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E VER SINCE I BOOKED A WEEKEND getaway for my husband's birthday at the Margaritaville Hotel San Diego Gaslamp on Sixth Avenue and J Street, Jimmy Buffett's signature song has been playing on a loop in my head. No, my husband and I weren't "Wasting Away in Margaritaville," a mythical place "somewhere between the Port of Indecision and Southwest of Disorder," but we did enjoy a bit of the laid-back island life that Buffett sang about in so many of his hits. e 235-room property, formerly the Hotel Solamar, underwent a $30 million makeover before opening last August as the brand's first urban location on the West Coast. e hotel has a 1960s, SoCal-Baja vibe devoted to all things Buffett. A ten-foot-tall blue flipflop, for instance, is the cheeky centerpiece of the colorful lobby. (Remember the lyric, "I blew out my flip flop, stepped on a pop top"?) A chandelier fashioned from dozens of upside-down margarita glasses made in Mexico hangs from the ceiling in the adjoining living room where a wall is covered with baseball caps, big straw beach hats, and sun visors. My husband and I checked into the spacious Jimmy Buffett suite with its casual, beach bungalow décor. e bedroom and adjacent living room are painted in shades of blue and green with macrame wall hangings, vibrant artwork, a table crafted from a surfboard, and a pillow that reads "Changes in Attitudes" (after Buffett's breakthrough album Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes). e living room opens onto patios overlooking the lively pool deck and rooftop lounge, and a well-stocked kitchenette has its own frozen margarita maker. We then headed to the rooftop 5 o'Clock Somewhere Bar, named after yet another Buffett hit, where we were greeted with the frosty, fruity concoctions which are, of course, rimmed with salt. Later, I asked bartender Paul Williams for the margarita recipe. "Jimmy told us never to share it," he joked (or at least I thought he was joking). "All I can tell you is that they are all 'skinny' and they're very good for you." Turns out there are many margarita recipes, from the skinny to the anything but. At the rooftop bar, giant parrots named Kiwi and Mango are painted on the walls, a reference to Buffett's fans, known as "Parrot Heads." Mixing It Up in San Diego's Own "Margaritaville" PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF MARGARITAVILLE HOTEL SAN DIEGO GASLAMP QUARTER Lively Gaslamp hotel offers Jimmy Buffett tunes and a taste of the islands BY ANDREA NAVERSEN detour destinations ranchandcoast.com 66 MAY 2024 RANCH & COAST MAGAZINE