San Diego ( ), named after
Saint Didacus (Spanish:
Diego de Alcalá), is
the second-largest city in California
and the ninth largest city in
the United States, located along the Pacific Ocean
on the west coast of the United States
. The US Census Bureau estimates the city's
population at 1,279,329 as of 2008.
This coastal city is also the county seat of San Diego
County
as well as the economic center of the San
Diego–Carlsbad
–San Marcos
metropolitan area. It
was rated the fifth best place to live in 2006 by Money Magazine.
According to
Forbes the city of San
Diego ranks as the fifth wealthiest in the United States. San
Diego's biggest industries are manufacturing, the military, and
tourism.
San Diego's economy is largely composed of agriculture,
biotechnology/biosciences, computer sciences, electronics
manufacturing, defense-related manufacturing, financial and
business services, ship-repair, ship-construction, software
development, telecommunications, wireless research, and tourism.
The
presence of the University of California, San
Diego
(UCSD) with the affiliated UCSD Medical Center promotes research in
biotechnology.
History
The area of San Diego has been inhabited for more than 10,000 years
by the
Kumeyaay Indians.
The first European to
visit the region was Portuguese-born explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sailing
under the Spanish Flag, who sailed his flagship San
Salvador from Navidad
, New
Spain. In 1541, Cabrillo claimed the bay for the
Spanish Empire and named the site
San Miguel. In November of 1602,
Sebastián Vizcaíno was sent to
map the California coast.
Arriving on his flagship San Diego,
Vizcaíno surveyed the harbor and what are now Mission Bay and Point Loma
and named the area for the Catholic Saint
Didacus, a Spaniard more commonly known as San
Diego. On November 12, 1602, the first Christian
religious service of record in Alta California
was conducted by Fray Antonio de la Ascensión, a
member of Vizcaíno's expedition, to celebrate the feast day of San
Diego.
In 1769,
Gaspar de Portolà established
the Fort Presidio of
San Diego
overlooking Old
Town
. Around the same time, Mission San
Diego de Alcalá
was founded by Franciscan
friars under Father Junípero
Serra. By 1797, the mission boasted the largest native
population in Alta California, with over 1,400
Neophytes living in and around the mission proper.
It is the southern end in California of the historic mission trail
El Camino Real.
After
Mexico won its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821,
Mission San Diego de Alcalá's fortunes declined in the 1830s after
the decree of secularization was
enacted, as was the case with all of the missions under the control
of Mexico
.
However, it remains an active Catholic church and is a
National Historic Landmark.
In 1847
San Diego was a destination of the march of the Mormon Battalion, members of whom
established a brickyard and built the city's first courthouse at
the corner of San Diego Avenue and Mason Street in Old
Town
.
The
Battle of San Pasqual, a
battle of the
Mexican-American
War, was fought in the
San
Pasqual Valley which is now part of the city of San Diego.
With the
end of that war and the great influx of Americans during the
gold rush of 1848, California
was admitted to the United States
in 1850. San Diego was designated the seat
of the newly-established San Diego County and was incorporated as a
city in 1850. The first city charter was adopted in 1889. The
current city charter was adopted in 1931.
The
original site of San Diego was at the foot of Presidio Hill, in the
area which is now Old Town San Diego State Historic
Park
. The location was not ideal, being several
miles away from navigable water. In the late 1860s
Alonzo Horton promoted a move to "New Town",
several miles south of the original settlement, in the area which
became
Downtown San Diego.
People
and businesses flocked to New Town because of its location on
San Diego
Bay
convenient to shipping. New Town quickly
eclipsed the original settlement, known to this day as Old Town,
and became the economic and governmental heart of the city.
In the years before
World War I, the
Industrial Workers of
the World labor union conducted a
free speech fight in San Diego,
arousing a brutal response.
San Diego hosted two
World's Fairs, the
Panama-California
Exposition in 1915 and the
California
Pacific International Exposition in 1935.
Many of the
Spanish/Baroque-style buildings in the city's Balboa
Park
were built for these expositions, particularly the
one in 1915. Intended to be temporary structures, most
remained in continuous use until they progressively fell into
disrepair. Most were eventually rebuilt using castings of the
original facades to faithfully retain the architectural
style.
Significant U.S.
Naval presence began in 1901 with the
establishment of the Navy Coaling Station in Point
Loma
, and expanded greatly during the 1920s.
After
World War II, the military played
an increasing role in the local economy, but post-
Cold War cutbacks took a heavy toll on the local
defense and aerospace industries. The resulting downturn led San
Diego leaders to seek to diversify the city's economy, and San
Diego has since become a major center of the emerging
biotechnology industry.
It is also home to
telecommunications giant Qualcomm
.
In October 2003, San Diego was the site of the
Cedar Fire, which has been called the
largest wildfire in California over the past century. The fire
burned , killed 15 people, and destroyed more than 2,200 homes. In
addition to damage caused by the fire, smoke from the fire resulted
in a significant increase in emergency room visits due to asthma,
respiratory problems, eye irritation, and smoke inhalation; the
poor air quality caused San Diego County schools to close for a
week. Four years later many additional wildfires, including the
Witch Creek and Harris fires, damaged San Diego city and county
during the severe
Southern California fire
season of 2007.
Geography
The city of San Diego lies on deep canyons and hills separating its
mesas, creating small pockets of natural
parkland scattered throughout the city and giving it a hilly
geography. Traditionally San Diegans have built their homes and
businesses on the mesas, while leaving the canyons relatively wild.
Thus, the canyons give parts of the city a segmented feel, creating
gaps between otherwise proximate neighborhoods and contributing to
a low-density, car-centered built environment. The
San Diego River runs through the middle of
San Diego from east to west, creating a river valley which serves
to divide the city into northern and southern segments.
Several
reservoirs and Mission Trails Regional Park
also lie between and separate developed areas of
the city.
