Tag: historic places

The original palace of the Fish Taco King.

You’re looking at a true landmark in San Diego.

In 1983 a modest Orange Julius stand in Pacific Beach was converted into a palace. It would become the original palace of Ralph Rubio, who today is known as the Fish Taco King.

Rubio, credited with making fish tacos popular in Southern California, opened this very first restaurant on Mission Bay Drive. Lovers of nostalgia and tasty Mexican food can still visit it today.

The first Rubio’s location retains its simple charm. To me it resembles both a taco stand and a vintage roadside diner. The menu might have expanded from the original (when fish tacos sold for 99 cents), but I can attest their food remains mouth-watering good. I enjoyed a couple fish tacos the other day. I also took this photo.

If you’d like to visit the original home of Rubio’s Coastal Grill, head over to 4504 E. Mission Bay Drive, just off Interstate 5 in Pacific Beach. Then perhaps head to the beach for a perfect San Diego day!

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La Mesa Downtown District sign rises!

The La Mesa Downtown District sign is rising on La Mesa Boulevard near Palm Avenue! The landmark arch, similar to many others in neighborhoods around San Diego, will welcome those entering the heart of La Mesa’s historic downtown.

Construction officially commenced in February. Yesterday I noticed the two supporting posts now stand on the opposing sidewalks, and several banners on fences announce the Future Home of the Downtown District Sign.

The La Mesa Park & Recreation Foundation website contains more details concerning the project, which has been spearheaded by the La Mesa Village Association.

The archway will feature two support columns adorned with a “Community Quilt” of 1,512 hand-painted tiles created by residents and local businesses.

As I walked up La Mesa Boulevard, I took several photos…

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Plaque memorializes Gaslamp Quarter pioneer.

Perhaps you’ve seen this old plaque in downtown San Diego’s Gaslamp Square, steps from the Gaslamp trolley station. It memorializes Christopher J. Mortenson, who was a pioneer in the 1980s revitalization of the Gaslamp Quarter, today a National Historic District.

Who was Christopher John Mortenson?

This link to his Find a Grave page describes a man who was an architect and developer in San Diego, where he was also known as a generous philanthropist. He was associated with many Gaslamp District landmarks including the Ingle Building (Golden Lion Tavern), the Krasne Building and the Pioneer Building at Fifth and K Street in San Diego. He also restored the Marston Building at Fifth and C, and the Abbey Restaurant.

He is also known for ferrying the 1887 Victorian house “Baby Del” by barge from Sherman Heights to Coronado. To see photos of the Baby Del, which resembles a small version of the Hotel del Coronado, click here.

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History resurrected in San Diego’s Balboa Park!

Oh my goodness! What is this impressive new structure being built in Balboa Park? With those elegant columns, is it some sort of ancient Greek temple?

No! It’s the new pergola that will stand west of the Botanical Building!

The Botanical Building Pergola recreates one of twelve pergolas that originally graced Balboa Park during the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. And you can tell already that it’s going to be amazing!

If you’d like, compare today’s photos to some I took almost exactly one month ago. Major progress has been made.

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Exhibit celebrates Irving Gill’s architecture in Oceanside.

The Oceanside Museum of Art occupies a building that was designed by renowned architect Irving J. Gill. They soon will be expanding into an adjacent building also designed by Gill. So it’s appropriate museum visitors can now enjoy an exhibition titled Modern Simplicity: The Architecture of Irving J. Gill in Oceanside.

Irving Gill is a name you might recognize. His architectural work can be found all around San Diego. He’s considered a pioneer of the modern movement in architecture. Twelve of his buildings throughout Southern California are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (In nearly thirteen years of blogging, I’ve photographed much of his work. To find those past blog posts, click here.)

As the exhibition webpage explains: The City of Oceanside is home to several notable examples of Gill’s later work, including two landmark buildings that define the east-west axis of the Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA) campus: the former 1934 City Hall and the original [1929] Fire Station #1 and police station.

In Oceanside he also designed the Americanization School (1931), the Nevada Street Kindergarten (1931), the Blade Tribune building (1936), and several others. The exhibition documents his buildings with fascinating information and historical drawings and photographs.

The exhibition explains how Irving was inspired by Southern California’s climate and stripped architecture of unnecessary ornament and focused on pure geometric form.

People might not realize it, but many buildings and houses around San Diego were greatly influenced by the vision of one man: Irving J. Gill. In Oceanside–and now at the museum exhibition–that inspired vision comes to life.

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Trees, columns, steps for new Balboa Park pergola!

