Downtown San Diego

With some foresight the City fathers founded the (CCDC) The Centre City Development Corp., which has nudged along some $6 billion of development in the inner city. Downtown San Diego hosts more fiber optics than any neighborhood in the world and already host to some pretty high-tech uses, not the least of which are the United States Navy, SPAWAR, Lockheed Martin's International Launch Services, Nicholas Applegate's entire trading operation and hundreds of other high-tech, aerospace or heavily tech-dependent firms.

The Centre City enjoys the region's tightest concentration of banks, financiers and asset managers. Downtown is the city's transportation center with the Santa Fe Depot train station, Lindbergh Field, the area's major airport, and the San Diego Trolley's main station which connects downtown with the Mexican border, Old town and Qualcomm Stadium. The Centre City of San Diego hosts more museums than any similarly sized neighborhood south of San Francisco, and the San Diego Bay front attracts more visitors than Mission Bay.San Diego's Convention Center has just been extended and attracts some of the premier events in the Country, who wouldn't want to visit?

The new Padres ballpark will add some 600,000 square feet of office, plus hotels, retail and parking, around $600 million of development which will completely change the face of East Village. San Diego, home to the Chargers and Padres, is the 6th most populous city in the US with a population 1,197,676 (1990 census).

The city's relationship with the ocean gives it a special character. If you are from the East Coast or Midwest, San Diego will strike you as clean; most western cities are as they evolved after the Industrial Revolution.

Many of the county's best hotels are here including the Marriott Hotel & Marina, Pan Pacific, Embassy Suites, U.S. Grant, Horton Grand and Hyatt Regency.

Embarcadero Marine Park on North Harbor Drive is a 22 acre man made park extending into the bay with great views of the marina. Open air concerts are staged here in the summer.

Horton Plaza is San Diego's third most popular tourist attraction (behind the Zoo and Sea World). There are 150 or so stores (the goliaths being Nordstrom's, Macy's and Mervyn's) covering 6-1/2 city blocks (that's 11-1/2 acres!), divided up into seven different levels.

Bay-side Seaport Village shopping center is a twist on the Cape Cod tradition with open air eating and specialty shops.

The city's largest theater, Civic Theater, the 1929 Symphony Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the San Diego Children's Theater, the circa 1911 Spreckles Theater, the new San Diego Convention Center, the Central Library, the San Diego Cruise Terminal, The Star of India and its Maritime Museum are just a few of downtown's other important residents.

Balboa Park has many museums including the San Diego Natural History Museum, Museum of Man, Museum of Art, Automotive Museum, Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater & Science Center, the Museum of San Diego History. The San Diego Zoo is also here.

In 1982 The Gaslamp Quarter became a major redevelopment project area of the City of San Diego. Several developers and restoration experts were encouraged to continue restoring the Gaslamp's Victorian buildings. This led to one of the most profound joint urban preservation efforts in San Diego history and capped a downtown revitalization effort which successfully transformed a once troubled area.

The Gaslamp Quarter is now an eclectic mix of food, fun and culture. As the sun sets the old-fashioned gas lamps begin to glow along the wide brick walkways illuminating many charming sidewalk cafes.

Today, new residential dwellings have crowded the downtown area including many historic lofts. With this influx of new residential spaces and the desire to re-use historic structures, the Gaslamp Quarter Association works to maintain continuity between progressive architectural design and the rich turn of the century style of the many buildings in the Gaslamp Quarter which at times are at odds. These historic buildings, many of which were built between 1880 and 1910 are still standing in varying degrees of authenticity, but important as part of the rich heritage of the Gaslamp Quarter.

The Gaslamp is also host to a number of events through the year including a boisterous Mardi Gras and Street Scene with every form of live musical entertainment.

Dining in the Gaslamp Quarter has something for everyone from upscale restaurants to casual dining - innovative and extensive restaurants line the streets - a medley of Italian, French, American, Asian and seafood, plus many sidewalk cafes.

There is also a rich and varied night life, clubs range from cool jazz and rhythm and blues to folk music, salsa dancing and discos complete with hard rock, strobe lights and mirrored balls.

What was once one of San Diego's seedier sections today offers a vibrant atmosphere with an architectural mix from the turn of the century with today's gaslamps, brick sidewalks, landscaping, new shops, more than 70 restaurants, theaters and many buildings completely restored. The Gaslamp Quarter is where San Diego's colorful past comes alive and exists hand in hand with modern development and commerce in an active urban setting.