The
California Pacific International Exposition was an
expositionUniversal Exposition or Expo is the name given to various large public exhibitions held since the mid-19th century. They are the third largest event in the world in terms of economic and cultural impact after the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games...
held in
San Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego , named after Saint Didacus , is the second-largest city in California and the ninth largest city in the United States, located along the Pacific Ocean on the west coast of the United States. The US Census Bureau estimates the city's population at 1,279,329 as of 2008...
during May 29, 1935–November 11, 1935 and February 12, 1936–September 9, 1936. The exposition was held at the site of the earlier
1915 Panama-California ExpositionThe Panama-California Exposition was an exposition held in San Diego, California between March 9, 1915 and January 1, 1917. The exposition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, and was meant to tout San Diego as the first US port of call for ships traveling north after passing through the...
in San Diego's large, urban Balboa Park.
Exposition
The reason the Exposition was held was to promote San Diego.
The exposition was a success due to careful planning and employee training, with arrangements for restaurants, theatres, security, transportation, and other important details.
The exposition had hundreds of exhibits in history, arts, science, and industry.
Some exhibits were unusual, such as
Zoro Garden Nudist ColonyZoro Gardens Nudist Colony was a reputed nudist colony, composed in its first season only of comely young women, at Balboa Park's Pacific International Exposition in San Diego, California...
or the 1 ton (900 kg.) Mechanical Man, and some were not-so-scientific, such as the Lost Continent of Mu.
Architecture
The architecture of buildings from the 1915 fair was
Spanish Colonial Revival Style architectureThe Spanish Colonial Revival was a United States architectural movement that came about in the early 20th century, starting in California and Florida as a regional expression related to both history and environment. The Spanish Colonial Revival Style was also influenced by the opening of the...
, while the few new buildings added in the 1935 fair were the more sterile
Vernacular StyleVernacular architecture is a term used to categorise methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it exists...
, but with interesting
Art DecoArt Deco was a popular international art design movement from 1925 until the 1940s, affecting the decorative arts such as architecture, interior design, and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts, and film...
touches, such as murals. Exotic landscaping was planted around the buildings.
The newer buildings are at Presidents Way, southwest of the original buildings at El Prado.
Coinage
In honor of the California Pacific International Exposition, the federal government released a commemorative silver half dollar; today referred to as the San Diego Half. The coin was authorized by congress and released with a stamp. Produced largely to sell to collectors for profit, 480,000 in total were minted, but all but 70,132 in 1935 in San Francisco and in 1936 30,092 in Denver were ultimately melted because they were unsold. The obverse depicts liberty seated with a spear in her right hand a shield with the state motto “eureka” above the head of medusa (California's former state seal). Also there is a bear to liberty's right and in the background there is a ship and a miner; all symbols of California. The reverse depicts the what is now the dome and tower of the Museum of Man in Balboa Park and reads “California Pacific International Exposition” and “San Diego” as well as the mint and year of mintage. These coins were not widely circulated, but some slightly worn examples imply some circulation.
Statistics
The Exposition took ten months to build.
It attracted 7,220,000 visitors during its 377 days of operation. Visitors brought US$ 37,700,000 to San Diego. It employed 2700 people, half of them Federal relief workers. The cost was US$ 20,000,000. Admission was 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children 2-11.
Four restaurants provided meals: Cafe of the World, Palisades Cafe, Spanish Kitchens, and the Pioneer Days Restaurant.
Twenty-one nations participated:
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
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British EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
,
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
,
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
,
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
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DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
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GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
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HondurasHonduras is a republic in Central America. It was formerly known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras...
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Irish Free StateThe Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
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ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
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Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
,
NicaraguaNicaragua officially the Republic of Nicaragua , is a representative democratic republic. It is the largest country in Central America with an area of 130,373 km
2. The country is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west of...
,
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
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PanamaPanama, officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of both Central America and, in turn, North America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the...
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ParaguayParaguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay , is one of the two landlocked countries which lie entirely within the Western Hemisphere, the other being Bolivia, both in South America....
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PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
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SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
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UruguayUruguay , is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.46 million people, of whom 1.1 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88–94% of the population are of mostly European and/or mixed descent.Uruguay's only land border is...
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United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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YugoslaviaYugoslavia is a term that describes three political entities that existed successively on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century.The first country to be known by this...
, and one unknown.
Legacy
Park improvements amounted to US$ 6,000,000. The exposition was so popular that some buildings were rebuilt to be made more permanent. Many buildings or reconstructed versions remain in use today, and are used by several museums and theatres in Balboa Park.
In the early 1960s destruction of a few of the buildings and replacement by modern, clashing buildings created an uproar in San Diego. A Committee of One Hundred was formed by citizens to protect the park buildings. They convinced the City Council to require new buildings to be built in Spanish Colonial Revival Style and worked with various government agencies to have the remaining buildings declared as a National Historic Landmark in 1978. In the late 1990s, the most deteriorated buildings and burned buildings were rebuilt.
See also
- California Pacific International Exposition Official Guide; Souvenir Program and Picture Book. 84 pages.
- San Diego’s Balboa Park by David Marshall, AIA, Arcadia Publishing, 2007, ISBN: 978-0-7385-4754-1
External links