38 Sights in San Diego, United States (with Map and Images)
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Welcome to your journey through the most beautiful sights in San Diego, United States! Whether you want to discover the city's historical treasures or experience its modern highlights, you'll find everything your heart desires here. Be inspired by our selection and plan your unforgettable adventure in San Diego. Dive into the diversity of this fascinating city and discover everything it has to offer.
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USS Dolphin (AGSS-555) was a United States Navy diesel-electric deep-diving research and development submarine. She was commissioned in 1968 and decommissioned in 2007. Her 38-year career was the longest in history for a US Navy submarine to that point. She was the Navy's last operational conventionally powered submarine.
2. San Diego Zoo Safari Park
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is a zoo and safari park in San Diego, California, located in San Pasqual Valley. Opened in 1972, the park operates as a sister location to the San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park; it features a more specific focus on animals from arid environments.
3. San Diego Zoo
The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in San Diego, California, located in Balboa Park. It began with a collection of animals left over from the 1915 Panama–California Exposition that were brought together by its founder, Dr. Harry M. Wegeforth. The zoo was a pioneer in the concept of open-air, cage-less exhibits that recreate natural animal habitats.
4. USS Midway Museum
USS Midway (CVB/CVA/CV-41) is an aircraft carrier, formerly of the United States Navy, the lead ship of her class. Commissioned eight days after the end of World War II, Midway was the largest warship in the world until 1955, as well as the first U.S. aircraft carrier too big to transit the Panama Canal. She operated for 47 years, during which time she saw action in the Vietnam War and served as the Persian Gulf flagship in 1991's Operation Desert Storm. Decommissioned in 1992, she is now a museum ship at the USS Midway Museum, in San Diego, California, and is the only remaining inactive U.S. aircraft carrier that is not an Essex-class aircraft carrier.
5. Presidio Park
Presidio Park is a city historic park in San Diego, California. It is the site where the San Diego Presidio and the San Diego Mission, the first European settlements in what is now the West Coast of the United States, were founded in 1769.
6. Star of India
Star of India is an iron-hulled sailing ship, built in 1863 in Ramsey, Isle of Man as the full-rigged ship Euterpe. After a career sailing from Great Britain to India and New Zealand, she was renamed, re-rigged as a barque, and became a salmon hauler on the Alaska to California route. Retired in 1926, she was restored as a seaworthy museum ship in 1962–3 and home-ported at the Maritime Museum of San Diego in San Diego, California. She is the oldest ship still sailing regularly and also the oldest iron-hulled merchant ship still afloat. The ship is both a California Historical Landmark and United States National Historic Landmark.
7. Grumman F14 Tomcat
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, all-weather-capable variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program after the collapse of the General Dynamics-Grumman F-111B project. A large and well-equipped fighter, the F-14 was the first of the American Teen Series fighters, which were designed incorporating air combat experience against MiG fighters during the Vietnam War.
8. McDonnell Douglass F4 Phantom II
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber that was developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy. Proving highly adaptable, it entered service with the Navy in 1961 before it was adopted by the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force, and by the mid-1960s it had become a major part of their air arms. Phantom production ran from 1958 to 1981 with a total of 5,195 aircraft built, making it the most produced American supersonic military aircraft in history, and cementing its position as a signature combat aircraft of the Cold War.
9. McDonnell Douglas F18 Hornet
The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather supersonic, twin-engine, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft. Designed by McDonnell Douglas and Northrop, the F/A-18 was derived from the latter's YF-17 in the 1970s for use by the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The Hornet is also used by the air forces of several other nations, and formerly by the U.S. Navy's Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels.
10. Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft designed and produced by the American aerospace manufacturer Douglas Aircraft Company, and later, McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated A4D under the United States Navy's pre-1962 designation system.
11. SeaWorld San Diego
SeaWorld San Diego is a theme park in Mission Bay Park in San Diego, California. It is a marine mammal park, oceanarium, public aquarium, and marine animal rehabilitation center. SeaWorld, the theme park's proprietor, is owned and operated by United Parks & Resorts.
12. North American A5 Vigilante
The North American A-5 Vigilante is an American carrier-based supersonic bomber designed and built by North American Aviation (NAA) for the United States Navy. Before the 1962 unification of Navy and Air Force designations, it was designated A3J.
13. Douglas A3 Skywarrior
The Douglas A-3 Skywarrior is a jet-powered strategic bomber that was developed and produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was designed by Douglas on behalf of the United States Navy, which sought a carrier-capable strategic bomber. In July 1949, Douglas was awarded the contract to produce its design, having bested eight other aircraft companies' submissions. Unlike rival designs, which had aimed for a 100,000 lb (45,000 kg) maximum take-off weight, the Skywarrior was developed for a 68,000 lb (31,000 kg) take-off weight, facilitating its use from the navy's existing Midway-class aircraft carriers. Large portions of the aircraft were produced by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, including its early Westinghouse J40 turbojet engines, which failed to meet promises and were replaced by the rival Pratt & Whitney J57 engine by mid-1953. On 28 October 1952, the prototype XA3D-1 performed the type's maiden flight.
