There may be few more basic expectations attached to a public park than having somewhere to go to the bathroom. Yet shortly before Gipsy Kings took the stage Sunday evening at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, a group of increasingly desperate visitors found themselves standing outside locked public restrooms at Embarcadero Marina Park South, wondering aloud exactly what they were supposed to do.
SanDiegoVille witnessed the scene firsthand while attending the August 9 concert. Several men and women gathered outside the restroom facility after discovering the doors locked. Some attempted to determine whether another entrance was available. Others questioned security personnel outside The Rady Shell, who appeared unable to provide a clear explanation or readily accessible alternative.
One woman was particularly desperate.
"I'm about to pee my pants and may have to go pee behind a bush or tree," she said while standing outside the locked facility.
Another expressed disbelief that the bathrooms were inaccessible at all.
"I can't believe they closed the bathrooms. Where are we supposed to go?" she asked.
The situation eventually became uncomfortable enough that a parking attendant working The Rady Shell's VIP parking operation stepped in and offered assistance. The employee reportedly transported one of the women by golf cart to the nearby Hilton San Diego Bayfront so she could use a restroom there. The attendant's kindness solved one person's immediate problem. It did nothing to answer the larger one.
Now the Port of San Diego confirms the bathrooms should never have been locked in the first place.
"All Port of San Diego public restrooms are scheduled to remain open during regular park hours from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., seven days a week," a Port spokesperson told SanDiegoVille Monday. "We are looking into why the public restrooms at Embarcadero Marina Park South adjacent to the fishing pier were closed Sunday evening and are taking steps to ensure they remain open during regular park hours going forward."
The Port also offered an apology.
"We sincerely apologize to our Sunday evening Embarcadero Marina Park South visitors," the agency said.
When SanDiegoVille followed up Tuesday asking whether the bathrooms had reopened and who had actually shut and locked them if the closure was not authorized, the Port confirmed the facilities were again open but said the mystery had not yet been resolved.
"Yes, they are open and are to remain open during park hours," the Port spokesperson said. "We are investigating further."
That means that as of Tuesday, the agency responsible for the waterfront park had confirmed both that the restrooms were supposed to be available and that it was still attempting to determine why they were not.
The San Diego Symphony, which operates The Rady Shell, separately told SanDiegoVille through a representative that the public restrooms in question are not part of The Shell complex. The representative said the organization was aware of broader public-restroom closures around San Diego and agreed that, based upon SanDiegoVille's description, the facilities appeared to have been closed before their published closing time.
The distinction matters because The Rady Shell's interior bathrooms become restricted to ticketed patrons when the venue enters "concert mode." The public facility near the fishing pier, however, serves Embarcadero Marina Park South and is supposed to remain accessible during regular park hours regardless of whether a concert is taking place next door. That makes Sunday's unexplained closure particularly striking.
Embarcadero Marina Park South is operated by the Port of San Diego and remains open from 6am until 10:30pm daily. The Port lists restrooms among the park's amenities and promotes the waterfront space as a place where visitors can enjoy performances taking place next door at The Rady Shell.
The Rady Shell's own published information is even more explicit. Its FAQ explains that the venue's interior restrooms become restricted to concert patrons when the facility enters "concert mode," while separately stating that public bathrooms adjacent to the fishing pier at the southeast edge of the park are open during all public park hours. Those were the facilities SanDiegoVille found locked Sunday evening.
The Shell does not exist on an isolated private parcel. It occupies Embarcadero Marina Park South, a public waterfront park, and its surrounding promenade remains accessible to the public during most performances under increasingly strict rules intended to maintain emergency access. On the evening of the Gypsy Kings performance, hundreds of non-ticketholders lined the publicly-accessible areas on each side of The Rady Shell.
Earlier this summer, The Rady Shell announced new restrictions on people congregating along the promenade during concerts, citing its designation as a fire lane and emergency exit. Visitors may no longer stand or stop along portions of the walkway, place chairs or coolers there, or sit on the rocks. Instead, The Shell directs members of the public toward the southern portion of Embarcadero Marina Park South near the basketball courts, picnic areas, gazebo and lawn to enjoy music from outside the venue.
In other words, members of the public are still expressly invited to use the surrounding park during concerts. They may simply need somewhere to urinate while doing so.
The incident arrives amid an increasingly contentious debate over public restroom access throughout San Diego, although those closures involve a separate governmental agency.
Beginning in July, the City of San Diego closed 13 of Mission Bay Park's 28 public restrooms as part of Fiscal Year 2027 budget reductions. Mayor Todd Gloria's proposed cuts originally contemplated closing dozens of public restrooms across Mission Bay, Balboa Park, downtown and other locations as the City attempted to confront a sizable structural budget deficit. The Mission Bay closures alone are projected to save approximately $547,000 annually.
The policy has already produced scenes remarkably similar to what occurred outside The Rady Shell Sunday night. Visitors to Mission Bay have told local news outlets they were forced to improvise when facilities were unavailable. One grandmother told KPBS that when she could not find a restroom for her 2½-year-old grandson, the family resorted to using a tree. Councilmember Raul Campillo subsequently called restroom access a public-health issue and proposed spending approximately $540,000 to reopen the facilities.
Gloria rejected that specific proposal, arguing that available one-time money did not constitute a sustainable source for recurring maintenance and staffing expenses. But in a new statement to SanDiegoVille, the Mayor's office said the administration is now actively examining whether it can find another way to restore some of the lost restroom service."The Mayor's position has not changed on the specific proposal, but the Administration is actively looking at whether there is a path to restore additional restroom service," a City spokesperson told SanDiegoVille. "If there is a workable solution within the FY27 budget, we will bring it forward."
