Aside from New York City's Central Park you just don't see any major cities devoting so much land to not only a park but to a zoo as well. But that's just what San Diego, California did in 1915. And the legacy continues to this day. As a result, each year millions visit the city's Balboa Park and the World Famous San Diego Zoo. So, what follows is a bit of history, along with some travel tips to enjoy your stay in "Southernmost California."
It all stared in 1915 as retired Santa Fe Railroad executive W. B. Horton
exclaimed, “let’s have a fair.” And what a fair it became - all in the name of
promoting tourism to a beautiful but heretofore little-known city in California.
It was called the California –
Panama Exposition, in honor of the opening of the Panama Canal.
For all intents and purposes it was a world’s fair. Since San
Diego wasn’t really much of a city in the first place
it wasn’t all that difficult to dedicate 1200 acres to the project. To give you
an idea of the land value today – a high rise condo apartment adjacent to Balboa
Park costs at least $400,000, and a
home in the vicinity would approach $1-million in value.
Saving The Park
An entire city was created for the event, all using ornate Spanish
architecture. It included restaurants, museums, gardens, exhibition buildings,
and so forth. And in 1916 it added the San Diego Zoo. The Expo ran for two
years and although it drew well (45,000 on opening day for example), it was not
a huge commercial success (grossing $34,000 in all), it was a huge tourist
attraction. Helped by the fact that San Diego
was already a “Navy town,” it was the spark plug that started the tourism
engine. The trouble was that the buildings were only supposed to be temporary
and were constructed as such. So, to save the park, another fair was organized
for 1935 (the California Pacific International Expo) and the buildings were
refurbished to last.
An Impressive Panorama
Today, the 200 foot California Tower
on El Prado rings out rings out its 200-bell carillon every 15 minutes over the
vast picnic and hiking areas. The Cabrillo Freeway runs right through the
middle of the park but it cuts through a canyon and doesn’t interfere with any
park activities. An imposing bridge, built when the park opened in 1915, spans
the freeway far below and is one of two main connectors to the park; the other
being Park Boulevard. You
can drive to most areas but you’ll need your walking shoes to visit much of what
Balboa Park
has to offer. Also, parking is somewhat limited so again, you may be walking
but if you aren’t in a hurry, it really won’t matter.