San Diego (pronounced /ˌsændiˈeɪgoʊ/), named after Saint Didacus (
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
:
Diego de AlcaláSaint Didacus of Alcalá, , Saint Diego, was a lay brother of the Order of Friars Minor who died at Alcalá de Henares, Spain, November 12, 1463.-History:...
), is the second-largest city in
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
and the
ninth largest city in the United States, located along the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
on the
west coastThe "West Coast", "Western Seaboard", or "Pacific Coastline" are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. It most often comprises California, Oregon and Washington...
of the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The US Census Bureau estimates the city's population at 1,279,329 as of 2008. This coastal city is also the
county seatA county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county or civil parish, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there...
of
San Diego CountySan Diego County is a county located near the Pacific Ocean in the far southwest of the U.S. state of California. It is the southwesternmost county in the contiguous 48 states...
as well as the economic center of the San Diego–
CarlsbadCarlsbad is a seaside resort city in the North County section of San Diego County, California, United States. The 2009 population was estimated by the California Department of Finance to be 104,652...
–
San MarcosSan Marcos is a city located in the northern portion of San Diego County, California, USA. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 82,743. Outside the San Diego region, it is best known as the home of California State University, San Marcos.-History:...
metropolitan areaIn the United States, the Office of Management and Budget has produced a formal definition of metropolitan areas. These are referred to as "Metropolitan Statistical Areas" and "Combined Statistical Areas" . An earlier version of the MSA was the "Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area" . MSAs are...
. As of 2008, this metropolitan area is the
17th-largest in the United StatesThe United States Office of Management and Budget has defined 363 Metropolitan Statistical Areas for the United States of America. The OMB defines a Metropolitan Statistical Area as one or more adjacent counties or county equivalents that have at least one urban core area of at least 50,000...
with a population of 3,001,072 and the
38th-largest metropolitan area in the
AmericasThe Americas, or America, are lands in the Western hemisphere or New World, comprising the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. America may be ambiguous in English, as it is more commonly used to refer to the United States of America...
when including
TijuanaTijuana , is the largest city of the Mexican state of Baja California, situated on the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to its sister city of San Diego, California. Tijuana is the westernmost city in Mexico, however, the westernmost population center is located in Isla Guadalupe...
,
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. According to
ForbesForbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, Forbes magazine, is published fortnightly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published fortnightly, and Business Week...
the city of San Diego ranks as the fifth wealthiest in the United States. San Diego's biggest industries are manufacturing, the military, and tourism.
San Diego's economy is largely composed of agriculture, biotechnology/biosciences, computer sciences, electronics manufacturing, defense-related manufacturing, financial and business services, ship-repair, ship-construction, software development, telecommunications, wireless research, and tourism. The presence of the
University of California, San DiegoThe University of California, San Diego is a public research university located in La Jolla, San Diego, California, United States...
(UCSD) with the affiliated
UCSD Medical CenterThe UCSD Medical Center is a major research hospital located in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego, California. Along with the UCSD Thornton Hospital in La Jolla, it is the primary teaching center of the UC San Diego School of Medicine, and School of Pharmacy.The 386-bed Hillcrest Center and...
promotes research in biotechnology.
History
The area of San Diego has been inhabited for more than 10,000 years by the
KumeyaayThe Kumeyaay, also known as the Diegueño, are Native American people of the extreme southwestern United States and northwest Mexico. They live in the states of California and Baja California . In Spanish, the name is commonly spelled kumiai.-Divisions and language:Historically, the Kumeyaay have...
Indians. The first European to visit the region was
Portuguese-bornThe Portuguese people are the ethnic group or nation native to the country of Portugal, in the far west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe...
explorer
Juan Rodríguez CabrilloJuan Rodríguez Cabrillo , João Rodrigues Cabrilho in Portuguese, was a Portuguese explorer noted for his exploration of the west coast of North America on behalf of Spain. Cabrillo was the first European explorer to navigate the coast of present day California in the United States...
sailing under the Spanish Flag, who sailed his flagship
San Salvador from Navidad, New Spain. In 1542, Cabrillo claimed the bay for the
Spanish EmpireThe Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in world history, and one of the first global empires. It included territories and colonies in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, from the 15th century through—in the case of its African holdings—the latter portion of the 20th century...
and named the site
San Miguel. In November of 1602,
Sebastián VizcaínoSebastián Vizcaíno was a Spanish soldier, entrepreneur, explorer, and diplomat whose varied roles took him to New Spain, the Philippines, the Baja California peninsula, the California coast and Japan.-Early career:...
was sent to map the California coast. Arriving on his flagship
San Diego, Vizcaíno surveyed the harbor and what are now Mission Bay and Point Loma and named the area for the
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
Saint DidacusSaint Didacus of Alcalá, , Saint Diego, was a lay brother of the Order of Friars Minor who died at Alcalá de Henares, Spain, November 12, 1463.-History:...
, a Spaniard more commonly known as
San Diego. On November 12, 1602, the first Christian religious service of record in
Alta CaliforniaAlta California was formed when Spain separated the Dominican Missions from the Franciscan Missions in approximately 1769 with the founding of the first Alta California mission in San Diego...
was conducted by Fray Antonio de la Ascensión, a member of Vizcaíno's expedition, to celebrate the feast day of San Diego.
In 1769,
Gaspar de PortolàGaspar de Portolà i Rovira was a soldier, governor of Baja and Alta California , explorer and founder of San Diego and Monterey. He was born in Os de Balaguer, province of Lleida, in Catalonia, Spain, of Spanish nobility. Don Portolà served as a soldier in the Spanish army in Italy and Portugal...
established the Fort
Presidio of San DiegoEl Presidio Reál de San Diego is an historical fort established on May 14, 1769, by Commandant Pedro Fages for Spain. It was the first permanent European settlement on the Pacific Coast. As the first of the presidios and Spanish missions in California, it was the base of operations for the...
overlooking
Old TownOld Town San Diego State Historic Park, located in San Diego, California, is a state protected historical park in San Diego. The park preserves and recreates the old town of the city, from shortly after the Mexican War of Independence during its pueblo Alta California period beginning in 1821,...
. Around the same time,
Mission San Diego de AlcaláMission San Diego de Alcalá, in San Diego, California, was the first Franciscan mission in the Alta California region of New Spain. It was founded in 1769 by Spanish friar Junípero Serra in an area long inhabited by the Kumeyaay Indians. The mission and the surrounding area were named for the...
was founded by
FranciscanThe term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic religious orders, also known as the Orders of Friars Minor, that follow a body of regulations known as "The rule of St. Francis", or a member of one of these orders. As well as Roman Catholic there are also small Old Catholic and...
friars under Father
Junípero SerraFray Junípero Serra was a Spanish Franciscan friar who founded the mission chain in Alta California. Fr. Serra was beatified by John Paul II on September 25, 1988.-History:Junípero Serra was born Miquel Josep Serra i Ferrer in Petra, Majorca, Spain...
. By 1797, the mission boasted the largest native population in Alta California, with over 1,400
neophytes living in and around the mission proper. It is the southern end in California of the historic mission trail
El Camino RealEl Camino Real and sometimes associated with Calle Real usually refers to the 600-mile California Mission Trail, connecting the former Alta California's 21 missions , 4 presidios, and several pueblos, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego...
. After New Spain won its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, Mission San Diego de Alcalá's fortunes declined in the 1830s after the decree of
secularizationSecularization or secularisation generally refers to the transformation by which a society migrates from close identification with religious institutions to a more separated relationship...
was enacted, as was the case with all of the missions under the control of
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. However, it remains an active Catholic church and is a National Historic Landmark.
In 1847 San Diego was a destination of the march of the
Mormon BattalionThe Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in American military history, serving from July 1846 to July 1847 during the Mexican-American War. The battalion was a volunteer unit of about 500 Latter-day Saint men led by Mormon company officers, commanded by regular army officers...
, members of whom established a brickyard and built the city's first courthouse at the corner of San Diego Avenue and Mason Street in Old Town.
The
Battle of San PasqualThe Battle of San Pasqual was a military encounter that occurred during the Mexican-American War in what is now the San Pasqual Valley community of the city of San Diego, California....
, a battle of the Mexican-American War, was fought in the San Pasqual Valley which is now part of the city of San Diego. With the end of that war and the great influx of Americans during the
gold rush of 1848The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered by James Wilson Marshall at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California. News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 men, women, and children coming to California from the rest of the United States and...
, California was admitted to the United States in 1850. San Diego was designated the seat of the newly-established San Diego County and was incorporated as a city in 1850. The first city charter was adopted in 1889. The current city charter was adopted in 1931.
The original site of San Diego was at the foot of Presidio Hill, in the area which is now
Old Town San Diego State Historic ParkOld Town San Diego State Historic Park, located in San Diego, California, is a state protected historical park in San Diego. The park preserves and recreates the old town of the city, from shortly after the Mexican War of Independence during its pueblo Alta California period beginning in 1821,...
. The location was not ideal, being several miles away from navigable water. In the late 1860s
Alonzo HortonAlonzo Erastus Horton was an American real estate developer in the nineteenth century. The Horton Plaza mall in downtown San Diego is named for him.-Early life:...
promoted a move to "New Town", several miles south of the original settlement, in the area which became Downtown San Diego. People and businesses flocked to New Town because of its location on
San Diego BaySan Diego Bay is a natural harbor adjacent to San Diego, California. It is 12 mi/19 km long, 1 mi/1.6 km–3 mi/4.8 km wide...
convenient to shipping. New Town quickly eclipsed the original settlement, known to this day as Old Town, and became the economic and governmental heart of the city.
In the years before
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, the
Industrial Workers of the WorldThe Industrial Workers of the World is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a...
labor union conducted a
free speech fightThe San Diego Free Speech Fight in San Diego, California in 1912 1913 was one of the most famous of the "free speech fights", class conflicts over the free speech rights of labor unions.-Introduction:...
in San Diego, arousing a brutal response.
San Diego hosted two World's Fairs, the
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 1915 and the
California Pacific International ExpositionThe California Pacific International Exposition was an exposition held in San Diego, California during May 29, 1935–November 11, 1935 and February 12, 1936–September 9, 1936...
in 1935. Many of the Spanish/Baroque-style buildings in the city's Balboa Park were built for these expositions, particularly the one in 1915. Intended to be temporary structures, most remained in continuous use until they progressively fell into disrepair. Most were eventually rebuilt using castings of the original facades to faithfully retain the architectural style.
Significant U.S. Naval presence began in 1901 with the establishment of the Navy Coaling Station in
Point LomaPoint Loma is a seaside community of San Diego, California. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, the east by the San Diego Bay and Old Town and the north by the San Diego River...
, and expanded greatly during the 1920s. After
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the military played an increasing role in the local economy, but post-
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
cutbacks took a heavy toll on the local defense and aerospace industries. The resulting downturn led San Diego leaders to seek to diversify the city's economy, and San Diego has since become a major center of the emerging
biotechnologyBiotechnology is technology based on biology, agriculture, food science, and medicine. Modern use of the term usually refers to genetic engineering as well as cell- and tissue culture technologies...
industry. It is also home to telecommunications giant
QualcommQualcomm is a wireless telecommunications research and development company, as well as the largest fabless chip supplier in the world, based in San Diego, California.-Corporate history:...
.
In 2003, San Diego was the site of the
Cedar FireThe Cedar Fire was a human-caused wildfire which burned out of control through a large area of Southern California in October 2003. Driven by Santa Ana Winds, the fire burned 2,820 buildings and had killed 15 people including one firefighter before being contained on November 3, making it the...
, which has been called the largest wildfire in California over the past century. In addition to damage caused by the fire, smoke from the fire resulted in a significant increase in emergency room visits due to asthma, respiratory problems, eye irritation, and smoke inhalation. This caused San Diego County schools to close for a week(s) due to the smoke of the wildfire.
Geography
The city of San Diego itself lies on deep canyons and hills separating its
mesaA mesa is an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape. It is a characteristic landform of arid environments, particularly the southwestern United States...
s, creating small pockets of natural parkland scattered throughout the city and thus giving it a hilly geography. The same canyons give parts of the city a highly segmented feel, creating literal gaps between otherwise proximal neighborhoods and contributing to a low-density, car-centered built environment. Downtown San Diego is located on
San Diego BaySan Diego Bay is a natural harbor adjacent to San Diego, California. It is 12 mi/19 km long, 1 mi/1.6 km–3 mi/4.8 km wide...
. Balboa Park lies on a mesa to the northeast. It is surrounded by several dense urban communities and abruptly ends in
HillcrestHillcrest is a neighborhood in San Diego northwest of Balboa Park.Hillcrest is known for its tolerance, diversity, and locally-owned businesses, including restaurants, cafés, bars, clubs, trendy thrift-stores, and other independent specialty stores...
to the north. The
CoronadoCoronado, also known as Coronado Island, is a city located in San Diego County, California, 5.2 miles from downtown San Diego. Its population was 24,100 at the 2000 census. U.S. News and World Report lists Coronado as one of the most expensive places to reside in the United States...
and Point Loma peninsulas separate San Diego Bay from the ocean.
Ocean Beach-Locations:Australia*Ocean Beach, Tasmania, a beach*Ocean Beach, Western Australia, near the town of DenmarkNew Zealand*Ocean Beach, Hawke's Bay*Ocean Beach, Northland*Ocean Beach, Otago, site of the Ocean Beach Railway...
is on the west side of Point Loma.
Mission BeachMission Beach is a community built on a sandbar between the Pacific Ocean and Mission Bay. It is part of the city of San Diego, California....
and
Pacific BeachPacific Beach is a neighborhood of San Diego, bounded by La Jolla to the north, Mission Beach and Mission Bay to the south, Interstate 5 to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. While largely populated by young people, surfers, and college students, the population is becoming older, more...
lie between the ocean and Mission Bay, a man-made aquatic park. La Jolla, an affluent community, lies north of Pacific Beach and west of
Mira MesaMira Mesa is a large suburb that is part of the city of San Diego, California.Mira Mesa is bordered by Interstate 15 to the east, Interstate 805 to the west, the Los Peñasquitos Canyon to the north and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, to the south...
. The
Cuyamaca MountainsThe Cuyamaca Mountains are a mountain range in San Diego County, California. The mountains run roughly northwest to southeast. The highest elevations are Cuyamaca Peak at and Stonewall Peak at...
and
Laguna MountainsThe Laguna Mountains are a section of the Peninsular Ranges in eastern San Diego County. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately 20 miles. They are bordered by the Cuyamaca area on the west and the Colorado Desert on the east, where the mountains form a steep...
rise to the east of the city, and beyond the mountains are desert areas.
Cleveland National ForestThe Cleveland National Forest encompasses 460,000 acres , mostly of chaparral, with a few riparian areas. A warm dry mediterranean climate prevails over the Forest. It is the southernmost National forest of California. It is administered by the United States Forest Service, a government agency...
is a half-hour drive from downtown San Diego. Numerous farms are found in the valleys northeast and southeast of the city. San Diego County has one of the highest counts of animal and plant species that appear on the
endangered speciesAn endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters. Also it could mean that due to deforestation there may be a lack of food and/or water...
list among counties in the United States.
Climate
San Diego has a
MediterraneanA hi Mediterranean climate resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, which includes most of the area with this climate type worldwide...
to
Semi-aridA Semi-arid climate or steppe climate generally describes climatic regions that receive low annual rainfall . A more precise definition is given by the Köppen climate classification that treats steppe climates as intermediates between the desert climates and humid climates in ecological...
(Csa) climate when classified using the
Koppen climate classificationThe Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by the Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself notably in 1918 and 1936...
system, which is characterized by warm, dry summers and mild winters with some rain. San Diego enjoys mild, mostly dry weather with an average of 201 days above . Temperatures vary little throughout the year. Summer, also known as the dry period, lasts from May to October. Temperatures are mild to warm with average highs of 70–78°F (21–26°C) and lows of 55–66°F (13–19°C). Temperatures exceed only four days a year. Winter, also known as the rainy period, lasts from November to April. Temperatures are mild and somewhat rainy with average high temperatures of 66–70°F (19–21°C) and lows of 50–56°F (10–13°C).
The climate in the San Diego area, like the rest of California, often varies dramatically over short geographical distances. This phenomenon is known as
microclimateA microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet or as large as many square miles...
. In San Diego's case this is mainly due to the city's topography (the Bay, and the numerous hills, mountains, and canyons). Frequently, particularly during the "May gray/
June gloomJune Gloom is a California term for a weather pattern that results in overcast skies with mild temperatures during the late spring and early summer...
