We’ve been to the San Diego area a handful of times over the last 30 years, and yet we barely know the city and its attractions. I tried to rectify that a bit on the most recent visit last spring by setting aside time to explore Balboa Park.
The huge urban green space – it is half again as big as Central Park in New York City – has been listed as a National Historic Landmark District since 1977. In addition to the parkland, it hosts across its expanse the San Diego Zoo, over a dozen museums, several theaters, and a few other venues. The main culture cluster is the purpose-built pedestrianized village with many eye-pleasing examples of Spanish Colonial Revival architectural style.
The California Tower is the dominating feature of the complex, built in 1915.
Another standout constructed in the same year for the Panama-California exhibition is the Botanical Building. There are over 2,000 species of flora on display in side galleries surrounding the wide nave, but the amazing lath roof is a feat all in itself.
The Spanish Village Art Center hosts several dozen galleries displaying local artists’ creations. I believe we stepped into every single studio and chatted up proprietors, who were only too happy to talk to us about their art, especially where the specialties involved fairly rare techniques or materials. Some were entirely fascinating. It felt inappropriate to ask permission to take pictures when I had no intention of buying anything, so the only picture from the colorful square is, well, a fragment of the square itself.
Three different art collections among the Balboa Park museums were of initial interest to me, but only the San Diego Museum of Art was open on a Monday. Its painting galleries did not especially bowl me over – I was surprisingly more fascinated by a special exhibition of American minimalist art. Beyond that, the Eastern art displays and an ancient mosaic held my interest the longest.
One other stop among Balboa Park attractions was the Japanese Friendship Garden, with its koi ponds and the main stream providing the bulk of picturesque perspectives.
There is also an exhibition of bonsai trees.
As luck would have it, the day marked the beginning of the cherry blossom season.
Hummingbirds flitted all around the trees. It is nearly impossible to catch them on camera with any measure of quality using hand-held equipment. I attempted forty or so shots – only one survived the cull.
We spent just a few hours in that central culture cluster of Balboa Park and barely scratched the surface. Someone with an intent to see all of its attractions would probably need to set aside a whole week. To say nothing of the miles of hiking trails across over a thousand acres. A remarkable place to visit by any measure.