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Did you know that Old Town San Diego is known as the “birthplace of California?” As the state’s oldest European settlement, it provides a fascinating window into California history, thanks to its impressive roster of free museums, delicious Mexican restaurants, and historic adobes.
Travel website Tourlane recently released a comprehensive list of the “world’s most charming old towns,”, and Old Town San Diego made the #10 spot for old towns in the United States. It’s the only California town on the list, ranking behind other stunning historic cities such as St. Augustine, FL at #1, Charleston, SC at #2, and New Orleans, LA at #3.
Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons History of Old Town San Diego
The Indigenous Kumeyaay people originally occupied this part of California for over 10,000 years, but Europeans arrived to settle today’s Old Town San Diego in 1769. This is when the Spanish established the Presidio of San Diego and Mission San Diego de Alcalá near the San Diego River, which they used to colonize the local Indigenous populations.
When Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, the city of San Diego became a Mexican pueblo, at which point civilians built characteristic adobe homes that are still there today. California became part of the United States in 1850 after the Mexican-American War, and new wooden buildings and “frontier Victorians” began to mix with the adobes.
These days, the 230-acre neighborhood is now Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, and it preserves a mixture of Spanish, Mexican, and early American cultures.
Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Visiting the “birthplace of California”
Visiting Old Town San Diego is a uniquely Californian experience set on 19th-century streets. See a collection of five historic preserved adobes, which now house museums and shops that help to connect with the area’s early Mexican history from 1821-1872. Old Town regularly hosts historical reenactments, mariachi performances, and folklórico dancing.
Some popular attractions include the reportedly haunted Whaley House, dating back to 1857, as well as the bustling Bazaar Del Mundo, where you can pick up a variety of Mexican and Latin American folk art.
Read our article about visiting Old Town San Diego to learn more about this historic California neighborhood.