" period, a thick "marine layer" cloud cover will keep the air cool and damp within a few miles of the coast, but will yield to bright cloudless sunshine approximately inland. This happens every year in May and June. Even in the absence of June gloom, inland areas tend to experience much more significant temperature variations than coastal areas, where the ocean serves as a moderating influence. Thus, for example, downtown San Diego averages January lows of 50°F and August highs of 78°F. The city of El Cajon, just 10 miles northeast of downtown San Diego, averages January lows of 42°F and August highs of 88°F.
Rainfall along the coast averages about of precipitation annually, which occurs mainly during the cooler months of December through April. Though there are few wet days per month during the rainy period, rainfall can be heavy when it does fall. However, the rainfall is greater in the higher elevations of San Diego. Some of the higher areas of San Diego can receive of rain a year.
Ecology
Like most of southern California, the majority of San Diego's current area was originally occupied by
chaparralChaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate and wildfire...
, a plant community made up mostly of drought-resistant shrubs. The endangered
Torrey PineThe Torrey pine , also called "Del Mar pine" and "soledad pine," is a broad, open-crowned pine growing to 8-15 m tall, with 20-35 cm long leaves in groups of five. The cones are stout and heavy, typically 8-15 cm long and broad, and contain large, hard-shelled, but edible, pine nuts.The...
has the bulk of its population in San Diego in a stretch of protected chaparral along the coast. The steep and varied topography, and proximity to the ocean creates a number of different habitats within the city limits, including
tidal marshA tidal marsh is a type of marsh that is found along coasts and estuaries of which the flooding characteristics are determined by the tidal movement of the adjacent estuary, sea or ocean . According to the salinity of the flooding water, freshwater, brackish and saline tidal marshes are...
and canyons. The influence of humans has altered existing habitats and has also created habitats that did not exist prior to human development, by construction of buildings, the introduction of new species, and the use of water for lawns and gardens. A number of species of parrots, including the
Red-masked ParakeetThe Red-masked Parakeet, Aratinga erythrogenys, is a medium-sized parrot from Ecuador and Peru. It is popular as a pet and considered a good talker. It is known in aviculture as the Cherry-headed Conure.-Description:...
and Red-crowned Amazon have established
feralA feral organism is one that has escaped from domestication and returned, partly or wholly, to a wild state. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, can disrupt ecosystems and may, in some cases, contribute to extinction of indigenous...
populations in urban neighborhoods such as
Ocean BeachOcean Beach is a beachfront neighborhood of San Diego, California.-Geography:Ocean Beach is located in San Diego on the Southern California coast. It lies on the Pacific Ocean at the estuary of the San Diego River, at the western terminus of Interstate 8. It is approximately from Downtown San...
. The chaparral and
coastal sage scrubCoastal sage scrub is a low scrubland plant community found in the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of coastal California and northern Baja California. It is characterized by low-growing aromatic, and drought-deciduous shrubs adapted to the semi-arid Mediterranean climate of the...
habitats in low elevations along the coast are prone to
wildfireA wildfire is any uncontrolled fire that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Reflecting the type of vegetation or fuel, other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, vegetation fire, and wildland fire may be used to describe the same phenomenon...
, and the rates of fire have increased in the 20th century, due primarily to fires starting near the borders of urban and wild areas.
San Diego's broad city limits encompass a number of large nature preserves, including
Torrey Pines State ReserveTorrey Pines State Natural Reserve is a coastal state park located in the California community of La Jolla, California, off North Torrey Pines Road . Although it is located within San Diego, California city limits, it remains one of the wildest stretches of land on the Southern California coast...
,
Border Field State ParkBorder Field State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of California, located within the city limits of Imperial Beach, California in San Diego County, adjacent to the United States–Mexico border and the suburb of Playas de Tijuana...
,
Mission Trails Regional ParkMission Trails Regional Park is a 5,800 acre open space preserve within the city of San Diego, California, established in 1974. It is the sixth largest municipally-owned park in the United States, and the largest in California.-Description:...
. Torrey Pines State Preserve and a coastal strip continuing to the north is the only location where the rare species of Torrey Pine,
P. torreyana torreyana, is found. Due to a combination of the steep topography that prevents or discourages building, and some efforts for preservation, there are also a large number of canyons within the city limits that are nature preserves, including Tecolote Canyon Natural Park, and Marian Bear Memorial Park in the San Clemente Canyon, as well as a number of small parks and preserves.
Communities and neighborhoods
There are around one hundred named areas within the city of San Diego.
Northern: Bay Ho, Bay Park, Encinitas,
Carmel ValleyCarmel Valley is a master planned community in the north-western corner of San Diego, California, USA. The community is composed of commercial offices, residential units, hotels, and retail stores and restaurants...
,
Clairemont Mesa EastClairemont is a suburban neighborhood in northern San Diego.It includes the separate neighborhoods of North Clairemont, Clairemont Mesa East and Clairemont Mesa West...
,
Clairemont Mesa WestClairemont is a suburban neighborhood in northern San Diego.It includes the separate neighborhoods of North Clairemont, Clairemont Mesa East and Clairemont Mesa West...
,
Del Mar MesaDel Mar Mesa is a primarily residential community of located in northern San Diego, California. The majority of the community has been developed in the 2000s....
, La Jolla, La Jolla Village,
Mission BeachMission Beach is a community built on a sandbar between the Pacific Ocean and Mission Bay. It is part of the city of San Diego, California....
, Mission Bay Park, North Park,
North ClairemontClairemont is a suburban neighborhood in northern San Diego.It includes the separate neighborhoods of North Clairemont, Clairemont Mesa East and Clairemont Mesa West...
,
Pacific BeachPacific Beach is a neighborhood of San Diego, bounded by La Jolla to the north, Mission Beach and Mission Bay to the south, Interstate 5 to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. While largely populated by young people, surfers, and college students, the population is becoming older, more...
,
Pacific Highlands RanchPacific Highlands Ranch is a primarily residential community of 2,652 acres located in northern San Diego, California.The majority of the community is being developed by Pardee Homes and the majority of the community has been developed in the 2000s.-Geography:The community is bordered: to the...
,
Torrey HillsTorrey Hills is a community of located in northern San Diego, California.-Geography:Torrey Hills is bordered to the north by State Route 56 and Carmel Valley; to the northeast by Carmel Valley; to the south and southeast by Los Peñasquitos Canyon and Mira Mesa; and to the west by Interstate...
,
Torrey PinesTorrey Pines is a primarily residential community of 2,600 acres in the northern coastal area of San Diego, California.- Geography :...
,
University CityUniversity City is a community in the city of San Diego, California.- Geography :The campus of the University of California, San Diego, from where the area derives its name, is to the west of the center of the neighborhood....
Northeastern:
Black Mountain RanchBlack Mountain Ranch is a community in the northeastern part of the city of San Diego, California. Black Mountain Ranch encompasses and is located north of Rancho Penasquitos and Torrey Highlands, south of the Santa Fe Valley, east of Fairbanks Ranch and Rancho Santa Fe, and west of 4S...
,
Carmel Mountain RanchCarmel Mountain Ranch or CMR is a community in the northeastern part of the city of San Diego, California.-Geography:The community is located west of Poway, south of the Rancho Bernardo, east of Rancho Penasquitos, and north of Sabre Springs....
,
MiramarMiramar is a neighborhood in the northern part of the city of San Diego, California, USA. It includes residential areas and commercial and light industrial districts....
, Miramar Ranch North,
Mira MesaMira Mesa is a large suburb that is part of the city of San Diego, California.Mira Mesa is bordered by Interstate 15 to the east, Interstate 805 to the west, the Los Peñasquitos Canyon to the north and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, to the south...
,
Rancho BernardoRancho Bernardo is a master-planned community in the northern hills of the city of San Diego, California, San Diego County.-Geography:The topography of RB consists of canyons and rolling hills...
, Rancho Encantada,
Rancho PeñasquitosRancho Peñasquitos is a community in the northeastern part of the city of San Diego, California. Rancho Peñasquitos is surrounded by a canyon open space preserve offering hiking, biking and equestrian trails. The most prominent feature of the community is Black Mountain which rises to an...
,
Sabre SpringsSabre Springs is a community in the northeastern part of the city of San Diego, California. Sabre Springs is located west of Poway, south of the Carmel Mountain Ranch, east of Rancho Penasquitos, and north of Miramar Ranch North, and Scripps Ranch....
,
San Pasqual ValleySan Pasqual Valley is the northernmost community of the city of San Diego, California, in the United States. It is bordered on the north by the City of Escondido, on the east and west by unincorporated land within San Diego County, and on the south by the City of Poway and the community of Rancho...
,
Scripps RanchScripps Ranch is an inland community in the northeastern part of San Diego, California. The postal zip code for Scripps Ranch is 92131.-History:Scripps Ranch was originally a 400 acre ranch owned by newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps...
,
Sorrento ValleySorrento Valley is a neighborhood of San Diego, California, USA. It is located about 15 mi north of downtown San Diego and its main airport, Lindbergh Field. To the west of Sorrento Valley is Del Mar, to the east Mira Mesa and to the south, La Jolla/University City.-Economy:Sorrento Valley is home...
,
Torrey HighlandsTorrey Highlands is a primarily residential community in northern San Diego, California. Most of the community has been developed in the 2000s.Westview High School is located in this neighborhood-Geography:...
Eastern:
Allied GardensAllied Gardens is a white collar community in the eastern part of San Diego, California. It neighbors San Carlos and Del Cerro to the east and north respectively, and College Area and Grantville to the southeast and southwest.Greenbrier Ave...
, Birdland,
Del CerroDel Cerro is a residential neighborhood located in the Navajo Community area of eastern San Diego, California. It borders the communities of San Carlos, Allied Gardens, College Area, Grantville, the city of La Mesa and is adjacent to Lake Murray and San Diego State University...
, Grantville,
Kearny MesaKearny Mesa is a community in the eastern part of San Diego, California. It is located in the area of the city that is bounded by State Route 52 to the north, Interstate 805 to the west, Aero Drive to the South, and Interstate 15 to the east...
, Lake Murray, Mission Valley East,
San CarlosSan Carlos is a middle-class neighborhood in the eastern area of San Diego, California. It borders the neighborhoods: Del Cerro, Lake Murray, Tierrasanta, Navajo, Allied Gardens, the city of La Mesa and Mission Trails....
,
Serra MesaSerra Mesa is a community in San Diego, California. It is located between Interstate 805 and Interstate 15 and north of Friars Road and south of Aero Drive. Serra Mesa is named for Father Junípero Serra, a Majorcan Franciscan friar who founded the Mission San Diego de Alcalá.There is a small park...
,
TierrasantaTierrasanta, Spanish for "holy land," is a community within the city of San Diego, California. The symbol of Tierrasanta is an encircled Conquistador cross, similar to the Montserrat Cross of Barcelona, Spain, though it holds no religious meaning...
Western: Burlingame,
HillcrestHillcrest is a neighborhood in San Diego northwest of Balboa Park.Hillcrest is known for its tolerance, diversity, and locally-owned businesses, including restaurants, cafés, bars, clubs, trendy thrift-stores, and other independent specialty stores...
,
Linda VistaLinda Vista is a community in San Diego, California, United States. It is east of Mission Bay, north of Mission Valley, and south-east of Tecolote Canyon...
, Midtown,
MidwayThe Midway area, also called the North Bay area, is a neighborhood of San Diego, California. It is located at the northern end of the Point Loma peninsula, northwest of downtown San Diego and just west of Old Town San Diego...
,
Mission HillsMission Hills is a neighborhood of San Diego, California, USA. It is located on hills just south of the San Diego River valley and north of downtown San Diego, overlooking Old Town and San Diego Bay. It was subdivided on January 20, 1908 as a smaller portion of what is now referred to as Mission...
, Mission Valley West, Morena,
North ParkNorth Park is a neighborhood in San Diego, California, USA. It is situated to the northeast of Balboa Park, bounded on the north by El Cajon Boulevard, on the south by Juniper Street and the South Park neighborhood, on the east by Interstate 805 and City Heights, and on the west by Florida Canyon...
,
Ocean BeachOcean Beach is a beachfront neighborhood of San Diego, California.-Geography:Ocean Beach is located in San Diego on the Southern California coast. It lies on the Pacific Ocean at the estuary of the San Diego River, at the western terminus of Interstate 8. It is approximately from Downtown San...
,
Old TownOld Town San Diego State Historic Park, located in San Diego, California, is a state protected historical park in San Diego. The park preserves and recreates the old town of the city, from shortly after the Mexican War of Independence during its pueblo Alta California period beginning in 1821,...
,
Pacific BeachPacific Beach is a neighborhood of San Diego, bounded by La Jolla to the north, Mission Beach and Mission Bay to the south, Interstate 5 to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. While largely populated by young people, surfers, and college students, the population is becoming older, more...
,
Point LomaPoint Loma is a seaside community of San Diego, California. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, the east by the San Diego Bay and Old Town and the north by the San Diego River...
(including Fleetridge,
La PlayaLa Playa is a bayfront neighborhood in Point Loma, San Diego, California. It is bordered by the San Diego Bay on the west, Naval Base Point Loma on the south, the Wooded Area neighborhood to the east and Point Loma Village to the north...
,
Loma PortalLoma Portal is a neighborhood of Point Loma, San Diego, California. It is a hilly area west of Rosecrans Street and north of Nimitz Blvd., overlooking San Diego Bay.Loma Portal is home to Point Loma High School, Dana Middle School, and several elementary schools...
, Point Loma Heights, Point Loma Village,
RosevilleRoseville-Fleetridge is a neighborhood in Point Loma, San Diego, California. it is bounded by Rosecrans Street on the east, Cañon Street on the south, Catalina Blvd. on the west and Nimitz Blvd. on the north. It is actually two separate neighborhoods, Roseville and Fleetridge, which the city lumps...
,
Shelter IslandShelter Island is a neighborhood of Point Loma, San Diego, California. It is actually not an island but is connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land. It was originally a sandbank in San Diego Bay, visible only at low tide. It was built up into dry land using material dredged from the bay...
,
Sunset CliffsSunset Cliffs is a neighborhood in Point Loma, San Diego, California. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the west, Ocean Beach on the north, Catalina Blvd. and Santa Barbara St. on the east, and Sunset Cliffs Natural Park on the south....
, and the Wooded Area),
University HeightsUniversity Heights is a neighborhood in Central San Diego centered around Park Boulevard and Adams Avenue. The area is filled with a number of restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques, and artist's studios primarily on Park Boulevard and Adams Avenue. Live entertainment can be found most nights...
Central:
Balboa ParkBalboa Park is a 1,200 acre urban cultural park in San Diego, California, United States named after the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. The trees here were planted by the famous American gardener Kate Sessions. Placed in reserve in 1835, it is one of the oldest sites in the United States...
,
Bankers HillBankers Hill, sometimes known as Park West, is a long established uptown San Diego neighborhood near Balboa Park. It is bordered to the north by Mission Hills and Hillcrest , to the south, past Date Street, by Downtown , to the east by Balboa Park, and the west by Interstate 5, Little Italy and...
, Barrio Logan, City Heights, Downtown (
ColumbiaColumbia is a neighborhood located in Downtown San Diego, California. The neighborhood is largely commercial, however there are a large number of highrise condominium buildings under construction....
,
CoreThe Core district is a neighborhood of Downtown San Diego, California.-Geography:This district is located in the center of the city; it is bordered to the north by Cortez Hill, to the northwest by Little Italy, to the south by the Horton District and Gaslamp Quarter, to the east by East Village and...
,
Cortez HillCortez Hill is a neighborhood located in north-east Downtown San Diego, California.- Geography :Cortez Hill is located south of Bankers' Hill, north of the Core District, east of Little Italy and west by Balboa Park...
,
East VillageEast Village is a neighborhood in San Diego, California. It is the largest district in the downtown of San Diego, and is located east of the Gaslamp Quarter and southeast of the Core district and Cortez Hill. East village has gone through extensive and rapid redevelopment, especially near Petco...
,
Gaslamp QuarterThe Gaslamp Quarter is a 16 1/2 block historical neighborhood in downtown San Diego, California. Its main period of development began in 1867, when Alonzo Horton bought the land in hopes of creating a new city center closer to the bay, and chose 5th Avenue as its main street...
, Horton,
Little ItalyLittle Italy is a somewhat hilly neighborhood in Downtown San Diego, California that was originally a predominately Italian fishing neighborhood...
,
MarinaThe Marina district is a neighborhood in the southwest section of Downtown San Diego, California, U.S.-Geography:The district is bordered to the north by the Columbia district, bordered to east/south-east by the Gaslamp Quarter, and is bordered to the south-west by the San Diego Marina.This...
