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The zoo&nbsp;was founded in 1916 by physician Henry M. Wegeforth, who, after viewing the exotic animals at the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park, decided that a zoo should be established. Many of the original buildings were designed by local architect Louis John Gill in 1926. The gondola lift was added in 1969. The zoo pioneered the open-air concept for zoos, allowing for more natural settings for animals rather than cages. Interestingly, the zoo has become known&nbsp;for animal escapes. The most famous animal to do so was an&nbsp;orangutan named Ken Allen (1971-2000). In the summer of 1985 he escaped three times and wandered peacefully in&nbsp;the park looking at other animals. The zoo installed cameras and even sent in personnel&nbsp;disguised as tourists, but Ken was on to them. Finally, the zoo hired rock climbers to find routes out of the enclosure to figure out how Ken, who became known as "Hairy Houdini," escaped. In recent years, a koala, wolf monkeys and a couple of hyenas have also&nbsp;escaped. All were captured and safely returned to their enclosures.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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The San Diego Zoo, located in Balboa Park, features over 3,700 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies. The zoo has grown extensively since its establishment in 1916 and has garnered worldwide recognition as one of the leading zoos in the world. Highlights include a guided tram tour that covers most of the park, an elevated gondola lift that allows people to view the park from above, and a giant panda exhibit. The zoo is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and several other organizations, and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

San Diego Zoo

This tour includes some of the city's leading museums and attractions, as well as sites related to the history of San Diego, the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and the 1935 California Pacific International Exhibition.

Balboa Park, San Diego Zoo, and Museums

The park was established in 1868, and its founding made San Diego the first city west of the Mississippi River to designate public land for an urban park. Known as "City Park," it originally spanned 1,400 acres. The first efforts at developing the park started in 1892 with a woman named Kate Sessions, who agreed to donate several trees and shrubs and continue planting 100 trees per year, in exchange for 32 acres for her commercial nursery business. The City of San Diego accepted her offer and Sessions became known as "The Mother of Balboa Park." Many of the trees that she planted over 100 years ago are still standing today. By the turn of the century, a "master plan for Park improvements" was created, leading to two decades of steady improvements. By 1910, city water lines and roads wove through the park, paving the way for the massive building project that would soon commence in preparation for the 1915-1916 Panama - California Exposition. In fact, it was the imminent exposition that prompted the city to rename City Park to something more inspired. After lively public debate and discussion, the city settled on Balboa Park.With the demands of the 1915-16 Exposition and the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition, the park saw dramatic development over a twenty year period. It was during this time that much of the built environment visitors can view today was created. Some of the most notable buildings include the California Tower, Botanical Building, San Diego Zoo, Zoro Gardens, and numerous art and history museums. The park hosted a third international exhibition in 2000 and added a Veterans Memorial Garden in 2005.

Balboa Park is an expansive 1,200 acre park in the heart of San Diego, California. It is named after Vasco Núñez de Balboa, a Spanish explorer who was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean while exploring what is now the country of Panama. The park boasts numerous museums, performing arts organizations, gardens, and opportunities for recreation. Museums include the San Diego Natural History Museum, the San Diego Zoo, and the Museum of Photographic Arts. Several buildings are national and/or state historical landmarks. The park itself was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and is a U.S. National Historic Landmark District and San Diego Historic Landmark.

Balboa Park

This art center is located within buildings designed for the California Pacific International Exposition. Constructed in 1935 to resemble a village in Spain, these buildings were later used by artists in the Great Depression and were used to house soldiers during World War II. The village is now home to local artists and craftspeople who display and sell their work to visitors. The village also hosts art classes and special events. The artisan studios are open daily. 

Spanish Village Art Center

The&nbsp;San Diego Society of Natural History began as a communal organization of like-minded, scientifically curious individuals who began meeting in 1874. Society members began organizing to take on diverse projects in the San Diego area, ranging from the establishment of a weather monitoring station to petitioning and organizing for the&nbsp;creation of the Torrey Pines State Reserve. These efforts eventually led to the opening of an exhibit in June of 1912--the Society's first such endeavor. At this time, the Society operated out of San Diego's Hotel Cecil, and the exhibit was displayed in one of the hotel's rooms. The Society bought a vacant building in Balboa Park in 1917 left over&nbsp;from the 1915 &nbsp;Panama-California Exposition. Finally owning sizable space to create a proper museum, the Society formally changed its name to the&nbsp;San Diego Natural History Museum&nbsp;and&nbsp;was able to grow its collections and library holdings. After moving between three buildings in Balboa Park, the museum finally commissioned architect William Templeton Johnson (by now well known in the area for designing other impressive museums) to build them a permanent home. Even with a substantial contribution of 125,000 from Ellen Browning Scripps, the museum failed to raise the full amount needed for the project, due largely to the challenges of the depression era. Thus, only part of the originally planned museum was built before the museum formally opened in 1933, with two of the exterior walls left plain as "temporary" walls to be finished later when the museum finished its expansion. Those temporary walls ended up remaining for nearly 60 years, until a massive 32 million dollar plan was commenced in 1992 that led to massive expansion of the museum. By 2002, the renovation was completed, leaving&nbsp;the San Diego Natural History Museum over twice the size of its previous structure.&nbsp; A tumultuous&nbsp;moment in the museum's history came during World War II, when the U.S. Navy conscripted the building for use as a military hospital. The museum was forced to hastily pack up its massive collections, dispersing them throughout 32 locations, while the library relocated to San Diego State College.&nbsp;Meanwhile, the new use of the building required the installation of an elevator to transfer patients from different areas and a nurses' station in-between floors&nbsp;of the museum-turned-infectious-disease-ward. Interestingly, both additions remain today.&nbsp;

The San Diego Natural History Museum is located in Balboa Park and is one of several attractions in the park. Founded in 1874 as the San Diego Society of Natural History--a group of scientists and science enthusiasts intent on organizing and creating an intellectual space for exploring scientific topics--the society continued to evolve and formally opened its first exhibit in 1912. This early organizing led the the San Diego Natural History Museum securing its place as the oldest scientific museum in Southern California. Its primary focus is the natural history of the San Diego region.  

