Spanish rule gave way to Mexican rule in 1821, and the surrounding ranchos shaped a generation of life before California passed to the United States in 1848. San Diego incorporated as an American city in 1850, but the old settlement clustered around the presidio in what is now Old Town. The modern downtown is the work of one man's gamble: in 1867 Alonzo Horton bought the bayfront flats and laid out a 'New Town' close to the water, betting that a city should sit beside its harbor. He was right, and the center of San Diego has faced the bay ever since.
Today San Diego trades on its climate as much as its history — 'America's Finest City,' roughly seventy degrees the year round, with the Pacific at the doorstep. Visitors and locals split their days between Balboa Park's museums and gardens, the coves and cliffs of La Jolla, the lighthouse and tide pools of Point Loma, and the long beaches of Coronado, Mission Beach, and Ocean Beach. The bay glitters, the sun drops behind Point Loma, and the same harbor that started the whole story keeps right on working into the evening.
Why People Visit San Diego
San Diego rewards visitors with a rare mix: deep early-California history, a working Navy harbor, world-class parks and museums, and miles of Pacific coast, all under a famously mild sky. People come for Balboa Park and the bay, for the beaches and the sunsets off Point Loma, and for the layered story of the city where California began. It is historic, easygoing, and unmistakably Californian.
