Down on the border, second city and birthplace of California
Right at the southwest corner of the United States is the pretty city of San Diego, which like the rest of California has an abundance of good weather and good living. There are pleasant beaches and fun nightlife, as well as some diverting historical attractions. The city is built around a natural harbour, and hence has been a US naval based for a long time.
San Diego was the last stop in our 2010 tour of the California coastline, before we headed back inland bound for Las Vegas. We spend a night in the Gas Lamp district of downtown, followed by the Pacific Beach area the following night, also replete with bars. Perhaps the highlight for me was visiting the Del Coronado hotel, which I’d first seen many years earlier in the movie “Some Like It Hot”.
Adjacent to the downtown area is the Gas Lamp district, so called for its old-school street lighting, although no longer powered by gas.
Downtown San Diego and the boats in the marina. The city centre is compact and pleasant to walk around, but also well connected with the airport barely a couple of miles away, and Interstate 5 sweeping right around the edge.
The San Diego County Administration Center has a prominent position on the waterfront, and is built in a pleasingly pink Beaux-arts style.
But the centrepiece attraction at San Diego harbour must be the USS Midway, a 1945 aircraft carrier which saw active service throughout the Vietnam war and Operation Desert Storm in the Arabian Gulf in 1990.
USS Midway was decommissioned during the 90s and set up as a museum ship in San Diego in 2004. She is quite a contrast to the Kiev which I visited in Tanggu, China!
The Del Coronado Hotel is the grand old dame of San Diego, with a prime location facing out to the Pacific Ocean, and an illustrious history to match. The hotel was used as the location for 1959’s “Some Like It Hot”, ostensibly in Florida, with Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and the incomparable Marilyn Monroe.
The courtyard at the Del Coronado. The hotel itself was only used for exterior shots in the movie, the rest was done in a studio.
Inside the Del Coronado’s reception area, with as much dark wood panelling and chandeliers as you’d expect for a hotel of this vintage and standard.
Beach view of the Del. It was here on the sand that Marilyn Monroe asked Jack Lemmon whether he liked jazz, to which he replied “well, I guess some like it hot…“
Mormon Temple at the north side of the city – I’m not sure I’d seen one before this point, and was quite surprised at how fancy and neo-gothic it is.
At the tip of Point Loma peninsula is the Cabrillo National Monument, celebrating the landing of Juan Luis Cabrillo who was the first European to set foot on the west coast of what would later be the United States, in the 1500s. Naturally, he claimed the entire area for the Spanish empire.
As well as being an important base for the Pacific Fleet, San Diego also hosts Naval Air Station North Island, to which Tom Cruise’s Maverick is assigned in Top Gun: Maverick.
Up the coast is Pacific Beach, much more conducive to tourism and well stocked with bars and nightclubs.
Ocean Front Walk by Crystal Pier, pastel colours, palm trees and sun-glassed tourists.
It’s not all sun and shades in the Pacific Beach area, as proven on our last day as you can see. The overcast grey didn’t deter the surfers though, keen to catch a wave.
Created 2011 | Updated 2023
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