folk-art and gift shop featuring artisans' work, then finish this stretch at Home-Start Thrift Boutique at 3611.
4. Decide on the ends. East in Kensington, Ponce's Mexican Restaurant at 4050 says it has served San Diego for more than 55 years. Mission Brewing's Kensington taproom at 4067 serves craft beer, seltzers, cider and wine. Earthwell Refill at 4114 refills personal-care and household products. To the west are Mud Lily at 2888, which offers pottery workshops, multi-week ceramics classes and studio memberships, and Zac's Attic at 2922. On 30th Street, The Divine Bubble sells crystals, candles, herbs and ritual kits, and Paleo Treats makes gluten-, grain- and dairy-free desserts.

The route doesn't need a car. The two groups around will call are close enough together that a resident walking from home can finish them before deciding whether to go farther.

What to Sort Out Before November 28

The ticket rules are strict, so planning matters. The details from the association's Spirit Stroll ticket page and its October 30 announcement:

• Price and cap: $40 per ticket, with 500 tickets for the event.
• Age: 21 and up. Photo ID is required.
• No emailed ticket: Buying online gets you an email confirmation. Print the receipt or save it to your phone, then bring the receipt or a photo ID to the will-call booth to collect the actual ticket.
• No sharing: Each ticket is for one person.
• Questions: The association takes calls at (619) 282-7329.

On availability, the announcement says, "We sell out every year, so get yours while they last." With only 500 tickets for the tenth year of a recurring event, people in Normal Heights who want to go have a little over two weeks between Thursday, November 12, and the stroll itself to buy one.

At Kappel Realty Group, we track the businesses that give Normal Heights its character, including the shops on Adams Avenue that get through the holidays on local spending. If you're weighing how a block like the 3300s of Adams fits into your own plans, Schedule a Free Market Consultation and we'll walk through it with you, using the same address-by-address approach as this route.