San Diego: Balboa Park (July 2018)

Balboa Park (July 2018) - Be Sure to Visit this Cultural Gem!

My spouse and I visited Balboa Park on a Thursday morning in early July 2018. You can access the park grounds freely; there is no admission fee unless you enter the buildings/museums. 

Balboa Park is a 1,200-acre area with open spaces, natural vegetation and gardens, and walking paths that provide the backdrop for many museums, theaters, the zoo, recreational facilities, gift shops, and restaurants. It is one of the oldest parks in the country dedicated to public recreational use. San Diego was the second city in the US to create such a park, after the construction of NYC’s Central Park in 1858. Originally called City Park, Balboa Park was later renamed in honor of Spanish maritime explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the first European to cross Central America and see the Pacific Ocean. Originally owned by Spain and Mexico, the land for Balboa Park was ceded to California after the Mexican-American War.

In 1915, the park hosted its first large event: the Panama-California Exposition to commemorate the opening of the Panama Canal. (San Diego was the first US port of call that ships encountered after passing through the canal and sailing north.) Its second big event was the California Pacific International Exposition of 1935 to promote the city and help it recover from the Great Depression. Both major events created some architectural landmarks that still exist in the park today. In 1977, the park and its historic exposition buildings were declared a National Historic Landmark District and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Although never intended to be permanent buildings, some of the original infrastructure remains, including the Cabrillo Bridge, California State Building and Quadrangle (now the San Diego Museum of Man), Administration Building (now offices of the Museum of Man), Botanical Building, California Bell Tower, New Mexico Building (now the Balboa Park Club), and the Spreckels Organ Pavilion (John Spreckels owned the San Diego Electric Railway streetcar system). During World Wars I and II, the park was used by the Department of the Navy as hospital wards, barracks, and training grounds. 

Balboa Park museums include those dedicated to art, air and space, science, photography, cars, history, natural history, model trains, and veterans. You can also tour houses including the George W. Marston House and the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages. Gardens feature prominently in the park, including those dedicated to children’s ethnobotany, native plants, cacti, roses, lilies, and palms. (We toured the Japanese Friendship Garden; see our separate review.) You can also visit the carousel, world-famous zoo, stadium, symphony, theatre (a replica of Shakespeare’s Globe), puppet theatre, art center, amphitheater, and sports complexes (including golf courses, baseball and softball fields, tennis courts, archery ranges, and a swimming pool). Many of the museums occupy gorgeous Spanish Baroque/Colonial Revival buildings that line El Prado, a long wide promenade that includes two continuous covered arched arcades/walkways along a pedestrian boulevard that runs through the center of the park. One particular architectural gem is the Botanical Building, which was the largest wood lath structure in the world when it was built in 1915; it contains large specimen palms and other plants and sits next to a long reflecting pool. Other attractions include outdoor chess and bridge tables, horseshoe pits, playgrounds, walking/jogging paths, sports fields, and picnic areas. A few restaurants/food concessions are located in the park, including Panama 66 (P66 at the San Diego Museum of Art [SDMA]), The Prado, and the Tea House outside the Japanese garden. (See our separate reviews for Panama 66 and The Prado.)

We enjoyed our day spent strolling in Balboa Park. Even though we didn’t visit the interiors of any buildings, it was enough to admire the magnificent structures from the outside.