),
Golden HillGolden Hill is a neighborhood of San Diego, California, south of Balboa Park North of Sherman Heights/Highway 94 and East of Downtown....
, Grant Hill,
Logan HeightsLogan Heights is a neighborhood in central San Diego, California. In 1871, Congressman John A. Logan wrote legislation to provide federal land grants and subsidies for a transcontinental railroad ending in San Diego. A street laid in 1881 was named Logan Heights after him, and the name came to be...
, Memorial,
MiddletownMiddletown is a neighborhood located north of Little Italy , south of Mission Hills and Hillcrest, east of San Diego International Airport, and west of Bankers Hill. Interstate 5 passes through this neighborhood and San Diego Trolley has one station in this neighborhood....
, Sherman Heights,
South ParkSouth Park is a neighborhood of San Diego, California, East of Balboa Park, North of Golden Hill and Grant Hill and South of North Park, the boundary being Juniper Street. The area is part of Greater Golden Hill for San Diego city planning purposes...
, Stockton
Mid-City:
City HeightsCity Heights is a large community in the eastern part of San Diego, California, known for its ethnic diversity. Along the main streets one can find Hispanic, East African, African American, Indian, Middle Eastern, and Southeast Asian businesses.Socially and economically, City Heights has a high...
(comprising Azalea Park, Bayridge, Hollywood Park, Castle, Cherokee Point, Chollas Creek, Colina Del Sol, Corridor, Fairmount, Fox Canyon, Islenair, Ridgeview/Webster Rolando, Swan Canyon, Teralta East, Teralta West),
College East, College WestThe College Area is a neighborhood of the Mid-City region of San Diego, California.The College Area is dominated by San Diego State University , which was formerly San Diego State College and previous to that San Diego State Teachers College, which the area is still named after...
, Darnall,
El Cerrito----El Cerrito, Spanish for "the little hill," is a neighborhood of the Mid-City region of San Diego, California. El Cerrito is a residential neighborhood, consisting mostly of suburban homes, with some commercial activity along the streets that define its borders.-Geography:El Cerrito, as its name...
,
Gateway-Geography:Gateway's borders are defined by State Route 15 to the West, Interstate 805 to the Northeast, Home Avenue to the Southeast, and State Route 94 to the South.-Education:* Rowan Elementary School -External links:...
,
KensingtonThe neon "Kensington" sign used to hang over Adams Avenue, which acts as the neighborhood's cultural and business center.This sign, after almost a year of needing repair , was taken down and sent to be fixed...
,
Normal HeightsNormal Heights is a neighborhood of the mid-city region of San Diego, California. It is known for its affordable pubs, restaurants, coffee houses, antique shops, book shops, and burgeoning arts community.-History:...
,
North ParkNorth Park is a neighborhood in San Diego, California, USA. It is situated to the northeast of Balboa Park, bounded on the north by El Cajon Boulevard, on the south by Juniper Street and the South Park neighborhood, on the east by Interstate 805 and City Heights, and on the west by Florida Canyon...
,
Oak ParkOak Park is a neighborhood of the Mid-City region of San Diego, California. It features the Marketplace at the Grove Shopping Center, also called College Grove Shopping Center...
,
TalmadgeTalmadge is a neighborhood of the mid-city region of San Diego, California. It is named after the Talmadge sisters , who were silent film stars. In 1927, the Talmadge sisters opened the Talmadge Park real estate development, which contains streets named for each of the sisters...
,
Alvarado EstatesAlvarado Estates is a neighborhood in San Diego, California.-See also:*Communities of San Diego...
SoutheasternSoutheast San Diego is the southeastern portion of the City of San Diego, generally represented by the urban neighborhoods directly east of Downtown San Diego, bordered by Interstate 5 and south of the Martin Luther King Jr...
: Alta Vista, Bay Terrace, Broadway Heights, Chollas View, Emerald Hills,
EncantoEncanto is a hilly community located in the southeastern part of San Diego, California.Encanto can refer to the community Encanto or can refer to Encanto neighborhoods, which consists of Chollas View, Lincoln Park, Emerald Hills, Valencia Park, Encanto, South Encanto, Broadway Heights and Alta Vista...
, Jamacha-Lomita, Lincoln Park, Mountain View,
Mt. HopeMount Hope is an ethnically diverse hilly neighborhood of the City of San Diego, California. Located in the southeastern portion of the city, Mount Hope is named for the large municipal Mount Hope Cemetery, which encompasses approximately of the community....
,
Paradise HillsParadise Hills is a neighborhood in the southeastern area of the city of San Diego, California. It is an outlying neighborhood adjacent to the independent city of National City and the unincorporated communities of Lincoln Acres and Bonita....
, Shelltown, Skyline, Southcrest, Valencia Park
SouthernSouth San Diego is a section of the City of San Diego extending into far southwestern San Diego County, United States. It is made up of the communities of Egger Highlands, Nestor, Ocean Crest, Otay Mesa, Otay Mesa West, San Ysidro and the Tijuana River Valley ....
: Egger Highlands, Imperial Beach, Nestor, Ocean Crest,
Otay MesaSouth San Diego is a rural community within southcentral San Diego, California, just north of the U.S.–Mexico border. It is bordered by the Otay River Valley and the city of Chula Vista on the north, Interstate 805 on the west, and county land on the east. State Route 905 connects Otay Mesa and the...
, Otay Mesa West, Palm City,
San YsidroSan Ysidro is a community in the city of San Diego, California. It is located in the southernmost part of San Diego County, California, immediately north of the international border with Mexico. It was annexed by the city of San Diego in 1957....
, Tijuana River Valley
Downtown urban renewal
Downtown San Diego has experienced some urban renewal since the early 1980s. This has resulted in the opening of Horton Plaza, the revival of the
Gaslamp QuarterThe Gaslamp Quarter is a 16 1/2 block historical neighborhood in downtown San Diego, California. Its main period of development began in 1867, when Alonzo Horton bought the land in hopes of creating a new city center closer to the bay, and chose 5th Avenue as its main street...
, and the construction of the
San Diego Convention CenterThe San Diego Convention Center is the primary convention center in San Diego, California. It is located in the Marina district of downtown San Diego near the Gaslamp Quarter, at 111 West Harbor Drive...
. The Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC), San Diego's downtown redevelopment agency, has been instrumental in change.
PETCO ParkPetco Park is an open-air ballpark in downtown San Diego, California, USA. It opened in 2004, replacing Qualcomm Stadium as the home park of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres. Before then, the Padres shared Qualcomm Stadium with the NFL's San Diego Chargers...
opened in 2004. The 2005 boom in the construction of condos and skyscrapers brought
gentrificationGentrification and urban gentrification denote the socio-economic, commercial, and demographic change in an urban area resulting from wealthier people buying housing property in a poor community...
as well. The North
EmbarcaderoThe Embarcadero in San Diego, California, USA is the area along the San Diego harbor on the east side of San Diego Bay. It is home to the USS Midway museum ship at Navy Pier, the San Diego cruise terminal on B Street Pier, the Star of India and seven other historic vessels at the San Diego Maritime...
is slated to have parks in addition to a waterfront promenade.
Balboa ParkBalboa Park is a 1,200 acre urban cultural park in San Diego, California, United States named after the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. The trees here were planted by the famous American gardener Kate Sessions. Placed in reserve in 1835, it is one of the oldest sites in the United States...
is scheduled to be linked to downtown.
Demographics
As of the
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
of 2000, there were 1,223,400 people, 450,691 households, and 271,315 families residing in the city. The estimated city population in 2006 was 1,256,951 The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
was 3,771.9 people per square mile (1,456.4/km²).
There were 451,126 households out of which 30.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.6% were
married couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.8% were non-families. 28.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.30.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in 2000, 24.0% of San Diego residents were under 18, and 10.5% were 65 and over. The median age is 32; two-thirds of the population is under 35. The San Diego County regional planning agency, SANDAG, provides tables and graphs breaking down the city population into 5-year age groups.
Race
As of the 2005-2007
American Community SurveyThe American Community Survey is a project of the U.S. Census Bureau that replaces the long form in the decennial census. It is an ongoing statistical survey, sent to approximately 250,000 addresses monthly, and thus more current than information obtained by the long form.-History:Many Americans...
conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau,
White AmericanWhite American is an umbrella term officially employed by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget and other U.S...
s made up 65.3% of San Diego's population; of which 48.2% were non-Hispanic
whitesWhite people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
.
BlacksThe term black people usually refers to a racial group of humans with skin colors that range from light brown to nearly black. It also has been used to categorize a number of diverse populations into a common group. Some definitions of the term include only people of relatively recent Sub Saharan...
or
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
s made up 6.9% of San Diego's population; of which 6.7% were non-Hispanic blacks.
American IndianThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples...
s made up 0.6% of the city's population; of which 0.3% were non-Hispanic.
Asian American{Infobox Ethnic group|group = Asian American|image =Graduation Rate! align="CENTER" | Bachelor's Degree
or More|-| align="LEFT" | Asian Indians| align="RIGHT" | 90.2%| align="RIGHT" | 67.9%|-| align="LEFT" | Filipinos| align="RIGHT" | 90.8%...
s made up 15.0% of the city's population; of which 14.8% were non-Hispanic.
Pacific Islander AmericanPacific Islander Americans, also known as Oceanian Americans, are residents of the United States with original ancestry from Oceania. They represent the smallest racial group counted in the United States census of 2000. They numbered 874,000 people or 0.3 percent of the United States population...
s made up 0.4% of the city's population; of which 0.3% were non-Hispanic. Individuals from some other race made up 8.3% of the city's population; of which 0.3% were non-Hispanic. Individuals from
two or more racesMultiracial Americans, US residents who identify themselves as of "two or more races", numbered 6.8 million in 2000, or 2.4% of the population.Since the 1967 Supreme Court decision that deemed anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, there has been a considerable increase in the number of...
made up 3.5% of the city's population; of which 2.4% were non-Hispanic. In addition,
Hispanics and LatinosHispanic and Latino Americans are Americans of origins in Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain - "Mexican," "Puerto Rican," or "Cuban" - as well as those who indicate that they are "other Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino." Origin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or...
made up 27.0% of San Diego's population.
Other estimates
According to estimates by the
San Diego Association of GovernmentsThe San Diego Association of Governments is an association of local San Diego County governments. It is the metropolitan planning organization for the County, with policy makers consisting of mayors, councilmembers, and a County Supervisors, and also has capital planning and fare setting powers...
, as of January 1, 2008, the population of San Diego rose to 1,336,865, up 9.3% from 2000. The population was 45.3% non-Hispanic whites, 27.7% Hispanics, 15.6% Asians/Pacific Islanders, 7.1% blacks, 0.4% American Indians, and 3.9% from other races. Median age of Hispanics was 27.5 years, compared to 35.1 years overall and 41.6 years among non-Hispanic whites; Hispanics were the largest group in all ages under 18, and non-Hispanic whites constituted 63.1% of population 55 and older.
Crime
Like most major cities, San Diego had a declining
crimeCrime is the breach of one or more rules or laws for which some governing authority, via mechanisms such as police power, may ultimately prescribe a conviction...
rate from 1990 to 2000. Crime slightly increased in the early 2000s. In 2004, San Diego had the sixth lowest crime rate of any U.S. city with over half a million residents. From 2002 to 2006, the crime rate overall dropped 0.8%, though not evenly by category. While
violent crimeA violent crime or crime of violence is a crime in which the offender uses or threatens to use violent force upon the victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objective, such as murder, as well as crimes in which violence is the means to an end, such as robbery. Violent...
decreased 12.4% during this period, property crime increased 1.1%. Total property crimes were lower than the national average in 2004.
Economy
The three largest sectors of San Diego's economy are defense, manufacturing, and tourism, respectively. Several areas of San Diego (in particular
La JollaLa Jolla is a wealthy seaside resort community, occupying seven miles of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean in Southern California. Although within the city limits of San Diego, California, La Jolla retains its own small-town atmosphere and its own civic pride...
and surrounding
Sorrento ValleySorrento Valley is a neighborhood of San Diego, California, USA. It is located about 15 mi north of downtown San Diego and its main airport, Lindbergh Field. To the west of Sorrento Valley is Del Mar, to the east Mira Mesa and to the south, La Jolla/University City.-Economy:Sorrento Valley is home...
areas) are home to offices and research facilities for numerous biotechnology companies. Major biotechnology companies like
Neurocrine BiosciencesNeurocrine Biosciences is a biopharmaceutical company founded in 1992 and located in San Diego, California. The company tooks its name from the original focus on therapies for neurological and endocrine diseases and disorders....
and
Nventa BiopharmaceuticalsNventa Biopharmaceuticals Corporation is a Canadian incorporated biopharmaceutical company headquartered in San Diego, California developing therapeutics for the treatment of viral infections and cancer, focusing on diseases caused by human papillomavirus...
are headquartered in San Diego, while many biotech and pharmaceutical companies, such as
BD BiosciencesBecton, Dickinson and Company , is a medical technology company that manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems and reagents. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, BD does business in nearly 50 countries with its 27,000 employees...
,
Biogen IdecBiogen Idec, Inc. is a biotechnology company specializing in drugs for neurological disorders, autoimmune disorders and cancer. The company was formed in 2003 by the merger of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen Inc. and San Diego, California-based IDEC Pharmaceuticals...
,
Integrated DNA TechnologiesIntegrated DNA Technologies, Inc. , headquartered in Coralville, Iowa, is the largest supplier of custom nucleic acids in the U.S., serving the areas of academic research, biotechnology, clinical diagnostics, and pharmaceutical development. IDT's primary business is the manufacturing of custom DNA...
,
MerckMerck & Co., Inc. , also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the USA and Canada, is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The headquarters of the company is located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, an unincorporated area in Readington Township...
,
PfizerPfizer Incorporated is a pharmaceutical company, ranking number one in sales in the world. The company is based in New York City, with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut...
,
ÉlanÉlan Corporation plc is a major drugs firm based in Athlone, County Westmeath, Ireland which has major interests in the United States. In the late 1990's its value on the Irish Stock Exchange reached over €20bn. It has secondary listings on the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock...
, Genzyme, Cytovance, Celgene and Vertex, have offices or research facilities in San Diego. There are also several non-profit biotech institutes, such as the
Salk Institute for Biological StudiesThe Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a premier independent, non-profit, scientific research institute located in La Jolla, California. The institute consistently ranks among the top institutions in the US in terms of research output and quality in the life sciences...
,
the Scripps Research InstituteThe Scripps Research Institute is a medical research facility that focuses on research in the basic biomedical sciences. Primarily located in La Jolla, California, with a sister facility in Jupiter, Florida, the institute is home to 3,000 scientists, technicians, graduate students, and...
and the Burnham Institute. The presence of
University of California, San DiegoThe University of California, San Diego is a public research university located in La Jolla, San Diego, California, United States...
and other research institutions helped fuel biotechnology growth. In June 2004, San Diego was ranked the top biotech cluster in the U.S. by the Milken Institute.
San Diego is home to companies that develop wireless cellular technology. Qualcomm Incorporated was founded and is headquartered in San Diego; Qualcomm is the largest private-sector technology employer (excluding hospitals) in San Diego County. According to the
San Diego Business Journal, the largest software company in San Diego is security software company
WebsenseWebsense is a San Diego-based company specializing in Web security gateway software. It enables clients to block access to chosen categories of website. It has come under criticism from civil liberties groups on the grounds that it assists repressive regimes to restrict freedom of...
Inc.
The economy of San Diego is influenced by its
portThe Port of San Diego is a self-supporting Non-governmental organization public benefit corporation established in 1962 by an act of the California State Legislature. In 2007, The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics ranked the Port of San Diego as one of America's top 30 U.S. containership...
, which includes the only major submarine and shipbuilding yards on the West Coast, as well as the largest naval fleet in the world. The cruise ship industry, which is the second largest in California, generates an estimated $2 million annually from the purchase of food, fuel, supplies, and maintenance services. Due to San Diego's military influence, major national defense contractors, such as
General AtomicsGeneral Atomics is a nuclear physics and defense contractor headquartered in San Diego, California. General Atomics’ basic research into fission and fusion matured into competence in many technologies, making General Atomics and its affiliated companies one of the world’s leading resources for...
and
Science Applications International CorporationScience Applications International Corporation is a FORTUNE 500 scientific, engineering and technology applications company headquartered in the United States with numerous federal, state, and private sector clients...
are headquartered in San Diego.
Tourism is also a major industry owing to the city's climate. Major tourist destinations include
Balboa ParkBalboa Park is a 1,200 acre urban cultural park in San Diego, California, United States named after the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. The trees here were planted by the famous American gardener Kate Sessions. Placed in reserve in 1835, it is one of the oldest sites in the United States...
