Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, located in the
Old Town neighborhood of
San Diego,
California, is a state protected historical park in
San Diego.
It commemorates the early days of the town of San Diego and includes
many historic buildings from the period 1820 to 1870. The park was
established in 1968.
[4] In 2005 and 2006,
California State Parks listed Old Town San Diego as the most visited state park in California.
In 1969, the site was registered as
California Historical Landmark #830.
[2] Then on September 3, 1971, it was added to the
National Register of Historic Places as
Old Town San Diego Historic District.
[1]
HISTORY
The first European settlement on the
West Coast of the present-day United States was the
San Diego Presidio, a military outpost of
Spanish California, founded by
Gaspar de Portolà in 1769.
Mission San Diego de Alcalá was founded by Father
Junípero Serra the same year. The Presidio and Mission were originally built on a bluff above the
San Diego River, Presidio Hill, which is now the site of the city-owned
Presidio Park and which is immediately adjacent to Old Town State Historic Park.
After 5 years the Mission moved to a location several miles upriver
at the present site of Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Presidio Hill
remained the primary settlement for several decades because it was
defensible against attack by European enemies or hostile Indians. As the
need for defense decreased, settlers preferred to live at the base of
the hill because of greater convenience. In the 1820s the town of San
Diego grew up at the base of the bluff, at the site commemorated by Old
Town San Diego State Historic Park. The Presidio was abandoned and fell
into disrepair.
When California was admitted to the United States in 1850, San Diego (still largely limited to the Old Town area) was made the
county seat of
San Diego County, even though the town's population was only 650.
[7]
The Old Town area remained the heart of the city of San Diego until the 1860s, when a newcomer to San Diego named
Alonzo Horton began to promote development at the site of present-day
Downtown San Diego.
Residents and businesses quickly abandoned "Old Town" for Horton's "New
Town" because of New Town's proximity to shipping. In 1871 government
records were moved from Old Town to a new county courthouse in New Town,
and Downtown permanently eclipsed Old Town as the focal point of San
Diego.
[8]
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park preserves and recreates Old
Town as it existed during the Mexican and early American periods, from
its settlement in 1821, through 1872 when it lost its dominant position
to Downtown.
The Old Town area is a popular tourist destination, known especially
for its Mexican restaurants. The state park itself hosts several eating
establishments, and other restaurants and gift shops are found in the
surrounding neighborhood.
RESTAURANTS IN OLD TOWN
Known for colorful Mexican cuisine, Old Town's dining is lively and
vibrant. For authentic flavors and techniques in an upscale atmosphere,
diners head to El Agave. This second-floor hacienda-style hideaway
boasts a mind-blowing tequila collection and a menu specializing in
upscale dishes that celebrate indigenous Mexican ingredients. At
Café Coyote,
the festive décor, massive margaritas, strolling mariachis and open air
atmosphere prove that diners don't have to choose between flavor and
fun. For a change of pace, Harney Sushi offers creative Japanese dishes
and sushi roll concoctions, such as the "Mike Check" roll featuring
lobster, cilantro, garlic ponzu and wonton chips, as well as expertly
prepared traditional nigiri. Needless to say, Mexican cuisine is the
specialty in Old Town, and you'll find authentic fare at
Old Town Mexican Cafe y Cantina or any of the other local cantinas.
CASA DE ESTUDILLO
The
Casa de Estudillo, also known as the
Estudillo House, is a historic
adobe house in
San Diego, California, United States. It was constructed in 1827 by
José María Estudillo and his son
José Antonio Estudillo, early settlers of San Diego, and was considered one of the finest houses in
Mexican California.
[5] It is located in
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, and is designated as both a
National and a
California Historical Landmark in its own right.
[1][4]
Besides being one of the oldest surviving examples of Spanish
architecture in California, the house gained much prominence by
association with
Helen Hunt Jackson's wildly popular 1884 novel
Ramona.
[6] The Casa de Estudillo is one of three National Historic Landmarks in
Southern California that were closely tied to
Ramona, a novel of
Californio life shortly after the American acquisition of California; the other two are
Rancho Camulos and
Rancho Guajome.
DESCRIPTION
The large building is a U-shaped structure, measuring 113 feet
(34.4 m) on the front side, and 98 feet (29.9 m) on each of the wings.
[7] It is constructed in the
Spanish Colonial style, meaning that the house's 13
rooms are set consecutively in the building and connected only by an external covered
corredor (as opposed to an interior
hallway).
[8]
The main portion (the center) contains the entrance, facing west. To
its left is the chapel and to its right is the schoolroom. Both rooms
originally were smaller, with bedrooms located at the ends of building,
but a 1910 restoration eliminated those walls to enlarge the rooms. Two
bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen (which was added at a later date),
and the servants' dining room are in the north wing, while the south
wing has three bedrooms and the family dining room. The house is topped
by a
cupola from which
bullfights and festivals in the adjacent plaza could be seen.
[5]
Association with the novel
José Antonio Estudillo died in 1852, and his family stayed until 1887, when they moved to
Los Angeles, leaving the house in the hands of a caretaker. Meanwhile, the 1884 publication of
Ramona, a novel set in
Southern California which painted a
romanticized portrait of
Californio life, generated a nationwide interest in the region. This, combined with the opening of the
Southern Pacific and
Santa Fe Railway lines (and the ensuing rate war,
[9] which drove prices down to as low as $1 from
St. Louis, Missouri to Los Angeles
[10]),
meant that hordes of tourists made their way to Southern California to
see the locations in the novel. Unfortunately, Jackson died in 1885
without ever having disclosed what the actual locations in the novel
were, which caused a great deal of speculation.
[11]
In 1887, a front page article of the
San Diego Union
declared the Estudillo home to be "Ramona's Marriage Place", saying,
"To sleepy Old Town (the house) is known as the Estudillos, but the
outside world knows it as the marriage place of 'Ramona.'"
[10]
This was despite Jackson never having visited the house, but in the
novel, Ramona was married in a "long, low adobe building which had
served no mean purpose in the old
Presidio days, but was now fallen in decay; and all its rooms, except those occupied by the Father, had been long uninhabited".
[12]
Despite the novel being a work of fiction, visitors flocked to the
building thinking it was the actual location of Ramona's marriage. To be
clear, the
Union did not simply invent this story; a tourist had
already scratched the name "Alessandro" (Ramona's husband in the novel)
in one of the walls.
[13] The caretaker decided to capitalize on the attendant publicity and began selling off pieces of the house as
souvenirs. Naturally, the building's condition began to deteriorate rapidly.
[11]
The Broad is a contemporary art museum in Downtown Los Angeles. The museum is named for philanthropist Eli Broad, who financed the $140 million building which houses the Broad art collections. The museum offers free general admission to its permanent collection galleries. It opened on September 20, 2015.
the art
collection. In November 2008, the news surfaced that Broad had
approached Beverly Hills about building his museum at the southeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard. In January 2010, he revealed that he was considering a 10-acre parcel on the campus of West Los Angeles College in Culver City. Meanwhile, in March 2010, the Santa Monica City Council approved an agreement in principle to lease the city-owned 2.5-acre parcel next to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
to Eli Broad for $1 a year for 99 years while also contributing $1
million toward design costs. Broad would have paid the rest, an
estimated $50 million to $70 million.
building the museum's underground parking
garage. Under that buy-back provision, the garage eventually will be
government-owned.
