Unspecified/General

In the historic Old Town district about three miles north-west of downtown San Diego, Old Town San Diego State Historic Park preserves the site of the first permanent European settlement on the United States Pacific Coast. The thirteen-acre park covers the original Mexican-era town established in 1769 around the celebrated Mission San Diego de Alcala and includes a remarkable collection of original and reconstructed adobe and frame buildings dating from the Mexican period through the early American era of the 1820s through the 1870s. The park was established in 1968 to protect the dwindling collection of original Mexican-era and early American structures that had survived in the neighbourhood through decades of rapid downtown development. The state acquired the central plaza of the old town and the surrounding eight original buildings, with an additional dozen reconstructed structures added in subsequent decades to recreate the appearance of the original town as it would have been in the 1870s. Standout original structures include the Casa de Estudillo, the elegant 1827 adobe home of the prominent Estudillo family of Spanish colonial officials, restored to its original appearance and considered one of the finest adobe residences in California; the Casa de Bandini, originally built in 1829 and now housing a popular Mexican-themed hotel and restaurant; the original 1850s San Diego Union Building, where the city's first English-language newspaper was printed; and the Mason Street Schoolhouse, the first public school in San Diego. The park is a working living-history museum. Costumed interpreters circulate throughout the park demonstrating traditional Mexican and early American crafts including blacksmithing, leatherwork, textile weaving and brick-making, while several of the historic buildings house small museums covering aspects of nineteenth-century life. A cluster of popular restaurants, including the historic Casa de Reyes and the celebrated Old Town Mexican Cafe, surround the park's central plaza, lending the area a lively atmosphere throughout the year. Free to enter, with paid public parking nearby and easy trolley connection from downtown.

Type: Outdoors

Address: 4002 Wallace Street, San Diego, CA, United States

Telephone: 619-220-5422

Website: parks.ca.gov/?page_id=663

Opening Date: 01/01/1968