, the
San Diego ZooThe World Famous San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California is one of the largest and most progressive zoos in the world with over 4,000 animals of more than 800 species. It is also one of the few zoos in the world that houses the giant panda...
,
SeaworldSeaWorld is a United States chain of marine mammal parks owned by Anheuser-Busch. The parks feature captive orca, sea lion, and dolphin shows and zoological displays featuring various other marine animals. The parks' icon is Shamu, the Orca. There are operations in Orlando, Florida; San Diego,...
, nearby
Wild Animal ParkThe San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park is a zoo in the San Pasqual Valley area of San Diego, California. It is one of the largest tourist attractions in the city and Southern California. The Park houses a large array of wild and endangered animals including species from the continents of Africa,...
and
LegolandLegoland is a chain of Lego themed theme parks:* Legoland Billund * Legoland Windsor * Legoland Deutschland * Legoland California -Attractions:...
, the city's
beachesBeaches in San Diego, California, USA *Torrey Pines State Beach*Black's Beach*La Jolla Shores*La Jolla Cove*Children's Pool Beach *Windansea Beach*Marine Street Beach*North Pacific Beach*Pacific Beach*Mission Bay Beaches...
and golf tournaments like the
Buick InvitationalThe Buick Invitational is a PGA Tour professional golf tournament played in the San Diego, California area in the early part of the Tour season, known as the "West Coast Swing." The tournament was originally known as the San Diego Open, and was noted for having singer-actor Andy Williams as a...
.
Personal income
In 2000, the
median income for a householdThe median household income is commonly used to provide data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more...
in the city was $45,733, and the median income for a family was $53,060. Males had a median income of $36,984 versus $31,076 for females. The
per capita incomePer capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income is usually reported in units of currency per year...
for the city was $23,609. About 10.6% of families and 14.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.0% of those under age 18 and 7.6% of those age 65 or over. SANDAG estimates that, by 2008, the household median income rose to $66,715.
Military
Military bases in San Diego include
U.S. NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
ports,
Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States armed forces responsible for providing force projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
bases, and
Coast GuardThe United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of seven uniformed services. It is unique among the military branches in that it has a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency mission as part of its mission set...
stations. Marine Corps institutions in San Diego include
Marine Corps Air Station MiramarMarine Corps Air Station Miramar , formerly Naval Air Station Miramar is a United States Marine Corps installation that is home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is the aviation element of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force...
and
Marine Corps Recruit Depot San DiegoMarine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego is a United States Marine Corps military installation in San Diego, California. It lies between San Diego Bay and Interstate 5, adjacent to San Diego International Airport and the former Naval Training Center San Diego...
. The Navy has several institutions in the city, including
Naval Base Point LomaLocated in Point Loma, a neighborhood of San Diego, California, Naval Base Point Loma was established on 1 October 1998 when Navy facilities in the Point Loma area of San Diego were consolidated under Commander, Navy Region Southwest...
, Naval Base San Diego (also known as the 32nd Street Naval Station),
Bob Wilson Naval HospitalLocated on Florida Drive in San Diego adjacent to Balboa Park, Bob Wilson Naval Hospital, formerly known as Naval Medical Center San Diego is the most technologically advanced Navy medical treatment facility. Nicknamed Balboa, the Pride of Navy Medicine, the hospital has played a vital role in the...
, and the
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San DiegoSpace and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific is the U.S. Navy's research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support center for command, control and communication systems and ocean surveillance. SSC Pacific provides information resources to support the joint warfighter in...
. Close by San Diego but within San Diego County is
Naval Air Station North IslandNaval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island is located at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay and is the home port of several aircraft carriers of the United States Navy...
(which operates Naval Auxiliary Landing Facility San Clemente Island,
Silver Strand Training ComplexSilver Strand Training Complex , formerly known as the Naval Radio Receiving Facility , is the premier training facility for U.S. Special Operations Forces.-Background:...
, and the
Outlying Field Imperial BeachNaval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach or NOLF Imperial Beach is a United States Navy facility for helicopters, situated on approximately south of San Diego and within the city limits of Imperial Beach, California...
). San Diego is also known as the "birthplace of
naval aviationNaval Aviation is the application of manned military air power by navies. Maritime Aviation is the operation of aircraft in a maritime role under the command of land based forces such as RAF Coastal Command or United States Coast Guard....
," although
PensacolaPensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2007, the estimated population was 54,283....
,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
makes a rival claim.
San Diego is the site of one of the largest naval fleets in the world, and San Diego has become the largest concentration of Naval facilities in the world due to base reductions at
Norfolk, VirginiaNorfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 234,403 as of the 2000 census, it is Virginia's second-largest incorporated city behind its eastern neighbor, Virginia Beach....
and retrenchment of the Russian naval base in
VladivostokVladivostok is Russia's largest port city on the Pacific Ocean and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai. It is situated at the head of the Golden Horn Bay not far from Russia's border with China and North Korea...
. Two of the U.S. Navy's
Nimitz class supercarriersSupercarrier is an unofficial descriptive term for the largest type of aircraft carrier, usually displacing over 70,000 long tons. Few countries operate medium carriers of 40,000 tons . Light carriers closer to 20,000 are more typical...
, (the
USS NimitzUSS Nimitz is a supercarrier in the United States Navy, the lead ship of its class. She is one of the largest warships in the world. She was laid down, launched and commissioned as CVAN-68, but was redesignated CVN-68 on 30 June 1975 as part of the fleet realignment of that year.The ship was...
and the
USS Ronald ReaganUSS Ronald Reagan is a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier in the service of the United States Navy. The ninth ship of her class, she is named in honor of former President Ronald Reagan, President of the United States from 1981 to 1989...
), five amphibious assault ships, several
Los Angeles-classThe Los Angeles class, sometimes called the LA class or the 688 class, is a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines that forms the backbone of the United States submarine fleet. With 45 submarines on active-duty , this class has more boats than any other nuclear powered submarine class in...
"fast attack" submarines, the Hospital Ship
USNS MercyThe third USNS Mercy is the lead ship of her class of hospital ships in the United States Navy. She was named for the virtue of compassion. In accordance with the Geneva Conventions, USNS Mercy and her crew do not carry any ordnance...
, carrier and submarine tenders,
destroyersThe Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers is the first destroyer of the United States Navy built around the Aegis combat system and the SPY-1D multi-function phased array radar. The first ship was commissioned on 4 July 1991...
,
cruisersThe Ticonderoga class of missile cruisers is a class of warships in the United States Navy, first ordered and authorized in FY 1978. The class uses phased-array radar and was originally planned as a class of destroyers...
,
frigatesThe Oliver Hazard Perry class is a class of frigates named after the American Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of the naval Battle of Lake Erie. Also known as the Perry or FFG-7 class, the warships were designed in the United States in the mid-1970s as general-purpose escort vessels...
, and many smaller ships are home-ported there. Four Navy vessels have been named
USS San DiegoFour ships of the United States Navy have been named USS San Diego, after the city of San Diego, California., originally the armored cruiser California , a light cruiser commissioned in 1942 in service throughout the Pacific War, and decommissioned 1946, a combat stores ship in service from 1969 to...
in honor of the city.
Real estate
Prior to 2006, San Diego experienced a dramatic growth of real estate prices, to the extent that the situation was sometimes described as a "housing affordability crisis". Median house prices more than tripled between 1998 and 2007. According to the California Association of Realtors, in May 2007, a median house in San Diego cost $612,370. Growth of real estate prices has not been accompanied by comparable growth of household incomes:
Housing Affordability Index-US:One is published monthly by the National Association of Realtors. Below 100 indicates the median income family would need more than 50 percent of their income to "afford" an entry level home based on housing price and mortgage rates...
(percentage of households that can afford to buy a median-priced house) fell below 20% in early 2000s. San Diego metropolitan area had the second worst median multiple (ratio of median house price to median household income) of all metropolitan areas in the United States. As a consequence, San Diego had experienced negative net migration since 2004, with significant numbers of people moving to
Baja CaliforniaBaja California is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises the northern half of the Baja California peninsula, north...
and
Riverside countyRiverside County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of California, stretching from Orange County to the Colorado River, which forms the border with Arizona...
, with many residents commuting daily from
TijuanaTijuana , is the largest city of the Mexican state of Baja California, situated on the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to its sister city of San Diego, California. Tijuana is the westernmost city in Mexico, however, the westernmost population center is located in Isla Guadalupe...
, Temecula, and Murrieta, to their jobs in San Diego. Others are leaving the state altogether and moving to more affordable regions.
From 2005 to 2007, San Diego experienced more than a 15% decline in real estate prices, which continued to accelerate into 2008. The two-year drop already experienced is worse than the four-year period between June, 1992, and November, 1996, when the region experienced an 11.8% decline in housing prices. Much of the decrease is blamed on the speculative attitude of investors in the early 2000s, who bought much of the available real estate, hoping to "flip" it for a large profit shortly thereafter, and the availability of "stated income" and other "exotic" loans available. When the decline hit, and adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) adjusted, many investors simply abandoned their properties, and areas that recently experienced double-digit annual increases in property value, such as San Diego,
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
, Miami, and
Las VegasLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and entertainment. Las Vegas, which bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of...
were hit the hardest. In the first quarter of 2008, the number of
foreclosureForeclosure is the legal and professional proceeding in which a mortgagee, or other lien holder, usually a lender, obtains a court ordered termination of a mortgagor's equitable right of redemption. Usually a lender obtains a security interest from a borrower who mortgages or pledges an asset like...
s repossessed by banks exceeded the number of home sales.
Film Commission
The
San Diego Film CommissionThe San Diego Film Commission is dedicated to promoting San Diego as a film-friendly region, coordinating and facilitating the permission process and serving as a liaison with local government, the community, and the production industry. In the early 1970s, the television series Harry O came to...
was formed in 1976 (named the San Diego Motion Picture and Television Bureau) to coordinate and facilitate the permission process and serve as a liaison with local government, the community, and the production industry.
By the early 1980s, the Bureau’s efforts resulted in various San Diego-based films. These included
Simon & SimonSimon & Simon is a 1980s detective television series starring Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker.-History:The original 1978 pilot called Pirate's Key was set in Florida...
and
Top GunTop Gun is a 1986 movie that was directed by Tony Scott, and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, in association with the Paramount Pictures company...
, created jobs for San Diegans and more than $5 million in economic impact. The Bureau was later known as the San Diego Film Commission. During the 1990’s, there were films such as
Silk StalkingsSilk Stalkings is a TV crime drama originally shown on CBS in 1991 as part of the network's late-night Crimetime After Primetime programming package, and rebroadcast on the USA Network. After CBS ended the Crimetime experiment in 1993, the series ran exclusively on USA until its finale in the...
,
TrafficTraffic is a 2000 crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the intricacies of the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker, whose lives affect each other even though they do not meet...
, and
Antwone FisherAntwone Fisher is a 2002 American drama film directed by Denzel Washington, marking his directorial debut. He also stars in the film as the psychiatrist, Jerome Davenport, alongside Hollywood newcomers Derek Luke, who plays the title role , and ex-model Joy Bryant, as Fisher's girlfriend.The film...
. In November 1997, the Film Commission moved from under the auspice of the Chamber of Commerce to become an independent, non-profit corporation solely dedicated to the development of the production industry in San Diego. The Film Commission continues to be supported and funded as an economic development program by the City, County, and the Port of San Diego.
Primary and secondary schools
The San Diego Unified School District, also known as
San Diego City SchoolsSan Diego City Schools, also known as the San Diego Unified School District, is the school district of San Diego, California. It was founded in 1854...
, is the
school district-United States:In the United States, public schools are either school districts, which are independent special-purpose governments, or dependent school systems, which are under the control of state or local government. A school district is a legally separate body corporate and politic...
that serves the majority of the city, it includes 113
elementary schoolAn elementary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America...
s, 23
middle schoolMiddle school or junior high school serves as a "bridge" between elementary school and high school. The terms can be used in different ways in different countries, sometimes interchangeably...
s, 4 atypical schools, 10 alternative schools, 27 high schools, and 25
charter schoolCharter schools are elementary or secondary schools in the United States that receive public money but have been freed from some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth...
s. In the northern part of the county,
Poway Unified School DistrictPoway Unified School District is a school district located in Poway, California. The District operates 22 elementary schools , six middle schools , four comprehensive high schools , and one continuation high school. Twenty-one of its schools are located in the city of San Diego; 11, in the city of...
and
San Dieguito Union High School DistrictSan Dieguito Union High School District is a school district in San Diego, California serving students in the cities of Encinitas, Solana Beach and Del Mar and surrounding areas.Visit the district website: http://www.sduhsd.net-High schools:...
are districts outside city limits, but serve several schools within city limits. In the southern part of the county,
Sweetwater Union High School DistrictThe Sweetwater Union High School District is a school district located in San Diego County, California that serves adults and high school-aged students in the communities of Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, National City and the San Ysidro portion of San Diego....
serves multiple schools within city limits, although it is headquartered outside city limits.
Colleges and universities
According to education rankings released by the
U.S. Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
, 40.4 percent of San Diegans ages 25 and older hold
bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for four years, but can range from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
s. The census ranks the city as the ninth most educated city in the United States based on these figures.
Public colleges and universities in the city include
San Diego State UniversityFor a railway station that serves the campus, see SDSU Transit Center.San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
(SDSU),
University of California, San DiegoThe University of California, San Diego is a public research university located in La Jolla, San Diego, California, United States...
(UCSD), and the
San Diego Community College DistrictThe San Diego Community College District consists of the campuses of San Diego City College,San Diego Mesa College,San Diego Miramar College and San Diego Continuing Education. Serving over 100,000 students, it is the second largest community college district in the state of California and one of...
, which includes
San Diego City CollegeSan Diego City College is a public, two-year community college located in San Diego, California. It is administered by the San Diego Community College District. City College is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.City College is coeducational. It has a semester-based...
,
San Diego Mesa CollegeSan Diego Mesa College is a public, two-year community college perched on a mesa in the Kearny Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, California in the United States. It is the largest community college in San Diego The college is known informally as Mesa College or Mesa.-Academics:Mesa College is...
, and
San Diego Miramar CollegeSan Diego Miramar College is two-year community college located in San Diego, CA, USA. It is administered by the San Diego Community College District.-History:...
. Private colleges and universities in the city include
University of San DiegoThe University of San Diego is a Roman Catholic university in San Diego, California. USD offers more than sixty bachelor's, master’s, and doctoral programs...
(USD),
Point Loma Nazarene UniversityPoint Loma Nazarene University is a Christian liberal arts college, its main campus located on the Point Loma oceanfront in San Diego, California. It was founded as a bible college 1902 by the Church of the Nazarene.-History:...
(PLNU),
Alliant International UniversityAlliant International University is a private, not-for-profit institution of higher education based in California. Alliant was formed in 2001 by the combination of two older institutions: the California School of Professional Psychology and United States International University .Alliant is made...
(AIU),
National UniversityNational University may refer to:*National University *National University * National Universities in Argentina*National University of IrelandSee also:*National Universities...
,
San Diego Christian CollegeSan Diego Christian College is a private, conservative evangelical Christian liberal arts college located in El Cajon, California, in suburban San Diego, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.-History:In January 1970, Tim F...
,
John Paul the Great Catholic UniversityJohn Paul the Great Catholic University is located in San Diego, California. It currently offers Bachelor of Science degrees in Communications Media, Business, and Technology, each with two or more concentrations offered...
, Coleman University,
University of RedlandsThe University of Redlands is a private liberal arts and sciences university located in Redlands, California. The university's campus sits on 160 acres near downtown Redlands. The university was founded in 1907 and was associated with the American Baptist Church. The land for the university was...
School of Business, Design Institute of San Diego (DISD),
Fashion Institute of Design & MerchandisingThe Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising or FIDM is a co-educational, specialized private college located in California dedicated to educating students for the Fashion, Entertainment, Interior Design, and Graphic Design industries....
's San Diego campus,
NewSchool of Architecture and DesignNewSchool of Architecture and Design is a private educational institution located in downtown San Diego offering:* Bachelor of Architecture * Master of Architecture * Master's of Landscape Architecture...
,
Pacific Oaks CollegePacific Oaks College is located in Pasadena, California, United States.Pacific Oaks College is a learning institution that is training students not only to be professionals but advocates. Its anti-bias curriculum has created strong efforts to challenge social injustice and point out issues related...
San Diego Campus, The Art Institute of California, San Diego,
Southern States UniversitySouthern States University is an unaccredited private university founded in 1983 in Southern California. It has campuses in San Diego and Newport Beach.-External links:*...
