Like its urban rival Los Angeles, San Diego is not so much a city as a loose collection of overlapping (and sometimes colliding) communities bound by arterial, life-giving freeways: it’s a military town in Coronado; a surf town in funky, eclectic Ocean Beach; and a border town in the historic Mexican-American neighborhood of Barrio Logan. If San Diego has a cohesive identity at all, it’s a shared embrace of an easy, breezy Southern California casualness. With its lack of pretension, the city is often seen by outsiders as a kind of Pleasantville — a bland, happy place with an exceptional amount of sunshine. Depending on how deep you look, that may be all you see. But there are, after all, worse things than Spanish tiles, palm trees, tropical blooms, year-round flip-flops, fresh fish tacos and bonfires on the beach.

FRIDAY

3 p.m.

1. First Stop

If possible, arrive in San Diego by train. Opened in 1915, the Santa Fe Depot (Union Station) is a Spanish Revival structure surrounded by fountains, palm trees and benches decorated in tile mosaic. Next door, in the station’s former baggage building, the downtown location of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego is hosting “The Very Large Array,” an exhibition of works by about 100 local and Tijuana artists (running through June 1, 2014), that offers a compelling introduction to San Diego as a border city. Admission, $10.

4:30 p.m.

2. Afternoon Delight

Sitting above the water on a stilted deck on Harbor Island, C Level (880 Harbor Island Drive; cohnrestaurants.com) looks across the San Diego bay to the Naval ships at Coronado, downtown’s towering skyline and the tall ships at the Maritime Museum. On weekday afternoons from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., the bar menu has $5 specials on cocktails — including the Desi Arnaz (Cruzan mango rum, papaya nectar, mint, fresh lime and soda) and the Sol y Mar (Finlandia grapefruit vodka, aloe juice and fresh lemon) — and snacks like rice-paper-wrapped prawns and steamed mussels with chorizo. Afterward, take a giddy ride on the Giant Dipper wooden roller coaster ($6 a person) at Belmont Park, a vintage amusement park on the beach in Mission Bay.

7 p.m.

3. Pork Shop

Opened in 2011 and beloved by locals, Carnitas’ Snack Shack (2632 University Avenue; carnitassnackshack.com) is a glorified taco stand serving pork-centric comfort food — including carnitas tacos with guacamole and salsa fresca ($7), braised Duroc pork belly with a frisée, apple and radish salad ($8), a steak sandwich on jalapeño and Cheddar cheese bread ($9) — from a takeout window in North Park. The squat structure has outdoor tables and heat lamps around back and a giant sculpture of a metal pig adorning its roof.