San Marcos, California

The University of Saint Katherine (USK) is a private, non-profit undergraduate and graduate university located in San Marcos, California. Founded by Frank J. Papatheofanis, MD, PhD it opened in 2011, and has grown each year in enrollment from its inaugural class of 11 in 2011 to 308 in 2022. The university's mission is to provide a balanced education in the liberal arts and sciences, founded and rooted in the life of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, although the school is not under the omophorion of any Orthodox bishop, and Orthodox students and faculty are in the minority at the school; the University accepts students of all faiths. Inquiry Seeking Wisdom is the current motto of the institution. The original motto "For Christ is our Life" was reserved for a new school of theology that is being formed.

San Marcos Civic Center station is a station on North County Transit District's SPRINTER hybrid rail line. It serves the heart of San Marcos, California. It is located at the intersection of San Marcos Boulevard and West Mission Road. A preview service stopped at San Marcos Civic Center on December 28, 2007, and regular service commenced March 9, 2008.

Palomar College Transit Center (or Palomar College) is a North County Transit District transit hub in San Marcos, California. It consists of a bus station and a train station. The bus station (signed Palomar College Transit Center on site) serves as a terminus for all BREEZE bus lines that pass through San Marcos, and is located at the main entrance at Palomar College. Across the street from the bus depot is the two-platform SPRINTER Palomar College station.

Palomar College is a public community college in San Diego County, California. The main campus is in San Marcos and three centers and four education sites are located elsewhere throughout north San Diego County. The largest of these by student population is the education center located in Escondido. In 2018, education centers in Rancho Bernardo and Fallbrook opened. The Rancho Bernardo Education Center is located on 27 acres at 11111 Rancho Bernardo Road, and the Fallbrook Education Center is located on 81 acres at 35090 Horse Ranch Creek Road. Other education sites are located at Camp Pendleton and at Ramona High School.

California State University San Marcos (CSUSM or Cal State San Marcos) is a public university in San Marcos, California. It was founded in 1989 as the 21st campus in the California State University (CSU) system. CSUSM offers 43 bachelor's degree programs, 23 master's degree programs, an Ed.D. program, and 13 teaching credentials. The university has four colleges: the College of Business Administration; the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences; and the College of Education, Health and Human Services. In January 2021, the university had 979 faculty. The university is a Hispanic-serving institution.

Cal State San Marcos station is an elevated railway station in San Marcos, California, the only elevated station along the North County Transit District's SPRINTER hybrid rail line, was commenced in 2005. The station sits on a loop of the San Diego Northern Railway's Escondido Subdivision that crosses over State Route 78 to serve the California State University, San Marcos campus, which is located southwest of the station. On campus days, shuttle services are available to ferry students from the train station to the heart of the CSUSM campus and vice versa.

Port Brewing Company is a craft brewery headquartered in San Marcos, California. It was founded in 2006 in San Marcos, San Diego County, California. The brewery also produces beers under the name Lost Abbey Brewing.

The Lost Abbey Brewing Company is a brewery in San Marcos, run by Director of Brewery Operations Tomme Arthur. The Lost Abbey specializes in producing Belgian-inspired beers, barrel-aged beers, and sours. The Lost Abbey is co-located with Port Brewing Company in a facility that previously housed Stone Brewing Co.

The Elephant Bar was a scratch-kitchen restaurant in the United States that specialized in globally-based dishes and traditional American fare. The corporate office is located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Their first restaurant opened in Lubbock, TX in 1980. In 2015, the chain comprised 25 restaurants throughout the United States, with the majority in California. Elephant Bar Restaurants are also located in New Mexico and Nevada. The restaurants are decorated around an African safari theme, with wildlife motifs. Many of the dishes offered are pan-Asian fusion in design.In 2014, Elephant Bar filed for bankruptcy and closed 16 stores. In 2017, Elephant Bar closed a number of sites with no explanation. In March 2018, Gen3 Hospitality purchased the Elephant Bar chain out of bankruptcy. By 2021, there was only 1 remaining location in Albuquerque, New Mexico which has now closed as of April 2023.

Mission Hills High School is a high school located in San Marcos, California. It first opened in August 2004 on 40 acres (160,000 m2) of land that was previously part of the local Hollandia dairy. It has many career-oriented programs, such as the Academies of Business, Law Enforcement, Health Essentials, Fire Technology, and Culinary Arts.

Cocos Fire, originally known as the Twin Oaks Fire, was a wildfire that ignited on May 14, 2014 in San Marcos, California, in the hills south of California State University, San Marcos. The Cocos Fire quickly spread into western Escondido. The fire destroyed more than 40 buildings, including a dozen single-family homes. The Harmony Grove Spiritualist Association, a 13-acre spiritualist retreat founded in 1896, was particularly hard hit; most of the buildings and residences on the property were destroyed, and the association's president said, "We're pretty much wiped out." Property damage from the fire is estimated at more than $5.7 million. Three minor injuries have been reported. The Cocos Fire was the last of the May 2014 wildfires in San Diego County to be extinguished, with full containment on May 22, 2014.

Double Peak is located south of San Marcos, California. The elevation at the summit is 1,646 ft (502 m), and approximately 1,000 feet (305 m) above the north foot of the mountain. Most trails leading to the summit of Double Peak are classified as "moderately strenuous." Double Peak is a popular hiking and biking area due to its many trails and convenient access points. On the north side, the mountain can be accessed by hikers and bikers through Discovery Lake Park, but this trailhead is closed to motorized vehicles. On the south side, the mountain can be accessed by vehicles through Double Peak Drive, extending from the neighborhood of San Elijo Hills. Both the North and the South access trails offer wide, partially paved surfaces. There is also a less-accessible rock and dirt trail which allows summiting the mountain from the East side. The Eastern trail has a steep incline, with rugged, staircase-like rock extrusions and at some points, loosely packed shale. The Eastern trail can only be accessed by following other trails along either the north or south face of the mountain, around to the eastern face of the mountain. Accessing the mountain from the north side, at Discovery Lake Park, a City of San Marcos information sign states that the length of the trail is 2.5 mi (4 km) from the park to the summit. On a clear day, the peak offers views of distant places such as Mexico, Downtown San Diego, San Clemente Island, Catalina Island, the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the Santa Ana Mountains, and the San Bernardino Mountains. A telescope is located at the peak for use by visitors.