Downtown San Diego, California

Downtown San Diego is the city center of San Diego, California, the eighth largest city in the United States. In 2010, the Centre City area had a population of more than 28,000. Downtown San Diego serves as the cultural and financial center and central business district of San Diego, with more than 4,000 businesses and nine districts. The downtown area is the home of the San Diego Symphony and the San Diego Opera and Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, are also located downtown. Downtown San Diego houses the major local headquarters of the city, county, state, and federal governments.

History

The downtown of San Diego was previously inhabited by the Kumeyaay who referred to the area as Tisirr, and also established a village called Pu-Shuyi near what is now Seaport Village.

The city of San Diego was originally focused on Old Town near the Presidio, several miles north of current Downtown. The location was not ideal because it was several miles from navigable water. In 1849 Lt. Andrew B. Gray, a surveyor working with the boundary commission to establish the boundaries of the new state of California, suggested that an area closer to San Diego Bay would be a better location for a city because it would be better for trade. He proposed the idea to William Heath Davis, who recruited four other investors. The partners under Davis's leadership purchased of land in what is now Downtown San Diego. They laid out a street plan for New Town and built a wharf and warehouse. Several people built houses there, including the still-standing William Heath Davis House, now a museum. John Judson Ames wrote a prospectus for a newspaper, the ''San Diego Herald'' in December 1850, soliciting advertisements and subscriptions from the towns-people; the first issue was published on May 29, 1851. However, New Town did not do well due to a lack of fresh water, a financial depression in 1851, and opposition from the established settlements in Old Town and La Playa."Abortive Attempt to Establish New San Diego", Smythe's ''History of San Diego'' part 2, chapter 14
/ref> In 1852, a San Diego grand jury called for the removal of several Kumeyaay villages close to any White settlement and the village of Tisirr was razed to the ground.

In 1867, Alonzo Horton purchased of pueblo lands in the current Downtown area, and in 1869 he added Davis's to his holdings; the area was referred to as the Horton Addition. Davis's wharf had fallen to pieces by then, but Horton realized the area was still ideal for a harbor. He built a new wharf at the end of Fifth Avenue in 1869. He vigorously sold property and gave away land to promote development of the area, fueling the first of San Diego's many real estate speculation booms. People flocked to the area, known as New Town, because of its better access to shipping. In 1871 government records were moved to a new county courthouse in New Town. By the 1880s New Town had totally eclipsed Old Town (as it is called to this day) as the heart of the growing city.

In 1885, the transcontinental railroad reached San Diego. The Santa Fe railway station opened downtown in 1887 (that station was replaced in 1915 by the Downtown landmark Santa Fe Depot, which is still in use). In 1886 the city's first electric lights and first streetcars were established in New Town. In 1912 the Spreckels Theater opened downtown, the first modern commercial playhouse west of the Mississippi. A new commercial pier, the Broadway Pier, was built by the city in 1913.

In the 1910s, Downtown became one of the many San Diego neighborhoods connected by the Class 1 streetcars and an extensive San Diego public transit system that was spurred by the Panama-California Exposition of 1915 and built by John D. Spreckels. These streetcars became a fixture of the neighborhood until their retirement in 1939.

In 1964 the multi-story City Hall and Community Concourse were dedicated on a four-block-square property at 202 C Street. Recent mayors and city councils have discussed building a replacement city hall, but no replacement plan has been approved.
In the 1960s, Centre City began to fall into a state of disrepair and disrepute. Major businesses and stores moved from downtown to suburban shopping malls. Downtown became known as a hangout for homeless people and sailors on liberty. Tattoo parlors, bars, and strip clubs were predominant forms of business. Trash littered the Gaslamp Quarter, many 19th century Victorian houses were rundown, and there were few buildings of significant size (the tallest building at the time was fourteen stories, the locally famous El Cortez). Despite this, low- and mid-rise buildings were beginning construction.

In 1975, redevelopment plans were created for Downtown. In 1985, Downtown underwent more redevelopment with the completion of Horton Plaza, the Gaslamp Quarter revival, and the completion of the San Diego Convention Center. Petco Park, a baseball ballpark used by the San Diego Padres, opened in 2004.