Downtown San Diego is located on San Diego Bay
. Balboa Park lies on a mesa to the northeast,
surrounded by dense urban
communities including Hillcrest
to the north. The Coronado
and Point Loma
peninsulas separate San Diego Bay from the
ocean. Ocean
Beach
is on the northwest side of Point Loma.
Mission Beach
and
Pacific
Beach lie between the ocean and
Mission Bay, a man-made
aquatic park.
La
Jolla
lies north of Pacific Beach and west of Mira Mesa. The city
contains more than 100 identified
neighborhoods.
The
Cuyamaca
Mountains
and Laguna Mountains
rise to the east of the city, and beyond the
mountains are desert areas. Cleveland National Forest
is a half-hour drive from downtown San
Diego. Numerous farms are found in the valleys northeast and
southeast of the city. San Diego County has one of the highest
counts of animal and plant species that appear on the
endangered species list among counties in
the United States.
Climate
Under the
Koppen climate
classification system, the San Diego area straddles areas of
Mediterranean climate (CSa) to
the north and
Semi-arid climate
(BSh) to the south and east. As a result, its often described as
"arid Mediterranean" and "Semi-arid Steppe". San Diego's climate is
characterized by warm, dry summers and mild winters with most of
the annual precipitation falling between November and March. The
city has mild, mostly dry weather, with an average of 201 days
above and low rainfall (9-13" annually). Summer temperatures are
generally warm, with average highs of and lows of . Temperatures
exceed only four days a year. Most rainfall occurs from November to
April. Winter temperatures are mild, with average high temperatures
of and lows of .
The climate in the San Diego area, like much of California, often
varies significantly over short geographical distances resulting in
microclimates. In San Diego's case this
is mainly due to the city's topography (the Bay, and the numerous
hills, mountains, and canyons). Frequently, particularly during the
"May gray/
June gloom" period, a thick
"marine layer" cloud cover will keep the air cool and damp within a
few miles of the coast, but will yield to bright cloudless sunshine
approximately inland. This happens every year in May and June. Even
in the absence of June gloom, inland areas tend to experience much
more significant temperature variations than coastal areas, where
the ocean serves as a moderating influence. Thus, for example,
downtown San Diego averages January lows of 50°F and August highs
of 78°F. The city of El Cajon, just 10 miles northeast of downtown
San Diego, averages January lows of 42°F and August highs of
88°F.
Rainfall along the coast averages about of precipitation annually,
which occurs mainly during the cooler months of December through
April. Though there are few wet days per month during the rainy
period, rainfall can be heavy when it does fall. However, the
rainfall is greater in the higher elevations of San Diego. Some of
the higher areas of San Diego can receive of rain a year.
Ecology
Like most of southern California, the majority of San Diego's
current area was originally occupied by
chaparral, a plant community made up mostly of
drought-resistant shrubs. The
endangered
Torrey Pine has the bulk of its
population in San Diego in a stretch of protected chaparral along
the coast. The steep and varied topography, and proximity to the
ocean creates a number of different habitats within the city
limits, including
tidal marsh and
canyons. The influence of humans has altered
existing habitats and has also created habitats that did not exist
prior to human development, by construction of buildings, the
introduction of new species, and the use of water for lawns and
gardens.
A number of species of parrots, including the Red-masked Parakeet and Red-crowned Amazon have established
feral populations in urban neighborhoods such
as Ocean Beach
. The chaparral and
coastal sage scrub habitats in low
elevations along the coast are prone to
wildfire, and the rates of fire have increased in
the 20th century, due primarily to fires starting near the borders
of urban and wild areas.
San
Diego's broad city limits encompass a number of large nature
preserves, including Torrey Pines State Reserve
, Border Field State Park
, Mission Trails Regional Park
. Torrey Pines State Preserve and a coastal
strip continuing to the north is the only location where the rare
species of Torrey Pine,
P. torreyana torreyana, is found.
Due to a combination of the steep topography that prevents or
discourages building, and some efforts for preservation, there are
also a large number of canyons within the city limits that are
nature preserves, including Tecolote Canyon Natural Park, and
Marian Bear Memorial Park in the San Clemente Canyon, as well as a
number of small parks and preserves.
Communities and neighborhoods
There are around one hundred named areas within the city of San
Diego.

Old Town, San Diego.
Northern:
Bay Ho, Bay Park, Encinitas, Carmel
Valley
, Clairemont Mesa East,
Clairemont Mesa
West, Del Mar
Mesa, La
Jolla
, La Jolla Village, Mission Beach, Mission
Bay Park, North Park, North Clairemont, Pacific Beach, Pacific Highlands
Ranch, Torrey
Hills, Torrey
Pines, University City
Northeastern: Black Mountain Ranch
, Carmel Mountain
Ranch, Miramar
, Miramar Ranch North, Mira Mesa, Rancho Bernardo,
Rancho Encantada, Rancho
Peñasquitos, Sabre Springs
, San Pasqual
Valley, Scripps
Ranch, Sorrento Valley,
Torrey
Highlands
Eastern:
Allied Gardens, Birdland, Del Cerro, Grantville,
Kearny Mesa, Lake Murray, Mission Valley East,
San
Carlos
, Serra
Mesa, Tierrasanta
Western:
Burlingame, Hillcrest
, Linda Vista, Midtown,
Midway, Mission Hills, Mission Valley West,
Morena, North
Park, Ocean Beach
, Old Town
, Pacific Beach, Point
Loma
(including Fleetridge, La
Playa
, Loma
Portal, Point Loma Heights, Point Loma Village, Roseville,
Shelter
Island, Sunset
Cliffs, and the Wooded Area), University Heights
Central:
Balboa Park
, Bankers Hill, Barrio
Logan, City Heights, Downtown
(Columbia, Core, Cortez Hill, East
Village
, Gaslamp Quarter,
Horton, Little
Italy, Marina),
Golden Hill,
Grant Hill, Logan Heights
, Memorial, Middletown, Sherman
Heights, South
Park, Stockton
Mid-City:
City Heights
(comprising Azalea Park, Bayridge, Hollywood Park,
Castle, Cherokee Point, Chollas Creek, Colina Del Sol, Corridor,
Fairmount, Fox Canyon, Islenair, Ridgeview/Webster Rolando, Swan
Canyon, Teralta East, Teralta West), College East, College
West, Darnall
, El Cerrito
, Gateway
, Kensington
, Normal Heights
, North
Park,Oak Park,
Talmadge
, Alvarado
Estates
Southeastern: Alta Vista, Bay Terrace,
Broadway Heights, Chollas View, Emerald Hills, Encanto
, Jamacha-Lomita, Lincoln Park, Mountain View,
Mt.
