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Why San Diego Became an Aviation Capital
From Glenn Curtiss and North Island to Ryan, Convair and wartime aircraft production, discover why San Diego became one of America's great aviation cities.
By Greg Ross
San Diego Built the Spirit of St. Louis
Charles Lindbergh became famous for flying the Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic—but the airplane that made history was designed and built in San Diego in 1927.
By Greg Ross
The Immigrant Fishing Communities That Built San Diego's Tuna Industry
Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese and Hispanic fishing families helped transform San Diego into the Tuna Capital of the World—and their neighborhoods still carry that legacy today.
By Greg Ross
San Diego's Tuna Empire: When Fishing Helped Power the City
San Diego was once the Tuna Capital of the World. Discover how fishing boats, immigrant families and waterfront canneries built an industry that employed tens of thousands before largely disappearing from the bay.
By Greg Ross
The “Impossible Railroad” Through Carrizo Gorge
San Diego spent more than a decade building a railroad engineers called impossible. Discover how John D. Spreckels pushed tracks through Carrizo Gorge to give San Diego a direct rail connection east.
By Greg Ross
How a Polynesian Voyaging Canoe Helped Create America's Largest Pacific Islander Festival
Right Here in San Diego
By Greg Ross
San Diego Once Planted 15 Explosive Mines in Its Harbor
During the Spanish-American War in 1898, the U.S. Army planted 15 electrically controlled explosive mines across the entrance to San Diego Bay. Here's the forgotten story of the harbor's underwater defenses.
By Greg Ross
Why Is There an Oktoberfest in El Cajon?
The 200-Year Journey From Bavaria to San Diego
By Greg Ross
After Dark
The Ghosts, Legends & Strange History of Balboa Park
By Greg Ross
When San Diego Had a Whaling Industry
Long before San Diego Bay became synonymous with Navy ships, tourism and waterfront dining, crews hunted migrating gray whales off Point Loma and processed them at shore-whaling stations around the bay.
By Greg Ross
The 1803 Gunfight at the Entrance to San Diego Bay
In 1803, an American trading brig trying to escape San Diego exchanged cannon fire with a Spanish fort at Ballast Point. Discover the strange true story of the Battle of San Diego Bay.
By Greg Ross
Top Gun Was Born in San Diego
The Incredible History Behind Miramar's Fighter Jets
By Greg Ross
Why San Diego's “Old Spanish Lighthouse” Wasn't Spanish
Point Loma's famous Old Spanish Lighthouse wasn't built by Spain. It was built by the United States in the 1850s. Discover how Spanish fort materials, local families and romantic storytelling helped create one of San Diego's most persistent historical nicknames.
By Greg Ross
San Diego Built a Lighthouse So High the Fog Hid It
San Diego's Old Point Loma Lighthouse seemed perfectly placed high above the Pacific. There was just one problem: at 422 feet above sea level, fog and low clouds could hide the light from the ships it was supposed to protect.
By Greg Ross
A 200-Year-Old Ship Is Being Rebuilt in San Diego
With Bitcoin!
By Greg Ross
San Diego Just Landed a Nearly 500-Pound Tuna
In the City Once Known as the Tuna Capital of the World
By Greg Ross
How Mission Beach Became San Diego's Seaside Playground
Mission Beach wasn't simply discovered as a beach destination. In the 1920s, John D. Spreckels combined real estate, streetcars, a massive amusement center, swimming pool and oceanfront recreation to create one.
By Greg Ross
Belmont Park's Giant Dipper: The 1925 Roller Coaster San Diego Refused to Lose |
Mission Beach's Giant Dipper opened in 1925, survived fire, closure and demolition threats, and returned after a grassroots restoration. Discover the century-old San Diego survivor still thrilling riders today."
By Greg Ross
Pacific Beach Was Supposed to Be a College Town
Before Pacific Beach became a beach neighborhood, developers imagined it as a seaside college community. The San Diego College of Letters opened in 1888—and helped sell the dream of PB.
By Greg Ross
Pacific Beach Once Had a Horse Racetrack
Before Pacific Beach became famous for beaches, bars and Garnet Avenue, it had a one-mile horse racetrack with grandstands, stables, special trains and crowds numbering in the thousands.
By Greg Ross