The historical pergola that’s being recreated in Balboa Park is making great progress! Just a quick post to show what I observed yesterday.

Trees have been planted behind the structure. Steps are being installed in front of it. Columns are appearing. Looks like other features are on the way, too!

This pergola recreates one built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition–but since long gone. The structure is rising near the west end of the Botanical Building, at the perimeter of the new Central Gardens, which are also now being developed.

When all is finished, it’s sure to be beautiful!

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Love endures at old Oceanside cemetery.

Beloved Wife and Mother

Beloved Husband and Father

In Loving Memory

Gone, But Not Forgotten

In Memory, From Daughters & Sons

Our Little Angel

Her Love Lingers

These are a few of the loving inscriptions on stone that linger in Oceanside’s old Oceanview Cemetery.

During a recent walk down South Coast Highway, I redirected my feet and wandered through the 3-acre resting place, originally called the I.O.O.F. Cemetery, established in 1895.

As a blogger who’s always searching for interesting sights, I was wondering if some “famous” person might be buried here.

Shame on me for thinking that way. I had missed the central message of a cemetery. It’s that we all might be mortal, but loves lives on.

Are you curious about the history of this old cemetery? A State of California resource document includes:

From its inception in 1895 until about 1950, when Eternal Hills Memorial Park opened in Oceanside, Oceanview was the primary non-denominational cemetery in Oceanside. During its heyday in the 1920s, 30s and 40s there were well over 1000 burials at Oceanview… over 1100 obituaries have been compiled, by the Oceanside Historical Society, of people interred at Oceanview… Oceanview contains the remains of veterans involved in every war or conflict from the Civil War to World War II, inclusive. Those interred at Oceanview range in age from just a few hours old to Agapita Soliz whose family claimed she was 110 years old at the time of her death in 1941. Many of Oceanside’s pioneers and merchants, dating back to the 1880s, are interred at Oceanview.

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Become part of history in Old Town!

You have the opportunity to become part of history in Old Town San Diego!

An initiative is underway to support Old Town. Anybody can purchase a customized, engraved brick for the new Old Town San Diego Heritage Walk, which lines the east side of San Diego Avenue. As you can see in my next photo, some bricks are already installed.

Your special brick can honor loved ones, promote a business, or perhaps share an inspiring message.

To learn more about this opportunity, visit this website.

Time capsule at Cabrillo National Monument.

A time capsule was created during the Cabrillo National Monument centennial in Point Loma. It’s buried beneath a plaque in a brick planter near the entrance to the Visitor Center.

The plaque reads:

Beneath this sign lies a time capsule preserved in commemoration and celebration of the Cabrillo National Monument centennial, October 14, 1913-2013.

The contents inside this capsule are a collection of our first 100 years as San Diego’s only National Park unit. Its contents shall remain sealed for the next 100 years, not to be opened before October 14, 2113.

A message from the 2013 centennial employees: All that stand here before this plaque reading the words like so many who came before you; you are the future stewards of the National Park Service and we hope you continue to honor the tradition of protecting and preserving our most precious national treasures during this 2nd century of stewardship in our National Parks.

If you’d like to view an online “time capsule” of sorts, you can see photographs I took during the Cabrillo National Park centennial celebration back in 2013.

To see those photos click here!

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University Heights’ once-planned Mystic Lake!

Did you know that a lake was originally planned for one of University Heights’ canyons? You’ll learn this and more should you visit the San Diego Central Library and view one of several small exhibits in the 9th floor Special Collections Center. Mystic Lake is one fascinating aspect of The San Diego That Never Was.

Looking at Google Maps today, and comparing it to the old 1890 map on display at the library, you can see how Mystic Lake would have fit into University Heights as planned in 1888. The lake’s lower extremity would have been cradled by Lincoln Avenue and Maryland Avenue. It was not to be.

As this informative webpage (which explains University Heights street names) explains: By 1906, Arch Street, Proctor Place, and New Jersey Street replaced the area originally planned to be Mystic Lake.

Mystic Lake would have been located a couple blocks directly west of the State Normal School, which was predecessor to San Diego State University. The site today is headquarters of San Diego Unified School District.

It’s interesting to see San Diego’s old cable car route on the 1890 map as a dashed line. The short-lived cable car line operated from June 1890 to October 1892. As this historical webpage explains, the San Diego Cable Railway ran from downtown San Diego north on Fourth to University, then east to present-day Park Blvd., and north to Mission Cliff Gardens.

(Today, one of those old cable cars is preserved at the National City Depot museum. Check out photographs of San Diego Cable Railway car number 54 by clicking here!)

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