Hope, Paradise
Hills
, Shelltown, Skyline, Southcrest, Valencia
Park
Southern: Egger Highlands, Imperial Beach,
Nestor, Ocean Crest, Otay Mesa, Otay Mesa West,
Palm City, San Ysidro
, Tijuana River Valley

San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter
Downtown urban renewal
Downtown San Diego has
experienced some urban renewal since the early 1980s.
This has resulted in
the opening of Horton Plaza, the
revival of the Gaslamp Quarter, and
the construction of the San Diego Convention Center
. PETCO
Park
opened in 2004. The North
Embarcadero is slated to have parks
in addition to a waterfront promenade.
Balboa
Park
is scheduled to be linked to downtown.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were
1,223,400 people, 450,691 households, and 271,315 families residing
in the city. The estimated city population in 2006 was 1,256,951
The
population density was
3,771.9 people per square mile (1,456.4/km
2).
There were 451,126 households out of which 30.2% had children under
the age of 18 living with them, 44.6% were
married couples living together, 11.4% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 39.8% were non-families.
28.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.4% had
someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average
household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.30.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in 2000, 24.0% of San Diego
residents were under 18, and 10.5% were 65 and over. The median age
is 32; two-thirds of the population is under 35. The San Diego
County regional planning agency, SANDAG, provides tables and graphs
breaking down the city population into 5-year age groups.
Race
As of the 2005-2007
American
Community Survey conducted by the
U.S. Census
Bureau,
White Americans made up
65.3% of San Diego's population; of which 48.2% were non-Hispanic
whites.
Blacks or
African
Americans made up 6.9% of San Diego's population; of which 6.7%
were non-Hispanic blacks.
American Indian made up
0.6% of the city's population; of which 0.3% were non-Hispanic.
Asian Americans made up 15.0% of the
city's population; of which 14.8% were non-Hispanic.
Pacific Islander Americans made up
0.4% of the city's population; of which 0.3% were non-Hispanic.
Individuals from some other race made up 8.3% of the city's
population; of which 0.3% were non-Hispanic. Individuals from
two or more races made up 3.5%
of the city's population; of which 2.4% were non-Hispanic. In
addition,
Hispanics and
Latinos made up 27.0% of San Diego's population.
Other estimates
According to estimates by the
San Diego Association of
Governments, as of January 1, 2008, the population of San Diego
rose to 1,336,865, up 9.3% from 2000. The population was 45.3%
non-Hispanic whites, 27.7% Hispanics, 15.6% Asians/Pacific
Islanders, 7.1% blacks, 0.4% American Indians, and 3.9% from other
races. Median age of Hispanics was 27.5 years, compared to 35.1
years overall and 41.6 years among non-Hispanic whites; Hispanics
were the largest group in all ages under 18, and non-Hispanic
whites constituted 63.1% of population 55 and older.
Crime
Like most major cities, San Diego had a declining
crime rate from 1990 to 2000. Crime slightly increased
in the early 2000s. In 2004, San Diego had the sixth lowest crime
rate of any U.S. city with over half a million residents. From 2002
to 2006, the crime rate overall dropped 0.8%, though not evenly by
category. While
violent crime
decreased 12.4% during this period, property crime increased 1.1%.
Total property crimes were lower than the national average in
2004.
Economy

The San Diego skyline at night
The three largest sectors of San Diego's economy are defense,
manufacturing, and tourism, respectively.
Several areas of San
Diego (in particular La Jolla
and surrounding Sorrento Valley
areas) are home to offices and research facilities for numerous
biotechnology companies. Major biotechnology companies like
Neurocrine Biosciences and
Nventa
Biopharmaceuticals are headquartered in San Diego, while many
biotech and pharmaceutical companies, such as
BD Biosciences,
Biogen Idec,
Integrated DNA Technologies,
Merck,
Pfizer,
Élan, Genzyme, Cytovance, Celgene and
Vertex, have offices or research facilities in San Diego.
There are
also several non-profit biotech
institutes, such as the Salk
Institute for Biological Studies
, the
Scripps Research Institute and the Burnham Institute.
The
presence of University of California, San
Diego
and other research institutions helped fuel
biotechnology growth. In June 2004, San Diego was ranked the
top biotech cluster in the U.S. by the Milken Institute.
San Diego is home to companies that develop wireless cellular
technology.
Qualcomm Incorporated
was founded and is headquartered in San Diego;
Qualcomm is the largest private-sector technology employer
(excluding hospitals) in San Diego County. According to the
San Diego Business Journal, the largest software company
in San Diego is security software company
Websense Inc.
The economy of San Diego is influenced by its
port, which includes the only major
submarine and shipbuilding yards on the West Coast, as well as the
largest naval fleet in the world. The cruise ship industry, which
is the second largest in California, generates an estimated $2
million annually from the purchase of food, fuel, supplies, and
maintenance services.
Due to San Diego's military influence, major
national defense contractors, such as General Atomics
and Science
Applications International Corporation are headquartered in San
Diego.
Tourism is also a major industry owing to the city's climate.