San Diego Natural History Museum

Designed by Bertram Goodhue for the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition, the Zoro Garden is a six acre stone grotto and sunken garden, located in between the Casa de Balboa and the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. Within the stone grotto, a butterfly garden has been planted to foster the growth of butterfly populations. It provides both the larvae plants and the nectar plants that are needed as food sources to support butterflies throughout their life cycle.In particular, swallowtails, monarchs, and sulfur butterflies can all be seen within the garden, which is filled colorful perennial plants. To support emerging butterflies while they are still in the larvae (caterpillar) stage, the butterfly garden contains plants such as milkweed, passion vine, sunflower, and California lilac. Once the butterflies reach maturity, the garden provides them with different flowering plants that offer nectar, including pincushion flower, lantana, Butterfly bush, and verbena.In addition, the rocks of the stone grotto contain miniature indentations that are significant for butterfly populations, as they retain small pools of fresh water for butterflies to drink. Around the stone grotto, Ficus trees surround the site and help protect the flowering plants and butterflies within the garden from wind and harsh weather.In 2010, the Zoro Garden was renamed the Butterfly Garden in Balboa Park. The Annual Butterfly Release is a free public event that takes place each May. Four hundred live Painted Lady butterflies are brought into the garden for release, in order to encourage pollination of the flowering plants throughout Balboa Park. The event is sponsored by the Friends of Balboa Park and the San Diego Floral Association. Along with butterfly viewing, it includes free arts and crafts activities for children.

The public garden in the heart of San Diego was designed by Bertram Goodhue for the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition which was held in Balboa Park. The six-acre sunken garden is located within a stone grotto flanked by Ficus trees. It includes an assortment of colorful perennials, which serve to attract butterflies to the site. Plants have been specially selected to provide a food source for monarch, sulfur, and swallowtail butterflies throughout their respective life cycles, from the larvae (caterpillar) stage to adulthood. Flowering plants on display in the garden include milkweed, sunflower, passion vine, pincushion flower, California lilac, and verbena. In 2010, Zoro Garden was renamed Butterfly Garden in Balboa Park. The park is open to the public, with arts and crafts activities for children, and an annual butterfly release event each spring

Zoro Garden (Butterfly Garden)

The Zoro Gardens, named after the
Persian religious figure Zoroaster, were constructed as part of the&nbsp;preparations for the
1915 Panama-California Exposition. The sunken grotto occupies six acres within
Balboa Park, and was modeled in the form of an open-air amphitheater
surrounded by a wooden fence. As preparations were being made for a second international exposition in the 1930s, sideshow promoters Nate Eagle and Stanley R. Graham came up with the idea of operating&nbsp;a nudist colony-directly in the middle&nbsp;of the California Pacific International Exposition.&nbsp;

Visitors from across the state, country, and world traveled
to San Diego for the International Exposition. A small number agreed to&nbsp;pay an admission fee
of 25¢ to access Zoro Gardens and the nudists who resided and performed at the park.&nbsp;According to the official events
program, the show featured&nbsp;"healthy young men and women, indulging in the
freedom of outdoor living in which they so devoutly believe, have opened their
colony to the friendly, curious gaze of the public" (Marshall, 2007).&nbsp;Visitors were able to sit on benches or peek through carefully (and intentionally)
positioned holes in the surrounding wooden fence. Both male and female nudists
could be seen in the garden, allegedly wearing nothing but in fact candidly
covered in skimpy underwear and flesh-colored clothing – though their torsos and breasts were usually&nbsp;fully exposed. Many of these nudists were performers hired from the Century
of Progress International Exposition that took place in Chicago in 1933. They
would spend the day sunbathing, playing volleyball and other sports, or
engaging in a Zoroastrian “Sacrifice to the Sun God” ritual to five times each
day. 

Of particular renown was Yvonne Stacey, a twenty two year
old performer who assumed the moniker of “Zorine: Queen of the Nudists.” Upon
arrival from the Chicago exposition she went straight to the District
Attorney’s office in San Diego, and swore to him that she and her colleagues
would not do any indecent acts within the gardens. After leaving the Zoro
Gardens towards the end of 1935,Stacey went on to tour the country as an
advocate of nudist rights. Among the hundreds of exhibits shown at the Exposition, one of the&nbsp;best remembered was Alpha the Robot, a "mechanical man" created by Harry May. This&nbsp;representedthe cutting edge of mid-1930s machine age robtic technology. At some point during the exhibition, Alpha wandered away from the nearby Palace of Science and found himself at another exhibit, that of Queen Zorine and her harem of nudists. The unique and delightfully strange picture below shows Alpha "abducting" Queen Zorine 

The nudist colony closed after less than a year. A&nbsp;combination of internal squabbles among the “nudists,” and a&nbsp;disagreement regarding finances, and growing pressure from protesters who believed that the colony was&nbsp;“indecent” led to its closure in August, 1936. Chief among the protesters were demonstrations and petitions&nbsp;organized by prominent religious and women’s
associations in San Diego. The San Diego Braille club were one of the organizations who joined the&nbsp;protest movement. Although their organization&nbsp;included members blind the&nbsp;Braille Club protested that the indecent nature of the colony threatened all citizens.&nbsp;Recognizing the sideshow-like nature of the exhibit, committed&nbsp;nudist rights-activists also protested against the colony. One such group lodged an official complaint to the&nbsp;San Diego District Attorney that argued that the enterprise was&nbsp;fraudulent. 

Today, Zoro Garden is a more family-friendly place. There is no sign of the nudist colony and the center of the space includes a&nbsp;butterfly garden. The gardens, like Balboa Park, are an&nbsp;ideal spot for residents and a must-see for visitors to the city. After visiting the garden, visitors can also tour the&nbsp;nearby Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.

Located within Balboa Park of San Diego, Zoro Gardens became the site of a controversial nudist colony during the California Pacific International Exposition, which was held between 1935 and 1936. The park dates back to the 1830s, when Spanish colonial officials set apart land for public use. The park was also the site of the 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition.

California Pacific International Exposition and the Zoro Garden Nudist Colony

The San Diego History Center is one of several museums and attractions situated in Balboa Park. Established in 1928, the History Center is the only institution dedicated to preserving and promoting the history of San Diego and the surrounding region. It operates two facilities in the park, the History Center building and the Research Archives, and the Junípero Serra Museum (the original location of the History Center) located in Presidio Park. The size and scope of the collection of the History Center is impressive: it contains 45 million documents (manuscripts, business records, diaries, etc.), 2.5 million historic photographs; 1,700 oral histories, 1,500 films; 15,000 historic objects; 7,000 pieces of historic clothing; and a collection of San Diego artwork. Many of these items can be accessed in the Research Archives. The History Center offers exhibitions exploring various themes and past events and a variety of educational programming for people of all ages. The Junípero Serra Museum is used as an auxiliary museum and educational center.

