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San Diego

 
 

As the seventh-largest U.S. city, with a population of 1.3 million, sunny San Diego is a giant, sprawling metropolis, but it successfully maintains a laid-back, small-town feel. Its bay-front location, sandy beaches, temperate climate, and unusually clean streets add credence to its self-proclaimed label as "America's finest city."

A long, rich Hispanic heritage continues to shape San Diego. In 1542, Portuguese explorer Joao Rodrigues Cabrilho sailed into the bay, claiming the land for Spain and christening it San Miguel, a name that would change 60 years later to San Diego. The end of the 18th century witnessed construction of both the Presidio---the initial outpost of the Spanish government in Alta ("upper") California---and the first of Father Junipero Serra's 21 California missions, built in what's now Mission Valley. Only later, well into the 1800s, did the first American pioneers begin to trickle into the area. Today, San Diego's enduring Hispanic presence is evident everywhere, from Barrio Logan's Chicano Park to Old Town to the Centro Cultural de la Raza, and the city maintains close ties with Tijuana, 20 mi to the south.

Tourism is a booming industry for San Diego, but an even greater source of local revenue is the military. In 1908, after Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet stopped in San Diego on a world tour, plans were made to build a destroyer base at the port. Now the city harbors the largest naval fleet in the continental U.S. and is home to many active and retired military personnel.

San Diego also boasts the nation's largest cultural park west of the Mississippi. Just north of downtown, manicured Balboa Park is the hub of San Diego's cultural activity. The park's extravagant Spanish Colonial buildings constructed for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition now house world-class museums and theaters. You can spend days in the park, especially if you visit the acclaimed zoo or take advantage of the recreation options that include golf and lawn bowling.

While you can explore the downtown's Gaslamp Quarter and shops on foot, you're best off seeing the city's score of neighborhoods by car. One of the best known is La Jolla, the cloistered community of boutiques and million-dollar homes perched on sandy hillsides along the coastline. Less known are the many other diverse neighborhoods that fan out from downtown, including hip, gay Hillcrest with its classy shops and restaurants; North Park with its vintage Craftsman bungalows; and fun, funky Ocean Beach with its impressive fishing pier, antiques shops, and beach just for dogs.

No longer insular and slow-paced, this handsome and economically vibrant city continues to grow by more than 50,000 people each year. Luckily, the extensive network of canyons that cuts through the city has reined in the unchecked building that created the megalopolis of Los Angeles 120 mi to the north.

 

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