Balboa Park, San Diego, California
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Balboa Park is a 1,200 acre (4.9 km²) urban cultural park in San Diego, California, United States. Unlike some city parks which are mostly free of buildings in favor of open space and recreational fields (e.g. New York's Central Park), Balboa Park is a cultural complex. Besides open areas and natural vegetation, it contains a variety of cultural attractions including museums, theaters, gardens, shops and restaurants as well as the world-renowned San Diego Zoo. Balboa Park has been declared a National Historic Landmark. The park is managed and maintained by the City of San Diego Parks and Recreation Department.
Many of the park's attractions are along El Prado, a long, wide promenade running through the center of the park. Most of the buildings lining this street are in the Spanish Revival style, a richly ornamented eclectic mixture of Spanish and Latin American architecture. Along this boulevard are many of the park's museums, including the Museum of Man, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Museum of Photographic Arts, the San Diego Model Railroad Museum, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and Timken Museum of Art.
There are a number of gardens located in the park. These include Alcazar Garden, Botanical Building, Cactus Garden, Casa del Rey Moro Garden, Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden, Japanese Friendship Garden, Marston House Garden, Palm Canyon and Zoro Garden.
Other attractions include the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, which includes the world's largest outdoor pipe organ; The Old Globe Theatre, a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre; a collection of "international cottages"; the Botanical Building with its accompanying reflecting pool; the Starlight Bowl; and the largest tenant of the park, the Balboa Park Golf Complex with an 18-hole golf course and a 9-hole executive golf course.
Balboa Park is adjacent to many of San Diego's neighborhoods including Downtown San Diego, Bankers Hill, Hillcrest, North Park, South Park, and Golden Hill.
Among the private institutions within the park's borders not administered by the city's parks department are San Diego High School, Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD), and the San Diego Zoo.
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[edit] History
The city park was made manifest starting in 1835 when the newest breed of San Diego city officials from the Mexican government took office. One of the first things the city officials did was select a 47,000 acre (190 km²) tract of land to be used for recreational purposes, making the section of land within the this area that is now Balboa Park one of the oldest sites in the United States dedicated to public recreational usage.
No further activity took place until 1845, when a survey was done by Henry D. Fitch to map the 47,000 acres (190 km²). The Mexican government would never get to use this land for anything due to the Mexican-American War, and in 1848 the park became property of the United States of America. In 1850, it became part of California with the creation of the state.
On February 15, 1868, a request was put forth to the city's Board of Trustees to take two 160-acre (0.6 km²) plots of land, and create a public park. This request was made by one of the trustees, E. W. Morse, who along with real estate developer Alonzo Horton had selected a site just northeast of the growing urban center of "New Town" (now downtown San Diego) for the nascent park's location.
Subsequently, a resolution to set aside 1400 acres (6 km²) for a city park was approved by the city's Board of Trustees on May 26, 1868.
Then in 1870, a new law was passed, an "act to insure the permanency of the park reservation." The bill stated that "these lands (lots by number) are to be held in trust forever by the municipal authorities of said city for the purpose of a park" (Christman 14). It was around this time that San Diego residents were acquiring a certain fondness for the park; this is illustrated by their strong desire to keep the park intact when in 1871, there was a documented conspiracy to disassemble and "grab" the park land (Christman 15). This conspiracy, political in nature, attempted to create a bill and speed it through the state legislature before anybody could do anything to stop it. The thwarting of this attempt was due largely in part to a San Diego resident who had somehow learned of the plan then immediately informed higher powers in Sacramento. The conspiracy was leaked to the press thereby exposing the city officials involved. Immediately, other San Diegan officials got together and collected signatures supporting the current existence of the park. Their plea was successful.
[edit] City Park: 1868-1909
For the first few decades of its existence, "City Park" remained mostly open space. Numerous proposals, some altruistic, some profit-driven, were brought forward for the development and use of the land during this time, but no comprehensive plan for development was adopted.
Nevertheless, there was some building done. This included an orphanage and women's shelter (later burned down), a high school (San Diego High School) and several gardens maintained by various private groups. One of the most celebrated of these early usages was a nursery owned and maintained by local horticulturist and botanist Kate Sessions, who is often referred to as "the mother of Balboa Park." Although owned by Sessions, by agreement with the city the nursery was open to the public, and Sessions donated trees and plants to the city every year for its beautification. Sessions is responsible for bringing in many of the different varieties of exotic plants in the park. Her work was so progressive that she was in fact the first woman awarded the Meyer Medal for "foreign plant importation" given to her by the American Genetic Association.