San Diego History Center

<div>The museum was established in&nbsp;1972 when it was a "museum without walls." It found a permanent home in&nbsp;1983, when the City of San Diego donated over 7,000 square feet within the Casa de Balboa Building to house the museum's massive collections1. While there are frequent seasonal and traveling exhibitions, the museum boasts a permanent photographic collection of over 7,000&nbsp;nineteenth&nbsp;and twentieth century works from important historical moments; for example, the museum has many&nbsp;"World War II and Depression-era images by such artists as Berenice Abbott, Weegee, Lisette Model, Dorothea Lange, Arthur Rothstein, Horace Bristol, André Kertész, Henri Cartier-Bresson, August Sander, Ben Shahn and photomontage work by John Heartfield"2.&nbsp;In addition, the collections are representative of many photographic genres and technologies, from&nbsp;nineteenth century daguerreotypes and albumen prints to documentary and photojournalism to digitally modified pieces2.&nbsp;Furthermore, Latin American artists and Cold Ware era Soviet photographers&nbsp;are featured prominently in the collections2.&nbsp; The museum underwent a significant&nbsp;renovation beginning in&nbsp;1999 and reopened a year later in March of 2000. The amount of space increased from 7,000&nbsp;to 32,000&nbsp;square feet and a classroom and&nbsp;print-viewing room were added. The museum also opened&nbsp;The Edmund L. and Nancy K. Dubbois Research Library in 2006, with over 20,000 holdings3. Everyone is welcome to use the library, though appointments are required.&nbsp;On their Youtube channel, MOPA hosts a podcast called Audio Insight, which involves personal insights from photographers and other influential people in the field. As well as featuring exhibits and collections from seasoned and adult photographers, MOPA aims to share their knowledge and love of photography with children. Each year since 2016, the museum&nbsp;holds a juried&nbsp;youth exhibition for students who participate in the photography and film educational programs.4&nbsp;For adults, there are scheduled artist talks, classes, and workshops to learn and hone artistic skills. In addition, there are also frequent film screenings which take place in the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Theater5.&nbsp;In order to ensure the enjoyment of all visitors at the museum, the MOPA offers tours in American Sign Language for every exhibition cycle. Electronic viewing aids are also available at the front desk for anyone with low vision as well as large print texts6.&nbsp;Service animals are welcome in the museum. For visitors with mobility limitations, everything is on one level with exception of the Dubbois Library on the Mezzanine level, which can be accessed by elevator6.&nbsp;Various tours are available at the museum: self-directed tours, guided tours, and behind-the-scenes tours--the last of which&nbsp;gives visitors a glimpse of the curation and internal processes of the museum, rather than focusing on exhibits.&nbsp;Admission is based on a "Pay What You Wish" basis for every day that the museum is open. Visitors can choose what to contribute, rather than pay the general admission fee, which is normally: $8 for adults,&nbsp;free for MOPA members and active military members and their dependents and for children ages 12 and under,&nbsp;$7 for Seniors, and $6 for students with a valid school ID8.&nbsp; </div><div>&nbsp;</div>

Housed in the Casa de Balboa Building in San Diego's Balboa Park, The Museum of Photographic Arts is one of the country's largest photography museums and one of the first to focus solely on the medium (the museum has now expanded to curate film in addition to photography). Its collections span the history of photography from the 1800s to today. The museum receives over 120,000 visitors per year and offers a wide variety of educational programming, exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and film showings.



Museum of Photographic Arts

The historic Botanical Building in Balboa Park is one of the largest buildings in the world to be constructed using lath. The design of the Botanical Building was based on similar structures, such as the famed conservatory at Kew Gardens in London, as well as the glasshouse-style conservatory at the New York Botanical Gardens.A decorative lily pond and lagoon are located adjacent to the Botanical Building, where they provide popular photo opportunities for visitors. Along with the Botanical Building, these water features were created for the 1915-16 Panama California Exhibition. At the time of its creation, the Botanical Building was one of four structures intended to remain permanently standing in Balboa Park at the end of the exhibition.Since then, botanical exhibits and seasonal displays have continued to attract visitors to the site. Additionally, there are extensive permanent collections of plants on display, particularly tropical plants such as orchids and palms, as well as giant ferns. The Botanical Building is now part of the Balboa Park National Historic Landmark District, and the building is located proximate to several notable gardens in Balboa Park, including the Japanese Friendship Garden.A much-needed restoration of the Botanical Building (and the grounds) is currently underway, since the most recent major restoration was completed in 1957. The upcoming restoration project is jointly funded by the Balboa Park Conservancy, the State of California, and the City of San Diego. The renowned architectural company of Roesling, Nakamura, and Tejada has been hired to oversee the restoration, which is slated for completion in 2023.

The Botanical Building in Balboa Park was originally created for the 1915-16 Panama California Exposition and remains one of the largest structures ever built using lath. The building houses over 2,100 different plant species within the botanical garden's permanent collections which consist of cycads, ferns, orchids, palms, and other tropical plants. In addition to the permanent collections, there are also seasonal displays of flowering plants. A lagoon and lily pond located In front of the Botanical Building were also created to welcome visitors to San Diego during the world's fair, a purpose that continues to this day thanks to a major renovation effort in 1957 and continued support for operations and maintenance.

Botanical Building and Gardens, Balboa Park

The museum is named after the Timken family, a prominent family out of Canton, Ohio. Amelia Timken Bridges, the daughter of wealthy industrialist Henry Timken (Henry invented the tapered roller bearing, which helped wagon&nbsp;wheels turn more smoothly), and sisters Anne and Amy Putnam donated money to establish the museum. The sisters came from a wealthy family who moved to San Diego from Vermont around the turn of the century. Amelia's brother, Henry Timken Jr., also played a large role in founding the museum.&nbsp;

Built in 1965, the Timken Museum of Art is one of the best small art museums in the world, boasting a world-class collection of European and American paintings as well as Russian icons. Artists represented here include Peter Paul Reubens, Francisco de Zurbarán, Jacques-Louis David, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Petrus Christus, Rembrandt, John Singleton Copley, and Albert Bierstadt. The museum is located in Balboa Park, which features a number of other museums as well as gardens and other attractions. The museum building itself is significant. It was designed by architect Frank Hope and is regarded as an excellent example of mid-20th-century modernism.