Chinatown

In the 1860s, the first Chinese moved to Downtown. In the 1870s, the Chinese were the primary fishermen in the area. Beginning in the 1880s, a large number of Chinese began to move to San Diego, establishing a concentration; with up to 200 Chinese making up a minority of the 8,600 who lived in all of San Diego. At its peak, about a thousand Chinese lived in San Diego and were faced with discrimination. The concentration became known as Chinatown, and an effort to demolish the area due to the Panama-California Exposition was attempted but the area continued on until World War II. Beginning in the early 1900s, Filipinos began to move to San Diego, and settled in and near Chinatown. In 1995, the Asian Pacific Thematic Historic District was created to preserve the remaining structures that remained from the era when Chinatown, as well as Nihonmachi (Japantown), existed. While a few of the buildings remain, there no longer exist a significant concentration of Chinese Americans in the former neighborhood.

Geography

Located in Central San Diego, Downtown San Diego is delimited by San Diego Bay to the west and southwest, Bankers Hill, Middletown, and Balboa Park to the north, Sherman Heights and Golden Hill to the east, and Barrio Logan and Logan Heights to the southeast. San Diego International Airport is just northwest of downtown.

Districts and neighborhoods

* Columbia, the west district of downtown. Located between the Marina and Little Italy, west of Columbia Street.
* Core District, the central business district of downtown.
*Cortez Hill, the northeast district of downtown.
* East Village, the east district of downtown, which is home to Petco Park and the surrounding Ballpark Village.
*Gaslamp Quarter, a two- by ten-block nightlife district in central Downtown
* Little Italy, the northwest district of downtown.
*Marina, the southwest district of downtown, which is home to Seaport Village and Pantoja Park.

Architecture

Due to San Diego International Airport (Lindbergh Field)'s proximity to downtown, there is a FAA imposed 500-foot height restriction on all buildings within a 1.5-mile radius of the runway. The height regulation exists because when planes approach the airport, any structure taller than 500 feet within the radius could interfere with flight operations and potentially result in a collision.

Government buildings

The United States Postal Service operates the downtown San Diego Post Office at 815 E Street. The city's former main public library is located across the street from it at 8th and E streets, but currently is vacant. A new nine-story Central Library opened in 2013 on Park Boulevard at J Street. Other government buildings downtown include City Hall and other city administration buildings, the San Diego Police Headquarters at 14th and Broadway, the State of California office building at 1350 Front Street, and a three-block federal office complex at 8th and Front streets. County and federal courthouses are also located downtown.

Historic landmarks

The Downtown area contains numerous sites that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They include:


* The Gaslamp Quarter Historic District
* The Star of India and the Berkeley, historic ships berthed at the B Street Pier in downtown
* The Alfred Haines House at 2470 E Street
* The Armed Services YMCA at 500 West Broadway
* The Balboa Theatre at 868 Fourth Avenue
* The former City of San Diego police headquarters, jail, and courts at 801 Market Street
* Eagles Hall at 733 Eighth Street
* The El Cortez Condominiums at 702 Ash Street
* The Hawthorne Inn at 2121 First Avenue
* The Horton Grand Hotel at 332 F Street
* The Independent Order of Odd Fellows building at 526 Market Street
* The John Ginty House at 1568 Ninth Avenue
* The McClintock Storage Warehouse at 1202 Kettner Boulevard
* The Medico-Dental Building at 233 A Street
* The Panama Hotel at 105 West F Street
* Pantoja Park on G Street and India Street
* The Pythias Lodge Building at 211 E Street and 870 Third Avenue
* The Robert E. Lee Hotel at 815 Third Avenue and 314 F Street
* The San Diego Rowing Club building at 535 East Harbor Drive
* The San Diego Trust and Savings Bank Building at 530 Broadway
* The Spreckels Theater at 121 Broadway
* Santa Fe Depot at 1050 Kettner Street
* The U.S. Grant Hotel at 326 Broadway
* The U.S. post office at 815 E Street
* The U.S. courthouse at 325 West F Street
* The Walker Scott Building and Owl Drug Building at 1014 Fifth Avenue and 402 Broadway

Arts and culture

The Civic Theatre in the Community Concourse is the home of the San Diego Opera

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