Balboa Park

The courtyard in the House of Hospitality

In 1868, San Diego became the second U.S. city to establish a large public park when it set aside 1,400 acres for community use.  New York had been the first, ten years earlier, when it created Central Park.

Known simply as City Park, the land remained largely undeveloped until 1909 when the president of the Chamber of Commerce came up with the idea of bolstering the city's image by staging an exposition to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal.  City Park was selected as the site for the expo and was renamed Balboa Park to honor Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the first European to cross the Isthmus of Panama.

The 1915 Panama-California Exposition was a bold move.  San Diego had a population of less than 40,000 and no city that size had ever held a world's fair.  Though Congress had appropriated $5 million to celebrate the canal's opening, the lion's share went to bankroll San Francisco's party, the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.  In spite of this, San Diego managed to raise the additional funds it needed on its own, and the gamble paid off.  The expo was such a big success that it was extended for a second year.

In the midst of the Great Depression, San Diego once again decided to stage an expo, this time to help its struggling economy.  A hit like its predecessor, the 1935 California-Pacific International Exposition was also continued for a second year.

The success of the expos was due in part to the dazzling design of the buildings erected to house them.  Despite the fact that these buildings were never meant to outlast the expos, they were so stunning that, fortunately for us, many people resisted their destruction.  Though many of the structures were beyond saving and had to be demolished, the preservationists did manage to save a few jewels from both the 1915 and the 1935 expositions for us to enjoy today.

This is the area we chose to visit.  In addition to the core of historic buildings, it contains many new additions that have been built in a complimentary style.  There are wide pedestrian walkways lined with numerous fountains and gardens and a wide variety of museums, but for us, the best part was that we could take Sadie everywhere, except in the buildings, as long as she was on a leash.

We wandered the grounds and took pictures until we were dragging and still missed most of it.  If we had wanted to actually visit the museums, we would have needed several weeks.  And this is just a small part of the park which includes, among many other things, the world famous San Diego Zoo.

Here is a small sample of what we did see.

Flower in Zoro Garden

Casa del Prado

Casa del Prado

The statue of El Cid

Day 129
Bonita, CA

Daily Mileage:  0