Timken Museum of Art

The museum grew out of the&nbsp;Panama-California International Exposition, which was held in Balboa Park in 1915-1916; it celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal and promoted San Diego's growing cultural and economic importance. The exposition showcased various industries and products as well as a fine arts exhibition. The art exhibition was very popular, as it included works by European masters, American artists, and paid special attention to the contributions of Californians.&nbsp;&nbsp; The popularity of the art exhibition served as the catalyst for the establishment of the museum. After such success, many San Diegans&nbsp;recognized the need for San Diego to have its own permanent art museum. Serious organizing began in 1922 when a prominent local businessman, Appleton Bridges, pledged financial support for the&nbsp;construction of a new museum. By 1924, land in the Plaza de Panama was chosen and, under the careful eye of architects William Templeton Johnson and Robert Snyder, construction commenced. Building off of the Spanish Colonial-style architectural themes&nbsp;of the 1915 Exposition, Johnson and Snyder dove even deeper and looked to Spain and Renaissance era cathedrals for inspiration. Adding to the mystique of&nbsp;these Old World stylings were the addition of sculptures paying homage to Spanish master painters, such as Velazquez and Murillo.&nbsp;Two years after breaking ground, the&nbsp;museum opened in on February 28,&nbsp;1926, and was known as the&nbsp;Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego. Under the management of Dr. Reginald Poland through 1950, the museum's formative years were spent amassing a sizable portion of its impressive, current-day collection. Many of the museum's earliest holdings are thanks to the contributions of a handful of local civic-minded citizens who made substantial donations.&nbsp;Since 1950, the museum has continued to&nbsp;grown, adding gallery space and increasing its collections. The name changed from the Fine Arts Gallery to the San Diego Museum of Art&nbsp;in 1978.&nbsp;

Founded in 1915, The San Diego Museum of Art is a world renowned art museum located in Balboa Park. It is the largest and most visited museum in the region, receiving over 250,000 visitors each year. Highlights of its extensive art collection include paintings by Spanish and Italian masters, South Asian artwork, and 19th and 20th century American paintings and sculptures. The museum hosts traveling exhibits, offers numerous cultural and education programs, and also houses a research library.

San Diego Museum of Art

A fire destroyed much of the facility in 1978. Surrounding
offices, dressing rooms and other spaces were saved but the main theatre was
destroyed. A new 580-seat Old Globe opened in 1982 with a production of
Shakespeare’s, “As You Like It.” In 1984 the building suffered another fire,
this time the stage area. Again, it was rebuilt. 

Throughout the hardships, the commitment to live theatre in
the area remained strong. Long-term financial contributions were secured, and
the facility continued to be improved with the addition of extra theatre spaces
to expand the complex. 

The Old Globe has had more 20 shows that have gone to play
Broadway and Off Broadway, earning 13 Tony Awards. The Old Globe won a Tony for
Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1984. The theatre produces about 15 shows a
year and remains one of the nation’s best regional theatres.

The original Old Globe Theatre was built in 1935. It was meant to resemble Shakespeare’s Old Globe in London. It was first built to serve the California Pacific International Exposition. When that concluded in 1937, the non-profit San Diego Community Theatre took over operations, and that continues today. Despite adversities, the theatre company has continued to revamp and grow. 

The Old Globe

The California Building was constructed in preparation for
the Panama-California Exposition, which had been planned since 1911 and was held
in 1915. The city had originally wished to host a World Exposition, which was an extremely popular economic and cultural festival tied to narratives of
national identity, modernisation, and frequently colonial power. Of key
importance in contemporary exhibitions and expositions was ethnography, and its
related disciplines of ethnology, anthropology, and archaeology. However, San
Diego’s ambitions to host a World Fair weren’t fruitful, as the city was deemed too
small to host an event of that size.

Bertram Goodhue, famed for his designs of Los Angeles’
Central Library, was commissioned to design the building. Goodhue made use
of a combination of Plateresque, Baroque, Churrigueresque, and Rococo
architectural styles in his completed vision. The structure itself is notably monochrome, apart from
the selective use of verdant green woodwork and metalwork. It features a large
central dome, in addition to two smaller ones. The main dome is resplendent in
multi-colored tilework field by the local California China Products Company of
National City. The phrase Terram Frumenti
Hordei, ac Vinarum, in qua Ficus et Malogranata et Oliveta Nascuntur, Terram
Olei ac Mellis ("A land of heat and barley and vines…a land of live
trees and honey") is integrated into the base of the sixty foot tall dome in Black and white tiles. Of particular note is the building’s one hundred and
eighty foot tower, eight stories high and embellished with glass beads. &nbsp;The building’s façade is particularly
beautiful, as it makes use of a combination of Spanish-Colonial and Gothic
characteristics. It features carved stone busts and figures carved by the
renowned Italian marble carvers, the Piccirilli Brothers, including those of
kings Charles V and Philip III of Spain and a number of Spanish and English
sailors and explorers who were linked to the history of San Diego.
The façade also depicts two coats of arms, those of Mexico and of California
state.

Numerous other iconic structures were made for the
Exposition, such as the Cabrillo Bridge, the Casa de Balboa and Casa de Prado. Another
spectacular Mission-style building located opposite the California Building was
once connected to it by two arcaded passageways, creating what was known as the
“California Quadrangle.” &nbsp;Many of these
were so spectacular and popular amongst the residents of San Diego that the
original flimsy structures were rebuilt with stronger materials, thus becoming
permanent features in Balboa Park. 

The California Tower opened with an enormous central
exhibition called The Story of Man
Through the Ages, designed by Dr. Edgar Lee Hewett of the School of
American Archaeology. This was the most ambitious exhibition of its type to
have ever been assembled in the country, involving trips to Guatemala, Alaska,
Siberia, Peru, Africa, Europe, and as far as the Philippines in order to
collect the required artifacts and fossils. 

The tower closed to the public in 1935, and for eighty long
years remained vacant, though the rest of the California Building formally began operating as the Museum of Man in 1942.&nbsp;Renovations began on the derelict tower&nbsp;structure alongside
developments taking place in the surrounding Balboa Park, which were completed
in 2015. Today the anthropological museum is devoted to the exhibition of
artifacts from cultures all over the Americas and the globe. It features
extensive collections on Southern, Mexican, and South American peoples, and
even a selection of Egyptian mummies.&nbsp;

The California Building is the central feature in Balboa Park, and a landmark structure in the state, made famous by its remarkable architecture and use in a number of well-known movies, including Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941) and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004). Built in 1915, the the building currently houses the San Diego Museum of Man. It has been included in the National Register of Historic Places. 

