Old Downtown San Diego

On a recent visit to San Diego for their annual Film Festival (http://www.sdff.org/), my early arrival gave me the chance to peruse the old section of downtown San Diego, and some of the unique architecture one might find there. My favorite, as is obvious from the photos, was the beautifully restored Balboa Theater, which sits ironically, surrounded by a very modern multi-story shopping mall.

This section of the city is really the “New” Old Town, as the true old town is found a bit further north, off of the Interstate 5 freeway, appropriately, the Old Town Avenue exit. https://www.sandiegohistory.org/

San Diego is considered the birthplace of California, first settled in 1542 by the Spaniards, and the ‘true’ Old Town San Diego is the first European settlement in the State. Father Junipero Serra, a Catholic Priest, founded the first mission here in 1769.

The ‘new’ Old Town San Diego, in these photos, is said to have had its first structures in about 1850, believed to be a market, but true development of this section of town didn’t start in earnest until 1868.

Any new visitors to the area would certainly want to allow for several days, not only to visit the two “Old Towns”, but nearby Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo, as well as Coronado Bay, and Point Loma, the most southwest point in the United States. San Diego is also principal home to the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet.

#1 - Reflections of Old Town in the theater lobby windows

#9 - New FauxOld

#10 - Antique vase reflections: chair, pedestrian, old building