Special-Interest Sightseeing

For Architecture Buffs

San Diego's historical architecture is most often defined by the abundance of Spanish mission structures, a style that was introduced to California by Father Junípero Serra at the Mission Basilica San Diego. Ostensibly, the adobe walls and tile roofs made it harder for Native Americans to burn down his churches. Spanish colonial style was revived gloriously for the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park by New York architect Bertram Goodhue, who oversaw a romantic fantasia abounding with Mediterranean flourishes.

But San Diego's first important architect was Irving Gill, who arrived in the city in 1893 and soon made his mark by designing buildings to integrate into the desertlike landscape. Gill's structures include numerous homes in Uptown and La Jolla; Gill's First Church of Christ Scientist building, 2444 Second Ave. (at Laurel) in Hillcrest, is on the National Historic Landmark list. Following the Expo, prolific local architects like William Templeton Johnson and Richard Requa integrated the Spanish/Mediterranean concept into their structures around the city, most famously the Serra Museum at Presidio Park, downtown's County Administration Center, the Plaza del Pasado (formerly the Casa de Pico Motel), and the Torrey Pines Visitors Center.

Modernism swept through the city after World War II, championed by Lloyd Ruocco, and the city's steady growth after the war allowed many inspired architects to leave their handprint on San Diego. The fast development has led to more than a few blunders along the way; the expansion of the San Diego Convention Center, for instance, proves most effective as a ludicrous barrier to any view of the waterfront from downtown.

Historic buildings of particular interest include houses like the Craftsman-style Marston House and Victorian Villa Montezuma. Located southeast of downtown, Villa Montezuma has been closed to visitors for renovation -- check with the San Diego Historical Society (tel. 619/239-2211; www.sandiegohistory.org) for its current status. The Gaslamp Quarter walking tour will lead you past the area's restored Victorian commercial buildings. A stroll along the Prado of Balboa Park is a must, and turn-of-the-20th-century neighborhoods like Bankers Hill (just west of Balboa Park) and Mission Hills (west of Hillcrest) are feasts of Victorian mansions and Craftsman abodes. In La Jolla, you'll find the classic buildings created by Irving Gill.

Downtown blends old and new with mixed results, though no one can deny the value of saving the Gaslamp Quarter from probable demolition in the 1970s. Little Italy, the hot business and residential district along India Street (between Ash and Laurel sts.), is both endangered by the current building craze and also thriving amid some of the city's most progressive architecture. While you're in the central business district, take a look at the sprawling scale model of the city at the Centre City Development Corporation's Downtown Information Center, 225 Broadway (tel. 619/235-2222); it gives a taste of where the city is headed.

A splendid corridor of contemporary architecture has sprouted around the University of California, San Diego, including the campus' spacecraftlike Geisel Library, by William Pereira. Nearby is the Louis I. Kahn-designed Salk Institute, and the Neurosciences Institute, a 1996 creation by Tod Williams-Billie Tsien. A free tour of the Salk Institute, one of Kahn's masterpieces, is held Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at noon. Reservations are required; call tel. 858/453-4100, ext. 1287.

For more information on San Diego architecture, call the local branch of the AIA (tel. 619/232-0109). And for a self-guided tour of the city's highlights, Dirk Sutro's San Diego Architecture (San Diego Architectural Foundation, 2002; $25) is indispensable, with maps, addresses, and descriptions of hundreds of important structures throughout the city and county.

For Gardeners

Although most years we struggle with too little rain, San Diego is a gardener's paradise, thanks in large part to the efforts and inspiration of Kate Sessions, who planted the initial trees that led to today's mature landscapes in Balboa Park. While in the park, be sure to visit the Japanese Friendship Garden, the Botanical Building and Lily Pond, and the rose and desert gardens (across the road from Plaza de Balboa). And you'll notice that both the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park are outstanding botanical gardens. Many visitors who admire the landscaping at the zoo don't realize the plantings have been carefully developed over the years. The 100 acres were once scrub-covered hillsides with few trees. Today, towering eucalyptus and graceful palms, birds of paradise, and hibiscus are just a few of the 6,500 botanical species from all over the world that flourish here.

Garden enthusiasts will also want to stop by the 30-acre Quail Botanical Gardens in Encinitas. If you'd like to take plants home with you, visit some of the area's nurseries, starting with the charming neighborhood one started in 1910 by Kate Sessions, the Mission Hills Nursery, 1525 Fort Stockton Dr. (tel. 619/295-2808). Walter Andersen's Nursery, 3642 Enterprise St. (tel. 619/224-8271), is also a local favorite. Flower growing is big business in this area, and plant enthusiasts could spend a week just visiting the retail and wholesale purveyors of everything from pansies to palm trees.

Founded in 1907 by Kate Sessions, the San Diego Floral Association is the oldest garden club in Southern California. It's based in the Casa del Prado in Balboa Park (tel. 619/232-5762; www.sdfloral.org) and offers day tours to places of horticultural interest, and has events featuring speakers, classes, and exhibits.

For Military Buffs

San Diego's military history dates to the U.S. Navy's aviation achievements at Coronado in the 1910s. Today, one-third of the Navy's Pacific Fleet is home ported in the city's natural harbor. San Diego salutes its armed forces during Fleet Week, which lasts throughout the month of October and is headlined by the popular Miramar Air Show, with aerial performances by the Blue Angels. For more information, see www.fleetweeksandiego.org or www.miramarairshow.com.

The city's flagship (pardon the pun) military attraction is the USS Midway, making its final tour of duty as the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum. The Midway served from the end of World War II until the first Gulf War, and it's now docked along the Embarcadero. The San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park celebrates the history of flight, and has a strong focus on aviation's military heroes and heroines. The park is also the location of the Veterans Museum & Memorial Center (tel. 619/239-2300; www.veteranmuseum.org), a museum and resource center with holdings that date back to the Civil War.

Both San Diego Harbor Excursion and Hornblower Cruises tour San Diego Bay, providing an inside glimpse of naval activities; and Old Town Trolley Tours offers an amphibious Sea and Land (SEAL) tour of the bay. At Cabrillo National Monument in Point Loma, visitors gain an excellent view of the harbor, including the nuclear submarine base, and a small museum tells about the gun batteries established on the peninsula during World War II.

The public is also invited to the recruit graduation at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, off Pacific Coast Highway (near Barnett St.), held most Fridays at 10am (tel. 619/524-8383). There's a museum on the base, as well (tel. 619/524-4426; www.mcrdmuseumhistoricalsociety.org).

For Wine Lovers

Visit Orfila Vineyards (tel. 760/738-6500; www.orfila.com) on the way to the Wild Animal Park in Escondido. Italian-born winemaker Leon Santoro is a veteran of Napa Valley (Louis Martini and Stag's Leap). Besides producing excellent Chardonnay and Merlot, the winery also makes several Rhône and Italian varietals, including Sangiovese. The tasting room is open daily from 10am to 6pm, and guided tours are offered at 2pm. The property includes a parklike picnic area and a shop.

Other North County wineries include the Bernardo Winery, just south of Escondido (tel. 858/487-1866; www.bernardowinery.com), which has several gift stores and dining options on site; and Fallbrook Winery in Fallbrook (tel. 760/728-0156; www.fallbrookwinery.com). If you have time, the wineries along Rancho California Road in Temecula, just across the San Diego County line, are open for tours and tastings. Mexico's wineries in the Valle de Guadalupe are also within reach; they are east of Ensenada, about a 90-minute drive from downtown.