Padres fans walk down 11th Avenue toward Petco Park on a game day. They pass a mural featuring photos of baseball in San Diego many years ago.
On 11th Avenue, a few blocks north of Petco Park, anyone walking down the sidewalk can pause for a moment to enjoy a cool photo mural. Three large panels feature nostalgic old black-and-white photographs of baseball many years ago in downtown San Diego.
This public art project was created in 2004, with the help of the San Diego Padres, the Centre City Development Corporation and the San Diego Historical Society.
First panel of mural shows baseball teams from San Diego and Coronado in 1874. Ball field is on the block bounded by Sixth, C Street, Seventh and Broadway.Close look at a cool old photograph of baseball players in San Diego nearly 150 years ago.Second panel of photo mural shows kids in the Rose Park Playground at Eleventh and Island in 1915.As they do today, many San Diegans loved the enduring sport of baseball a hundred years ago.Third panel of mural shows a portion of San Diego’s Embarcadero in 1936. Lane Field, at Broadway and Pacific Highway, is under construction.
Lane Field, which was located at the west end of Broadway right next to the bay, was the home of the San Diego Padres from 1936 to 1957. That’s back when the Pads belonged to the Pacific Coast League. A young Ted Williams played there. It’s said the longest home run ever hit in baseball history was at Lane Field. A ball flying out of the park landed in a train’s boxcar near the Santa Fe Depot, and turned up later in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the identity of the player who hit an astonishing 120 mile home run remains unknown!
These photographs in San Diego’s East Village preserve history and reflect memories of a time long ago.
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Table includes an Exposition Cook Book, letters, activity books, and other DAR documents.
When I was in middle school, I won a medal from the Daughters of the American Revolution for an essay I wrote about Francis Scott Key. I’d forgotten all about it until yesterday.
After checking out the English Village Fete at the International Cottages, I moseyed across Pan American Road to see if anything was going on in the Balboa Park Club building (which used to be the New Mexico state building during the 1915 Panama-California Exposition).
In the big Balboa Park Club Ballroom, San Diegans young and old were having a blast dancing. In the smaller Santa Fe Room, as a part of Balboa Park’s centennial events, a few smiling people were showcasing elaborate historical displays.
I was welcomed enthusiastically. The Daughters of the American Revolution San Diego Chapter was holding this event to commemorate our country’s founding and the long, interesting history of the DAR.
Fascinating material covered two rows of tables. Many displays concerned tracing one’s ancestry and how to search historical archives. To be a member of the lineage-based organization your family tree must include a participant in the American Revolution.
The Balboa Park Club building was designed to appear like an adobe in America’s Southwest.Daughters of the American Revolution memorabilia exhibited in Balboa Park.A Daughters of the American Revolution magazine from 1916.Interesting graphic shows first 12 Regents of San Diego DAR.Arrival in San Diego of President General of the National Society was big news in 1915.A cool exhibit by an African American lady shows her rich family history.Pins and medals of all sorts. Some contain the names of patriotic relations.One poster encourages and assists Hispanic Americans searching for their ancestors.Some beautiful quilts were out for visitors to admire.Example of china produced by the San Diego Chapter in 1915.
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San Diego Costume Guild members help Balboa Park celebrate its centennial.
Today a really cool event was held in San Diego called the Balboa Park Centennial Informal Gathering. A bunch of history lovers, park supporters, assorted clubs and organizations (including the San Diego Costume Guild) gathered together in Balboa Park and everyone wore period attire. The idea was to recreate what Balboa Park might have looked like one hundred years ago, when the 1915 Panama-California Exposition opened.
During my walk through the park, I saw folks everywhere wearing fancy dresses and hats . . . carrying parasols . . . sporting old-fashioned police and military uniforms . . . wearing suffragette sashes or steampunk goggles . . . riding high-wheeled penny-farthing bicycles . . . and lots of puzzled tourists looking about in complete astonishment. It was great!
Balboa Park Centennial Celebration marks the 100 year anniversary of an amazing place.Folks in old-fashioned dresses and nostalgic garb were walking up and down El Prado.This 19th century fashion predates 1915, the year of the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park,Two elegant ladies paused to smile for my camera in the park’s big central plaza.Some people dressed for the occasion were enjoying the warm San Diego sunshine.Lots of very fancy hats could be seen everywhere I turned.Later in the afternoon, folks wearing historical costumes would reenact a political march supporting Votes For Women.Two suffragettes with Votes For Women sashes follow a guy dressed in World War I era military uniform.Back in 1915, the right for women to vote was an important issue and movement.A display in the Balboa Park Club building included Women’s Rights memorabilia from a hundred years ago.A few people sported steampunk goggles. Event participants converged on the International Cottages lawn area.Visitors from Balboa Park’s past seem to come to life before my very eyes.A bustle of Victorian activity in front of the House of England cottage.
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International M-2-4 Rocket Truck used in the Pacific during World War II.