California Building and San Diego Museum of Man

The Alcazar Garden in Balboa Park was created as a replica of the ornate gardens at Alcazar Castle in Seville, Spain. The design includes decorative mosaic tile fountains and the display of 7,000 annual plants in bold, bright colors. It is located next to the House of Charm and across from the Sculpture Garden. In addition, the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Mingei International Museum are also located nearby within walking distance.The land on which the Alcazar Garden was built was the ancestral land of the Kumeyaay people. In 1868, the City of San Diego designated that 1,400 acres would be used for the creation of a park. This became known as "City Park," although there was no formal landscape design undertaken for several years. In 1892, the process of garden design began when the horticulturist Kate Sessions planted 100 trees in the park, and in 1910, the park's name was officially altered to become "Balboa Park."An event known as the Panama-California Exhibition was held in Balboa Park in 1915. It was intended to celebrate the construction and opening of the Panama Canal, while also celebrating California and the City of San Diego. In 1935, Balboa Park was the setting for the California Pacific International Exhibition, which was intended as a "world's fair" type of event. This event inspired the construction of several Spanish Colonial Revival buildings in Balboa Park.In recent years, the Alcazar Garden has been restored, in keeping with the 1935 design by the San Diego-based architect, Richard Requa. The garden is a popular site among both tourists and locals who enjoy the vibrant display of annual flowers. It is also a wedding venue.

This garden in San Diego's Balboa Park was created as part of the 1935 California Pacific International Exhibition and styled after the gardens at Alcazar Castle in Seville, Spain. The garden is open to the public and best known for its ornamental fountains, decorative pergola, and Moorish tiles in vibrant colors of green, yellow, and turquoise blue. Framed by boxwood hedges, the garden has been planted with 7,000 annuals on display year-round. Within Balboa Park, the Alcazar Garden is located near the House of Charm and the Sculpture Garden, as well as the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Mingei International Museum.

Alcazar Garden, Balboa Park

Founded in 1974, the museum formally opened its doors in 1978, thanks to the efforts of Martha Longenecker, an accomplished ceramics artist and professor at San Diego State University. After founding the museum, she served as its director from 1978 to 2005. She passed away in 2013. It was during Martha's travels to Japan in the 1950s to study Japanese ceramics that she became acquainted with and learned from the founders of the Mingei Association. Her studies there inspired her to create the museum. In 1996, the museum moved from its original location at the University Town Center to its current home in Balboa Park. Today, the museum boasts six expansive exhibit rooms. The truly eclectic collections of everyday ephemera from countless cultures capture the imagination and provide a provocative exploration of the depths of human creativity. From mid century modern furniture to African beadwork to Asian pottery and countless points between, the Mingei International Museum will not disappoint.

The Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park is dedicated to preserving and exhibiting folk art, crafts and design from all over the world. The Museum contains more than 26,000 objects from 141 countries and receives over 100,000 visitors per year. Since its opening in 1978, the museum has held 183 exhibits. From 2019 to a date to be determined in 2020, the museum is closed during a major renovation. During this time, the museum will offer pop-up exhibits and visitors should call or see the museum website linked below for the latest information. 

The word "mingei," meaning "The art of the people," was coined by Japanese philosopher Sōetsu Yanagi. The museum's mission is to acknowledge and celebrate the objects used in everyday life. The central belief governing the collection of such "everyday" artifacts is that they are inherently beautiful and a testament to human creativity, and are therefore worthy of preservation. 

Mingei International Museum

The Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park was created to represent the friendship between the sister cities of San Diego, California, and Yokohama, Japan. By showcasing the beauty of both cultures, it invites visitors into an immersive learning and contemplative experience. The garden was also designed with the intention of highlighting the relationship between humans and the natural world. The selection of plants in the garden reflect the native flora of both San Diego and Yokohama. In addition to emphasizing intercultural communication and appreciation, the landscape of the friendship garden was designed with the principles of simplicity and serenity in mind. The garden includes beautiful water features, stone arrangements, koi ponds, and Sukiya-style architecture in keeping with Japanese aestheticism. In addition, the Inamori Pavillion was designed according to sustainability guidelines, and it was awarded LEED certification for New Construction. Set on a twelve acre plot of land, the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park is the site of year-round events and exhibits, as well as accredited horticultural classes and workshops open to the public. There are also festivals held on site. The mission of the garden is to "educate, engage, and inspire people of diverse backgrounds about Japanese culture and community legacy."

The Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park is a symbol of the friendship between San Diego and its sister city, Yokohama, Japan. The twelve-acre garden was designed as an immersive experience for visitors and is intended to foster appreciation for Japanese culture. There are events, exhibits, festivals, and classes held on site. The design of the garden places an emphasis on simplicity and serenity in keeping with the principles of Japanese aestheticism. In addition to koi ponds, stone arrangements, walking paths, and Sukiya-style architecture, there are Japanese plants on display, including cherry trees that bloom in the garden each spring.

Japanese Friendship Garden, Balboa Park

The House of Pacific Relations was established to promote peace in the world during the 1930s when divisions were rising in the lead up to World War II. The founding of the House coincided with the California Pacific International Exposition, which was held between May 29th to November 11th, 1935 (it was so successful that it was held again the next year from February 12th to September 9th). The purpose of the exposition was to boost the city's economy which had declined due to the Great Depression. At the opening ceremony of the exposition, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a speech during which he said "This organization (the House of Pacific Relations) must never be allowed to die, and must be perpetuated." There were 15 cottages at the beginning and the number has grown to over 30. The cottages offer a variety of programs and special events throughout the year. On Sunday afternoons, they offer "lawn programs" that include dancing, music, traditional costumes, crafts, food, and arts. Two festivals are held here: the Ethnic Food Fair and the International Christmas Festival. The Hall of Nations is open on certain Sundays.

The House of Pacific Relations International Cottages in Balboa Park is an organization composed of 33 small houses representing different cultures from around the world. Some of the houses were built in 1935 for the California Pacific International Exposition in Balboa Park. The aim of the organization, which was established in 1935, is to "promote multicultural goodwill and understanding through educational and cultural programs." The site includes the Hall of Nations, which houses cultures that do not have their own cottage. Some of the cultures represented here include Iran, Mexico, France, Israel, Austria, Palestine, and Peru.

