History

The Arrival of Spanish Mission "Style"

It's believed humans first arrived in San Diego's coastal areas some 20,000 years ago, while others settled in the desert about 8,000 years later. The first cultural group, which is now referred to as the San Dieguito people, date back to 7,500 B.C. They were followed by the La Jollan culture, which populated the coastal mesas until about 1,000 to 3,000 years ago. The Diegueños followed about 1,500 years ago.

After Columbus "discovered" the New World and the Aztecs had been conquered, stories of the fertile Pacific Coast to the north started to percolate. So certain was Spain of the riches that lay ahead, they had already chosen a name for the golden land: California (inspired by a mythical island from a popular novel of the day).

In 1542, a Portuguese explorer in the employ of Spain, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, set out from the west coast of Mexico, principally in search of a northwest passage that might provide an easier crossing between the Pacific Ocean and Europe. En route he landed in a place he charted as San Miguel, spending 6 days in the protected bay to wait out a storm. Cabrillo would not live to complete his journey -- he died some weeks later, following complications from a broken bone suffered in a skirmish with Chumash Indians on one of the Channel Islands, off the coast of Santa Barbara.

Although Cabrillo wrote favorably about what he saw, it would be 60 years before Europeans visited San Miguel again. When Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno sailed into the bay with three small ships on the feast day of San Diego de Alcalá, he renamed it in honor of the saint. But despite Vizcaíno calling it "a port which must be the best to be found in all the South Sea," San Diego Bay was all but ignored by invaders for the next century and a half.

In 1768, Spain, fearing that Russian colonies in Northern California might soon threaten Spanish settlements to the south, decreed the founding of colonies in Southern California. The following year, after an arduous 110-day voyage from the tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, the San Carlos arrived into San Diego Bay on April 29, 1769. It was the flagship for "the sacred expedition" of Father Junípero Serra, a priest who had been charged with the task of spreading Christianity to the indigenous people. The site for a mission -- and a fort to protect it -- was selected just above the San Diego River, on a prominent hill that offered views onto plains, mesas, marshes, and the sea. The Presidio de San Diego was the first of what would be 21 missions in the vast territory known as Alta California (the first mission in Baja California was established in 1697). The local populace was also hostile to the Spanish, though eventually it was subdued by the settlers' firepower.

After 4 years, Father Serra requested permission to relocate the mission to Nipaguay, a site 6 miles up the valley, next to an existing Kumeyaay village. Delayed by a ransacking courtesy of resentful native peoples from neighboring tribes, the new Mission San Diego was finally built and dedicated in 1777. The new location was well chosen, and in 1817 a dam was built -- probably the first major irrigation project in the West -- which allowed the cultivation of wheat, barley, vineyards, olives, and dates, and the introduction of herds of cattle and sheep.

Although the mission provided the indigenous people with a more sustainable existence, it came at a price: Their culture was mostly lost. From 1790 to 1800, mission records noted that 1,600 Native Americans had been baptized -- and more than half of them died in the same period.

In 1798, Father Lasuen and the Franciscans founded Mission San Luis Rey on a site near that would become Oceanside, in northern San Diego County. The church, erected in 1811-15, is perhaps the finest existing example of mission style, with its composite of Spanish, Moorish, and Mexican architectural styles.

In 1821, as what is now known as Old Town started to take shape, Mexico declared independence from Spain. California's missions were secularized; the Mexican government lost all interest in the indigenous people and instead focused on creating sprawling rancheros. The Mexican flag flew over the Presidio, and in 1825, San Diego became the informal capital of the California territory.

Freed of Spanish restrictions, California's ports suddenly opened to trade. Ships brought in silks from Asia, colognes from France, and gunpowder and clothing from Boston, and left San Diego with leather. But the mission era ended with a whimper: The trademark roof tiles used for mission structures were taken away and recycled into new houses built in Old Town, while the adobe walls dissolved into the soil.

The Missions Give Way to Gold

The Mexican-American War took root in 1846, spreading west from Texas, spawning brutal battles between the U.S. Army and Californios fighting for Mexico. In 1848, Mexico surrendered and acquiesced to the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, ceding the vast territory that would become the southwestern United States. Little more than a week before the treaty was signed, gold was discovered near Sacramento and the gold rush began. The road to statehood was paved with gold: In 1850, California was made the 31st state, and San Diego was established as both a city and county.

In 1850, William Heath Davis, a San Francisco financier, purchased 160 acres of bayfront property with plans to develop a "new town." Residents of Old Town scoffed, and despite Davis's construction of several prefabricated houses and a wharf, the citizens stayed rooted at the base of the Presidio and labeled the project "Davis' Folly." But in 1867, another developer, Alonzo Horton, also saw the potential of the city and bought 960 acres of bayfront land for $265.

