Old Town San Diego

Robinson-Rose Bldg. James McCoy House Casa de Wrightington San Diego House U.S. House Casa Machado Silvas Racine & Larame Tobacco Store Colorado House First Brick Courthouse El Campo Cemetery	Mason Street School Casa Machado y Stewart McKinstry Dentist San Diego Union Casa de Pedrorena Casa de Estudillo Alvarado House Johnson House Blacksmith Shop Casa de Bandini	Seeley Stables Derby Pendleton House Whaley House Sheriff's Museum Little Adobe Chapel Casa de Carillo African Museum Serra Museum Mormon Battalion Heritage Park

 

Old Town San Diego State Historic Park presents the opportunity to experience the history of early San Diego by providing a connection to the past.  San Diego became California's first Spanish settlement when a mission and fort were established in 1769. 

Visitors can experience a working blacksmith shop, enjoy music, see or touch the park's burros and engage in activities that represent early San Diego.

Location-Directions
The park is located on San Diego Avenue and Twiggs Street in San Diego, and is conveniently adjacent to the Old Town Transit Center, with Coaster, Trolley, and MTS Bus service.

Old Town San Diego, CA Latitude/Longitude: 32.7542 / -117.1961

 

Historical Landmarks

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Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, as well as the local Old Town Community, is the site of many California Historical Landmarks. 

California Historical Landmarks are buildings, sites, features, or events that are of statewide significance and have anthropological, cultural, military, political, architectural, economic, scientific or technical, religious, experimental, or other historical value.

The following Landmarks are within the State Historic Park and are a great overview of the rich history of early California!

#53 La Casa de Estudillo
#63 Old Town Plaza
#70 Casa de Pedrorena
#71 Casa de Machado
#72 Casa de Bandini
#73 Casa de Stewart
#75 Site of Casa de Cota
#491 Exchange Hotel
#538 First Publicly Owned School Building
#830 Old Town San Diego State Historic Park

 

Learn about life in the Mexican and early American periods of 1821 to 1872.  Even today, life moves more slowly in this part of San Diego, where the hustle and bustle is balanced with history and fiestas.  Visitors are offered a glimpse into yesteryear, as converging cultures transformed San Diego from a Mexican pueblo to an American settlement.  The core of restored original historic buildings from the interpretive period are complemented by reconstructed sites, along with early twentieth century buildings designed in the same mode.  The Historic Plaza remains a gathering place for community events and historic activity.  Five original adobe buildings are part of the historic park, which includes museums, unique retail shops, and several restaurants.

 

Robinson-Rose House Visitor Information Center

La Casa de Estudillo is a mansion built around a garden courtyard.  La Casa de Machado y Stewart is full of artifacts that reflect ordinary life of the period.  Some of the other historic buildings include the Mason Street School (California's first public schoolhouse), La Casa de Machado y Silvas, the San Diego Union Printing Office (site of the city's oldest surviving newspaper office), and the first brick courthouse.  The Seeley Stables Museum, with newly rehabilitated exhibits on overland transportation, houses one of the finest wagon and carriage collections.

 

 

 

 Wells Fargo Museum  Museum - Located in the Colorado House; banking museum, including an authentic 1868 Abbot-Downing Co. Stage Coach.

 

 

McCoy House Museum
In March 2000, the California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) completed construction of the Old Town San Diego State Historic Park Entry Redevelopment project, which included extensive landscaping and reconstruction of the McCoy House. State Park archaeologists excavated in Old Town San Diego in 1995 to recover information needed to reconstruct a large residence built in 1869 by James McCoy, a well-to-do Irish immigrant who served as San Diego's sheriff and state senator.  Prior to 1851 the property belonged to Maria Eugenia Silvas, descendant of a Spanish Colonial soldier who came to Alta California in the 1770s.

 

 

Cosmopolitan Hotel & Restaurant

 

With a long history spanning more than 175 years, The Cosmopolitan’s return to glory marks a significant moment for San Diego. The start of The Cosmopolitan’s history goes back to a man named Juan Lorenzo Bandini, one of San Diego’s pioneers who settled here in the 1800s. He constructed and designed his grand residence, the largest in Old Town at the time, between 1827 and 1829. The single-story home was built around False Bay, which became Mission Bay circa 1944. Bandini’s goal for the home was to make sure his wife and two daughters were most comfortable. The home had seven rooms, an entrance hall, an enclosed courtyard, a corral, and several sheds and barns. It was designed with Spanish Colonial architectural features such as thick adobe walls, muslin ceilings, pane-glass windows, and a brick-lined patio. After the death of Bandini, Albert Seeley, a stage master, was interested in taking over the building to create a place where travelers could have comfort, style and entertainment at the same time. In the fall of 1869, he celebrated the grand opening of The Cosmopolitan Hotel, having added a second level to the adobe structure. Seeley had the idea to build an L-shaped Greek Revival hotel. Some of the amenities of The Cosmopolitan Hotel were a bar, sitting and billiards room, a barber shop, and a local post office. The hotel’s main attraction was its grand balcony that wrapped around the second story, where guests to San Diego enjoyed seeing the crowd and activities in the town square below. The 1870s brought fires to Old Town and growth in other areas of San Diego. In 1888 Albert Seeley sold The Cosmopolitan. The building became a canning facility for an olive factory in 1900. Throughout the years the building lost its value, due to lack of maintenance. Luckily, in 1928 Cave J. Couts Jr. took over the property. A grandson of Bandini, Couts turn the broken-down building into a hotel and restaurant with added amenities such as wired electricity, gas, and a new style of decor. During the 1950s the hotel and restaurant became an upscale tourist motel owned by James H. and Nora Cardwell. In 1968 the property was sold to the state of California. 1968 was also the year that the original buildings in Old Town San Diego evolved into Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. For more information, visit the California State Parks website.