(SSU), and
Woodbury UniversityWoodbury University is a private, non-profit, coeducational, nonsectarian university located in Burbank, California.-History:The school was founded in 1884 as Woodbury's Business College by its namesake, Francis Chute Woodbury, formerly a partner in Heald's Business College in San Francisco, thus...
School of Architecture's satellite campus.
There is one medical school in the city, the UCSD School of Medicine. There are three
ABAThe American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
accredited law schools in the city, which include
California Western School of LawFounded in 1924, California Western School of Law is a private, non-profit law school located in San Diego, California. The school was accredited by the American Bar Association in 1962 and became a member of the Association of American Law Schools in 1967. It is the oldest law school in San Diego...
,
Thomas Jefferson School of LawThe Thomas Jefferson School of Law, commonly referred to as TJSL, is a private, non-profit law school in San Diego, California offering Juris Doctor and Master of Law degree programs....
, and
University of San Diego School of LawThe University of San Diego School of Law, commonly referred to as USD Law, is a law school in San Diego, California. Founded in 1954, the law school has held ABA accredition since 1961. The school is a member of the Order of the Coif, the most distinguished mark awarded American law schools...
. There is also one unaccredited law school,
Western Sierra Law SchoolWestern Sierra Law School is a private, independent and non-sectarian postsecondary degree granting institution located in the city of San Diego, California. The school has full institutional approval by the State of California Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education.The school is...
.
Libraries
The city has multiple public libraries, including the main
San Diego Public LibraryThe San Diego Public Library is a public library system serving the city of San Diego, California.-Early History:The San Diego Public Library was established on May 19, 1882, by an elected board of library trustees...
. The municipal library is headquartered downtown, and has 35 branches throughout the city. The libraries have had reduced operating hours since 2003 due to the city's lack of finances. In 2006 the city increased spending on libraries by $2.1 million. In addition, SDSU features the
Malcolm A. Love LibraryMalcom A. Love Library is the primary academic library on the campus of San Diego State University in San Diego, California...
, and at UCSD, the
Geisel LibraryThe Geisel Library is the main library building on the University of California, San Diego campus and contains four of the nine libraries located on campus...
.
Culture
- See also: List of museums in San Diego
Many popular museums, such as the
San Diego Museum of ArtThe San Diego Museum of Art opened as the Museum of Fine Arts on February 28, 1926. The funders turned over ownership of the building to the City of San Diego. It is located in Balboa Park. The museum building was designed by architect William Templeton Johnson.The Museum's collections are...
, the
San Diego Natural History MuseumThe San Diego Natural History Museum was founded in 1874 as the San Diego Society of Natural History. The present location of the museum in San Diego's Balboa Park was dedicated on January 14, 1933....
, the
San Diego Museum of ManThe San Diego Museum of Man is a museum of anthropology located in Balboa Park, San Diego, California. The museum's collections and permanent exhibits focus on the pre-Columbian history of the western Americas, with materials drawn from Native American cultures of the Southern California region,...
, and the
Museum of Photographic ArtsThe Museum of Photographic Arts or MoPA is a museum in San Diego’s Balboa Park. MoPA opened in 1983, with Arthur Ollman its first Executive Director....
are located in
Balboa ParkBalboa Park is a 1,200 acre urban cultural park in San Diego, California, United States named after the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. The trees here were planted by the famous American gardener Kate Sessions. Placed in reserve in 1835, it is one of the oldest sites in the United States...
. The
Museum of Contemporary Art San DiegoThe Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego , in San Diego, California, USA, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present.
-History:...
(MCASD) is located in an ocean front building in
La JollaLa Jolla is a wealthy seaside resort community, occupying seven miles of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean in Southern California. Although within the city limits of San Diego, California, La Jolla retains its own small-town atmosphere and its own civic pride...
and has a branch located at the
Santa Fe DepotUnion Station in San Diego, California, is a train station built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to replace the existing Victorian-style structure erected in 1887 for the California Southern Railroad Company. The Santa Fe Depot officially opened on March 8, 1915, to accommodate...
downtown. The
Columbia districtColumbia is a neighborhood located in Downtown San Diego, California. The neighborhood is largely commercial, however there are a large number of highrise condominium buildings under construction....
downtown is home to historic ship exhibits belonging to the San Diego Maritime Museum, headlined by the
Star of IndiaThe Star of India may refer to one of the followings:* Star of India : the largest star sapphire in the world.* Star of India : British Indian flag* Order of the Star of India : an order of chivalry associated with British India...
, as well as the unrelated
San Diego Aircraft Carrier MuseumThe San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum is a maritime museum located in downtown San Diego, California at Navy Pier. The museum consists of the aircraft carrier USS Midway.-History:...
featuring the
USS MidwayUSS Midway was an aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, the lead ship of her class, and the first to be commissioned after the end of World War II...
aircraft carrier.
San Diego has a growing art scene. "Kettner Nights" at the Art and Design District in
Little ItalyLittle Italy is a somewhat hilly neighborhood in Downtown San Diego, California that was originally a predominately Italian fishing neighborhood...
has art and design exhibitions throughout many retail design stores and galleries on selected Friday nights. "Ray at Night" at
North ParkNorth Park is a neighborhood in San Diego, California, USA. It is situated to the northeast of Balboa Park, bounded on the north by El Cajon Boulevard, on the south by Juniper Street and the South Park neighborhood, on the east by Interstate 805 and City Heights, and on the west by Florida Canyon...
host a variety of small scale art galleries on the second Saturday evening of each month.
La JollaLa Jolla is a wealthy seaside resort community, occupying seven miles of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean in Southern California. Although within the city limits of San Diego, California, La Jolla retains its own small-town atmosphere and its own civic pride...
and nearby
Solana BeachSolana Beach is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. The population was 12,979 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Solana Beach is located at ....
also have a variety of art galleries.
The
San Diego SymphonyThe San Diego Symphony is an American symphony orchestra, based in San Diego, California. On 6 December 1910, it gave its first concert as the San Diego Civic Orchestra.Currently, the Symphony performs over 100 concerts each season...
at Symphony Towers performs on a regular basis and is directed by
Jahja LingJahja Ling is an orchestra conductor. He is of Chinese descent and is now an American citizen. He began to play the piano at age 4 and studied at the Yayasan Pendidikan Musik School of Music. At age 17, he won the Jakarta Piano Competition and, one year later, was awarded a Rockefeller grant to...
. The
San Diego OperaThe San Diego Opera Association is a professional opera company located in the city of San Diego, California and is a member of OPERA America. It was founded in 1950 to present productions by San Francisco Opera in the San Diego area...
at Civic Center Plaza, directed by Ian Campbell, was ranked by
Opera AmericaOpera America, officially OPERA America, is a service organization in North America promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera...
as one of the top 10 opera companies in the United States.
Old Globe TheatreThe Old Globe Theatre, located in San Diego, California, produces about 15 plays and musicals annually, including Shakespeare, in summer and winter seasons...
at Balboa Park produces about 15 plays and musicals annually. The
La Jolla PlayhouseLa Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre-in-residence on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. -Background:...
at UCSD is directed by
Christopher AshleyChristopher Ashley is a stage director. Since 2007, he has been the artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse.In 1997, he completed The Drama League program for directors....
. Both the Old Globe Theatre and the La Jolla Playhouse have produced the world premieres of plays and musicals that have gone on to win Tony Awards or nominations on
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
. The Joan B. Kroc Theatre at Kroc Center's Performing Arts Center is a 600-seat state-of-the-art theatre that hosts music, dance and theatre performances. The
San Diego Repertory TheatreThe San Diego Repertory Theatre was developed out of Indian Magique, a street theater group of extraordinarily talented actors/writers/directors/producers who were fellow theatre graduates from USIU. Founded initially in 1975 by Sam Woodhouse, Christopher R, John Lee and others, they met in the...
at the Lyceum Theatres in Horton Plaza produces a variety of plays and musicals. Other professional theatrical production companies include the
Lyric Opera San DiegoLyric Opera San Diego is a San Diego, California based theatre company specialising in Comic opera, Operetta, and Musical theatre. The company was founded in 1979, primarily for the purpose of performing Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. At the time it was known as the San Diego Gilbert and Sullivan...
and the Starlight Theatre.
TourismTourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other...
has affected the city's culture, as San Diego houses many tourist attractions, such as
SeaWorld San DiegoSeaWorld San Diego is a theme park located in San Diego, California. The park is owned by Busch Entertainment Corporation, a division of Anheuser-Busch InBev.- History :...
,
BelmontBelmont Park is an historic theme park located in the Mission Bay area of San Diego, California. Located on the beach, it attracts thousands of people each year...
amusement park,
San Diego ZooThe World Famous San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California is one of the largest and most progressive zoos in the world with over 4,000 animals of more than 800 species. It is also one of the few zoos in the world that houses the giant panda...
, and the nearby
San Diego Wild Animal ParkThe San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park is a zoo in the San Pasqual Valley area of San Diego, California. It is one of the largest tourist attractions in the city and Southern California. The Park houses a large array of wild and endangered animals including species from the continents of Africa,...
and
Legoland CaliforniaLegoland California is an amusement park in Carlsbad, California focused on Lego bricks. It opened on March 20, 1999. It is the third Legoland park to open, and is the only one outside of Europe...
. San Diego's
SpanishThe Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in world history, and one of the first global empires. It included territories and colonies in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, from the 15th century through—in the case of its African holdings—the latter portion of the 20th century...
influence can be seen in the many historic sites across the city, such as the
Spanish missionsThe Spanish missions in California comprise a series of religious outposts established by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order between 1769 and 1823 to spread the Christian faith among the local Native Americans. The missions represented the first major effort by Europeans to colonize the...
and
Balboa ParkBalboa Park is a 1,200 acre urban cultural park in San Diego, California, United States named after the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. The trees here were planted by the famous American gardener Kate Sessions. Placed in reserve in 1835, it is one of the oldest sites in the United States...
. Cuisine in San Diego is diverse, and includes European-American, Mexican-American, and Asian-American cuisine. Annual events in San Diego include
Comic-ConComic-Con International: San Diego, commonly known as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con was founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and later the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1970 by Shel Dorf and a group of San Diegans...
, San Diego/Del Mar Fair, and
Street Scene Music FestivalStreet Scene is a music festival held each summer in San Diego, California. Street Scene has now become one of America's largest annual music festivals, including over 70 musical acts covering different musical genres and styles on multiple stages.-History:...
.
Hundreds of movies and a dozen TV shows have been filmed in San Diego, a tradition going back as far as 1898.
Sports
San Diego has several sports venues. The
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the largest professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
's
San Diego ChargersThe San Diego Chargers are an American Professional Football team based in San Diego, California. They are currently members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . The club began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League...
plays in
Qualcomm StadiumQualcomm Stadium , formerly known as San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in San Diego, California. It is the current home of the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League and of the San Diego State University Aztecs college football team...
, also the
NCAA Division IDivision I is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States....
San Diego State AztecsThe San Diego State Aztecs are the collegiate athletics and sports teams for San Diego State University .San Diego State has organized facilities for baseball, basketball, american football, golf, gymnastics, association football, tennis, track, softball, rowing , water polo, swimming, diving, and...
, as well as local
high school footballHigh school football, referring to the American code in the United States and the Canadian code in Canada, is one of the most popular interscholastic sports at high schools in both countries...
championships. International soccer games and
SupercrossSupercross is a motorcycle racing sport involving off-road motorcycles on an artificially-made dirt tracks consisting of steep jumps and obstacles. Professional supercross contest races are held almost exclusively within professional baseball and football stadiums.-History:Supercross was derived...
events take place at Qualcomm where
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
was once played. Three
NFLThe National Football League is the largest professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
Super BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League, the premier association of professional American football. In most years, the Super Bowl is the most-watched American television broadcast. Many popular singers and musicians have performed during the event’s pre-game and...
championships have been held there. Two of
college footballCollege football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies. It was the venue through which American football first gained popularity in the United States...
's annual bowl games are held there: the
Holiday BowlThe Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that has been played annually at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, since 1978...
which features a Pac-10 team against a Big-12 team and the
Poinsettia BowlThe Poinsettia Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that was created in 2005. The game was created by the organizers of the Holiday Bowl and is played annually at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California...
.
Balboa StadiumBalboa Stadium is located in San Diego, California, and was built in 1914 as part of the many buildings erected for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition located in Balboa Park. Originally called City Stadium, and designed by the Quayle Brothers architectural firm, it is located to the East of San...
was the city's first stadium, constructed in 1914, where the San Diego Chargers once played. Currently soccer,
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
, and
track and fieldTrack and field athletics is a collection of sports events that involve running, throwing, jumping and walking. Organised athletics are traced back to the Ancient Olympic Games from 776 BC, and most modern events are conducted by the member clubs of the International Association of Athletics...
are played in Balboa Stadium.
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
's
San Diego PadresThe San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times.The Padres are one of four teams...
play in
Petco ParkPetco Park is an open-air ballpark in downtown San Diego, California, USA. It opened in 2004, replacing Qualcomm Stadium as the home park of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres. Before then, the Padres shared Qualcomm Stadium with the NFL's San Diego Chargers...
. The semi-final and final games of the inaugural
World Baseball ClassicThe World Baseball Classic is an international baseball tournament sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation and created by Major League Baseball , the Major League Baseball Players Association , and other professional baseball leagues and their players associations around the world...
were played there in 2006, and an earlier round of the second WBC was held there in 2009. Some soccer and rugby events occasionally take place in the ballpark. The
USA SevensThe USA Sevens is an annual rugby union sevens tournament held in the United States. It is part of the IRB Sevens World Series. While the Sevens World Series has been held since 1999-2000, the USA Sevens was only introduced in 2004, as part of the 2003-04 series. In 2007, the tournament had the...
is played in the city. This is an event in the annual
IRB Sevens World SeriesThe IRB Sevens World Series, known officially as the IRB Sevens before the 2006-07 season and also sometimes called the World Sevens Series, is a series of international rugby union sevens tournaments organised for the first time in the 1999-2000 season. The tournaments, run by the International...
for international teams in
rugby sevensRugby sevens, also known as seven-a-side and VIIs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches. The game originated in Melrose, Scotland, and the Melrose Sevens is still played annually. The game is popular at all levels,...
, a variant of
rugby unionRugby union is a full contact team sport, a form of football which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. It is played with an oval-shaped ball, outdoors on a level field, usually with a grass surface, 100 m...
with seven players per side instead of 15. The USA Sevens moved from the Los Angeles area to San Diego in
2007The 2007 Steinlager USA Sevens was a rugby union sevens tournament held on February 10 and February 11, 2007 in the United States at 44,500 capacity PETCO Park in San Diego, California. It is part of the IRB Sevens World Series...
.
BasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
is played in the San Diego Sports Arena, where
ice hockeyIce Hockey is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a puck into the opposing team's goal. It is a fast-paced and physical sport...
,
indoor soccerIndoor soccer or arena soccer, or six-a-side football in the United Kingdom, is a game derived from association football adapted for play in an indoor arena such as a turf-covered hockey arena or skating rink. The most important difference in play is that the indoor field is surrounded by a wall...
and
boxingBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
have taken place.
NCAA Division IDivision I is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States....
San Diego State AztecsThe San Diego State Aztecs are the collegiate athletics and sports teams for San Diego State University .San Diego State has organized facilities for baseball, basketball, american football, golf, gymnastics, association football, tennis, track, softball, rowing , water polo, swimming, diving, and...
men's and women's
basketballCollege basketball most often refers to the American basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III.-Division I:There are 347 schools in 32...
games are played at
Cox ArenaViejas Arena, located on the San Diego State University campus in San Diego, California, USA, is the home of the SDSU Aztecs men's and women's basketball teams. Viejas Arena opened its doors to the campus and community in July of 1997 and seats 12,414 for basketball and up to 12,845 for concerts....
at Aztec Bowl on the campus of
San Diego State UniversityFor a railway station that serves the campus, see SDSU Transit Center.San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
.
College footballCollege football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies. It was the venue through which American football first gained popularity in the United States...
and soccer,
basketballCollege basketball most often refers to the American basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III.-Division I:There are 347 schools in 32...
and
volleyball Volleyball is an Olympic team sport in which two teams of 6 players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules...
are played at the
Torero StadiumThe Torero Stadium is a 6,000 seat stadium in San Diego, California that is primarily used for soccer and American football. It was built in 1961...
and the
Jenny Craig PavilionJenny Craig Pavilion is a 5,100 seat, multi-purpose arena, built in 2000 in San Diego, California, on the campus of the University of San Diego. It was named for weight-loss entrepreneur Jenny Craig. The Pavilion is sometimes affectionately known as the "Slim Gym", a punning reference to the...
at
USDThe University of San Diego is a Roman Catholic university in San Diego, California. USD offers more than sixty bachelor's, master’s, and doctoral programs...