The spokesperson said Gloria "would have preferred to keep all of these restrooms open," but argued that the City's available revenue made maintaining every existing service impossible. The FY27 budget, which the City Council unanimously approved, reduced some Mission Bay restroom operations while preserving funding for other City programs and services. The Council also restored funding for some shoreline restrooms during the budget process at the request of Council President Joe LaCava.
The Mayor's office also pushed back forcefully against criticism suggesting the cuts were intended to punish residents following the failure of previous ballot measures seeking additional City revenue.
"The suggestion that the Mayor is punishing San Diegans for the outcome of previous ballot measures is simply false," the spokesperson said. "This was not punishment. It was a budget decision about how to preserve the services San Diegans depend on with the resources the City has available."
The administration nevertheless acknowledged the frustration caused by the closures and said Gloria "shares the desire to provide greater restroom access at Mission Bay." The City maintains that restrooms remain available throughout Mission Bay and points residents and visitors toward an online map identifying facilities that remain open.
The Mayor's office also told SanDiegoVille it is checking whether there is any specific regional coordination between the City, Port of San Diego or other public agencies regarding restroom availability and said it would provide additional information if available.
That question takes on added significance following Sunday's incident because San Diego's public restroom problem does not necessarily respect jurisdictional boundaries. The Mission Bay closures were City budget decisions; the locked Embarcadero Marina Park South bathrooms were not. The waterfront park is Port of San Diego property, and the Port has specifically confirmed that its bathrooms were supposed to be open.
But to the person standing outside a locked bathroom trying not to urinate on herself, which public agency owns the toilet is understandably academic. The broader problem is increasingly difficult to ignore.
San Diego promotes itself internationally through its extraordinary outdoor environment. Governments invest heavily in waterfront parks, promenades, recreational amenities and tourism infrastructure designed to draw people outside. The Rady Shell itself has become one of the most spectacular additions to the downtown waterfront, with the surrounding Jacobs Park project specifically incorporating upgraded public amenities, including public restrooms.
Yet something as rudimentary as finding a functioning toilet can remain surprisingly difficult. The consequences extend beyond simple inconvenience.
Public restroom access is fundamentally tied to accessibility for seniors, families with young children, people with medical conditions and people with disabilities. When bathrooms are unavailable, people do not magically stop needing them. They find alternatives - businesses, hotel lobbies, bushes, trees, parking lots or other public spaces.
San Diego has experienced the consequences of inadequate public sanitation before. The city's devastating 2017 hepatitis A outbreak brought national attention to the relationship between sanitation infrastructure, homelessness and communicable disease, with subsequent government reviews emphasizing access to toilets and handwashing facilities.
Sunday's incident also raises practical questions specific to the downtown waterfront. Concerts can draw thousands of people onto the peninsula well before gates open. Ticket holders arrive early. Others walk the waterfront, use the park, gather outside the venue or listen from public areas. After performances, thousands can emerge simultaneously into the surrounding park and promenade. A functioning public restroom would seem among the least extravagant infrastructure necessary to support that use.
One additional agency may be able to shed light on what happened. The Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department provides law-enforcement and public-safety services on Port tidelands, including waterfront parks, and its officers patrol Port property. SanDiegoVille has contacted Harbor Police to determine whether officers were aware the facility had been locked Sunday evening, whether the closure was related to any public-safety incident or enforcement action, and whether officers received calls regarding the bathrooms. The Port's investigation remains ongoing.
For now, one thing is no longer in dispute. The bathrooms were supposed to be open.
The Port has apologized, reopened them and says it is trying to determine why they were locked. Until that explanation emerges, Sunday's scene remains a peculiar symbol of San Diego's larger restroom problem: visitors were invited to one of the region's signature public waterfront spaces, only to discover that one of the most basic necessities of remaining there was behind a locked door.
And at least one woman was left seriously contemplating the bushes.
Originally published August 12, 2026.
Yet something as rudimentary as finding a functioning toilet can remain surprisingly difficult. The consequences extend beyond simple inconvenience.
Public restroom access is fundamentally tied to accessibility for seniors, families with young children, people with medical conditions and people with disabilities. When bathrooms are unavailable, people do not magically stop needing them. They find alternatives - businesses, hotel lobbies, bushes, trees, parking lots or other public spaces.
San Diego has experienced the consequences of inadequate public sanitation before. The city's devastating 2017 hepatitis A outbreak brought national attention to the relationship between sanitation infrastructure, homelessness and communicable disease, with subsequent government reviews emphasizing access to toilets and handwashing facilities.
Sunday's incident also raises practical questions specific to the downtown waterfront. Concerts can draw thousands of people onto the peninsula well before gates open. Ticket holders arrive early. Others walk the waterfront, use the park, gather outside the venue or listen from public areas. After performances, thousands can emerge simultaneously into the surrounding park and promenade. A functioning public restroom would seem among the least extravagant infrastructure necessary to support that use.
One additional agency may be able to shed light on what happened. The Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department provides law-enforcement and public-safety services on Port tidelands, including waterfront parks, and its officers patrol Port property. SanDiegoVille has contacted Harbor Police to determine whether officers were aware the facility had been locked Sunday evening, whether the closure was related to any public-safety incident or enforcement action, and whether officers received calls regarding the bathrooms. The Port's investigation remains ongoing.
For now, one thing is no longer in dispute. The bathrooms were supposed to be open.
The Port has apologized, reopened them and says it is trying to determine why they were locked. Until that explanation emerges, Sunday's scene remains a peculiar symbol of San Diego's larger restroom problem: visitors were invited to one of the region's signature public waterfront spaces, only to discover that one of the most basic necessities of remaining there was behind a locked door.
And at least one woman was left seriously contemplating the bushes.
Originally published August 12, 2026.
