How San Diego residents build community with their neighbors
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Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
We asked our readers how they're building community here in San Diego after we shared new national data showing Americans aren't talking with their neighbors much anymore.
Why it matters: Casual neighborhood ties are quietly disappearing, and research shows the health consequences of social isolation run deep with a strong link to mortality and dementia risk.
Here are your takes on turning strangers into friends — or at least more friendly neighbors.
🍝 Host a multicourse "progressive dinner" where a different home hosts appetizers and drinks, soup and salad, entrée and dessert. It can grow when new folks move in and build a decadeslong tradition like it did for Myrna Z. when she moved to Kensington.
- "A friendly neighbor came over and told us that the block was very united and social, kind of a warning if that wasn't the vibe we were looking for," she said. "We welcomed the new friendships."
😊 Reader Louella S. simply smiles everytime she passes by someone and usually gets a smile back.
- "Maybe after a month or so, we'll start a conversation," said Louella, who hopes such smiles will bring back the neighborly vibe she first felt around her Solana Beach home 20 years ago.
🍋 When life (or the tree in your yard) gives you lemons, bring some over to the other families in your building, as reader and University Heights resident Dianne O. does.
- For Dianne and her neighbors, it led to casual friendships, conversations about parking issues or an informal block watch looking out for crime in your neighborhood.
🍪 Reader Ed G. in Redwood Village says a bag of cookies and a card left at your doorstep might seem suspect, but he took a chance on eating them (they were store-bought and tied with a ribbon). Then he kept knocking on doors until he found the new neighbor who gifted them.
- A thank you and introducing yourself to a stranger (so brave!) can help neighbors get to know each other beyond exchanging cordial greetings, he said.
👙 Make flyers for a potluck-style pool party in your condo complex, like my brother's girlfriend Kristina R. did in Carlsbad.
- About 30 people showed up with food, drinks and music. No one wanted it to end, she said, and they're planning more casual get-togethers to keep the momentum going.
The bottom line: Reaching out to your neighbors "helps you feel like you have a sense of community and can lean on one another for friendship and little favors," like unloading groceries, Kristina told Axios.