.
The
San Diego State AztecsThe San Diego State Aztecs are the collegiate athletics and sports teams for San Diego State University .San Diego State has organized facilities for baseball, basketball, american football, golf, gymnastics, association football, tennis, track, softball, rowing , water polo, swimming, diving, and...
(
MWCThe Mountain West Conference , the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS , officially began operations in July 1999. Geographically, the MWC covers a broad expanse of the western United States, with member institutions located in California,...
) and the San Diego Toreros (
WCCThe West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of eight member schools across the states of California, Oregon, and Washington.All of the current members are private, religiously-affiliated institutions...
) are
NCAA Division IDivision I is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States....
teams. The UCSD Tritons (
CCAAThe California Collegiate Athletic Association is an intercollegiate athletic conference in the Division II of the NCAA. All of its current members are public universities, and all except for UC San Diego are members of the California State University system.It was founded in December 1938 and...
) are members of
NCAA Division IIDivision II is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. It offers an alternative to both the highly competitive level of intercollegiate sports offered in NCAA Division I and to the non-scholarship level offered in Division III...
while the
Point Loma Nazarene Sea LionsPoint Loma Nazarene University is a Christian liberal arts college, its main campus located on the Point Loma oceanfront in San Diego, California. It was founded as a bible college 1902 by the Church of the Nazarene.-History:...
and
San Diego Christian CollegeSan Diego Christian College is a private, conservative evangelical Christian liberal arts college located in El Cajon, California, in suburban San Diego, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.-History:In January 1970, Tim F...
(
GSACThe Golden State Athletic Conference is a college athletics conference in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics . The conference commissioner is Dr. Cliff Hamlow of Azusa Pacific University. Conference leadership is shared among the member institutions...
) are members of the
NAIAThe National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA permits membership to colleges and universities...
.
The city has had two
NBAThe National Basketball Association is a professional basketball league, composed of thirty teams in North America . It is an active member of USA Basketball , which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the National Governing Body for basketball in the United States...
franchises, the San Diego Rockets and the Buffalo Braves. The Rockets represented the city of San Diego from 1967 until 1971. After the conclusion of the 1970–1971 season, they moved to Texas where they became the
Houston RocketsThe Houston Rockets is an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...
. Seven years later, a relocated
NBAThe National Basketball Association is a professional basketball league, composed of thirty teams in North America . It is an active member of USA Basketball , which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the National Governing Body for basketball in the United States...
franchise (the Buffalo Braves) moved to town and was renamed the San Diego Clippers. The Clippers played in the San Diego Sports Arena from 1978 until 1984. Prior to the start of the 1984–1985 season, the team was moved to Los Angeles, and is now called the
Los Angeles ClippersThe Los Angeles Clippers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the National Basketball Association and are members of the NBA Western Conference's Pacific Division. The club's home games are played at the Staples Center, which they share with the Los...
.
Other sports franchises that represented San Diego include the
San Diego ConquistadorsThe San Diego Conquistadors, nicknamed the "Q's", were an American Basketball Association team based in San Diego, California. They were the only expansion team in the history of the ABA. The team played from 1972 to 1975. They were replaced in the ABA by the San Diego Sails.-San Diego...
of the
American Basketball AssociationThe American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA-NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
, the
San Diego SockersThe San Diego Sockers were one of the most successful indoor soccer teams in the sport's short history. The team won ten championships in both the original Major Indoor Soccer League and the North American Soccer League....
(which played in various indoor and outdoor soccer leagues during their existence), the
San Diego FlashThe San Diego Flash is a Men's Outdoor Professional Soccer Club, based in San Diego, California. The team originally played in the A-League between 1998 and 2001....
and the
San Diego GauchosSan Diego Gauchos were an American soccer team, founded in 2002. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League , the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2006, when the team was sold to new owners, and the franchise was disbanded.The Gauchos played their...
, both playing in different divisions of the
United Soccer LeagueThe United Soccer League was a professional soccer league in the United States in the mid-1980s.After the demise of the second incarnation of the American Soccer League in 1983, four ASL teams founded the USL...
, the
San Diego SpiritThe San Diego Spirit was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego in San Diego, California. The team began play in 2001...
of the
Women's United Soccer AssociationThe Women's United Soccer Association was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the United States...
, the
San Diego MarinersThe San Diego Mariners were an ice hockey team based out of San Diego that played in the World Hockey Association. They played from 1974 to 1977. Their home ice was San Diego Sports Arena...
of the
World Hockey AssociationThe World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...
, and three different
San Diego GullsThe San Diego Gulls is the name of five different minor league professional ice hockey teams based in San Diego, California.* San Diego Gulls , a team in the Western Hockey League....
ice hockeyIce Hockey is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a puck into the opposing team's goal. It is a fast-paced and physical sport...
teams. The
San Diego RiptideThe San Diego Riptide is a defunct Arena Football League af2 team. The team played its home games at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California.The team was originally coached by Cree Morris, then Mouse Davis and then Sean Ponder....
and the
San Diego ShockwaveThe San Diego Shockwave was a 2007 expansion team from the National Indoor Football League. They played their home games at the Cox Arena, which is also home to the San Diego State Aztecs basketball teams....
were indoor football teams that played at the Sports Arena and
Cox ArenaViejas Arena, located on the San Diego State University campus in San Diego, California, USA, is the home of the SDSU Aztecs men's and women's basketball teams. Viejas Arena opened its doors to the campus and community in July of 1997 and seats 12,414 for basketball and up to 12,845 for concerts....
, respectively. San Diego has been a candidate for a
Major League SoccerMajor League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by United States Soccer Federation . The league comprises 15 teams, 14 in the U.S. and one in Canada...
franchise, especially due to the city recording
FIFA World CupThe FIFA World Cup, occasionally called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
television audiences which are double the national average. The city has pursued a franchise. Some observers believe that the city may get one of three franchises to be offered before 2010. The city had an active men's team playing in the fourth level of American soccer, the
San Diego PumitasSan Diego Pumitas were an American soccer team, founded in 1999, who competed in the National Premier Soccer League , the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, from 2005 until 2007. The Pumitas played their home matches at Balboa Stadium in San Diego, California, the former home of the San...
.
San Diego has the largest championship drought in the nation with at least two major-league sports franchises; dating back to
1963*Eastern Division playoff*:Boston Patriots 26, Buffalo Bills 8, December 28, 1963, War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, New York*AFL Championship Game*:San Diego Chargers 51, Boston Patriots 10, January 5, 1964, Balboa Stadium, San Diego, California-1963 Championship:...
(45 Years as of 2008), as well as being the largest United States city to have not won a
Super BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League, the premier association of professional American football. In most years, the Super Bowl is the most-watched American television broadcast. Many popular singers and musicians have performed during the event’s pre-game and...
,
World SeriesThe World Series has been the annual championship series of the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada since 1903, concluding the postseason of Major League Baseball...
,
Stanley CupThe Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club cup trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion. It has been referred to as The Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
,
NBA FinalsThe NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association and the conclusion of the sport's postseason each June. The series was named the NBA World Championship Series until 1986....
or any other Major League sports championship; this is known as the
San Diego Sports CurseThe San Diego sports curse is a superstition cited for the city of San Diego's inability to claim a modern major league sports championship in the United States . With a population of over one million, San Diego is the largest city in the United States with this distinction...
.
The city-owned golf course at
Torrey PinesTorrey Pines Golf Course is a municipal public golf course owned by the city of San Diego, California. It sits on the coastal cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the community of La Jolla south of Torrey Pines State Reserve. It has two famous golf courses, the North Course and the South Course....
hosts the annual
Buick InvitationalThe Buick Invitational is a PGA Tour professional golf tournament played in the San Diego, California area in the early part of the Tour season, known as the "West Coast Swing." The tournament was originally known as the San Diego Open, and was noted for having singer-actor Andy Williams as a...
tournament on the
PGA TourThe PGA Tour is an organization that operates the main professional golf tours in the United States. It is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, a suburb of Jacksonville...
. Torrey Pines was also the site of the
2008 U.S. Open Golf ChampionshipThe 2008 United States Open Golf Championship was the 108th U.S. Open, played from June 12 to June 16 2008 at Torrey Pines, north of San Diego. The U.S. Open was held at the Torrey Pines for the first time, and took place on the South Course. Tiger Woods won his third U.S...
.
San Diego is also home to several premier amateur sports events, such as the San Diego Crew Classic, held in Mission Bay every spring and featuring 100 or more college and amateur crews. The amateur beach sport
Over-the-lineOver-the-line is a game related to baseball and softball. Like those games, you have the batter, pitcher, and fielders. Because a game requires only three people per team, it's considerably easier to get a good informal game going. Equipment consists of a rope , an "official" softball bat and a...
was invented in San Diego, and the annual world Over-the-line championships are held at Mission Bay every year. The
San Diego Yacht ClubSan Diego Yacht Club is a yacht club located in San Diego Bay. Its address is 1011 Anchorage Lane, San Diego, CA 92106. It is located in Point Loma across from a spit of land known as Shelter Island.- Facilities :...
hosted the
America's CupThe America’s Cup is the most prestigious regatta and match race in the sport of sailing, and the oldest active trophy in international sport, predating the Modern Olympics by 45 years. The sport attracts top sailors and yacht designers because of its long history and prestige...
yacht races three times during the period 1988 to 1995.
The city hosts several well-known road races including the original
Rock 'n' Roll MarathonThe Rock 'n' Roll Marathon is an annual marathon foot-race held in San Diego, California, USA. It was established in 1998 and has been run every year since...
in June, the America’s Finest City Half Marathon in August, the La Jolla Half Marathon in April, and several triathlons.
| Club |
Sport |
League |
Stadium |
| San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times.The Padres are one of four teams...
|
BaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond...
|
MLBMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
(National League) |
Petco ParkPetco Park is an open-air ballpark in downtown San Diego, California, USA. It opened in 2004, replacing Qualcomm Stadium as the home park of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres. Before then, the Padres shared Qualcomm Stadium with the NFL's San Diego Chargers...
|
San Diego ChargersThe San Diego Chargers are an American Professional Football team based in San Diego, California. They are currently members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . The club began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League...
|
American FootballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
|
AFLThe American Football League was a major Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when it merged with the established National Football League . The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
1961–1969, NFLThe National Football League is the largest professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
1970–present |
Qualcomm StadiumQualcomm Stadium , formerly known as San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in San Diego, California. It is the current home of the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League and of the San Diego State University Aztecs college football team...
|
| O.M.B.A.C. RFC Old Mission Beach Athletic Club Rugby Football Club is a SuperLeague rugby union team based in San Diego, California. OMBAC RFC is directly affiliated with the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club...
|
Rugby union Rugby union is a full contact team sport, a form of football which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. It is played with an oval-shaped ball, outdoors on a level field, usually with a grass surface, 100 m...
|
Rugby Super League (US) |
Little Q Rugby Pitch at QualcommQualcomm Stadium , formerly known as San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in San Diego, California. It is the current home of the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League and of the San Diego State University Aztecs college football team...
|
San Diego WFC SeaLionsSan Diego WFC SeaLions is an American women’s soccer team, founded in 1988. The team is a member of the Women's Premier Soccer League, the third tier of women’s soccer in the United States and Canada...
|
Soccer |
Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League is a national women's soccer league in the United States and Puerto Rico, and is on the 2nd level of women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, alongside the W-League and below Women's Professional Soccer....
|
Cathedral Catholic High School Cathedral Catholic High School is a private coeducational Catholic High School in San Diego, California. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, and was originally founded as the University of San Diego High School in 1957...
|
| San Diego Wildcats The San Diego Surf is a professional basketball team of the American Basketball Association based in San Diego, California. The surf is a member of the ABA's SoCal division and its home arena is the Ray and Joan Kroc Center....
|
BasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a 10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
|
American Basketball Association |
Kroc Center A Kroc Center is one of many community centers run by the Salvation Army.-Kroc Center San Diego:...
|
Media
The following are published within the city: the daily newspaper,
The San Diego Union-TribuneThe San Diego Union-Tribune is a daily newspaper published in San Diego, California. The result of a February 2, 1992, merger of The San Diego Union, founded October 10, 1868, and the Evening Tribune, founded December 2, 1895, it refers to itself as the oldest business in San Diego County and the...
and its online portal, signonsandiego.com
, and the alternative newsweeklies, the San Diego CityBeatSan Diego CityBeat is an alternative weekly newspaper in San Diego, California.Circulation: 49,750 Audited By: Verified Audit CirculationPublication Day: WednesdayMarket Served: San Diego CountyNational Advertising: AWN...
and San Diego ReaderThe San Diego Reader is the largest alternative press paper in the county of San Diego, distributed gratis in stands and private businesses throughout the county, funded by advertisements...
. Another newspaper is the North County TimesThe North County Times is a local newspaper in north San Diego County, California owned by Lee Enterprises, current publisher Peter York. It was formed in 1995 from the merger of the North County Blade-Citizen of Oceanside and the Escondido Times-Advocate...
, which is distributed in San Diego's North County area.
San Diego's first television station was
KFMBKFMB-TV is the local CBS television affiliate of San Diego. Its transmitter is located atop Mount Soledad above La Jolla, California broadcasting over the air in digital on channel 8. It is available to all of the San Diego area cable providers on Cox Communications, AT&T U-verse, and Time Warner...
, which began broadcasting on May 16, 1949. Since the
Federal Communications CommissionThe Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, directed, and empowered by Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President...
(FCC) licensed seven television stations in Los Angeles, two VHF channels were available for San Diego because of its relative proximity to the larger city. In 1952, however, the FCC began licensing UHF channels, making it possible for cities such as San Diego to acquire more stations. Stations based in Mexico (with
ITU prefixThe International Telecommunication Union allocates call sign prefixes for radio and television stations of all types. They also form the basis for aircraft registration identifiers. These prefixes are agreed upon internationally, and are a form of country code...
es of XE and XH) also serve the San Diego market. Television stations today include
XHTJBXHTJB is the television call sign for the local Once TV repeater in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico....
3 (
ONCE TVOnce TV , also known as Canal 11 , whose call sign is XEIPN-TV, is a Mexican university-owned educational television network in Mexico City, owned and operated by the National Polytechnic Institute. It broadcasts across Mexico and to the United States through Once Mexico Channel on DirecTV and...
), XETV 6 (
CWThe CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
),
KFMBKFMB-TV is the local CBS television affiliate of San Diego. Its transmitter is located atop Mount Soledad above La Jolla, California broadcasting over the air in digital on channel 8. It is available to all of the San Diego area cable providers on Cox Communications, AT&T U-verse, and Time Warner...
8 (
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
),
KGTVKGTV is the ABC television affiliate in San Diego, California. It broadcasts as a digital only station on VHF channel 10 also using VHF channel 10 as its virtual channel through the use of PSIP . The station can be seen on Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, and AT&T U-verse on cable channel 10...
10 (
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
),
XEWTXEWT-TV is the television call sign for the Televisa television station in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Informally called "Tu Canal" , the channel can also be seen in most parts of the San Diego market...
12 (
TelevisaTelevisa is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate, the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract...
), KPBS 15 (
PBSThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television service with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. However, its operations are largely funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting...
), KBNT 17 (
UnivisionUnivision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest Latin American audience, largely due to repurposed telenovelas and other Mexican programs produced by Grupo Televisa...
),
XHASXHAS-TV, channel 33, is the Telemundo-affiliated television station for San Diego, California, licensed to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, with studios and offices in San Diego, shared with KBNT-CA and XHDTV-TV...
33 (
TelemundoTelemundo is a Spanish-language American television network. Angel Ramos launched the brand with a TV station in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1954 -- and it evolved into the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world...
),
K35DGK35DG, known on-air as UCSD TV, is a U.S. Class-A television station owned by the University of California, San Diego. They broadcast on UHF channel 35 in San Diego, as well as Time Warner Cable channel 18 and Cox digital channel 135. The channel airs public lectures, as well as documentaries and...
35 (UCSD-TV),
KNSDKNSD is the NBC television station based in San Diego, California. It uses the on-air branding NBC 7/39, which reflects its channel location on all San Diego-area cable systems and its over-the-air analog channel number...
39 (
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
), XHDTV 49 (
MNTVMyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
), KUSI 51 (Independent), and
KSWB-TVKSWB-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for San Diego, California. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter southeast of Spring Valley...