House of Pacific Relations International Cottages

Agoston Haraszthy was born in Pest, Hungary on August 30, 1812 to one of the oldest noble families in Hungary. They were not very wealthy, however, as they did not own large amounts of land and were not titled. As a child, Haraszthy received a classical education and learned five languages. He was also exposed to winemaking. His father operated a vineyard on the family estate, which was located in southern Hungary. What types of grapes were grown is unknown but Italian Riesling, Cirfandli (a red grape that was possibly Zinfandel), and Kadarka were grown in the area. Interestingly, the family also raised silkworms. In 1833, Haraszthy married his wife, Eleonora, who was Polish. They would go on to have six children, three of whom were born in America.Haraszthy was ambitious. He wanted a future where he could forge his own path and obtain wealth but Hungarian aristocratic customs were entrenched and rarely deviated from. In short, there was little chance of upward mobility for Haraszthy in Hungary. He decided to immigrate to America after learning about the United States from books and encounters with an English naval captain and two Americans. He departed Hungary in 1840 and in April reached Wisconsin where, with the backing of an investor, he founded the present-day village of Sauk City, which is around 26 miles northwest of Madison, the state capital. He named the town Szeptaj, which means "beautiful view" in Hungarian. Eventually, it was named Sauk City and became the first incorporated village in the state in 1854. Haraszthy established a number of businesses (a sawmill, gristmill, general store, hotel, a steamboat and ferry, and a brickyard). He also established a farm and vineyard, where he experimented with the grapevine vitis lambrusca, which is native to America, and others.Haraszthy returned to Hungary in 1842 to bring his family to Wisconsin. Around this time he also wrote a 550-page book called Travels in North America to promote his new village and America in general. It was the second book written in Hungarian about America. His parents came to America as well. Sadly, his mother died around this time but his father remarried an American woman. He spoke 12 languages and was chemist, which enabled him to become the village's pharmacist.Haraszthy and his family did not stay in Wisconsin long as winters took a toll on the family and the grapevines. Upon learning of gold discovered in California and about the state's much more favorable climate for growing grapevines, he decided to head west. It appears his main motive for moving there was to settle there rather than to seek his fortune in gold mining. He sold his businesses and packed his belongings in five large wagons and set out in April, 1849. They finally arrived in San Diego in December. Haraszthy established businesses including a stagecoach line, livery service, fruit orchards, and a butcher shop. He planted a vineyard near a mission near San Diego but the weather was too warm. He was elected sheriff and city marshal on April 1, 1850, and the next year was elected to the California State Assembly. Two years later, Haraszthy once again sold his business interests.During the next few years, Haraszthy's attempted to establish vineyards but failed due to various reasons, mostly due to poor climate conditions. He did, however, become the first assayer in California in 1854 when the government established a mint in San Francisco (his father became assistant assayer). Two years later, Haraszthy's vineyard prospects improved when he bought a failed winery in the Sonoma Valley in 1857. He acquired additional land, eventually owning 5,000 acres (not all of it was for vineyards), built a large villa, and named the property Buena Vista. Eleonora and their young children, who had lived in New Jersey for the previous five years so the children could receive an education, moved back to California at this time. Haraszthy was the first in the state to build a gravity flow winery, meaning that he planted grapevines on hillsides. The new winery was initially successful and produced wines that won first and second place at state fairs.In 1861, the governor appointed him as part of a three-person commission to promote wine making in California. He embarked on a trip to Europe to acquire vines and wine grapes and returned with 100,000 cuttings and 350 different varieties of grapes, all of which he shipped to California. Unfortunately, he assumed the state legislatures would reimburse him for the expenses he incurred. This was not the case and a big financial blow Haraszthy that he would not recover from. In 1867, he filed for bankruptcy and in 1869 left for Nicaragua where he thought he could become a successful sugar cane planter and rum distiller. He acquired rights from the government to produce brandy and rum for 20 years. Tragically, however, he disappeared in 1869. Some clothes and his watch were found laid next to a river, which he may have attempted cross by climbing on a tree branch that had broken off. It was assumed that he fell in and was eaten by an alligator, which had been seen a few days earlier dragging a cow into the water. His remains were never found.

This historical marker commemorates the remarkable life of Hungarian immigrant Agoston Haraszthy (1812-1869) who became a leading winemaker in Wisconsin and California and earned the nickname the "father of California wine." Haraszthy was also the first sheriff of San Diego, served one term in the state assembly, and in 1857, he founded the second oldest winery in California, the Buena Vista Winery (the first was D'Agostini Winery established in 1856). The marker is located in front of the House of Hungary at the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages in Balboa Park.

Agoston Haraszthy Historical Marker

The horticulturist Kate O. Sessions originally designed the Cactus Garden in Balboa Park for the California Pacific International Exposition, a "world's fair" event that was held in the park in 1935-36. Known for containing the largest cactus and succulent specimens in the park, the garden also includes an interesting selection of African and Australian Protea plants. The Kate O. Sessions Cactus Garden was previously known as the "Old Cactus Garden" and it is sometimes still referred to this way. In a project overseen by the Balboa Park Conservancy, the garden was restored in the twenty-first century through a donation of funds from the local benefactors Joe Fisch and Joyce Axelrod. According to Joe Fisch, the intention was to restore the garden, while also showing people that well-designed arid landscapes ("dryscapes") can offer drought-tolerant, eco-friendly, and pleasing alternatives to lawns. As a result, the restoration project sought to honor the heritage of the original garden, while also updating the garden by adding a timely educational objective.Completed in 2019, the restoration of the Kate O. Sessions Cactus Garden was supervised by the Balboa Park Conservancy, along with San Diego Parks &amp; Recreation staff and Urban Corps, comprising a team of experts and volunteers. More than 120 hours of labor were contributed to the project. The landscape designer Nan Sterman led the volunteers who donated their time and labor. A few weeks after the work began, a party was held in the Cactus Garden to celebrate the project as well as the birthday of benefactor Joe Fisch.

The Kate O. Sessions Cactus Garden, previously known as the "Old Cactus Garden" in Balboa Park, was originally designed by horticulturist Kate Sessions for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition. The garden was restored in 2019 following a donation from Joe Fisch and Joyce Axelrod to the Balboa Park Conservancy, which oversaw the project in conjunction with the San Diego Parks and Recreation Department and Urban Corps. The landscape designer Nan Sterman led the group of volunteers who contributed to the renovation. The garden contains the largest cactus and succulent specimens in the park. From the garden, there is a good view of the Cabrillo Bridge. The California Tower is also visible in the distance.

