In Depth

San Diego is best known for its beaches and palms, pandas and orcas, sailors and surfers, not to mention some of the world's finest weather. Los Angeles and San Francisco may have bypassed San Diego in size and importance during the 19th century, but our city can lay claim to being the "Plymouth Rock of the Pacific Coast." Here's where the first European settlement took root on the west coast of what would become the United States of America, long before there was even a border.