69 (
FoxThe Fox Broadcasting Company , commonly referred to as Fox , is an American television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, from 2004 to 2009 Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the 18–49 demographic...
). San Diego has a 93.5% cable penetration rate, one of the highest in the country. As such, most of the city's stations air on their own cable channel number for each area:
- Channel 6: Cable 6
- Channel 8: Cable 8
- Channel 10: Cable 10
- Channel 12: Cable 12 (Cox Cable Only)
- Channel 15: Cable 11
- Channel 21:
- Channel 27:
- Channel 33: Cable 22 (Cox Cable Only)
- Channel 39: Cable 7
- Channel 45:
- Channel 49: Cable 13
- Channel 51: Cable 9
- Channel 57:
- Channel 69: Cable 5
The radio stations in San Diego include nationwide broadcaster,
Clear Channel CommunicationsClear Channel Communications is an American media conglomerate company headquartered at 200 East Basse Road in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, who wields considerable influence in radio broadcasting, concert promotion and hosting, and fixed advertising in...
;
CBS RadioCBS Radio Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, fourth behind main rival Clear Channel Communications , Cumulus Media and Citadel Broadcasting...
, Midwest Television,
Lincoln Financial MediaLincoln Financial Media is a subsidiary of Lincoln National Corporation that owns radio stations in the United States.-Atlanta, Georgia:*WQXI - Sports*WSTR - Top 40-Miami, Florida:*WAXY - Sports...
, Finest City Broadcasting, and many other smaller stations and networks. Stations include: 91X (91.1FM),
KOGO AM 600KOGO is a talk radio station in San Diego, California. One of seven San Diego owned and operated Clear Channel Communications radio stations, KOGO's main focus is local and syndicated talk shows. At 5,000 watts day and night, the AM signal is one of the strongest in the region...
,
KFMB AM 760KFMB is a conservative talk radio station in San Diego, California, co-owned with KFMB-FM and KFMB-TV. KFMB is one of the few stations in the U.S. that increases power at night. The daytime power is limited due to KBRT-AM, a religious-programming station with transmitters on Santa Catalina Island....
,
KCEO AM 1000AM 1000 KCEO, Vista, California. Their typical signal strength is 2500 watts directional day, 250 watts directional at night. Transmitter is located near State Route 76, north of the city of license of Vista and is east of Oceanside. Studios are located in Carlsbad, California. This station is part...
,
KCBQ AM 1170KCBQ is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format and is owned by Salem Communications. The station offers Conservative talk programming such as Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager and Michael Medved...
,
KLSD AM 1360KLSD is a sports station based in San Diego, California. The sports programming began on November 12, 2007. Previously, KLSD's format was progressive talk radio....
Air AmericaAir America Media is an American radio network specializing in politically liberal talk programming. The network started programming on March 31, 2004 and features discussion and information programs with hosts reflecting progressive points of view...
, KFSD 1450 AMKFSD AM 1450 is an adult standards radio station based in North County, San Diego, California. It is owned and operated by Astor Broadcast Group. KFSD is actually a simulcast of sister station KSPA in Ontario, California...
, KPBS-FMKPBS-FM is a non-commercial public radio station licensed to San Diego State University, broadcasting in San Diego on 89.5 MHz, 89.1 MHz K206AC in La Jolla, and on 97.7 MHz KQVO in Calexico, Imperial County...
89.5, Channel 933KHTS-FM, also known as "Channel 933" or simply "nine-three-three", is a Rhythmic-leaning Top 40/CHR station in San Diego, California broadcasting in analog and digital HD Radio...
, Star 94.1KMYI is a commercial radio station in San Diego, California, broadcasting on 94.1 FM and in HD Radio. KMYI airs a hot adult contemporary music format branded as "Star 94.1".-History:...
, FM 94/9KBZT is a commercial modern rock music radio station in San Diego, California, broadcasting on 94.9 FM.-History:During the 1970s and '80s, KBZT was known as "KBest95" but in the 1980s morphed from oldies into soft rock, before being sold to Sandusky Radio and becoming "Y95" in 1987...
, KyXyKYXY is a San Diego, California, USA radio station with an adult contemporary music format. Its name is pronounced Kicksy.KyXy 96.5 broadcasts in HD Radio...
96.5, Free Radio San DiegoFree Radio San Diego is an unlicensed radio station located in San Diego, California. The founders claim that its creation was a reaction to Federal Communications Commission restrictions on new radio licenses. They have provided a commercial-free unlicensed broadcast since October 13, 2002...
(AKA Pirate RadioPirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. Its etymology can be traced to the unlicensed nature of the transmission, but historically there has been occasional but notable use of sea vessels – fitting the most common perception of a pirate – as broadcasting bases...
San Diego) 96.9FM FRSD, KSONKSON is a radio station licensed to serve San Diego, California, USA. The station, founded in 1964, is owned by Lincoln Financial Media and the broadcast license is held by Lincoln Financial Media Company of California....
97.3/92.1, KIFMKIFM is a commercial Smooth Jazz radio station in San Diego, California broadcasting on 98.1 MHz. The station is owned and operated by Lincoln Financial Media.KIFM was the 2005 winner of the Marconi Award for Smooth Jazz....
98.1, Jack-FM 100.7KFMB-FM is a commercial radio station located in San Diego, California, broadcasting on 100.7 FM. KFMB-FM airs an adult hits music format branded as "Jack FM".-History:...
, 101.5 KGB-FMKGB-FM is a classic rock radio station in San Diego, California. It is owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications.-History:*1922 July: W.K. Azbill was issued a licence and the callsign KFBC; he operated at 10 watts on 1210 kilocycles....
, KPRIKPRI is an AOR Station in San Diego, California that plays blues, reggae, folk, pop, and rock music from the mid-1960s through the present....
102.1, Rock 105.3KIOZ, also known as "Rock 105.3", is a Rock station in San Diego, California. It is licensed in San Diego, California and is owned by Clear Channel Communications.- History :...
, and another Pirate RadioPirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. Its etymology can be traced to the unlicensed nature of the transmission, but historically there has been occasional but notable use of sea vessels – fitting the most common perception of a pirate – as broadcasting bases...
station at 106.9FM, as well as a number of local
Spanish languageSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
radio stationRadio broadcasting is an audio broadcasting service, broadcast through the air as radio waves from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or both...
s.
Government
In August 2007, registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans by about 7 to 6. Despite the edge in voter registration for Democrats, the current mayor,
Jerry SandersGerald Robert "Jerry" Sanders is a Republican politician, Mayor of San Diego, California, and former Chief of Police.- Personal :...
, is a Republican. San Diego is the largest city in the country with a Republican mayor. San Diego has not elected a Democratic mayor since 1988. Democrats hold a 6-2 majority in the city council, including the current Council President, Ben Hueso. However, the mayor, city council members, and city attorney seats are all officially non-partisan. There are 8 members of the city council each are elected from single member districts. The mayor is elected directly by the entire city.
On September 18, 2007, the City Council with support from Mayor Sanders, voted 5-3 to endorse a pending lawsuit before the California Supreme Court to overturn
Proposition 22For eight years, California's 2000 ballot initiative Proposition 22 prevented California from recognizing same-sex marriages. Voters adopted the measure on March 7, 2000 with 61.4% approval and 38.6% against...
, which banned
same-sex marriage in CaliforniaThe status of same-sex marriage in California is unique among the fifty U.S. states, in that the state formerly granted marriage licenses to same-sex couples but no longer does so. The period of granting such licenses began on June 16, 2008, due to a ruling by the state supreme court based on an...
. Proposition 22 was supported by 62 percent of San Diego voters. Proposition 22 was later ruled unconstitutional by the California supreme court. In 2008 California voters passed Proposition 8 to change the California constitution to match the wording of Proposition 22 defining marriage as only being valid or recognized between a man and a woman. Approval for Prop 8 received 53.7% of the votes in San Diego County. Disapproval for Prop 8 received 54% of the votes in the city of San Diego itself. In a surprise move, the conservative Republican Mayor
Jerry SandersJerry Sanders may refer to:* Jerry Sanders * Jerry Sanders...
publicly reversed his stance declaring support for same sex marriage in July 2008. In a tearful speech, the Mayor vowed he would support his gay daughter Lisa Sanders in her fight against Proposition 8, and that he "he just couldn't tell her she did not have the right to get married", mere hours before he was expected to veto a City Council motion supporting same sex marriage. This is most notable as it signified one of the most prominent conservative public figures to oppose Proposition 8.
A series of scandals has rocked the city in recent years. With mounting pressure aggravated by underfunding of pensions for city employees that began prior to his administration, Mayor Dick Murphy, in April 2005, announced his intention to resign by mid-July. Two city council members,
Ralph InzunzaRalph Inzunza was the San Diego City Council District Eight representative elected in February 2001 who resigned in 2005 along with Michael Zucchet after being involved in a corruption scandal. One of his first actions was to challenge the appointments to an Ethics Committee by Mayor Dick...
and deputy mayor
Michael ZucchetMichael J. Zucchet is a San Diego-born American Democratic politician, a former member of the San Diego City Council, and a former Deputy Mayor of San Diego...
—who was to take Murphy's place—were ultimately convicted of
extortion'Extortion', outwresting, or exaction is a criminal offense which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly...
,
wire fraudWire fraud, in the United States Code, is any criminally fraudulent activity that has been determined to have involved electronic communications of any kind, at any phase of the event...
, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for taking campaign contributions from a strip club owner and his associates, allegedly in exchange for trying to repeal the city's "no touch" laws at strip clubs. Both subsequently resigned. The judge later set aside (overturned) the conviction in Zucchet's case.
On November 28, 2005, U.S. Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham resigned over a
briberyBribery, a form of pecuniary corruption, is an act implying money or gift given that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an...
scandal. Cunningham represented California's 50th congressional district, which mostly lies north of the city of San Diego proper. He is currently serving a 100-month prison sentence.
State and federal
In the
state legislatureThe California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...
San Diego is located in the 36th, 38th, 39th, and 40th
SenateThe California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 State Senators. The state legislature meets in the state capital, Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate and may break a tied vote...
District, represented by
RepublicansThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
Dennis HollingsworthDennis Clark Hollingsworth is a Republican politician from the state of California, currently serving as the California State Senate Republican Leader, representing District 36, northwest San Diego County and southwest Riverside County.-Background:Hollingsworth attended California Polytechnic...
and
Mark WylandMark Bryan Wyland is a U.S. Republican politician from the state of California, who represents the 38th District in the California State Senate....
, and
DemocratsThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
Christine KehoeChristine T. Kehoe is an American politician from San Diego, California. A Democrat, she has served since 2004 as a member of the California State Senate representing the 39th district. She was previously a member of the California State Assembly and of San Diego City Council .-Early life and...
and
Denise Moreno DuchenyDenise Moreno Ducheny is a California State Senator who represents Senate District 40, which includes southern San Diego County, part of Riverside County, and all of Imperial County. Ducheny is a Democrat. She lives with her husband, Al, in San Diego, California.-Background:Ducheny was born in...
, and in the 74th, 75th, 76th, 77th, 78th, and 79th
AssemblyThe California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
District, represented by Republicans
Martin GarrickMartin Garrick represents the 74th district in the California State Assembly. He was elected to office in November 2006. Garrick, who served in the Reagan Administration, is a small business owner and lifelong conservative advocate.-Background:...
and
George A. PlesciaGeorge Andrew Plescia is a U.S. Republican politician from California.-Biography:Born in Sacramento, California, Plescia graduated from California State University, Sacramento....
, Democrat
Lori SaldañaLori R. Saldaña is a Democratic member of the California State Assembly from the 76th Assembly district, representing central San Diego....
, Republicans
Joel AndersonJoel Anderson is a California politician. He is currently a member of the California Assembly. He represents the 77th Assembly District that encompasses East San Diego County, including all or portions of El Cajon, La Mesa, Santee, Jamul, Lakeside, Ramona, Alpine, Borrego Springs, and the City...
and
Shirley HortonShirley Horton is a U.S. politician, having served as a Republican Member of the California State Assembly. Horton represented the 78th Assembly District, which includes southern San Diego, Chula Vista, Lemon Grove and...
and Democrat
Mary SalasMary Salas is a California politician. She is currently the California Assemblymember who represents the 79th Assembly District, which includes the communities of National City, Coronado, Imperial Beach and parts of Chula Vista and San Diego. Salas was elected to her office in November 2006 on the...
. Federally, San Diego is located in California's
49thCalifornia's 49th congressional district is a Congressional District that currently covers much of Northern San Diego County and southwestern Riverside County, California...
,
50thCalifornia's 50th congressional district represents a part of north coastal San Diego County. Its seat in the United States House of Representatives has been represented by Republican Brian Bilbray since the special election of June 13, 2006.-44th District:...
,
51stCalifornia's 51st congressional district is currently represented in the United States House of Representatives by Democrat Bob Filner.-History:In the 1980s, California's 44th congressional district was one of four that divided San Diego, California...
,
52ndCalifornia's 52nd congressional district covers part of San Diego county. It is one of 53 California Congressional Districts. The current Representative for this district is Republican Duncan Hunter.-Voting:-List of Representatives :-1992:...
, and
53rdCalifornia's 53rd congressional district is one of 53 California Congressional Districts. It includes the heart of San Diego and stretches south to the United States–Mexico border.Continuing east, is the City of Lemon Grove...
congressional districts, which have
Cook PVIsThe Cook Partisan Voting Index , sometimes referred to as simply the Partisan Voting Index , is a measurement of how strongly an American congressional district or state leans toward one political party compared to the nation as a whole...
of R +10, R +5, D +7, R +9, and D +12 respectively and are represented by Republicans
Darrell IssaDarrell E. Issa is an American politician and formerly a CEO of Directed Electronics, the Vista, California based manufacturer of automobile security and convenience products. Since 2001, he has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 49th...
and
Brian BilbrayBrian Phillip Bilbray is a U.S. Republican politician, who is a member of the United States House of Representatives, first serving from 1995 to 2001, representing . After that, he was a registered Washington lobbyist...
, Democrat
Bob FilnerRobert "Bob" Filner is a Democratic politician who represents California's 51st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district includes much of San Diego's southern section, the cities of Chula Vista and National City and all of Imperial County. It includes California's...
, Republican
Duncan D. HunterDuncan Duane Hunter is the Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for California's 52nd congressional district and the son of his predecessor Duncan Hunter...
, and Democrat Susan Davis.
The
United States Postal ServiceThe United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. Within the United States, it is commonly...
operates post offices in San Diego. The San Diego Main Post Office represents zip code 92128. It is located in the Carmel Mountain neighborhood of San Diego. Built in 2008, it replaced an aging and undersized post office on Midway Drive. It is approximately , which made it one of the largest inland post offices in the United States not affiliated with an airport in any way. Other portions of the City of San Diego are served by those of the remaining 921XX zip codes which are in use, and certain portions of the city closely identify with their zip codes. The 919XX and 920XX series zip codes are used in the suburban cities and unincorporated areas in the remainder of San Diego County.
Freeways and highways
With the automobile being the primary means of transportation for over 80% of its residents, San Diego is served by an extensive network of freeways and highways. This includes Interstate 5, which runs south to
TijuanaTijuana , is the largest city of the Mexican state of Baja California, situated on the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to its sister city of San Diego, California. Tijuana is the westernmost city in Mexico, however, the westernmost population center is located in Isla Guadalupe...
and runs north to the Canadian border through
Orange CountyOrange County is a county in Southern California, United States. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2000 census, its population was 2,846,293, though a July 2008 estimate placed the population at 3,010,759, making it the second most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and...
,
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
,
SacramentoSacramento is the capital of the U.S. state of California, and the county seat of Sacramento County. Located along the Sacramento River and just south of the American River's confluence in California's expansive Central Valley. With a 2007 estimated population of 460,242, it is the seventh-largest...
,
PortlandPortland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the state of Oregon. As of July 2008, it has an estimated population of 575,930, making it the 29th most populous in the United States. It has been referred to as the most...
, and Seattle; I-8, which runs east to Imperial County and Arizona; I-15, which runs north to the Canadian border through Riverside County and Salt Lake City; and I-805, which splits from I-5 at
Sorrento ValleySorrento Valley is a neighborhood of San Diego, California, USA. It is located about 15 mi north of downtown San Diego and its main airport, Lindbergh Field. To the west of Sorrento Valley is Del Mar, to the east Mira Mesa and to the south, La Jolla/University City.-Economy:Sorrento Valley is home...
and rejoins I-5 near the Mexican border. Notable state highways are
SR 94State Route 94 in the U.S. state of California is the Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway from Interstate 5 in Downtown San Diego to the end of the freeway portion past Route 125 in Spring Valley; the non-freeway segment of SR 94 is Campo Road....