Other developments from this time include two reservoirs, an animal pound and a gunpowder magazine in the area now known as Florida Canyon.
The earliest recreational developments in the park were in the "Golden Hill Park" area off 25th street. The National Register listed rustic stone fountain designed by architect Henry Lord Gay is the oldest surviving designed feature in the park. Other attractions in the area included a children's park (probably the first in San Diego), walking trails, and a redwood bird aviary.
[edit] The Panama-California Exposition: 1910-1916
Much of the park's look and feel today is due to the development done for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. The Exposition was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, set to open in 1915, and to tout San Diego as the first U.S. port of call for vessels traveling north after passing through the canal. Planning began in 1909 and City Park was soon selected as the exposition site. The name Balboa Park was adopted in 1910. Groundbreaking began in 1911.
Colonel D.C. Collier, at the time often referred to as San Diego's greatest asset, was most responsible for the exposition's success. It was he who selected both the location of the city park and its architecture. Collier was tasked with steering the exposition in the proper direction, ensuring that every decision made reflected his vision of what the exposition will accomplish. Collier once stated "The purpose of the Panama-California Exposition is to illustrate the progress and possibility of the human race, not for the exposition only, but for a permanent contribution to the world's progress" (Christman 43).
It was decided that the buildings were to be done in Spanish Mission and Indian Pueblo styles. This was pure romanticism, as the architecture employed at the Exposition was never common in San Diego before. New York architect Bertram Goodhue was chosen as supervisory architect. Goodhue was fascinated by Spanish Colonial architecture, and saw the exposition as an opportunity to create a fantasy city, richly ornamented with influences from throughout Spanish history with Muslim and Persian nuances. This was in contrast to most previous expositions, which had been done in Neoclassical style. The site selected for the exposition was on level ground. This ensured that if the city were to make expansions, it could do so easily.
On December 31, 1914 The Panama-California Exposition opened. Balboa Park was crammed full of spectators. All of the guards, workers, and supervisors were dressed in Spanish and Mexican military uniforms, and the entire park was filled with different and foreign plants. Yellow and red were the themed colors of the event and they were everywhere. Over 40,000 poinsettia flowers were used, all of them in full bloom. The event seemed successful in attracting national attention. Even Pennsylvania's Liberty Bell made a brief three-day appearance. The attempt to put San Diego on the map had worked. The event was a success: over the next two years over 3.5 million visitors would attend and witness the hard-sought magnificence that was Balboa Park.
Some of the buildings built for the exposition still standing include:
- Administration Building (completed March 1912) (now holds offices of the Museum of Man)
- Botanical Building
- California State Building and Quadrangle (completed October 2, 1914) (now houses the Museum of Man)
- Cabrillo Bridge (completed April 12, 1914)
- Spreckels Organ Pavilion (dedicated December 31, 1914)
- California Bell Tower (completed 1914)
- New Mexico Building (now Balboa Park Club)
[edit] Trivia
- Balboa Park's Casa Del Prado Theatre is the home of San Diego Junior Theatre, the country's oldest children's theatre program.
- In Tony Hawk's Underground, Balboa Park was the San Diego level.
- MyNetworkTV's Desire had one scene of a September 2006 episode filmed on location at Balboa Park in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.
- In Citizen Kane, scenes from Charles Kane's (Orson Welles) mansion "Xanadu" were taken from buildings in Balboa Park. Also, the animals seen in the movie were from the San Diego Zoo.
- In Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Balboa park is featured in the San Diego level of the game
- The Foot Locker Cross Country Championships are held in Balboa Park yearly.
- The internet series Mega64 often films their sketches at Balboa Park
[edit] External links
- Balboa Park Foundation
- Balboa Park - City of San Diego website
- Paintings of Balboa Park
- Museum of Photographic Arts
- Reuben H. Fleet Science Center
- San Diego Museum of Art
- Balboa Park Golf Course
- The Exposition Buildings of Balboa Park
- San Diego Model Railroad Museum
- The Committee of One Hundred, dedicated to preserving Balboa Park's Spanish Colonial Architecture
- San Diego Junior Theatre
- Morley Field Disc Golf Course
