Originally Posted by Halcyon

my personal fave place is Hillcrest. It is very gay-friendly, so if you can't handle men holding hands, I'd forget that area. But it's a very walking-friendly, easy to get what you need, lots of cool resteraunts/shops kinda area. And a short cab to downtown.

I love north county (Del Mar, Solana Beach), too. But its muuuch quieter.