Major
tourist destinations include Balboa
Park
, the San Diego Zoo
, Seaworld
, nearby Wild Animal Park
and Legoland
, the city's beaches and golf
tournaments like the Buick
Invitational.
Personal income
In 2000, the
median income for a
household in the city was $45,733, and the median income for a
family was $53,060. Males had a median income of $36,984 versus
$31,076 for females. The
per capita
income for the city was $23,609. About 10.6% of families and
14.6% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 20.0% of those under
age 18 and 7.6% of those age 65 or over.
SANDAG estimates that, by 2008, the household median
income rose to $66,715.
Military

A F/A-18 Hornet flying over San
Diego
Military bases in San Diego include
U.S. Navy ports,
Marine Corps bases, and
Coast Guard stations.
Marine Corps
institutions in San Diego include Marine Corps
Air Station Miramar
and Marine Corps Recruit Depot San
Diego
. The Navy has several institutions in the
city, including Naval Base Point
Loma, Naval
Base San Diego
(also known as the 32nd Street Naval Station),
Bob Wilson
Naval Hospital
, and the Space and Naval
Warfare Systems Center San Diego. Close by San Diego
but within San Diego
County
is Naval Air Station North
Island
(which operates Naval
Auxiliary Landing Facility San Clemente Island, Silver Strand Training
Complex, and the Outlying Field Imperial Beach
). San Diego is also known as the "birthplace
of naval aviation," although Pensacola
, Florida
makes a rival claim.
San Diego
is the site of one of the largest naval fleets in the world, and
San Diego has become the largest concentration of Naval facilities
in the world due to base reductions at Norfolk, Virginia
and retrenchment of the Russian naval base in
Vladivostok
. Two of the U.S. Navy's
Nimitz class supercarriers, (the
USS Nimitz and the
USS Ronald Reagan), five
amphibious assault ships,
several
Los
Angeles-class "fast attack" submarines, the Hospital Ship
USNS Mercy, carrier
and submarine tenders,
destroyers,
cruisers,
frigates, and many smaller
ships are home-ported there. Four Navy vessels have been named
USS San Diego in honor of the
city.
Real estate
Prior to 2006, San Diego experienced a dramatic growth of real
estate prices, to the extent that the situation was sometimes
described as a "housing affordability crisis". Median house prices
more than tripled between 1998 and 2007. According to the
California Association of Realtors, in May 2007, a median house in
San Diego cost $612,370. Growth of real estate prices has not been
accompanied by comparable growth of household incomes:
Housing Affordability Index
(percentage of households that can afford to buy a median-priced
house) fell below 20% in early 2000s. San Diego metropolitan area
had the second worst median multiple (ratio of median house price
to median household income) of all metropolitan areas in the United
States.
As a consequence, San Diego had experienced
negative net migration since 2004, with significant numbers of
people moving to Baja
California
and
Riverside
county
, with many residents commuting daily from Tijuana
, Temecula
, and Murrieta
, to their jobs in San Diego. Others are
leaving the state altogether and moving to more affordable
regions.
From 2005 to 2007, San Diego experienced more than a 15% decline in
real estate prices, which continued to accelerate into 2008. The
two-year drop already experienced is worse than the four-year
period between June, 1992, and November, 1996, when the region
experienced an 11.8% decline in housing prices. Much of the
decrease is blamed on the speculative attitude of investors in the
early 2000s, who bought much of the available real estate, hoping
to "flip" it for a large profit shortly thereafter, and the
availability of "stated income" and other "exotic" loans available.
When the
decline hit, and adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) adjusted, many
investors simply abandoned their properties, and areas that
recently experienced double-digit annual increases in property
value, such as San Diego, Los Angeles
, Miami
, and
Las
Vegas
were hit the hardest. In the first quarter
of 2008, the number of
foreclosures
repossessed by banks exceeded the number of home sales.
Film Commission
The
San Diego Film
Commission was formed in 1976 (named the San Diego Motion
Picture and Television Bureau) to coordinate and facilitate the
permission process and serve as a liaison with local government,
the community, and the production industry.
By the early 1980s, the Bureau’s efforts resulted in various San
Diego-based films. These included
Simon & Simon and
Top Gun, created jobs for San Diegans
and more than $5 million in economic impact. The Bureau was later
known as the San Diego Film Commission. During the 1990’s, there
were films such as
Silk
Stalkings,
Traffic, and
Antwone Fisher. In November 1997,
the Film Commission moved from under the auspice of the Chamber of
Commerce to become an independent, non-profit corporation solely
dedicated to the development of the production industry in San
Diego. The Film Commission continues to be supported and funded as
an economic development program by the City, County, and the Port
of San Diego.
Post office
The
United States Postal
Service operates post offices in San Diego. The San Diego Main
Post Office represents zip code 92128. It is located in the Carmel
Mountain neighborhood of San Diego. Built in 1992, it replaced an
aging and undersized post office on Midway Drive. It is
approximately , which made it one of the largest inland post
offices in the United States not affiliated with an airport in any
way. Other portions of the City of San Diego are served by those of
the remaining 921XX zip codes which are in use, and certain
portions of the city closely identify with their zip codes. The
919XX and 920XX series zip codes are used in the suburban cities
and unincorporated areas in the remainder of San Diego
County.
Education
Primary and secondary schools
The San Diego Unified School District, also known as
San Diego City Schools, is the
school district that serves the
majority of the city, it includes 113
elementary schools, 23
middle schools, 4 atypical schools, 10
alternative schools, 27
high schools,
and 25
charter schools. In the
northern part of the county,
Poway Unified School District
and
San Dieguito
Union High School District are districts outside city limits,
but serve several schools within city limits. In the southern part
of the county,
Sweetwater Union High
School District serves multiple schools within city limits,
although it is headquartered outside city limits.
