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 Indians 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 desert-like landscape. Gill's structures include numerous homes in Uptown and La Jolla. 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, 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, and San Diego Union-Tribune architecture critic Ann Jarmusch publishes an annual "Orchids and Onions" list of the city's best and worst debuts; my least favorite addition to the city is the recent expansion of the San Diego Convention Center, which proves most effective as a ludicrous barrier to any view of the waterfront from downtown.
Historic buildings of particular interest include houses like the Victorian Villa Montezuma and the Craftsman-style Marston House. The Gaslamp Quarter walking tour will lead you past the area's restored Victorian commercial buildings. A stroll along the Prado of Balboa Park (also described in chapter 8) 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. One success is the Martin Luther King Jr. Promende, a 1993 walkway along Harbor Drive, between Eighth Avenue and Broadway; conceived by Max Schmidt, the slender pedestrian-friendly park parallels the trolley corridor and promotes the city's cultural heritage and features public art pieces. The older homes of Little Italy, the quaint 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. 619/235-2200); 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's spacecraft-like Geisel Library, by William Pereira. Nearby is the Louis Kahn-designed Salk Institute and the Neurosciences Institute, a 1996 creation by Tod Williams-Billie Tsien. A free tour of the Salk Institute is held Monday through Friday at midday; call tel. 858/453-4100, ext. 1200, for times and to reserve a place. Not far from the Salk Institute, the Michael Graves-designed Hyatt Regency La Jolla garnered an "Onion" from Ann Jarmusch.
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.
For Gardeners
Although most years we struggle with too little rain, San Diego is a gardener's paradise, thanks in large part to the initial 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 that 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, providing a beautiful garden setting as well as dinner for some animals. In fact, the plant collection is worth more than the zoo's animal menagerie.
What Was That Flower?--Balboa Park isn't the only place to see San Diego in bloom. Among the common trees and shrubs to watch for in flower:
January: Blooming aloe, agave, azalea, and camellias.
February: Acacia, angel's trumpet, gold medallion tree, strawberry snowball tree, pink trumpet tree, cup of gold vine.
March through April: Blue hibiscus, orchid tree, ceanothus, coral tree, Australian tea tree, silk oak, protea, Indian hawthorn, Mexican bush sage, bird of paradise, Chinese wisteria, roses.
May: Bougainvillea, Australian flame tree, hibiscus, southern magnolia, pink melaleuca, sausage tree, Mexican palo verde.
June through August: False heather, garden hydrangea, jacaranda, plumeria, African tulip tree, yellow oleander.
September through December: Chinese flame tree, golden raintree, Hong Kong orchid tree, weeping bottle brush, ginkgo.
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 by Kate Sessions, the San Diego Floral Association, the oldest garden club in Southern California and based in the Casa del Prado in Balboa Park (tel. 619/232-5762; www.sdfloral.org), does day tours involving places of horticultural interest, and has events featuring speakers, classes, and exhibits.
For Military Buffs
The public is welcome to attend a recruit graduation at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, off Pacific Coast Highway (near Barnett St.), held most Fridays at 10am (tel. 619/524-1765). Old Town Trolley Tours (tel. 619/298-TOUR) offers a "Tour of Patriots" via amphibious vehicles, on Tuesdays. You'll visit Shelter Island, tour MCRD, do a walk through the base Command Museum, and have an opportunity to purchase military memorabilia at the base gift shop. The 3-hour tour costs $24 ($12 for kids ages 4-12).
For Wine Lovers
Visit Orfila Vineyards (tel. 760/738-6500; www.orfila.com), near 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), and Fallbrook Winery in Fallbrook (tel. 760/728-0156). If you have time to go farther afield, the wineries along Rancho California Road in Temecula, just across the San Diego County line, are open for tours and tastings.
