Tag: santa fe depot

Art at Santa Fe Depot shows San Diego history.

Check out this cool public art!  A series of beautiful, detailed scenes from San Diego history decorate ten columns just north of downtown’s Santa Fe Depot, where they can be viewed by trolley riders as they head toward Little Italy.  The handmade tiles which form the exquisite sculptural mosaics were pieced together by Betsy K. Schulz in 2008. Located on the west side of downtown’s Sapphire Tower residential condominium, the artwork is titled The Tracks We Leave Behind.

As one proceeds north one moves forward through time, from the earliest days of San Diego right up to the present day.  I sorted these photos in such a way that you move backward into the past…

01 san diego arts and gaslamp
San Diego arts and the Gaslamp.
02 san diego on the move
San Diego on the move.
03 san diego a generation ago
San Diego a generation or two ago.
04 palomar telescope and bay bridge
Palomar telescope and Coronado Bay Bridge.
05 tuna fishing and ship building
Tuna fishing and ship building.
06 lindbergh and san diego zoo
Lindbergh and the San Diego Zoo.
07 half a century of history
Half a century of history.
08 sagebrush to city
From sagebrush to city.
09 an american town
An American town.
10 citizens of old san diego
Citizens of Old Town San Diego.
11 san diego's californios
San Diego’s Californios.
12 spanish missions and settlements
Spanish missions and early settlements.
13 cabrillo discovers bay
In 1769 the Presidio and Mission San Diego are established.
14 early explorers
Cabrillo and early explorers map San Diego Bay.
15 native americans in san diego
Native Americans in San Diego.
16 wild nature and wide open spaces
Wild nature and wide open spaces!

San Diego Trolley and Santa Fe Depot.

red san diego trolley and santa fe depot

This red trolley belongs to the blue line. Makes sense, right? It’s waiting for passengers at the America Plaza station, across the street from the Santa Fe Depot. The blue line stretches from downtown San Diego all the way down to the Mexican border.

In this photo you can see both domes of the historic train station.

Old black-and-white photos of the Santa Fe Depot pretty much show nothing around it. It just sits there in the middle of nowhere, seemingly. Today the city rises and surges all about it, and it can almost seem lost among the many bright tall buildings.

San Diego Trolley pulls into Santa Fe Depot from the south.
San Diego Trolley pulls into Santa Fe Depot from the south.

Domes of San Diego’s Santa Fe Depot.

dome of san diego's santa fe depot

The Santa Fe Depot is downtown San Diego’s train station. Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner, the Coaster, and the San Diego Trolley’s orange and green lines all stop at the historic building.

The Santa Fe Depot, built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, was opened in 1915 to serve thousands of visitors to Balboa Park’s Panama-California Exposition.

This photo shows one of the Santa Fe Depot’s two colorful domes and some palm trees against a backdrop of high-rise condos. The architects a hundred years ago probably didn’t imagine that glassy skyscrapers would tower nearby!

Birds fly over one of the distinctive domes.
Birds fly over one of the distinctive tiled domes.
Looking up through palm trees toward the dome.
Looking up through palm trees toward one dome.

Here are some more photos taken at a later time. Black material now covers up part of the two domes. I learned that the terracotta columns are cracking.

The Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego.
The east side of the Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego.
Buildings rise behind the domes of the Santa Fe Depot.
Buildings rise behind the domes of the Santa Fe Depot.
The two domes of San Diego's Santa Fe Depot.
The two domes of San Diego’s Santa Fe Depot.
Amtrak train parked by historic Santa Fe Depot.
Amtrak train parked by historic Santa Fe Depot.