Colleges and universities
According to education rankings released by the
U.S. Census Bureau, 40.4 percent of
San Diegans ages 25 and older hold
bachelor's degrees. The census ranks the
city as the ninth most educated city in the United States based on
these figures.
Public
colleges and universities in the city include San Diego
State University
(SDSU), University of
California, San Diego
(UCSD), and the San Diego Community College
District, which includes San
Diego City College, San Diego Mesa College
, and San
Diego Miramar College. Private colleges and universities in the
city include University of San
Diego (USD), Point Loma Nazarene
University
(PLNU), Alliant International
University (AIU), National
University, San Diego
Christian College, John Paul
the Great Catholic University
, Coleman University, University
of Redlands
School of Business, Design Institute of San Diego
(DISD), Fashion
Institute of Design & Merchandising's San Diego campus,
NewSchool of
Architecture and Design, Pacific Oaks College San Diego Campus,
The Art Institute of California, San Diego, Southern States University (SSU),
and Woodbury
University
School of Architecture's satellite
campus.
There is one medical school in the city, the UCSD School of
Medicine. There are three
ABA accredited law schools in the
city, which include
California Western School of
Law,
Thomas Jefferson
School of Law, and
University of San Diego
School of Law. There is also one unaccredited law school,
Western Sierra Law
School.
Libraries
The city has multiple public libraries, including the main
San Diego Public Library. The
municipal library is headquartered downtown, and has 35 branches
throughout the city. The libraries have had reduced operating hours
since 2003 due to the city's lack of finances. In 2006 the city
increased spending on libraries by $2.1 million. In addition, SDSU
features the
Malcolm A.
Love Library, and at UCSD,
the
Geisel Library.
Culture
- See also: List of museums in San
Diego
Many
popular museums, such as the San Diego
Museum of Art
, the San Diego Natural History
Museum, the San Diego Museum of Man
, and the Museum of Photographic Arts are
located in Balboa Park
. The Museum of
Contemporary Art San Diego
(MCASD) is located in an ocean front building in
La
Jolla
and has a branch located at the Santa Fe
Depot
downtown.
The
Columbia district
downtown is home to historic ship exhibits belonging to the
San Diego
Maritime Museum
, headlined by the Star of
India, as well as the unrelated San Diego
Aircraft Carrier Museum
featuring the USS Midway
aircraft carrier.

"Californiascope", San Diego
Harbor.
San Diego has a growing art scene. "Kettner Nights" at the Art and
Design District in
Little Italy has art and
design exhibitions throughout many retail design stores and
galleries on selected Friday nights. "Ray at Night" at
North Park host a variety
of small scale art galleries on the second Saturday evening of each
month.
La Jolla
and nearby Solana Beach
also have a variety of art
galleries.
The
San Diego Symphony at
Symphony Towers performs on a regular basis and is directed by
Jahja Ling. The
San Diego Opera at Civic Center Plaza,
directed by Ian Campbell, was ranked by
Opera America as one of the top 10 opera
companies in the United States.
Old Globe Theatre
at Balboa Park produces about 15 plays and musicals
annually. The La Jolla Playhouse
at UCSD
is directed by Christopher Ashley. Both the Old Globe
Theatre and the La Jolla Playhouse have produced the world
premieres of plays and musicals that have gone on to win Tony Awards or nominations on Broadway
. The Joan B. Kroc Theatre at Kroc
Center's Performing Arts Center is a 600-seat state-of-the-art
theatre that hosts music, dance and theatre performances. The
San Diego Repertory
Theatre at the Lyceum Theatres in
Horton Plaza produces a variety of plays and
musicals. Other professional theatrical production companies
include the
Lyric Opera San
Diego and the Starlight Theatre.
Tourism has affected the city's culture, as San
Diego houses many tourist attractions, such as SeaWorld
San Diego
, Belmont amusement park, San Diego Zoo
, and the nearby San Diego
Wild Animal Park
and Legoland California
. San Diego's Spanish influence can be seen in the many
historic sites across the city, such as the Spanish missions and Balboa
Park
. Cuisine in San Diego is diverse, and
includes
European-American,
Mexican-American, and
Asian-American cuisine. Annual events in San
Diego include
Comic-Con, San
Diego/Del Mar Fair, and
Street Scene Music
Festival.
Hundreds of movies and a dozen TV shows have been filmed in San
Diego, a tradition going back as far as 1898.
San Diego board culture
San Diego is a venue for surf and skateboard culture.
Sports
San Diego has several sports venues.
The National Football League's San Diego Chargers plays in Qualcomm
Stadium
, also home to the NCAA
Division I San Diego
State Aztecs
, as well as
local high school football
championships. International
soccer
games and
Supercross events take place at
Qualcomm where
Major League
Baseball was once played. Three
NFL Super
Bowl championships have been held there. Two of
college football's annual
bowl games are held there: the
Holiday Bowl which features a Pac-10 team
against a Big-12 team and the
Poinsettia
Bowl.
Balboa Stadium
was the city's first stadium, constructed in 1914,
where the San Diego Chargers once played. Currently
soccer,
American
football, and
track and
field are played in Balboa Stadium.
Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres play in Petco Park
. The semi-final and final games of the
inaugural
World Baseball
Classic were played there in 2006, and an earlier round of the
second WBC was held there in 2009. Some soccer and rugby events
occasionally take place in the ballpark. The
USA Sevens is played in the city. This is an
event in the annual
IRB Sevens
World Series for international teams in
rugby sevens, a variant of
rugby union with seven players per side instead
of 15. The USA Sevens moved from the Los Angeles area to San Diego
in
2007.
Basketball is played in the San Diego
Sports Arena
, where ice hockey,
indoor soccer and boxing have taken place. NCAA Division I San Diego State Aztecs
men's and women's basketball games are played at Cox Arena
at Aztec Bowl on the campus of San Diego
State University
. College
football and soccer, basketball and volleyball are played at the Torero
Stadium
and the Jenny Craig Pavilion
at USD.