Calling it "the prettiest place for a city I ever saw," Horton laid out the grid pattern of streets, completed Davis's wharf, and built a hotel and new homes. Notably, he designated a huge 1,400-acre spread to the northeast as a city park. This time, people started moving in to the new town, and by 1869 San Diego had a population of 3,000. A devastating fire in Old Town in 1872 proved to be the final blow for the original settlement.

A crucial catalyst for San Diego's development came in 1870, when gold was discovered in the mountains 60 miles northeast of town. Over the course of 5 lucrative years, the mines produced $2 million in gold and the town of Julian blossomed. The gold rush, though, was soon replaced by another industry: whaling.

But like the gold rush, whaling petered out -- the number of whales dwindled and those that remained learned to avoid San Diego Bay. It wasn't until the 1940s that the endangered Pacific gray whale would start to make a recovery.

Location, Location, Location

The city endured brief bouts of boom and bust but slowly developed, with real-estate speculation providing the fuel for growth. In 1884, entrepreneurs Hampton L. Storey, who had founded a successful Chicago piano-building business, and Elisha S. Babcock, Jr., the director of both a railroad and telephone company, formed a company and purchased Coronado. They subdivided the land in 1886 and sold it for substantial profit. They then went about creating a fantastic storybook hotel: The $1.5-million Hotel del Coronado opened its doors in 1888, becoming the city's first link to tourism and the world's largest resort hotel.

The duo also helped establish a streetcar system for San Diego. Around the same time, San Francisco-based sugar baron John D. Spreckels dived into San Diego's real-estate market, soon owning two newspapers, downtown buildings, the streetcar network, and much of Coronado. Suburbs like La Jolla and Chula Vista began to take shape. Much of the 1880s real-estate speculation was based on the prospect of a rail line linking San Diego to the rest of the country, but by 1890 it was understood the city would be served only by a spur line from Los Angeles. The real-estate market swooned.

A pivotal moment came in 1910 when San Diego's 40,000 citizens approved a $1 million bond measure to host a world's fair. Ostensibly it was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but there was another, larger purpose: to promote the city to the world. Despite a competing event in San Francisco, the 1915 Panama-California Exposition was a fabulous success, and saw the development of 1,400-acre Balboa Park into fairgrounds of lasting beauty.

Nursery owner Kate Sessions, "the mother of Balboa Park," brought in and planted trees from around the world. Plaster workers from Italy created the delicate flourishes on a village of Spanish Colonial structures lining a graceful prado (pedestrian thoroughfare).

The barrage of publicity from the 2-year fair touted San Diego's climate and location, and helped put the city on the map. As the fair came to a close, a local doctor, Harry Wegeforth, was driving with his brother when he heard the far-off roar of a lion that had been brought in as a sideshow for the expo. "Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a zoo in San Diego?" asked Dr. Wegeforth. With that statement, the idea for the San Diego Zoo was born.

At first the zoo was a motley collection of cages that lined Park Boulevard, but in 1921 the city gave the zoo a permanent home: 100 acres in the heart of Balboa Park.

The Navy Builds a Home

The Hotel del Coronado and the exposition proved that tourism could be a successful component of San Diego's economy, but the military gave the city its backbone. Toward the end of the 19th century, the U.S. Navy began using San Diego as a home port. In 1908 the navy sailed into the harbor with its battleship fleet and 16,000 sailors, and the War Department laid plans to dredge the bay to accommodate even larger ships.

Aviator Glenn Curtiss convinced the navy to designate $25,000 to the development of aviation, and soon after he opened a flying school at North Island, the northwestern lobe of the Coronado peninsula. World War I meant construction projects, and North Island was established as a Marine base. The navy built a shipyard at 22nd Street in downtown, and constructed a naval training station and hospital in 1921. America's first aircraft carrier docked in San Diego in 1924.

To alleviate some of the Depression's sting, the federal government created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) program in 1935 to provide work during lean years. Local artists were supplied with funds to create public art, much of which still exists today.

San Diego's cozy relationship with the military allowed the city to prosper when World War II broke out. The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, mobilized the United States into a massive war machine, and San Diego was dramatically transformed. The headquarters for the Pacific Fleet was moved to the city, and the population swelled to build aircraft and ships as factories operated around the clock, employing thousands of residents.

Balboa Park was commandeered and the ornate buildings were converted into hospitals and barracks, while the bay was crisscrossed with huge nets to prevent Japanese subs from entering the harbor. In 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed orders authorizing the War Department to detain Japanese Americans; almost 2,000 San Diegans were held in camps like Manzanar at the foot of the Sierra Mountains, near Death Valley.

An Identity Beyond the Navy & Beaches

The end of the war didn't signal an end to San Diego's prosperity. New neighborhoods sprouted to house the thousands of military families that had been stationed here, and city leaders again cast an eye toward tourism as an economic rainmaker in times of peace.

