San Elijo College

San Elijo Hills is a master-planned community in the southwest of San Marcos, California, built by San Elijo Hills Development Company, and managed by HomeFed Corporation. San Elijo is home to three of the largest schools in San Marcos Unified School District. Unlike the rest of San Marcos, San Elijo Hills has its own town center, featuring a public park (including a stage and seating for community events), a clock tower, a fountain, and rows of shops and restaurants.

Lake San Marcos is a census-designated place (CDP) in the North County region of the San Diego metropolitan area. It is nominally independent of San Marcos proper, but functionally dependent on the city.

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.

San Marcos High School is a high school in the North County city of San Marcos, California. San Marcos High School is a member of the San Marcos Unified School District and serves students from San Marcos, Vista, and Carlsbad. Out of the 4 high schools in the district, it the largest in San Marcos Unified by student enrollment at more than 3000 in 2021. San Marcos High School also has a joint program with LCC High School nearby to serve students in the area.

High Tech High North County, also known as HTHNC, is a charter school located in San Marcos, California. It is a part of the High Tech High organization. Opening in 2007, with its initial class consisting of only 150 freshmen, the school has since expanded, with more than five hundred and fifty students attending. Each year, there had been a new class added. In the 2008–2009 school year, it was sophomores, in the 2009–2010 school year it was juniors, and in the 2010–2011 school year it became seniors. It is one of only two High Tech High schools to be built from the ground up with the other being High Tech High Chula Vista. The school follows the same type of personalized, college preparatory, project-based learning characterized at other High Tech High schools.

KPRZ (1210 kHz "K-Praise 106.1 and 1210") is a commercial AM radio station licensed to San Marcos-Poway, California and serving the San Diego metropolitan area. It is owned by the Salem Media Group and broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format. National religious leaders heard on KPRZ include David Jeremiah, Jim Daly, Chuck Swindoll and Charles Stanley. Secular conservative talk hosts include Eric Metaxas, Charlie Kirk and Jay Sekulow. The studios and offices are on Towne Centre Drive in San Diego. By day, KPRZ is powered at 20,000 watts. But 1210 AM is a clear channel frequency, so to reduce interference at night to other stations, KPRZ cuts its power to 10,000 watts. KPRZ has a directional signal using a three-tower array. The transmitter site is on Canyon de Oro Drive near the San Elijo Hills. Programming is also heard on a 250 watt FM translator, K291CR at 106.1 MHz, in Encinitas.

Rancho de los Quiotes, today known as the Leo Carrillo Historic Park, is a historic estate near Carlsbad, California. The rancho was built as a weekend retreat for actor Leo Carrillo, who designed the property in the style of Spanish hacienda estates. Situated on land once inhabited by the Luiseño people, the original 2,538 acres (1,027 ha) were located on an old Spanish land grant. Carrillo purchased 1,700 acres (690 ha) for $17 an acre in 1937, adding additional acreage two years later. Over the next few years he designed and built a working rancho (Spanish style ranch) in tribute to his family, the Carrillo family of California, who arrived in California in the 1700s.In 1976, the city of Carlsbad acquired the 10.5 acres (4.2 ha) of the ranch that had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and added an additional 16.4 acres (6.6 ha) to create the Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park. There are 17 contributing properties on the ranch, including the main adobe house and "Deedie's house", a smaller adobe artist studio built especially for his wife Edith

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.

Bumann Ranch is a ranch in Encinitas, California. Previously owned by German colonists, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 6, 2020. Currently, the ranch contains twenty buildings on its 10 acres of land.

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.

St. Joseph Academy is a traditional Roman Catholic K–12 school located in San Marcos, CA. Its stated mission is "to transform human society through the most effective means possible, namely through training the youth in faith, reason, and virtue". The school is operated independent of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego and offers a complete K-12 education. St. Joseph Academy has been named by the Catholic High School Honor Roll as one of the top 50 Catholic High Schools in the United States for three consecutive years and carries a 99% college matriculation rate. The school is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges accredited school and formally approved by the Diocese of San Diego.

The Miniature Engineering Craftsmanship Museum (MECM) also known as the Craftmanship Museum is an American museum located in Carlsbad, California, USA that collects and displays unique carefully crafted objects of metal and wood. The museum is sponsored by The Joe Martin Foundation for Exceptional Craftsmanship.