The Living Coast Discovery Center in Chula Vista opened its newest exhibit to the public on June 5, 2026, and it comes with a story. The "Urban Oasis" exhibit introduces visitors to local wild animals that most people think of as nuisances: raccoons, opossums, and raptors. The center's message is simple. These animals are your neighbors, and they're doing more good than you think.
Meet Ronnie and Sydney
The stars of Urban Oasis are Ronnie, a raccoon with a face built for Instagram, and Sydney, a hawk who watches visitors from her perch with a look that says she's in charge. Both are animal ambassadors at the center, meaning they can't survive in the wild and live permanently at the facility. The exhibit gives visitors a chance to see these animals up close and learn how raccoons and opossums actually help control rodent and insect populations in coastal neighborhoods. They aren't pests. They're pest control.
What Makes Living Coast Different
Living Coast Discovery Center sits inside the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Gunpowder Point Drive. It's a nonprofit zoo and aquarium, smaller and quieter than the San Diego Zoo, and that's the point. The facility was founded in 1987, originally as the Chula Vista Nature Interpretive Center. It focuses entirely on animals and ecosystems native to Southern California and San Diego Bay.
The permanent exhibits include shark and ray touch tanks with leopard sharks, horn sharks, bat rays, and shovelnose guitarfish. There are rescued sea turtles, birds of prey including golden and bald eagles, and tidepool animals you can touch. The center runs summer camps, guided kayak adventures, and nature programs for kids and teens year-round.
"Living Coast Discovery Center" pulls nearly 10,000 monthly searches on Google, making it one of the most-searched attractions in the South Bay. It sits about two miles from Sesame Place San Diego and adjacent to the bayfront trail network that connects to Bayside Park and the Gaylord Pacific Resort.
Visiting Details
Living Coast is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It's closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Plan for 90 minutes to two hours inside, plus extra time if you walk the 1.5-mile trail to the bay shore. There's no full restaurant on-site, but picnic tables are available and downtown Chula Vista dining is a short drive away. Parking is free.
Families with young kids should catch the daily turtle feeding at 1:45 p.m. And if you haven't been in a while, go. Between Urban Oasis and the bayfront development happening around it, the whole area feels different than it did even a year ago. The K1 Speed indoor karting track and Rohr Park are both close enough to make a full day of it.