In 1945, voters approved a $2-million plan to dredge and sculpt Mission Bay out of marshy mud flats, allowing the communities of Mission Beach and Pacific Beach to expand greatly. By the late 1940s, the local fishing fleet comprised hundreds of boats; the catch was processed by local canneries and supplied two-thirds of the nation's tuna, a $50-million-a-year business. The Korean and Vietnam wars didn't impact San Diego like World War II, but the military link kept the city humming in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1969, the graceful San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge opened and the ferries that linked downtown to the "island" were shut down. Downtown stumbled the way many urban centers did in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1974, the Gaslamp Quarter -- the new name for Alonzo Horton's New Town -- was designated as a historic district. A redevelopment plan was established, and the first step was taken when Seaport Village, a waterside shopping complex at the south end of the Embarcadero, opened in 1980.

In 1985, Horton Plaza, a $140-million Gaslamp Quarter shopping center, opened to raves for its charmingly jumbled architecture. San Diegans responded immediately, coming downtown to shop as they hadn't in a generation. Entrepreneurs financed the revitalization of the Gaslamp Quarter, and condos were built in the area between Horton Plaza and Seaport Village (although most sat empty for some years). A second wave of development was spurred with the opening of a new bayside convention center in 1989, cementing downtown as a destination for restaurants and nightlife.

In the late '90s, a plan to build a downtown ballpark took shape, albeit with considerable opposition and delays, largely due to the significant city funding required and challenges to what was seen as a sweetheart deal for the team owner. Backed strongly by the mayor and the local newspaper, $474-million PETCO Park opened to great fanfare in 2004. The stadium has proven to be a boon to some downtown businesses and a nuisance to others; meanwhile, San Diego still awaits its long-promised downtown library.

Traffic congestion and public transportation are increasingly vexing issues -- San Diego sprawls over a huge area, hemmed in on two sides by an ocean and a border. Mass transit has been slow to find a way to serve commuters. In 1981, the San Diego Trolley opened, providing a link between downtown and the Tijuana border crossing. By using existing rail corridors, costs were kept down and the system quickly found itself operating in the black. The trolley lines were extended north into Mission Valley and east to Lemon Grove and Santee, while a section opened in 2005 added San Diego State University into the mix. Another extension in a few years will take the trolley north to the University of California, San Diego.

A prolonged housing boom stretched the city's metropolitan area east and north, making gridlock a hot-button topic. Residents look north to Los Angeles as an example of all they don't want San Diego to become, yet slow-growth ballot propositions designed to limit backcountry development haven't proven popular with local voters.

Today's San Diego owes a lot to medical and high-tech industries -- biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and telecommunications in particular, with companies like Qualcomm and Pfizer based here. One economic think tank declared the city to be the nation's number one "biotech cluster," supported by a steady flow of research from academic institutions like the University of California, San Diego, the Scripps Research Institute, and the Salk Institute. With more than 500 San Diego-based companies, the biotech industry is directly responsible for nearly 37,000 jobs and some $8.5 billion in local economic impact. At last count there were also 13 science-based Nobel Prize winners in the community.

An infusion of talent and fresh perspective has helped the city grow beyond its beach/Navy/zoo profile. Money has filtered into the arts, nourished the dining scene, and for years empowered the unfettered real-estate market that ran red-hot until the inevitable cool-down took hold in 2007.

Housing prices dropped more than 15% in '07 -- one of the most substantial drops nationwide. The real-estate market here still produces sticker shock for those unfamiliar with California prices, though. The median cost of a home here is $495,000 -- more than twice the national average.

San Diego has a long, sad history of political corruption and mismanagement, but the new millennium has raised the bar on the "theater of the absurd" known as San Diego politics. The city's motto of "America's Finest City" was quietly retired several years back following a tragicomic series of political scandals, some of which are still playing out.

That's all topped by an estimated $1.4-billion deficit in the city employee pension fund. Creative bookkeeping is suspected, prompting city, U.S. attorney, FBI, IRS, and Securities and Exchange Commission investigations, and leading the New York Times to dub San Diego "Enron by the Sea." The city is flirting with the most devastating financial crisis in its history.

Tourism, though, remains good news for the city. After manufacturing and defense, it's San Diego's third-biggest industry, spurred by a convention-friendly downtown. In 2007, 31.6 million visitors came to the city, generating $7.9 billion for the local economy.

Besides the obvious -- the beach, the zoo, and the weather -- San Diego livin' is easy, if you can afford it; and although it's the country's eighth largest city with a population of 1.3 million people, there is a small-town feel. By big-city standards, it's a clean, safe, imminently approachable place, blessed with a glorious location and climate, and featuring a nightlife and arts scene that tenaciously battles for equal attention. Historically, San Diego has risen and deflated in spasms of growth and bust, usually tied to real-estate ventures. It's pretty obvious where we are in the cycle right now. Welcome to boomtown.