San Diego - Downtown - Waterfront Part 2

geomorph · #1 Posted **Mar 20, 2015, 7:13 PM**

San Diego is the 8th largest city in the United States by population (1,355,000) and is by far the largest city of the San Diego-Carlsbad Metropolitan Statistical Area in Southern California (the 12th largest in the United States).

Downtown is located on the Eastern side of San Diego Bay, a natural harbor that is about 13 miles long and averages about 1 mile wide. A bend in the bay's shoreline embraces the Western and Southern boundaries of downtown, while a bend in the Interstate Freeway #5 creates the Eastern and Northern boundaries. It is about 1.5 miles from East to West and 1.3 miles from North to South. The terrain is mostly flat, with gradual slopes up from the shoreline, reaching a steeper incline in the Northeast corner at the area called Cortez Hill. Downtown has a wide variety of uses and structures, and is a lively and attractive place in comparison to its condition before the developments of the past 25 years.

This thread will focus on the features of downtown's waterfront on San Diego Bay, in two parts. Part 1 will begin at San Diego International Airport at the Northwestern edge of downtown and continue South along the waterfront to the bend where the shoreline turns from a North-South direction to a Northwest-Southeast direction. Part 2 will continue Southeast along the waterfront, and then retrace the route a block inland along the rail route that parallels the waterfront and its select features.

Seaport Village:
This was the first 'recent' development that helped to reclaim downtown's waterfront, opened in 1980. It is an ersatz village of various recreated styles, but remains fairly popular as a touristy shopping and restaurant complex.

Embarcadero Marina Park North:
This park built on fill in the harbor creates a peninsula that shelters a marina.

Manchester Grand Hyatt:
On the edge of the marina is this large hotel composed of two towers: the more brutal-looking one from 1992 and the postmodern-looking one from 2003.

Park Place:
Near the Manchester Grand Hyatt's newer tower is this condo tower, also from 2003.

Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina:
This hotel on the marina is composed of two similar but differently-shaped towers, completed in 1984 and 1987.

Embarcadero Marina Park South:

San Diego Convention Center:
Also fronting the marina is this large facility with views of downtown and the waterfront from its raised terraces. The section with the jagged concrete spires and sail roof was opened in 1989 while the addition with its rounded rows of windows was opened in 2001.

Embarcadero walkway near Convention Center:
This is the final stretch of downtown's waterfront before it terminates into large scale industrial docks for the port and US Navy stretching for miles South. The first large port facility pictured here is the 10th Avenue Terminal; one of the port's largest commerce sources is the importation of bananas by Dole at this dock.

Hilton San Diego Bayfront:
This hotel from 2008 terminates the publicly accessible stretch of the Embarcadero.

Harbor Drive Pedestrian Bridge:
Opened in 2011, this crosses over East Harbor Drive (the road that parallels the waterfront a block inland) and the train and trolley tracks of a railyard. It connects the Hilton San Diego Bayfront with Petco Park. Nearby, a view of the 12th & Imperial Transit Center for the San Diego Trolley lines can be seen with its clocktower and parking structure.

Petco Park:
The home of the San Diego Padres Major League Baseball Team, this stadium opened in 2004 on the edge of downtown's East Village neighborhood and is served by the San Diego Trolley that follows in this thread.

Rail Lines:
Separating Petco Park and the rest of downtown from the waterfront is a wide swath of circulation that parallels the shoreline in this area. It includes East Harbor Drive for automobiles; rail lines for freight, Coaster commuter trains, and San Diego Trolley; and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Promenade for pedestrians and its several associated trolley stops and small parks.

Children's Park and New Children's Museum:
The San Diego Trolley runs across a giant round shallow water feature in this park designed by Peter Walker and opened in 1997(Shown here only in the skyline photo). Adjacent to it is the New Children's Museum and Park, opened in 2008.

