5 places to eat, drink and explore in and around Mission Hills from Birch Aquarium director

As a joke, Megan Dickerson ran a Google search on where she could get a “master’s degree in play,” in 2012.

“I think that I’m known as somebody who is playful,” Dickerson said. 

Little did she know that the University of Gloucestershire in England offered a master’s degree in play and playwork (now called professional studies in children’s play), so she enrolled and earned her degree.

“Like the author Kurt Vonnegut wrote, ‘a plausible mission of art is to just make people appreciate being alive at least little bit more,’ and I think play is kind of like that too,” Dickerson said. 

Because of her master’s degree and her experience working at children’s museums in Boston and San Diego, she was recruited to bring her talents to the Birch Aquarium in 2021, where she is the director of exhibits.

Her role is to lead her team of experienced designers to create playful and fun spaces where the public can learn about the Pacific Ocean. Some of these exhibit features include glow-in-the-dark wallpaper in the new Living Seas gallery, a penguin disco activation at the entrance to the Little Blue Penguins habitat, the “Embodied Pacific” exhibit, which displays interactive explorations by artists and scientists and the Riverophilus, a 20-foot-long river system where children can build boats out of corks and old shingles. 

“It’s really about connecting people with each other at the aquarium, but also connecting with the ocean, which is so critical for our own survival,” Dickerson said. “I like to think of the ocean as our greatest exhibit. There are only a few aquariums that have such an amazing view of the oceans. And that’s really what’s also exciting about our aquarium.”

What also helped bring this Los Angeles-area born transplant to San Diego, via Boston, was her work helping start the program Museums for All, which helps those who receive food assistance benefits (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) gain free or discounted tickets to over 1,500 museums in the U.S., including the Birch Aquarium. 

“It’s probably the thing that I’m most proud of in my entire career was being part of getting that program going,” Dickerson said. “I think about all the families we helped while I worked at the Boston Children’s Museum. You would see families come straight from work, parents in their work uniforms: It was amazing. I’m really passionate about how we make spaces more accessible and fun. It’s the same thing that I love about working at the aquarium.”

Dickerson commutes to her job, via her electric bike and public transportation, from Mission Hills where she has lived for just over 10 years.

“I love the walkability,” she said. “We can pretty much get anything we need in our community.”

Dickerson said Mission Hills has plenty of grocery stores and places to dine, small retail shops, public concerts, a Fourth of July parade, a park and a yearly community garage sale.

Here are her favorite places to eat, shop and explore in and around Mission Hills.

Q: Where is your favorite dining option?

A: One of the great things about living in Mission Hills is the wide range of restaurants that are all in walking distance of our house: from Friday night pizza at Lefty’s Chicago Pizzeria to delicious and cheekily named coffee at Meshuggah Shack. We really like What De Health Thai, which, in addition to having a fun name, has affordable and always delicious food. Komatsuya is another little gem, with some of the best sushi I’ve had anywhere in San Diego.

Q: What is your favorite small retail business or pop-up vendor to support?

A: Lavish Aromatherapy is a small, locally owned store selling natural skin care and essential oils. On your way to get delicious cheese at Venissimo (which I also highly recommend), you’ll smell subtle floral scents wafting from Lavish’s door. I highly recommend the rose petal hydrating mist and the bakuchi creme.

Q: Where is your favorite open space?

A: Pioneer Park is a special place. A friend and I once did a pop-up play event at the playground there, and it’s such a great place to meet neighbors. During the summer, there are concerts in the park every Friday. My family calls it “dead people pizza park” because A, it’s a former cemetery and B, we like to get Bronx Pizza and eat it there. 

Q: Where is the best piece of artwork?

A: Janet Zweig’s Climate Clock, high on the main wall of the Mission Hills-Hillcrest/Knox Library. Her installation features three landscapes painted on four-foot-wide rolls of paper, each representing a different aspect of San Diego’s climate future. Over 50 years, these rolls unspool, driven by motors, in response to climate projections for sea level rise, temperature extremes and drought. The pace of the unrolling is based on data-driven estimates from Scripps Institution of Oceanography that chart the course of our planet’s changing environment. It’s a tangible representation of the transition from a stable, recognizable world into one increasingly shaped by climate change.

Q: Where is your favorite entertainment attraction or historic landmark?

A: The Junípero Serra Museum by the San Diego History Museum at Presidio Park and open by donation. A recent renovation was created in collaboration with experts from local Kumeyaay communities. Immersive elements like film projections that cast shifting night and day scenes into the museum’s windows, sculptural seating and evocative design, center Indigenous voices and give the space a both contemplative and dynamic feel. I like to stop by after a long walk through the neighborhood to take in the views of San Diego.