Kate O. Sessions Cactus Garden

The San Diego Automotive Museum is home to a vast collection of cars and motorcycles that highlight automotive culture throughout history. The idea of creating an automotive museum in Balboa Park came from Briggs Cunningham, a renowned automotive collector and racer, but the idea did not become a reality&nbsp;until a group of local automotive enthusiasts in San Diego made the museum possible in 1979. The automobile was not created by a single inventor, and therefore there are over 100,000 patents that have contributed to the development of the automobile. The San Diego Automotive Museum provides a visual representation of how automobiles have evolved over time.The museum displays&nbsp;a range of cars from different movie sets, including cars from The Fast &amp; the Furious&nbsp;franchise, Cars, and Christine. Classic hot rod automobiles from the 20th century, Indian motorcycles, and contemporary sports cars are also on display. Exhibits on the earliest roads also explain how they were constructed out of wood and&nbsp;eventually transformed into cobblestone and, later, asphalt. There are images and live models of some of the first gas pumps and gas stations, showing how&nbsp;they have evolved over time. The museum also has a library section that contains various magazines and books about automobiles and their extensive history.Every so often the museum changes up the layout of the cars on display, so do not expect to&nbsp;see the same exact cars in the exact same locations every time. There are times when the museum will only exhibit&nbsp;cars from animated films to captivate a younger audience. Other themed displays&nbsp;exhibit&nbsp;exotic and futuristic cars for the modern car enthusiast. All upcoming exhibits are listed in the&nbsp;calendar on the <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://sdautomuseum.org/">museum's website</a>.&nbsp;At times, the museum partners with other automotive museums from around the world&nbsp;to showcase their cars or motorcycles at different&nbsp;events, parades and conventions, and a schedule of&nbsp;upcoming events are on&nbsp;the museum&nbsp;website and local newspapers. &nbsp;The San Diego Automotive Museum offers tourists of all ages an experience like no other with the&nbsp;opportunity to learn about local and national history, science and physics, the progression of technology, and the art involved in car making. The impact of automobiles on Californian and American society has been tremendous and continues to be influential to this day. The San Diego Automotive Museum is an excellent place for all people to see and experience a part of our history in the making.&nbsp;

The San Diego Automotive Museum is located in Balboa Park, a well known 1,200-acre park in the heart of San Diego that features museums, performing arts organizations, gardens, and recreational opportunities. The Automotive Museum was added to the park as a historical museum in 1979, displaying the historical progression of cars, roads, and motorcycles. Displays are showcased to entertain and inform audiences of all ages. Special exhibitions are featured every two or three months, displaying historical vehicles and famous autos.

San Diego Automotive Museum

The museum was founded in 1961 by local aviation enthusiasts, including a U.S. Navy veteran. It opened in 1963 in a vacant building in Balboa Park and was an immediate success; almost half of a million people visited it during the first six months. The library and archives opened in 1965. Plans were in motion to move the museum to the larger, vacant Ford&nbsp;building in the park, but a devastating fire destroyed much of the original museum and its contents. Thanks to a community wide effort, the museum opened in the Ford building in 1980.&nbsp; The museum continued to grow its collections and enhance&nbsp;programming over the following decades. This included a 2006 acquisition of&nbsp;the former General Dynamics Low Speed Wind Tunnel at San Diego's Lindbergh Field, where&nbsp;companies and&nbsp;individuals can test equipment and students can study aerodynamics. The museum also pays homage to the historic building in which it now resides with an online exhibit entitled&nbsp;Wheels to Wings. The old Ford building is an represents an interesting history in its own right. Out of five Ford Motor Company Exposition buildings from the 1930s, this is the only one that remains. Its edgy architecture is a product of modernist trends of the 1930s.&nbsp;

Located in San Diego's Balboa Park, the San Diego Aerospace Museum is one of the country's premier museums dedicated to aviation history. The museum receives hundreds of thousands of visitors per year and houses many rare aircraft including the Spitfire Mk. XVI, a Navy F6F Hellcat, and an A-4 Skyhawk jet. It offers various educational programming which includes lectures, workshops, and school days. The museum also houses a library that contains thousands of books, manuals, personal papers, and two million images and videos. It is the first air and space museum in the country to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and it is also affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. In 1986, the California legislature declared the museum to be "California's Official Air and Space Museum and Education Center."


San Diego Air and Space Museum

This Federal Building is the third home to the Hall of Champions. In 1959, Robert Breitbard arranged for space in Balboa Park. He established the hall of Champions as a non-profit sports museum available to all members of the community. The very first home was opened in 1961 in the House of Charm at the southwest corner of Balboa Park. Athletes such as Tony Clark, Ladainian Tomlinson, and Chris Chambliss are all featured in the Hall of Fame. The Breitbard Hall of Fame, established in 1953 by Robert Breitbard, honors athletes who have excelled in athletics in San Diego or those whom are native San Diegans and have achieved athletic fame elsewhere. Boasting with community pride, the Breitbard Hall of Fame has inducted 140 members representing 20 different sports since 1953. The Hall of Fame’s charter member is Harold “Brick” Muller, a standout for the “Wonder Boy” Cal Berkeley football teams of 1920, 1921 &amp; 1922.New members are inducted into the Hall of Fame&nbsp;each February at the Salute to the Champions dinner. The Breitbard Hall of Fame stemmed from the Breitbard Athletic Foundation, which was&nbsp;founded in 1946. After initially awarding only "Stars of the Month", and then eventually&nbsp;"Stars of the Year", the Foundation decided upon a career achievement award, which gave birth to the Breitbard Hall of Fame. To be inducted into the Breitbard Hall of Fame is the ultimate accolade for a local San Diegan&nbsp;athlete.

The San Diego Hall of Champions is the nation's largest multi-sport museum. It boasts three levels of memorabilia and a whopping 68,000 square feet. Located in San Diego's Balboa Park, the Hall of Champions was derived from the concept of the Breitbard Athletic Foundation. The San Diego Hall of Champions recognizes San Diego’s most outstanding athletic accomplishments. Well-known athletes such as Ted Williams, Tony Gwynn, Bill Walton, and many more are honored in the Breitbard Hall of Fame.

San Diego Hall of Champions

In 1989, Makeda Cheatom founded the WorldBeat Cultural Center and EthnoBotany Children's Peace Garden in Balboa Park. In alignment with Cheatom's initial vision, the non-profit multicultural arts organization's mission remains focused on encouraging "unity within diversity while teaching world peace." Cheatom has also shared with visitors that her vision includes teaching people about indigenous cultures and raising world consciousness through music, art, and dance.The landscape surrounding the multicultural center features the EthnoBotany Children's Peace Garden. This outdoor space was designed to encourage multicultural understanding, serenity, and reflection. The EthnoBotany Children's Peace Garden includes raised vegetable garden beds, a native plant garden, and a tropical fruit tree "food forest." In addition, there are also intentional meditation spaces, along with shade trees and benches that provide quiet places to sit and reflect.Cheatom continues to serve as the Executive Director of the WorldBeat Cultural Center and EthnoBotany Children's Peace Garden. On behalf of the non-profit multicultural arts organization, she has produced a wide range of programming in the areas of music, dance, and the arts. She has introduced new artists to the community from a diversity of cultures, representing a number of different artistic genres.Since founding the organization in 1989, Cheatom has won many awards, including being recognized by the City of San Diego as a cultural bridge builder and being inducted to the San Diego County Women's Hall of Fame in 2012. Additionally, she is the founder and host of a radio show called Reggae Makossa.

