The largest comic book and popular arts convention in the world is proud to call San Diego its home.  It's Gaslamp's funky next door neighbor and he throws a huge party once each summer! If you like pop culture - you should put this event on your bucket list! 

Comic-Con completely sells out the cavernous San Diego Convention Center every year; they see more than 125,000 attendees PER DAY, about half of which don their favorite movie character & super hero costumes or villain disguises.  More than Comic books, the pop culture convention now encompasses everything from action-figures and retro video games to TV & Hollywood blockbusters.  They host celebrities and panels of writers and producers of every type imaginable. It is a very exciting amenity of living and working in San Diego and we suspect we have lots of visitors who just swing by to see the sights during the 4+ days of activity.

The Gaslamp has been a good neighbor to "The CON" since it was conceived and we love our role of accommodating all of the Convention guests & lookie-loo's as well as our normal mix of Diners, shoppers, loungers, nightclubbers and folks just here to enjoy San Diego. We're big supporters of keeping the great convention in its home town so we invite you to join the San Diego Loves Comic-Con Campaign - Send your letters of support . . .Show the love!

Already planning for 2011? - Need some tips for next year?

We have a nice collection of hotels that will keep you in the thick of the action. Start at our lodging page and note that each of these locations are nearby, adjacent or directly in the Gaslamp. You can read an article that has a bit more information about each one in our Hotel Guide.

If you don't stay down here when you come into downtown, access Gaslamp from the north!!  The majority of good parking resources hover north of Broadway, so it is easier to park and then descend into the festivities.  Gaslamp makes a nice pit-stop on the way into the convention and on the way out. It will be easier to leave at the end of the day when you're all tired. See our parking resources at the bottom of the page.

~ Snag patio seating anywhere you can, the next best thing to being inside the really big show, is watching the massive stream of unique fans.

~ Bring your camera! Your Facebook profile is not complete until you have a snapshot of you and Wonder Woman! or a Klingon! and there will be many celebrity sightings. If you've been waiting for a perfect time to do VIP Bottle service in one of our nightclubs - this is it. You never know who will show up in the VIP booth beside you.

ONCE YOU HAVE TICKETS!!
~  Plan a place to meet somewhere in the Gaslamp Quarter to meet members of your party in case you’re separated on the Convention floor (a very real possibility). You don't want to wait for them in some hallway or on the side of the road with all your cool new stuff. (and don't count on your cell phone as the carriers could get overloaded) Wait for them where people are fetching you food and beverages. We have 157 comfy places to kick back and wait.

~ Obviously, Heavy downtown traffic is expected so If you must drive, tune into radio station AM 1660 on event days, for traffic & parking updates.

~ Public transportation is strongly encouraged and our transit system has a great Park & Ride program. You can leave the car and just ride the trolley in.

~ The Convention Center garage and lots close to the building are pre-sold and most likely sold out. 

~ Use either F Street (westbound) or G Street (eastbound) for drop-offs, they have the much less traffic than Harbor Drive and the best escape routes back to the freeways

Here are our best Comic-Con Resources . .Parking and otherwise:

Gaslamp Area Parking Map - http://www.gaslamp.org/images/stories/articles/gaslamp_parking_map.pdf

Downtown Area Parking Map - http://downtownsandiego.org/pdf/SD_Parking_Map_100501_v4.pdf

Big Downtown overview map with even more parking - http://ccdc.com/images/stories/downloads/planning/maps/parking_map_lg.pdf

San Diego Transit Information >> click here

The Obvious One  Comic-Con.org