San Diego Smorgasbord

Jill's Journal: Our girls – especially Madelyn – love mariachis and Mexican folk bands. The catchy tunes the musicians play never fail to get their hands clapping, their feet moving, and their faces smiling.

San Diego is chock full of attractions and interesting areas to wander about while taking in the sights. Over the last few days, we’ve enjoyed Old Town, the Gaslamp Quarter, and Seaport Village. All are distinctly different.

First, Old Town. Although San Diego is now the second-largest city in California and the eight-largest city in the U.S. with more than 1.3 million people, its beginnings were a bit more humble. The original San Diego (or at least the Presidio, a Spanish military outpost) was founded in 1769 and was the first European settlement on the West Coast. It was built on an inland bluff, several miles away from navigable water which really inhibited both imports and exports. When the town began growing outside the Presidio’s walls around 1821, the inland location kept the town’s population at just a few hundred, but also kept it defended against hostile Indians and European enemies.

In 1850, when California was admitted to the Union, San Diego’s population was only 650. The area encompassing this original San Diego is today known as Old Town and is a state historic park. It recreates the early American/Mexican period from settlement in 1821 to the time about 50 years later when Old Town was no longer the heart of San Diego.

There’s all sorts of nooks and crannies to discover as one strolls through Old Town.

Our girls absolutely love the bright colors of traditional Mexican dress. They thought this girl was just beautiful.

El Campo Santa (The Holy Field), an early San Diego cemetery. Nearly 500 people were buried here in the 1800s.

Of course, one of the best things about Old Town (and all of San Diego!) is the food. We have loved grabbing street tacos on the go or patronizing taco trucks or taquerias. When we leave California, how we are going to hate leaving behind the authentic Mexican food. We are hooked, big time. Californians (and I’m sure Texans and those from a few other Southwest states) know that the rest of the country generally misses the mark in their attempts at authentic Mexican cuisine (just as New England clam chowder just can’t be properly replicated outside of New England!). Happily, I suppose, just about every region of the country has their specialty that only they do best.

“Dessert” tortillas, which are flavored strawberry, chocolate, and cinnamon, are one of the few San Diego specialties that can stay right here; no need to worry about what the rest of the country is missing where these are concerned. :)

When and why did Old Town lose its ranking as San Diego proper? In the late 1860s, a gentleman named Alonzo Horton got the bright idea of purchasing 960 acres at the waterfront with the idea of developing it. He quickly fueled a real estate speculation boom. With the easy access to shipping at the bay, merchants were happy to follow Horton to “New Town.” The heart of New Town at its inception was an area known today as the Gaslamp Quarter.

Horton was so successful in “moving” San Diego that by 1871, even the government records were moved to a new county courthouse in New Town. Old Town would forever lose its place as the true San Diego. Today, New Town is still San Diego’s official downtown. Shown in the picture is the Horton Grand Hotel, where the famous/infamous Wyatt Earp lived for at least four years as he invested in real estate (and opened saloons and gambling halls).

Over time, as San Diego grew (and grew), the Gaslamp Quarter became San Diego’s red light district. It was particularly noted as an area of ill repute for the thousands of sailors which were both based here and constantly passed through. The area underwent a renewal several decades ago and today the Gaslamp is 16 1/2 blocks of restored Victorian-era buildings filled with bustling restaurants, nightclubs, and shops.

We visited the Gaslamp Quarter’s William Heath Davis House, the oldest surviving structure in New Town. The first gentleman to attempt to “move” San Diego was Davis, who in 1850 bought this pre-fabricated house from Portland, Maine. He had it shipped around Cape Horn and reassembled in San Diego. However, shortly after, he lost most of his wealth and abandoned San Diego. It would be more than 15 years later that Horton would find success in establishing the new San Diego. Horton would actually live in this house while establishing New Town.

People must have been shorter in the 1800s…

In the 1970s, when a subsequent owner of the home passed away and a room he kept sealed was opened, this working whiskey still was found, as was $5,000 in gold.

This 1921 letter, dated during prohibition, was a “promise” not to transport liquor purchased in nearby Mexico into the U.S. I wonder if that promise was kept? :)

Finally, we also spent some time at Seaport Village, which has no historical significance with the exception of being built on top of landfill over the Punta de los Muertos (Point of the Dead), where a 1782 Spanish expedition buried people who died of scurvy. Now it’s a charming pedestrian mall on the waterfront, with a ton of little shops and restaurants and plenty of street entertainers thrown in for good measure.

The girls found it the perfect place to "people watch" with an ice cream in hand.