Live-music venues worth the trip in San Diego, California

A 1,400-seat outdoor stage on Shelter Island, over the water since 1982. Jazz, rock and soul under open sky with the bay behind the band.

A 1924 vaudeville and movie house downtown, restored in 2008 to a ~1,340-cap theatre. Historic detail intact across a broad concert calendar.

A multi-level Little Italy room, ~700 cap, with balconies and booths looking down on the stage.

A restored North Park movie theatre reworked into a modern concert room, with updated sound and lights over a ~1,100-cap floor.

A 200-cap club open since 1989, with Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Arcade Fire on the early-career ledger. San Diego’s definitive small room.

A small City Heights club going since 2008, booking touring and local acts most nights with a taste for adventurous indie.

An Ocean Beach fixture since 1986 with live music nightly and a casual beach-town crowd.