Union Station:
After the rail lines curve North and a few blocks away from the waterfront, they arrive here at this 1915 station also known as Santa Fe Depot. It serves the San Diego Trolley as well as the Coaster commuter trains and Amtrak's Surfliner trains (this is their Southern terminus). One end of the building houses the downtown branch of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego with a modern addition opened in 2007.

Leo the Dog · #2 Posted **Mar 21, 2015, 6:26 PM**

Keep 'em coming!

mello · #3 Posted **Mar 21, 2015, 8:13 PM**

Excellent and informative tour Geo! Just to add some commentary many people think the occasional delivery of Bananas and Pineapples by Dole is not worth keeping that 110 acre Tenth Ave. Marine terminal open. Those are the only products that come in there. You probably noticed there were no large cargo cranes lined up like you see in Oakland and Long Beach. It is a rinky dink operation that could be easily consolidated at the National City Port a few miles down the bay. It really is a shame that all of that prime waterfront land is taken up so wastefully.

Note on PETCO Park, the tallest tower on the south end of stadium with the trellis on top that you got a close up of was meant to be draped in bougainvillea but the head grounds person was not able to get it to grow and withstand the strong sun beating down on it all day long in the summer/early fall. It is a shame because it does look kind of ugly bare like that. You noticed the bougainvillea growing on the east side and it looks gorgeous with the sand covered tiles.

geomorph · #4 Posted **Apr 2, 2015, 2:25 AM**

mello,

Yes that is a big chunk of land taken up by the port, there was a sign on the Embarcadero walkway about the Dole importation and it made it sound like it was a big deal...but now that you mention it, there certainly were no large gantry cranes there!

xzmattzx · #5 Posted **Apr 2, 2015, 2:59 PM**

Nice pictures!

Eightball · #6 Posted **Apr 2, 2015, 3:25 PM**

Nice, enjoyed it. Glad to see the train and train station pics!

FREKI · #7 Posted **Apr 2, 2015, 3:50 PM**

Nice ones mate!

LAsam · #8 Posted **Apr 3, 2015, 7:33 PM**

Very nice, as always! Can't wait to see your shots of the East Village.

mSeattle · #9 Posted **Apr 3, 2015, 7:47 PM**

I hope to visit beautiful downtown San Diego some day. Thanks for the pictures.

spoonman · #10 Posted **Apr 6, 2015, 7:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mello

Excellent and informative tour Geo! Just to add some commentary many people think the occasional delivery of Bananas and Pineapples by Dole is not worth keeping that 110 acre Tenth Ave. Marine terminal open. Those are the only products that come in there. You probably noticed there were no large cargo cranes lined up like you see in Oakland and Long Beach. It is a rinky dink operation that could be easily consolidated at the National City Port a few miles down the bay. It really is a shame that all of that prime waterfront land is taken up so wastefully.

SD uses most of the port lands for shipyards rather than containerized shipment terminals. SD has the largest N/C shipyards on the west coast. In terms of "cargo" though, most cargo brought into SD is in the form of vehicles rather than containers. The port at National City is one of the largest vechicle ports in the US (largest on the West Coast in volume) and is the primary point of entry for Honda, Acura, Isuzu, Volkswagen, Nissan, Mitsubishi Fuso, and Hino Motors.

bobdreamz · #11 Posted **Apr 7, 2015, 5:14 PM**

San Diego looks so meticulous! Nice pics!

John R · #12 Posted **Apr 9, 2015, 2:10 AM**

Nice shots. I love San Diego.

geomorph · #13 Posted **Apr 9, 2015, 2:54 PM**

John R, thank you for the compliment and thank you for the websites for the Architecture of Dallas and Fort Worth, they were great resources for me when planning my trip there a few years ago!

Dr Awesomesauce · #14 Posted **Apr 10, 2015, 12:10 AM**

Very sexy situation! Many thanks.

gatt · #15 Posted **Jun 21, 2015, 1:44 AM**

beautiful city.

IconRPCV · #16 Posted **Aug 2, 2016, 6:03 AM**

Wow, you make my hometown look as good as it should!