North Park Vaudeville & Candy Shoppe

Not an actual candy shop.
Walked into excited to get some old fashioned candy but what I got was a very small assortment of candies I can get at the 7 – 11 across the street.

Very fun theatre and tons of awesome candy. If you want a spunky groovy, different kinda show, you feel like you’re in another time.

My wife Margaret and I attended one of the theater productions for Date Night.
We were treated to a melodrama, which featured all the usual characters: damsel in distress, a hero, and a black hatted villain. Superb theater!
We enjoyed the coziness of the theater, which is tucked away behind a candy store featuring several types of old fashioned candy. Grab some for the show!
Margaret really appreciated that they cast actors who might have difficulty getting roles in other theaters. They have the philosophy that every actor is castable.
I enjoyed the silliness of the show, the fun costumes and the over-​the-​top characterization of flawed interpersonal relationship dynamics.

I love this theatre. Summer is the best. Director. She knows people with special needs I will tell you the store! When I first started. Acting. I was very shiyNow sumner Helps me. Not to be shiy And Jeff. Summers husband. Does the lights and sounds? And. He teaches a imrov Class? On Wednesday. If you know Anyone? That liks this cool place play If you want to see play go on the website. Let me tell you a story about summer and Jeff. This place was not a Theater. At first. It was a salon. They built that theater. Is you know someone that wants to act. This is a good place to start. And I know this from experience. I’m at ackter Director. And Set designer I will give this place five stars! I know there is only 33 seats. But if you wanna see a car you have to make a reservation Head. of time so you can see Friends. In. A show

I learned about this retailer from the now-​defunct television San Diego Insider on Channel 4 (
). With that, I paid a visit and the selection of candies is fabulous! While I yet to attend their vaudeville show, it has been advised to find out the times for the performances and arrive early!

This is Comminity Theatre at it’s best. Seasoned performers alongside new talent having fun, putting on a show. My teenaged daughter and I saw «Ten Minute Madness» last week Seven short plays by 7 different playwrights, most of which we really enjoyed. The first play was pretty risqué, the rest were considerably more tame. Live theatre for the price of a movie ticket. I’ll buy that!

The more I go here the more I feel like it is home. Jeff and Summer are wonderful people. Support this local venue and see some great theatre!

I attended a show here today. The theatre is tiny, cute and only seats 33 people. Jeff and his wife Summer, own and run the theatre, and have all kinds of candy for sale that you haven’t seen for years.
The show was great, and there will be more.

Went to see a play here on Friday and I loved loved loved it. Super different and quirky, right up my alley for a random Friday night when I’m going «what to do, what to do?»… Tiny theater (seats 15 people maybe?) in the back of an old school style candy shop. You are literally 3 feet from the actors, so you are able to catch every single little nuance and expression. It is really very cool.
Only downside is that the bathroom is backstage, so you better go before the show, or you wait for intermission.
The play was like 2.5 hours but I was having so much fun that the time just flew!
*bonus*– little hole in the wall «livewire» is a block away. A few apple ciders before AND after the show took it up a notch :)

This is Oh So San Diego! «San Diego’s Smallest, Sweetest Theater» and so it is!
And it is absolutely MANDATORY to join the crowd at their ANNUAL PLAYWRITE FESTIVAL: New short plays from all over the US enter the contest, and the winning entries are chosen by NPV&CS. Then, local actors and directors select from the winners, and present 7 of the shorts each weekend for 4 weeks. So keep your October open for this cool event. We laughed, we cried, we enjoyed the heck out of it.
So, go to their website, sign up for their occasional email, buy the tix online (how cool is that, no ticketmaster charges!)
Remember to bring a few extra bucks for the OMGOSH incredible variety in their «Candy Shoppe»
And, if that’s not enough, these wonderful people produce «STARS, the GB Productions’ theater arts program for mentally challenged individuals» Go read the website to find out more about it.
(BTW: the theater is very warm in the summer-​time, so be prepared and dress accordingly)

I have had the pleasure of seeing many various plays here since moving to San Diego 2 years ago (through E-​Squared Productions, Khaotic Homos, among others). I have also had my singer/​songwriter debut there (oh don’t get all excited — it was one song).
The owners, Jeff and Summer, are quirky but kind. They have the selection of candy that will make your teeth ache. The theater itself is small — seating less than 50 by far, and it always gets pretty warm in there during the shows.
But I have always enjoyed the entertainment, and have always been welcomed warmly.

One word: Melodrama. According to Wikipedia it is «…is a portmanteau word, formed by combining the words ‘melody’ (from the Greek ‘melōida’, meaning ‘song’) and ‘drama’.» Yes, we saw their famous melodrama theater. We laughed, we cried, we hissed, we got yelled at. It was hilarious, possibly for the wrong reasons.
While I found neither melody nor drama at North Park Vaudeville, but I did meet the very, very enthusiastic and kind owners of the establishment (Summer and Jeff). They are doing both something they love and something really generous. Not only do they enjoy running the joint and putting on shows, they provide a wonderful service providing a theater arts program for mentally challenged individuals.
And they have candy you haven’t seen or eaten since you were a kid. Seriously, where can you still buy candy cigarettes?

This is why you don’t live in the burbs. It’s weird in the way your uncle is weird. You’re pretty sure you don’t want to live with him, but you’re kinda glad he exists. (Just for the record, I may be that uncle.)
If you walk in the door, you’ll probably meet Summer, a lovely woman of a different era, old enough for menopause but young enough for pigtails, a former ballerina retaining the aura of a ballerina. She and her husband Jeff run the place, and I like to think that if Jesus grew up in North Park, he’d come and preach here.
Yeah, it’s a candy shop, and you can get your Zagnuts and Smarties and Neccos and gummy weirdness. But the main act is that they show live theater and shows and concerts, which will vary in quality and legitimacy. If you have written a play and want to see it performed, NPV&CS is a good bet for you, give it a shot.
The theater seats about 35. I saw Tom Brosseau’s cd release party here, a wonderful musician, good enough to tour internationally and off-​center enough to stop here. I also saw some community-​produced theater which was too unpolished for the tastes of my (now) ex-​girlfriend, but if you’re looking for community, this is just about the first place to stop.

Cool unique place in the middle of north park. They have a community theater stage behind the counter of the candy shop. I saw a few bands play there years ago. Really cool /​random little find. It’s just down the street from Mama’s Lebanese Bakery. Lots of cool random candy you won’t find anywhere else and really nice people who work there.

What a neat place. Very strange little theater. Only fits about a dozen people but it is so surreal and twilight zone that you leave feeling cultured. The tiny candy store is the front and they carry some cool old school stuff you cant find other places. I think this place is a must see. It is on El Cajon Blvd close to the Blockbuster on Florida I believe. Check it out for sure.

i can’t comment on the vaudeville, but the candy shop was pretty nice. the bulk candy is very cheap and they have a few items that can be hard to find. they also carry all of the «lemonhead» type candies. you might remember them as cherry clan, johnny appleseed, mr. melon etc but they’re all «head» candies now.
the selection is pretty standard. i did see one weird item. a violet crumble candy bar which is from australia.
the woman working there was very friendly and offered me a basket for my goodies. if i’m in the area and craving candy, i’ll come back.