Out With A Bang: A Guide To San Diego’s New Year’s Eve Celebrations

Let’s be clear about this: there’s absolutely nothing wrong with staying home on New Year’s Eve. We like curling up on the couch with a beer and a box of cheese nips just as much as the next guy. And frankly, a Champagne toast at midnight can seem, well, a bit flat. After all, it’s been three hours since that big ball dropped in the Big Apple. Here on the West Coast, New Year’s Eve can sometimes seem a bit anticlimactic. New Year’s Eve? Big deal.

But that’s exactly our point. Sometimes, a big deal is exactly what you want: four-course dinners, big bands and black tie, noisemakers and funny hats, fanfare and fireworks. So here are some suggestions for wrapping up the year in a celebratory mood, when you want to make merry (and you don’t really care how you feel the next day). They’re not for everyone. And they don’t come cheap. But then, this party comes but once a year. So cheers! Here is a handful of ways to celebrate New Year’s 2007 in inimitable style.

Midnight On The Midway
One can argue there’s no better view of the San Diego skyline than aboard the USS Midway, the floating museum moored at the Navy Pier. Picture watching the city lights as you sip Champagne on the flight deck. About the only thing you’ll miss is the F-4 Phantom trapping aboard.

This third annual gala, presented by Peartrees Catering, offers an open bar and sumptuous buffet including charcuterie and cheese, whole poached salmon, mashed potatoes in puff pastry, and a New York strip carving station. There’s dancing to the seven-piece Big Daddy Orchestra. And at midnight, waiters will pass Champagne and chocolate truffles as fireworks fill the sky.

Peartrees’ owner Jerry Siegel says last year’s event attracted more than 500 people from as far away as Maryland. This year, he expects 600, many with connections to the ship that served our country for nearly a half century. A portion of the proceeds will help to preserve and restore the Midway.

You don’t have to be a couple to enjoy the celebration. This year, Siegel is offering tables for singles. "It’s a great opportunity for singles to be seated together, enjoy the evening," Siegel says, "and maybe make new friends." So who knows? Perhaps you’ll welcome the New Year with a new love. Tickets are $139 per person with special room rates at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, based on availability. (619/575-5500, www.peartreescatering.com)

All That Jazz
For years, it’s been known as Times Square West. This year, the Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine continues the New Year’s tradition with a twist — the Jazz Spectacular. Jazz musicians Gerald Albright, Richard Elliot, Peter White, and Jeff Golub headline a dinner show and concert in the hotel’s ballroom. Tickets are $199 per person for a dinner buffet with assigned seating, $150 for cabaret table seating, and $125 for general admission. DJ Mark Thrasher livens things up in Michael’s Lounge. And guests will welcome the New Year on the West Coast with a countdown show, complete with confetti canyons, balloons, and bubbly. Hotel accommodations are also available. So live it up — after all, you saved the airfare. (858/552-1234, www.jazzspectacular.com)

Celebrate On Coronado
Across San Diego Bay, the countdown to ’07 begins with 007, a night of romance and intrigue at Loews Coronado Bay Resort & Spa. The Resort Royale package begins with a martini reception (shaken, not stirred) in the resort’s Constellation Room, followed by a dinner-dance cruise aboard California Spirit, a 158-foot, three-story yacht. The buffet features an Italian-Riviera theme including seafood penne primavera, tiramisu, and more. Then kick up your heels with The Heroes. Tickets are $180 per person. A one-night hotel package, starting at $615, also includes a New Year’s Day breakfast buffet. (619/424-4000, www.loewshotels.com/sandiego)

Down the road, there are big doings at the Del. The historic Hotel del Coronado, the grande dame of West Coast resorts, hosts a New Year’s gala in the ballroom, including a four-course dinner and dancing to the Mar Dels for $225 per person. Two-night packages start at $1,000. Tourists and locals alike can dine like royals in the Crown Room at the Del’s annual New Year’s Day Champagne brunch. The cost is $58.50 for adults, $28.25 for children (kids ages five and under eat free). (619/435-6611, www.hoteldel.com)

Feel The Sting
Since opening just under a year ago, Stingaree has become one of the true "in crowd" hotspots in the Gaslamp Quarter. Their New Year’s Eve bash will no doubt solidify it as one of the best places to see and be seen in San Diego. With a three-course dinner prepared by executive chef Antonio Friscia and an Amuse Bouche Champagne toast starting things off, followed by some of the best DJs in the country, the buzz for this event is getting around. A $100 fee will get you into the three-story club (and access to the much-loved rooftop bar), with VIP tables available and plenty of dancing to be had. (619/544-9500, www.stingsandiego.com)
— Andrea Naversen