The
San Diego
State Aztecs
(MWC) and the San Diego Toreros
(WCC) are NCAA Division I teams. The UCSD Tritons
(CCAA)
are members of NCAA Division II while
the Point Loma Nazarene Sea Lions
and San
Diego Christian College (GSAC) are members of the
NAIA.
The city has had two
NBA franchises, the San
Diego Rockets and the Buffalo Braves. The Rockets represented the
city of San Diego from 1967 until 1971. After the conclusion of the
1970–1971 season, they moved to Texas where they became the
Houston Rockets. Seven years later,
a relocated
NBA
franchise (the Buffalo Braves) moved to town and was renamed the
San Diego Clippers. The Clippers played in the San Diego Sports
Arena from 1978 until 1984. Prior to the start of the 1984–1985
season, the team was moved to Los Angeles, and is now called the
Los Angeles Clippers.
Other sports franchises that represented San Diego include the
San Diego Conquistadors of
the
American Basketball
Association, the
San Diego
Sockers (which played in various indoor and outdoor soccer
leagues during their existence), the
San
Diego Flash and the
San Diego
Gauchos, both playing in different divisions of the
United Soccer League, the
San Diego Spirit of the
Women's United Soccer
Association, the
San Diego
Mariners of the
World
Hockey Association, and three different
San Diego Gulls ice
hockey teams.
The San Diego
Riptide and the San Diego
Shockwave were indoor football teams that played at the
Sports
Arena
and Cox
Arena
, respectively. San Diego has been a
candidate for a
Major League
Soccer franchise, especially due to the city recording
FIFA World Cup television audiences which are
double the national average. The city has pursued a franchise. Some
observers believe that the city may get one of three franchises to
be offered before 2010. The city had an active men's team playing
in the fourth level of American soccer, the
San Diego Pumitas.
San Diego has the largest championship drought in the nation with
at least two major-league sports franchises; dating back to
1963 (45 Years as of 2008), as
well as being the largest United States city to have not won a
Super Bowl,
World
Series,
Stanley Cup,
NBA Finals or any other Major League sports
championship.
The
city-owned golf course at Torrey Pines
hosts the annual Buick Invitational tournament on the
PGA Tour. Torrey Pines was also the
site of the
2008
U.S. Open Golf
Championship.
San Diego is also home to several premier amateur sports events,
such as the San Diego Crew Classic, held in Mission Bay every
spring and featuring 100 or more college and amateur
crews. The amateur beach sport
Over-the-line was invented in San Diego, and
the annual world Over-the-line championships are held at Mission
Bay every year.
The San Diego Yacht Club
hosted the America's
Cup yacht races three times during the period 1988 to
1995.
The city hosts several well-known road races including the original
Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in
June, the America’s Finest City Half Marathon in August, the La
Jolla Half Marathon in April, and several
triathlons.
Media
The following are published within the city: the daily newspaper,
The San Diego
Union-Tribune and its online portal,
signonsandiego.com, and the alternative newsweeklies, the
San Diego CityBeat and
San Diego Reader. Another
newspaper is the
North County
Times, which is distributed in San Diego's
North County area.
San
Diego's first television station was KFMB
, which
began broadcasting on May 16, 1949. Since the
Federal Communications
Commission (
FCC) licensed seven television
stations in Los Angeles, two
VHF channels were
available for San Diego because of its relative proximity to the
larger city. In 1952, however, the FCC began licensing
UHF channels, making it possible for cities such as San
Diego to acquire more stations. Stations based in Mexico (with
ITU prefixes of XE and XH) also serve the
San Diego market.
Television stations today include XHTJB 3 (ONCE TV), XETV
6 (CW),
KFMB
8 (CBS), KGTV
10
(ABC), XEWT
12 (Televisa), KPBS
15 (PBS), KBNT
17
(Univision), XHAS
33
(Telemundo), K35DG 35
(UCSD-TV), KNSD
39
(NBC), XHDTV 49
(MNTV), KUSI
51
(Independent), and KSWB-TV
69 (Fox). San Diego has a 93.5%
cable penetration rate, one of the highest in the country. As such,
most of the city's stations air on their own cable channel number
for each area:
- Channel 6: Cable 6
- Channel 8: Cable 8
- Channel 10: Cable 10
- Channel 12: Cable 12 (Cox Cable Only)
- Channel 15: Cable 11
- Channel 21:
- Channel 27:
- Channel 33: Cable 22 (Cox Cable Only)
- Channel 39: Cable 7
- Channel 45:
- Channel 49: Cable 13
- Channel 51: Cable 9
- Channel 57:
- Channel 69: Cable 5
The radio stations in San Diego include nationwide broadcaster,
Clear Channel
Communications;
CBS Radio, Midwest
Television,
Lincoln Financial
Media, Finest City Broadcasting, and many other smaller
stations and networks.
Stations include: 91X (91.1FM),KOGO AM 600, KFMB AM 760
, KCEO AM 1000, KCBQ AM 1170
, KLSD AM 1360 Air America, KFSD
1450 AM, KPBS-FM 89.5, Channel 933
, Star 94.1, FM
94/9, KyXy 96.5, Free Radio San Diego (AKA Pirate Radio San Diego) 96.9FM FRSD, KSON
97.3/92.1,
KIFM 98.1, Jack-FM
100.7, 101.5 KGB-FM, KPRI 102.1, Rock
105.3
, and another Pirate
Radio station at 106.9FM, as well as a number of local
Spanish language radio stations.
Government
The mayor, city council members, and city attorney seats are all
officially non-partisan by state law. There are 8 members of the
city council, each elected from single member districts. The mayor
and city attorney are elected directly by the voters of the entire
city. The mayor, city attorney, and councilmembers are elected to
four-year terms, with a two-term limit.