An interesting new exhibit will open this coming Friday, April 3 at the San Diego Automotive Museum. Part of this year’s Centennial Celebration, the new exhibit is called Balboa Park: The War Years. According to one website: “The (auto museum) floor will be transformed into a USO show venue to tell the story of the impact that war had on San Diego and the entire West Coast.” As part of the museum’s general admission, visitors will be able to check out a dozen-or-so 1940s period vehicles used by the American military during the Second World War.
I was lucky to experience a small taste of the exhibit this afternoon. A rocket launching truck and anti-tank gun were waiting to be rolled from the outside parking lot into the museum during my Sunday walk through Balboa Park.
Here are several pics…
This historical military vehicle comes from the Marine Corps Mechanized Museum at Camp Pendleton north of San Diego.One of many interesting vehicles arriving for the upcoming Balboa Park: The War Years exhibit at the San Diego Automotive Museum.US WW2 37mm M3 Anti-Tank Gun backing up to the museum’s big side door!
(After doing some searching on the internet, I’m pretty sure I have the above caption correct. If I don’t, leave a comment!)
Cool guy from San Diego Automotive Museum smiles for the camera!
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Several whiskered Western characters pose in a mural on Harney Street in Old Town.
There’s a fairly new street mural in Old Town that I really like. Every time I see it, my imagination travels back in time. Back to the first half of the 19th century.
San Diego for many decades was a tiny town seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Whether it belonged to Spain, or Mexico, or the United States, Old Town San Diego was a place of dusty roads and modest, sun-baked adobe houses, horses and wagons, rugged settlers and ranchers. Characters from that era seem to live again in this mural.
Artist Frank Mando painted this artwork in 2013. I couldn’t capture the entire piece in one shot. Enlivening a building at the corner of San Diego Avenue and Harney Street, the mural is divided in two by a door of the Old Town Saloon. Standing inside that door, as you’ll see, there seems to be a well-known movie star!
Freight wagon hauls a load of barrels in fun art that recalls early San Diego history.John Wayne seems to be coming through a door of the Old Town Saloon.Elegant lady and girl from long ago stroll past Ye Old Curiosity Shoppe.Old Town mural on building wall was painted in 2013 by artist Frank Mando.Kids standing along sidewalk seem to have materialized from San Diego’s past.People walk past nostalgic street mural near side entrance to Old Town Saloon.
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I happened to be at the Smart Corner building, the location of the City College trolley station, when a historic car belonging to the Silver Line came through! It was servicing the downtown loop.
This shiny, beautifully restored Presidents Conference Committee (PCC) trolley car was built just after the end of World War II. A whole fleet of electric trolleys like this one traversed San Diego until 1949.
Here are more pics of the same trolley taken on different days:
Cool restored Silver Line trolley at Fifth Avenue station.Silver Line trolley near the Convention Center.
Here’s a photo of an unrestored vintage trolley car. It belongs to the San Diego trolley and one day will run on downtown’s Silver Line loop!
One vintage car has already been beautifully restored and is running during special hours. I’ll try to get a good pic of it one of these days.
Five cars are scheduled for restoration. They are relatively elegant post-war Presidents Conference Committee (PCC) cars, which ran in the city until 1949. Some would like to see these revitalized cars run up a new trolley line from downtown along Park Boulevard to the San Diego Zoo and beyond. It makes sense to me. Balboa Park and the zoo would be more easily reached by out-of-town visitors.
Streetcars have been a part of San Diego history since the 1890’s. The first were open-air coaches pulled by mules and horses. Eventually, electric streetcars ran from downtown to Hillcrest and east through many local communities, including North Park, Kensington and East San Diego. With the rise of the motorcar, they vanished. That is, until the modern red trolleys began service in 1981.
This photograph was taken at the 12th and Imperial trolley station, right next to the train and MTS trolley yard. You can see the tall bayside Hilton hotel in the background.
In 1961, the Balboa Club moved into a building near the southwest corner of Balboa Park. The building today is faded, padlocked, and seldom used. Few people now visit this once popular meeting place. It is the location of the San Diego Chess Club.
Taking a picture through side window of empty chess club on a weekend morning.
Through a dirty window on the north side, rows of empty tables are visible. The place seems dead.
Most chess players now test their skills on virtual chessboards. Two flesh and blood players squaring off in a lively, tension-filled room across a common table has been replaced by isolated taps and clicks on small screens.
Years of neglect show at San Diego Chess Club building in Balboa Park.Chessboard and other images on side facing Sixth Avenue are faded.
Adjoining the building are numerous lonely horseshoes pits. The Balboa Park Horseshoe Club seems just as forgotten.
Unused horseshoes pits near San Diego Chess Club.
Walked past on a spring day… The game of horseshoes isn’t dead yet!
One fine Saturday afternoon, I finally saw a handful of folks playing horseshoes!
Cool San Diego Sights! 