In 1989, Makeda Cheatom founded the WorldBeat Cultural Center and EthnoBotany Children's Peace Garden in Balboa Park. This non-profit multicultural arts organization includes an indoor multicultural museum and learning space, as well as an outdoor classroom, living plant museum, and urban nature sanctuary. Cheatom's vision for founding the WorldBeat Cultural Center remains focused on raising world consciousness in the areas of music, dance and the arts, while promoting multicultural education and understanding. Her intention for creating the outdoor EthnoBotany Children's Peace Garden on land that is adjacent to the indoor multicultural center remains to teach people about indigenous cultures, particularly plants that are significant within these cultures around the world.

WorldBeat Cultural Center and EthnoBotany Children's Peace Garden

Founded in 1970, San Diego's Centro Cultural de la Raza showcases Mexican, Latino, Chicano, and Native American art and culture. It is located in Balboa Park and is easily identifiable thanks to its vividly-colored murals. Over the near half-century since its founding, artists such as Los Lobos, James Luna, Taco Shop Poets, Dora Areola, and Robert Sanchez have found guidance and inspiration in Centro. In addition to its continuously changing variety of cultural programs, Centro also has a permanent collection of artwork featuring works in a number of mediums, including oil, acrylic, photography, and three dimensional works. The Centro has published a number of books, including exhibition catalogs and children's books. The center's origins go back to the 1960s, when Chicano students at the San Diego State University began to push for a cultural center. The Mexican American Youth Association (MAYA) and the Mexican American Liberation Art Front (MALAF) were concerned that Chicano artists had no place to exhibit their work, and members of the organizations began pressuring the San Diego City Council to allow the use of the Ford Building as a cultural center.&nbsp; At roughly the same time, other Chicano activists were occupying a neighborhood which had formerly been a thriving Chicano community, and began referring to the area as Chicano Park. As a result of the Chicano Park protest, as well as continuing protests at the Ford Building, the city agreed to give an abandoned water tower for use by Chicano artists, as well as a $22,000 contributions to make improvements to the structure. The center opened in July of 1971.

Located in San Diego's Balboa Park, Centro Cultural de la Raza is a museum which highlights Mexican, Latino, Chicano, and Native American art and culture. In addition to its art gallery, the museum offers a number of community enrichment programs.

Centro Cultural de la Raza 

Researchers will appreciate the museum's archival materials and research library, including portions that are searchable online. The diverse collection also includes a formidable database of&nbsp;oral history interviews with veterans. Growing this oral history collection is a central aim of the museum as it strives to "tell the individual stories of all veterans." In addition to the collections housed within the museum, visitors can also explore the grounds, which include tributes to veterans from all service branches. The focal point of the outdoor portion of the museum is the Veterans Memorial Garden, which is divided into three sections--air, land, and sea. At the center is a B-24 plan replica, surrounded by an&nbsp;amphitheater. The Veterans Museum and Memorial Center is also known for its selection of a&nbsp;Veteran of the Year, which it has&nbsp;done this since its opening in&nbsp;1989.&nbsp; The program was created to recognize the hard work and contribution to the San Diego community by local veterans. The program has asked&nbsp;other communities to select a Veteran of the Year in order to&nbsp;acknowledge the hard work and dedication of their veterans, as well.

The Veterans Museum and Memorial Center, founded in 1989 and located in the former San Diego Naval Hospital Chapel in Balboa Park, is dedicated to the men and women who served in the Armed Forces, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine. The building, itself, was built in 1944. The museum houses a collection comprised of artifacts, documents, photographs, memorabilia, artwork, and a library that contains thousands of books. The items in the collection span from the Revolutionary War to Operation Desert Storm. The museum also offers a program called Eagle's Wings, which is a support group for widowed veterans and spouses.


Veterans Museum and Memorial Center 

The Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden is commonly called the Balboa Park Rose Garden. In the early 1970s, it was established through a gift from the Parker Foundation. As such, it was named for Inez Grant Parker, an equestrian and philanthropist. As the Kansas-born daughter of a prominent horse and mule dealer, Inez was a skilled equestrian. In addition to riding horses, she also learned to drive spirited teams of horses. Apart from her interest in horses, Inez gravitated towards the arts, and she later helped to found art museums and community organizations in San Diego and in Kansas City. The original vision for the Balboa Park Rose Garden first began with the San Diego Rose Society in 1969. Although two other rose gardens had previously existed in San Diego, by the 1960s they no longer included many of their original plantings. Consequently, long-time rosarians Dick Streeper, Jean Kennealy, and Jim Kirk worked together to encourage the city council to select a site for the establishment of a new rose garden within Balboa Park. In 1973, the Parker Foundation had agreed to provide funding for the project, with the garden created in memory of Inez, who died in 1972. To begin with, garden pathways and raised beds for planting were established, and an irrigation system was installed. Meanwhile, the San Diego Rose Society busied itself with the initial plantings, laying out the garden according to plan. By 1975, the garden was well-established and flourishing. During the American Rose Society's convention held in San Diego that same year, a dedication ceremony was held to honor Inez Grant Parker and to officially name the rose garden in her memory.

The Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden in Balboa Park contains a stunning display of over 1,600 roses in varying colors. The vision for the garden began with the San Diego Rose Society in 1969. The Parker Foundation agreed to provide funding for the project, and by 1973, the garden was complete. A ceremony held in 1975 officially dedicated the rose garden in honor of the philanthropist Inez Grant Parker. Within the three-acre garden, there are over 130 varieties of roses in bloom from March to December. The peak blooming period is typically April through May. Each type of rose has been carefully selected for its color, texture, and fragrance. New varieties of roses are added to the garden each year in order to showcase the different kinds of roses available in the commercial market. A team of forty-five volunteers, known as the Balboa Park Rose Garden Corps, works together to keep the historic garden looking its best.

Balboa Park, San Diego Zoo, and Museums

San Diego Zoo

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information