In 2006 the city's form of government changed from a "
City manager system" to a "
strong mayor system". The change
was brought about by a citywide vote in 2004. The mayor is in
effect the chief executive officer of the city, while the council
is the legislative body.
Elections
In August 2007, registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans by
about 7 to 6. Despite the edge in voter registration for Democrats,
the current mayor,
Jerry
Sanders, is a Republican. San Diego is the largest city in the
country with a Republican mayor. San Diego has not elected a
Democratic mayor since 1988. Democrats hold a 6-2 majority in the
City Council, including the current Council president,
Ben Hueso. As noted above, city elections are
officially nonpartisan.
Politics
On
September 18, 2007, the City Council with support from Mayor
Sanders, voted 5-3 to endorse a pending lawsuit before the California
Supreme Court
to overturn Proposition 22, which
banned same-sex marriage
in California. Proposition 22 was supported by
62 percent of San Diego voters. Proposition 22 was later ruled
unconstitutional by the California supreme court. In 2008
California voters passed Proposition 8 to change the California
constitution to match the wording of Proposition 22 defining
marriage as only being valid or recognized between a man and a
woman. Approval for Prop 8 received 53.7% of the votes in San Diego
County. Disapproval for Prop 8 received 54% of the votes in the
city of San Diego itself. In a surprise move, the conservative
Republican Mayor
Jerry Sanders
publicly reversed his stance declaring support for same sex
marriage in July 2008. In a tearful speech, the Mayor vowed he
would support his gay daughter Lisa Sanders in her fight against
Proposition 8, and that he "he just couldn't tell her she did not
have the right to get married", mere hours before he was expected
to veto a City Council motion supporting same sex marriage. This is
most notable as it signified one of the most prominent conservative
public figures to oppose Proposition 8.
A series of financial scandals has rocked the city in recent years.
A scheme to underfund pensions for city employees, the
San Diego pension scandal, led to
the resignation of newly elected Mayor Dick Murphy and to the
filing of criminal charges against six pension board members. In an
unrelated scandal, two city council members,
Ralph Inzunza and deputy mayor
Michael Zucchet—who was to take Murphy's
place—were convicted of
extortion,
wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire
fraud for taking campaign contributions from a strip club owner and
his associates, allegedly in exchange for trying to repeal the
city's "no touch" laws at strip clubs. Both subsequently resigned.
The judge later set aside (overturned) the conviction in Zucchet's
case
State and federal
In the
state
legislature San Diego is located in the 36th, 38th, 39th, and
40th
Senate District,
represented by
Republicans Dennis Hollingsworth and
Mark Wyland, and
Democrats Christine Kehoe and
Denise Moreno Ducheny, and in the
74th, 75th, 76th, 77th, 78th, and 79th
Assembly District, represented by
Republicans
Martin Garrick and
George A. Plescia, Democrat
Lori Saldaña, Republicans
Joel Anderson and
Shirley Horton and Democrat
Mary Salas. Federally, San Diego is located in
California's
49th,
50th,
51st,
52nd, and
53rd congressional
districts, which have
Cook
PVIs of R +10, R +5, D +7, R +9, and D +12 respectively and are
represented by Republicans
Darrell Issa
and
Brian Bilbray, Democrat
Bob Filner, Republican
Duncan D. Hunter, and Democrat
Susan Davis.
On November 28, 2005, U.S. Congressman
Randy
"Duke" Cunningham resigned over a
bribery scandal. Cunningham represented
California's
50th congressional district, which mostly lies north of the
city of San Diego proper. He is currently serving a 100-month
prison sentence.
Transportation
Freeways and highways

I-5 looking South towards downtown San
Diego.
With the automobile being the primary means of transportation for
over 80% of its residents, San Diego is served by an extensive
network of freeways and highways.
This includes Interstate 5, which runs south to Tijuana
and runs north to the Canadian border through
Orange
County
, Los
Angeles
, Sacramento
, Portland
, and Seattle
; I-8,
which runs east to Imperial County
and Arizona; I-15, which
runs north to the Canadian border through Riverside
County
and Salt Lake City
; and I-805, which splits from I-5 at
Sorrento
Valley and rejoins I-5 near the Mexican border.
Notable
state highways are SR 94,
which connects downtown with
I-805, I-15 and east county; SR 163, which connects downtown with the northeast part of the
city, intersects I-805 and merges with I-15 at Miramar
; SR 52,
which connects La Jolla
with east county through Santee
and SR
125; SR 56, which
connects I-5 with I-15 through Carmel
Valley
and Rancho
Peñasquitos; and SR 75
(San
Diego-Coronado Bridge
), which spans San Diego Bay
.
Several regional transportation projects have been undertaken in
recent years to deal with congestion on San Diego freeways. This
includes expansion of Interstates 5 and 805 around "The Merge," a
rush-hour spot where the two freeways meet. Also, an expansion of
Interstate 15 through the North County is underway with the
addition of high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) "managed lanes". There is
a tollway (The South Bay Expressway) connecting SR 54 and
Otay Mesa, near the Mexican border. According to a
2007 assessment, 37% of streets in San Diego were in acceptable
driving condition. The proposed budget fell $84.6 million short of
bringing the city's streets to an acceptable level.
Major highways
Public transportation
San Diego is served by the
trolley, bus,
Coaster, and
Amtrak. The
trolley (
system map) primarily serves downtown and surrounding
urban communities,
Mission
Valley, east county, and coastal south bay.
A planned Mid-Coast
line will operate from Old
Town
to University City
along the 5 Freeway. There are also plans
for a Silver Line to expand trolley service downtown.
The Amtrak and Coaster trains currently run along the coastline and
connect San Diego with Los Angeles,Orange County, Riverside, San
Bernardino, and Ventura via
Metrolink.
There are two Amtrak
stations in San Diego, in Old
Town
, and Downtown
(downtown).