, which connects downtown with I-805, I-15 and east county; SR 163, which connects downtown with the northeast part of the city, intersects I-805 and merges with I-15 at
MiramarMiramar is a neighborhood in the northern part of the city of San Diego, California, USA. It includes residential areas and commercial and light industrial districts....
;
SR 52State Route 52 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California in San Diego County, that extends from La Jolla Parkway at Interstate 5 in La Jolla to Route 125 in Santee...
, which connects
La JollaLa Jolla is a wealthy seaside resort community, occupying seven miles of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean in Southern California. Although within the city limits of San Diego, California, La Jolla retains its own small-town atmosphere and its own civic pride...
with east county through
SanteeSantee is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. The city is named after Milton Santee, second husband of Jennie Blodgett, whose first husband was George A. Cowles, a ranching pioneer in the San Diego area...
and
SR 125State Route 125 currently runs from State Route 905 in Otay Mesa near the U.S.–Mexico border to State Route 52 in Santee.The southern portion of Route 125 from Route 905 to Route 54 near Chula Vista is a toll road called the South Bay Expressway. It is California's first road built as a...
;
SR 56State Route 56 runs from Interstate 5 in the Carmel Valley neighborhood of San Diego to Interstate 15. Route 56 was originally planned in 1964 to connect to the north end of State Route 125 and continue east to State Route 67, but Poway worked to make sure that would not be possible. Now SR 56...
, which connects I-5 with I-15 through
Carmel ValleyCarmel Valley is a master planned community in the north-western corner of San Diego, California, USA. The community is composed of commercial offices, residential units, hotels, and retail stores and restaurants...
and
Rancho PeñasquitosRancho Peñasquitos is a community in the northeastern part of the city of San Diego, California. Rancho Peñasquitos is surrounded by a canyon open space preserve offering hiking, biking and equestrian trails. The most prominent feature of the community is Black Mountain which rises to an...
; and
SR 75State Route 75 is a short, expressway in the U.S. state of California. It is a loop route of Interstate 5 in the Barrio Logan Community in San Diego and the route ends at Interstate 5 in South San Diego near San Ysidro. It includes the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge, a bridge that traverses the...
(
San Diego-Coronado BridgeThe San Diego-Coronado Bridge, locally referred to as the Coronado Bridge, is a "prestressed concrete/steel" girder bridge, crossing over San Diego Bay in the United States, linking San Diego, California with Coronado, California...
), which spans
San Diego BaySan Diego Bay is a natural harbor adjacent to San Diego, California. It is 12 mi/19 km long, 1 mi/1.6 km–3 mi/4.8 km wide...
.
Several regional transportation projects have been undertaken in recent years to deal with congestion on San Diego freeways. This includes expansion of Interstates 5 and 805 around "The Merge," a rush-hour spot where the two freeways meet. Also, an expansion of Interstate 15 through the North County is underway with the addition of high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) "managed lanes". There is a tollway (The South Bay Expressway) connecting SR 54 and Otay Mesa, near the Mexican border. According to a 2007 assessment, 37% of streets in San Diego were in acceptable driving condition. The proposed budget fell $84.6 million short of bringing the city's streets to an acceptable level.
Major highways
- Interstate 5
- Interstate 8
- Interstate 15
- Interstate 805
- State Route 15
- State Route 52
State Route 52 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California in San Diego County, that extends from La Jolla Parkway at Interstate 5 in La Jolla to Route 125 in Santee...
|
State Route 54 State Route 54 is a California State Highway in San Diego that connects Interstate 5 to the city of El Cajon. The first section was built in 1961, and the final section was completed in 1976.This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System....
State Route 56State Route 56 runs from Interstate 5 in the Carmel Valley neighborhood of San Diego to Interstate 15. Route 56 was originally planned in 1964 to connect to the north end of State Route 125 and continue east to State Route 67, but Poway worked to make sure that would not be possible. Now SR 56...
State Route 67State Route 67 runs from Interstate 8 in El Cajon to Lakeside as the San Vincente Freeway. It then becomes a smaller roadway through Poway and becomes Main St in Ramona before ending into State Route 78....
State Route 75State Route 75 is a short, expressway in the U.S. state of California. It is a loop route of Interstate 5 in the Barrio Logan Community in San Diego and the route ends at Interstate 5 in South San Diego near San Ysidro. It includes the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge, a bridge that traverses the...
State Route 76State Route 76 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. It is an important east-west route in the North County region of San Diego County that begins in Oceanside near Interstate 5 and continues east past Interstate 15 to State Route 79...
State Route 78State Route 78 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California in the United States that runs from Oceanside east to Blythe, traversing the entire width of the state. Its western terminus is at Interstate 5 in San Diego County and its eastern terminus is at I-10 in Riverside County...
|
State Route 79 State Route 79 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. The route goes from Interstate 10 in Riverside County to Interstate 8 in San Diego County....
State Route 94State Route 94 in the U.S. state of California is the Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway from Interstate 5 in Downtown San Diego to the end of the freeway portion past Route 125 in Spring Valley; the non-freeway segment of SR 94 is Campo Road....
State Route 125State Route 125 currently runs from State Route 905 in Otay Mesa near the U.S.–Mexico border to State Route 52 in Santee.The southern portion of Route 125 from Route 905 to Route 54 near Chula Vista is a toll road called the South Bay Expressway. It is California's first road built as a...
Historic State Route 163
State Route 188
State Route 282State Route 282 is an east-west state highway in the U.S. state of California. It is a spur from State Route 75 and connects traffic between the city of Coronado and Naval Air Station North Island...
State Route 905State Route 905 is a state highway in San Diego, California that connects Interstate 5 and Interstate 805 in San Ysidro to the U.S.-Mexico border at Otay Mesa...
|
Public transportation
San Diego is served by the
trolleyThe San Diego Trolley is a trolley-style light rail system operating in the metropolitan area of San Diego, California. The operator, San Diego Trolley, Inc. , is a subsidiary of the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System ...
, bus,
CoasterCoaster or Coasters may refer to:* A type of napkin, such as a beermat, on which to rest glasses of beverage* Coaster , the San Diego Coast Express Rail, a regional rail service in San Diego County, California...
, and
AmtrakThe National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971 to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a blend of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union Station...
. The trolley (
system map) primarily serves downtown and surrounding urban communities, Mission Valley, east county, and coastal south bay. A planned Mid-Coast line will operate from
Old TownOld Town San Diego State Historic Park, located in San Diego, California, is a state protected historical park in San Diego. The park preserves and recreates the old town of the city, from shortly after the Mexican War of Independence during its pueblo Alta California period beginning in 1821,...
to
University CityUniversity City is a community in the city of San Diego, California.- Geography :The campus of the University of California, San Diego, from where the area derives its name, is to the west of the center of the neighborhood....
along the 5 Freeway. There are also plans for a Silver Line to expand trolley service downtown.
The Amtrak and Coaster trains currently run along the coastline and connect San Diego with Los Angeles,
Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura via
MetrolinkMetrolink is a regional rail system that serves Southern California.It was established in 1991 as the "Southern California Regional Rail Authority" and service began the following year...
. There are two Amtrak stations in San Diego, in
Old TownOld Town San Diego State Historic Park, located in San Diego, California, is a state protected historical park in San Diego. The park preserves and recreates the old town of the city, from shortly after the Mexican War of Independence during its pueblo Alta California period beginning in 1821,...
, and Downtown (downtown).
The bus is available along almost all major routes; however, a large number of bus stops are concentrated in central San Diego. Typical wait times vary from 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the location and route. Trolleys arrive at each station every 7 to 30 minutes (depending on time of day and which trolley line is used). Ferries are also available every half hour crossing San Diego Bay to
CoronadoCoronado, also known as Coronado Island, is a city located in San Diego County, California, 5.2 miles from downtown San Diego. Its population was 24,100 at the 2000 census. U.S. News and World Report lists Coronado as one of the most expensive places to reside in the United States...
.
Cycling
San Diego's roadway system provides an extensive network of routes for travel by bicycle. The dry and mild climate of San Diego makes cycling a convenient and pleasant year-round option. At the same time, the city's hilly, canyoned terrain and significantly long average trip distances—brought about by strict low-density zoning laws—somewhat restrict cycling for utilitarian purposes. Older and denser neighborhoods around the downtown tend to be friendlier to
utility cyclingUtility cycling encompasses any cycling not done primarily for fitness, recreation such as cycle touring, or sport such as cycle racing, but simply as a means of transport. It is the most common type of cycling in the world...
. This is partly because of the grid street patterns now absent in newer developments farther from the urban core, where suburban style arterial roads are much more common. As a result, a vast majority of cycling-related activities are recreational. The city has some
segregated cycle facilitiesSegregated cycle facilities are roads, tracks, paths or marked lanes designated for use by cyclists from which motorised traffic is generally excluded.- Terminology :...
, particularly in newer developments although the majority of road facilities specifically for bicycles are painted on regular roadways. In 2006, San Diego was rated as the best city for cycling for U.S. cities with a population over 1 million.
Air
San Diego International AirportSan Diego International Airport , also known as Lindbergh Field, is a public airport located northwest of the central business district of San Diego, California and also from the Mexico – United States border at Tijuana, Mexico...
, also known as Lindbergh International Airport or Lindbergh Field, is the primary commercial airport serving San Diego. It is the busiest single-runway airport in the United States, serving over 18 million passengers every year, and is located on San Diego Bay three miles (4.8 km) from downtown. There are scheduled flights to the rest of the United States, Mexico, Hawaii, and Canada. It serves as a focus city for
Southwest AirlinesSouthwest Airlines Co. is an American low-cost airline. Southwest is the largest airline in the world by number of passengers carried per year . Southwest, the 6th largest U.S. airline by revenue, maintains the third-largest passenger fleet of aircraft among all of the world's commercial airlines....
. Other airports include Brown Field Municipal Airport (Brown Field) and
Montgomery FieldMontgomery Field is a public airport located in San Diego, California, United States, six miles north of the central business district of San Diego. The airport covers and has three runways and two helipads....
.
AeroméxicoAerovías de México, S.A. de C.V., operating as AeroMéxico, is an airline in Mexico based in Mexico City, Mexico. AeroMéxico is considered as the most punctual airline in the world. It operates scheduled domestic services and international services to Asia, Canada, Europe, Central America, South...
provides a shuttle service from San Diego to
General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International AirportGeneral Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, is Mexico's second northernmost airport after Mexicali International Airport. Tijuana's Airport is a busy modern airport, which handled 3.8 million passengers in 2006, and 4.7 million passengers in 2007...
in
TijuanaTijuana , is the largest city of the Mexican state of Baja California, situated on the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to its sister city of San Diego, California. Tijuana is the westernmost city in Mexico, however, the westernmost population center is located in Isla Guadalupe...
,
Baja CaliforniaBaja California is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises the northern half of the Baja California peninsula, north...
,
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
There has been debate regarding the placement of a new international airport, as operations at Lindbergh Field are limited due to the physical size of the property. While the San Diego Airport Authority has endorsed the current site of the
Miramar Marine Corps Air StationMarine Corps Air Station Miramar , formerly Naval Air Station Miramar is a United States Marine Corps installation that is home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is the aviation element of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force...
, the military said it has no intention of relinquishing that site. A vote on the issue took place on November 7, 2006 against Proposition A, in which voters rejected the proposal to move the airport to Miramar. The military has rejected the proposals for a dual-use airport because the area around Miramar has already been set aside as safety corridors for military aircraft accidents. A shared commercial/military airport would force military aircraft to fly outside of those safety corridors. The Airport Authority, following Proposition A, is investigating other sites; however, due to the proximity of the Pacific Ocean and Mexican border, as well as the rough terrain, there are few (if any) possible alternatives.
Sea
The
Port of San DiegoThe Port of San Diego is a self-supporting Non-governmental organization public benefit corporation established in 1962 by an act of the California State Legislature. In 2007, The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics ranked the Port of San Diego as one of America's top 30 U.S. containership...
manages the maritime operations of San Diego harbor. Cruise ships arrive and depart from San Diego's cruise ship terminal on B Street Pier.
Carnival Cruise LinesCarnival Cruise Lines is a cruise line operating a large number of cruise ships. Originally an independent company founded in 1972 by Ted Arison, it is now a branded division within Carnival Corporation & plc, a publicly traded company which owns a number of different cruise brands.Carnival was a...
, Royal Caribbean, Holland America, and
Celebrity CruisesCelebrity Cruises is a cruise line founded in 1988 by the Greek Chandris Group. In 1997, Celebrity Cruises Ltd. merged with Royal Caribbean International to become Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which operates Celebrity, Royal Caribbean International, Azamara Cruises, Pullmantur Cruises and CDF...
have home port cruise ships in San Diego during the winter season. A new cruise terminal on
Broadway PierBroadway Pier in San Diego, California, is located on San Diego Bay at the intersection of Broadway and Harbor Drive. Built in 1913, the pier has a long history of servicing passenger vessels. It has been operated by thePort of San Diego since 1962. Currently, it under construction to build a new...
is set to open in 2010.
San Diego is home to General Dynamics'
National Steel and Shipbuilding CompanyNational Steel and Shipbuilding Company, or simply NASSCO, is a shipyard in San Diego, California, and a division of General Dynamics. The yard specializes in constructing commercial cargo ships and auxiliary vessels for the US Navy and Military Sealift Command, which it has been producing since...
(NASSCO), the largest shipyard on the
West Coast of the United StatesThe "West Coast", "Western Seaboard", or "Pacific Coastline" are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. It most often comprises California, Oregon and Washington...
. It is capable of building and repairing large ocean-going vessels. The yard constructs commercial cargo ships and auxiliary vessels for the U.S. Navy and Military Sealift Command, which it has served since 1960.
Sister cities
San Diego has fifteen sister cities, as designated by
Sister Cities InternationalSister Cities International is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and fostering sister cities, especially between cities in the United States and cities in other countries....
:
Alcalá de HenaresAlcalá de Henares, meaning Citadel on the river Henares, is a Spanish city, whose historical centre is one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, and one of the first bishoprics founded in Spain...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
AnkaraAnkara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2007 the city had a population of 4,751,360, which includes eight districts under the city's administration...
,
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
CampinasCampinas is a city and county located in the interior of the state of São Paulo, Brazil.The county area is 797,6 km². Population is approximately 1,059,420 , with over 98% in the urban region. Its metropolitan area, defined in 2000, has some 19 cities and a population of 3,2 million people...
,
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
CaviteCavite is a province of the Philippines located on the southern shores of Manila Bay in the CALABARZON region in Luzon, just 30 kilometers south of Manila. Cavite is surrounded by Laguna to the east, Metro Manila to the northeast, and Batangas to the south...
,
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest Scottish city, after Glasgow, and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas....
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
,
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
JalalabadJalalabad is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul and Kunar rivers near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province...
,
AfghanistanThe Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
JeonjuJeonju is a city in South Korea, and the capital of Jeollabuk-do, or North Jeolla Province. It is an important tourist center famous for Korean food, historic buildings, sports activities and innovative festivals.- History :...
,
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
LeónThe city of León, formally León de los Aldama is the fifth most populous city in Mexico and the first in the state of Guanajuato. It is also the seat of the municipality of León...
,
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
PerthPerth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. With a population of 1,650,000 , Perth ranks fourth amongst the nation's cities, with a growth rate consistently above the national average....
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
Taichung City,
TaiwanTaiwan , also known as Formosa , is the largest island of the Republic of China in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China...
TemaTema, population 209,000 , is a city on the Atlantic Ocean coast, east of the capital city of Accra, in the region of Greater Accra, in Ghana, West Africa. Originally a small fishing village, it grew after the construction of a large harbour in 1961 and is now is the nation's largest sea port. It...
,
GhanaThe Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa which borders Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
TijuanaTijuana , is the largest city of the Mexican state of Baja California, situated on the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to its sister city of San Diego, California. Tijuana is the westernmost city in Mexico, however, the westernmost population center is located in Isla Guadalupe...
,
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
VladivostokVladivostok is Russia's largest port city on the Pacific Ocean and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai. It is situated at the head of the Golden Horn Bay not far from Russia's border with China and North Korea...
,
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
WarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of 2009 was estimated at 1,709,781, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,785,000...
,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
YantaiYantai is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. Located on the southern coast of the Bohai Sea and the eastern coast of the Laizhou Bay, Yantai borders the cities of Qingdao and Weihai to the southwest and east respectively.The largest fishing...
,
ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
Yokohamais the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshū. It is a major commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area....
,
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...
See also
External links