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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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