The bus is available along almost all major routes; however, a
large number of bus stops are concentrated in central San Diego.
Typical wait times vary from 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the
location and route. Trolleys arrive at each station every 7 to 30
minutes (depending on time of day and which trolley line is used).
Ferries
are also available every half hour crossing San Diego Bay to
Coronado
.
Cycling
San Diego's roadway system provides an extensive network of routes
for travel by bicycle. The dry and mild climate of San Diego makes
cycling a convenient and pleasant year-round option. At the same
time, the city's hilly, canyoned terrain and significantly long
average trip distances—brought about by strict low-density zoning
laws—somewhat restrict cycling for utilitarian purposes.
Older and denser neighborhoods
around the downtown tend to be friendlier to
utility cycling. This is partly because of
the grid street patterns now absent in newer developments farther
from the urban core, where suburban style arterial roads are much
more common. As a result, a vast majority of cycling-related
activities are recreational. The city has some
segregated cycle facilities,
particularly in newer developments although the majority of road
facilities specifically for bicycles are painted on regular
roadways. In 2006, San Diego was rated as the best city for cycling
for U.S. cities with a population over 1 million.
Air
San Diego
International Airport
, also known as Lindbergh International Airport
or Lindbergh Field, is the primary commercial airport serving San
Diego. It is the busiest single-runway airport in the United
States, serving over 18 million passengers every year, and is
located on San Diego Bay three miles (4.8 km) from downtown.
There are scheduled flights to the rest of the United States,
Mexico, Hawaii, and Canada.
It serves as a focus city for Southwest
Airlines
. Other airports include Brown
Field Municipal Airport
(Brown Field) and Montgomery Field
. Aeroméxico
provides a shuttle service from San Diego to General Abelardo L.
Rodríguez International
Airport
in Tijuana
, Baja
California
, Mexico
.
There has been debate regarding the placement of a new
international airport, as operations at Lindbergh Field are limited
due to the physical size of the property.
While the San Diego
Airport Authority has endorsed the current site of the Miramar
Marine Corps Air Station
, the military said it has no intention of
relinquishing that site. A vote on the issue took place on
November 7, 2006 against Proposition A, in which voters rejected
the proposal to move the airport to Miramar. The military has
rejected the proposals for a dual-use airport because the area
around Miramar has already been set aside as safety corridors for
military aircraft accidents. A shared commercial/military airport
would force military aircraft to fly outside of those safety
corridors. The Airport Authority, following Proposition A, is
investigating other sites; however, due to the proximity of the
Pacific Ocean and Mexican border, as well as the rough terrain,
there are few (if any) possible alternatives.
Sea
Sailboats in the San Diego Harbor.
Visible is the San Diego skyline.
The
Port of San Diego manages the
maritime operations of San Diego harbor. Cruise ships arrive and
depart from San Diego's cruise ship terminal on B Street Pier.
Carnival Cruise Lines,
Royal Caribbean,
Holland America, and
Celebrity Cruises have home port cruise
ships in San Diego during the winter season. A new cruise terminal
on
Broadway Pier is set to
open in 2010.
San Diego
is home to General Dynamics' National Steel and Shipbuilding
Company
(NASSCO), the largest shipyard on the West Coast of the United
States. It is capable of building and repairing large
ocean-going vessels. The yard constructs commercial cargo ships and
auxiliary vessels for the U.S. Navy and Military Sealift Command,
which it has served since 1960.
Sister cities

View of Coronado and San Diego from
the air
San Diego has fifteen
sister cities,
as designated by
Sister
Cities International:
- Alcalá de Henares
, Spain
- Ankara
, Turkey
- Campinas
, Brazil
- Cavite
, Philippines
- Edinburgh
, Scotland
, United
Kingdom
- Jalalabad
, Afghanistan
- Jeonju
, South
Korea
- León
, Mexico
- Perth
, Australia
- Taichung City
, Taiwan
- Tema
, Ghana
- Tijuana
, Mexico
- Vladivostok
, Russia
- Warsaw
, Poland
- Yantai, China

- Yokohama, Japan

See also
References
- www.kumeyaay.info
- San Diego Historical Society
- Journal of San Diego History, October 1967
- www.missionscalifornia.com
- Mission San Diego
- "Mormon Battalion Brickyard," from California
Bricks
- City of San Diego website
- Engstrand, Iris Wilson, California’s Cornerstone,
Sunbelt Publications, Inc., 2005, p. 80
- Journal of San Diego History, Winter 1973
- San Diego Union Tribune, May 1, 2005
- University of San Diego: Military Bases in San
Diego
- Milken Institute
- Hoovers Business Directory
- CalFire website
- San Diego Union Tribune, October 22, 2007
- City of San Diego
- UCSD
- Port of San Diego North Embarcadero Visionary
Plan
- Los Angeles times
- U.S. Census Bureau Quick Facts, city of San Diego
- Census Quick Facts, City of San Diego
- City of San Diego Economic Development
Department
- SANDAG document
- U.S. Census Bureau's Fact Sheet on San
Diego
- ACS Demographics
- The Free Library
- " Post Office Location - MIDWAY DU."
United States Postal
Service. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
- " Postal Service extends acceptance of mail for April
15 tax filing deadline postmark at select locations."
United States Postal
Service. April 6, 2009. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
- La Jolla Playhouse
- Old Globe Theater
- SoCal San Diego
- Journal of San Diego History, vol. 48, no.
2
- America’s
Finest City Half Marathon website
- La Jolla Half Marathon website
- Triathalon website
- signonsandiego.com
- San Diego City website
- San Diego City website
- California Proposition 8 Results by County
- San Diego County Proposition 8 Results by
Community
- [1]
- Business Week, June 13, 2005
- San Diego City Beat, June 15, 2005
-
[www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/09/01/05-50902.pdf
Appeals Court opinion, Sept. 1, 2009]
External links