San Diego Museum Guide at Balboa

There are quite a few museums in San Diego and most of them reside at the Balboa Park where you can stroll from museum to museum in a historical and beautiful Spanish setting.

The San Diego Natural Museum has a giant-screen film called the Ocean Oasis, that takes visitors on a journey through Baja, California and the Sea of Cortes. There are also traveling exhibitions and regional displays of the museum’s 7.5 million specimen scientific collection of marine invertebrates, ornithology, mammalogy, herpetology, botany, mineralogy and paleontology. There are also educational programs that include lectures, nature walks, teacher workshops and a loan library.

Website: http://www.sdnhm.org/about/index.html

The Casa Del Prado building is next door to the Natural History Museum and originally built for the 1915 Exposition and called the Varied Industries and Food Products Building. After many years and name revisions, the original building was torn down and rebuilt in 1971 and named the Casa Del Prado Theatre.

Website: http://www.sandiegohistory.org/bpbuildings/casaprad.htm

The Botanical Building was built for the 1915 Panama California Exposition. A 193 by 43 foot reflecting pool south of the Botanical building contains water lilies, goldfish, koi and lotus.

During World War II, the reflecting pool was used as a swimming pool for sailors at the Naval Training Station, to learn to swim. When the Botanical Building was opened to the public in 1915, bird cages holding Linnets, thrushes and canaries had been placed among the palms, banana trees, bamboos, Aralia chabrierii and Aralia elegantissima. Some plants grew too tall, so were either removed or cut down.

Website: http://www.inetours.com/San_Diego/Botanical_Building.html

The San Diego Museum of Art occupies the fine arts buildign for the 1915 Panama-California Internal Exposition in Balboa Park at 1450 El Prado. The museum was established in 1922 when a local business and civic leader, Appleton S. Bridges, agreed to fund the conservation of a permanent structure. The collections of the museum include Italian Renaissance, Asian art, south Asian paintings, American art, nineteenth-century European paintings, Dutch and Spanish Old Masters, twentieth-century paintings and sculpture and a contemporary California Art gallery.

Website: http://www.sdmart.org/

The San Diego Museum of Man occupies the most recognized building in Balboa Park, the California State Building and Quadrangle, which marks the entrance into the Exposition from the West Gate.

Exhibits portray the chapters of mankind and display collections of artifacts, folklore and physical remains. The museum is the place to learn about ancient Egypt and native cultures of the Western Americas.

Live demonstrators make tortillas in the traditional Mexican manner and a Oaxacan weaver demonstrates spinning and floor loom on Wednesdays through Sundays.

Website: http://www.museumofman.org/

The Old Globe Theatre is the oldest Californian professional theater organizatio nthat occupies the refurbished Old Globe Theatre building. Originally constructed for the 1915 Exposition for the presentation of Shakespeare Plays the building went through several remodels and was destroyed by a fire on March 8, 1978. The new Old Globe Theatre was dedicated on January 5, 1982.

Website: http://www.theoldglobe.org/

The Mingei International Museum is dedicated to further the understanding of the world of folk art. The name “Mingei” is coined by the late Dr. Soetsu Yanagi by combining the Japanese words for all people (min) and art (gei).

The structure of the Mingei International Museum resides was built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and like several other buildings in Balboa Park, it had gone by other names. In 1935, the Building was renamed the House of Charm by which it is generally recognized today.

Website: http://www.mingei.org/

The Japanese Frienship Garden began with a Japanese Tea House built in 1915. San Diego’s Sister City relationship with Yokohama in 1950 contributed to the desire for a Japanese Garden at the Balboa Park. The 1.5 acre garden includes an entry plaza with tea stand, outdoor seating, koi pond, fountain, trellised bonsai garden, 100 cherry trees and a learning center for children.

Website: http://www.niwa.org/

Spreckels Organ Pavilion is home to one of the largest outdoor pipe organs in the world. THe organ was donated to the City of San Diego by John D. and Adolph Spreckels in 1914 for the Panama-California Exposition and contains over 4,500 pipes. The Spreckels Organ Pavilion can seat up to 2,400 people and is wheelchair accessible.

Website: http://www.sandiegohistory.org/bpbuildings/organ.htm

John D. Spreckels is a dedicated musician and pipe organist who added an enormous 41-rank Aeolian Pipe Organ to his home on Glorietta Bay. Spreckels owned the San Diego Street Railway System which he wanted to extend through Balboa Park to hasten development and San Diego’s economy on the other side. Spreckels funded daily concerts on the outdoor organ until his death in 1926.

Balboa Park Club was built for the 1915-16 Exposition as the New Mexico Building. It’s an example of early mission architecture. In 1935-36, the Club became the Palace of Education when a dance floor was added. Another renovation of the building, included a new ballroom floor and kitchen was completed in 1995.

Website: http://www.sandiegohistory.org/bpbuildings/newmex.htm

The Palisades Building was known as the Hollywood Motion Picture Hall of Fame when the motion picture industry exhibited there and was used as Navay Barracks during World War II, like most of Balboa Park. The 234-seat Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theatre is at the north end of the building. The Recital Hall can be rented for dance classes, meetings, conferences, exhibits, flower shows, aprties and rehearsals.

Website: http://www.balboaparkpuppets.com/

The San Diego Automotive Museum is home to many classic and antique cars, vintage motorcycles, racers, exotics and prototypes that illustrate the history of cars.

Website: http://www.sdautomuseum.org/ContentPage.asp?ContentID=105

San Diego’s Aerospace Museum has a collection of over sixty-five aircraft and spacecraft. The museum opened in the Ford Building in 1980, moving from the Balboa Park Electrical Building which suffered an arson fire in 1978. The Ford Motor Company provided the largest building and exhibit in the Palisades area of Balboa Park. The Ford Bowl, now called the Starlight Bowl, is built next to the Ford Building for Opera performances and now home to the Starlight Theatre. Ford has sponsored concerts by both the San Diego and Los Angeles Symphonies during the 2nd year of the Exposition.

Website: http://www.aerospacemuseum.org/

The Federal Building in the Palisades section of Balboa Park. The San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum was opened in the renovated Federal Building in Balboa Park. The 70,000 square foot multi-sports museum showcases 40 difference sports and has an athlete’s Hall of Fame devoted to San Diego heroes. Kids are even invited to touch sports equipment used by the greats and test their own athletic abilities in the interactive exhibits.

Website: http://www.sdhoc.com/

Check out more museums:

Maritime Museum