14. Grumman F9F Panther
The Grumman F9F Panther is an early carrier-based jet fighter designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Grumman. It was the first jet-powered fighter aircraft to see air-to-air combat with the United States Navy as well as being Grumman’s first jet fighter.
15. Chicano Park
Chicano Park is a 7.9 acres (32,000 m2) park located beneath the San Diego–Coronado Bridge in Barrio Logan, a predominantly Chicano or Mexican American and Mexican-migrant community in central San Diego, California. The park is home to the country's largest collection of outdoor murals, as well as various sculptures, earthworks, and an architectural piece dedicated to the cultural heritage of the community.
16. North American T-2 Buckeye
The North American T-2 Buckeye was the United States Navy's intermediate training aircraft, intended to introduce U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps student naval aviators and student naval flight officers to jets. It entered service in 1959, beginning the replacement process of the Lockheed T2V SeaStar, and was itself replaced by the McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk in 2008.
17. Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park is a state protected historical park in the Old Town neighborhood of San Diego, California. The park commemorates the early days of San Diego; it includes many historic buildings from the period 1820 to 1870. The park was established in 1968. In 2005 and 2006, California State Parks listed Old Town San Diego as the most visited state park in California.
18. Old Point Loma Lighthouse
The original Point Loma Lighthouse is a historic lighthouse located on the Point Loma peninsula at the mouth of San Diego Bay in San Diego, California. It is situated within Cabrillo National Monument. It is no longer in operation as a lighthouse but is open to the public as a museum. It is sometimes erroneously called the "Old Spanish Lighthouse", but in fact it was not built during San Diego's Spanish or Mexican eras; it was built in 1855 by the United States government after California's admission as a state.
19. Windansea Surf Shack
Windansea Beach is a stretch of coastline in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California. The neighborhood adjacent to the beach is named Windansea after the beach. It is named after the 1909 oceanfront Strand Hotel that was renamed "Windansea" Hotel in 1919 after the owner Arthur Snell ran a "naming contest". The Windansea Hotel which was located on Neptune Avenue between Playa del Sur and Playa del Norte burned down in 1943. Geographically, it is defined by the beachfront extending north of Palomar Avenue and south of Westbourne Street.
20. HMS Surprise
HMS Surprise is a modern tall ship built at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. The vessel was built in 1970 as HMS Rose to a Phil Bolger design based on the original 18th-century British Admiralty drawings of HMS Rose, a 20-gun sixth-rate post ship from 1757.
21. San Diego California Temple
The San Diego California Temple is the 47th constructed and 45th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Located near the La Jolla community of San Diego, it was built with two main spires, but unique to this temple are four smaller spires at the base of each main spire. The East spire is topped with the familiar angel Moroni statue which has historically been on many of the church's temples.
22. Centro Cultural de la Raza
The Centro Cultural de la Raza is a non-profit organization with the specific mission to create, preserve, promote and educate about Chicano, Mexicano, Native American and Latino art and culture. It is located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. The cultural center supports and encourages the creative expression “of the indigenous cultures of the Americas.” It is currently a member of the American Alliance of Museums.
23. USS PC-815
USS PC-815 was a PC-461-class submarine chaser built for the United States Navy during World War II. Its first commander, for about eighty days in 1943, was L. Ron Hubbard, who later became the founder of Scientology. After Hubbard was removed from command for conducting unauthorized gunnery practice in Mexican territorial waters, the PC-815 served as a shore patrol vessel off San Diego, California.
24. Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) is an art museum in La Jolla, a community of San Diego, California. It is focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present.
Wikipedia: Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (EN), Website
25. La Casa de Estudillo
The Casa de Estudillo, also known as the Estudillo House, is a historic adobe house in San Diego, California, United States. It was constructed in 1827 by José María Estudillo and his son José Antonio Estudillo, early settlers of San Diego and members of the prominent Estudillo family of California, and was considered one of the finest houses in Mexican California. It is located in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, and is designated as both a National and a California Historical Landmark in its own right.
26. San Salvador
San Salvador was the flagship of explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo. She was a 100-foot (30 m) full-rigged galleon with 10-foot (3.0 m) draft and capacity of 200 tons. She carried officers, crew, and a priest.
27. HMCS Yukon (DDE 265)
HMCS Yukon was a Mackenzie-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and later the Canadian Forces. She was the first Canadian naval unit to carry the name. She was named for the Yukon River that runs from British Columbia through Yukon and into Alaska in the United States.
28. Berkeley
Berkeley was one of several ferryboats of the Southern Pacific Railroad that for sixty years operated on San Francisco Bay between the Oakland Pier and the San Francisco Ferry Building. Built in 1898 by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, she served after the 1906 earthquake, ferrying refugees across the bay to Oakland.
29. Mingei International Museum
The Mingei International Museum is a non-profit public institution in Balboa Park in San Diego, California, that collects, conserves and exhibits folk art, craft and design. The museum was founded in 1974, and its building opened in 1978. The word mingei, meaning 'art of the people,' was coined by the Japanese scholar Dr. Sōetsu Yanagi by combining the Japanese words for all people and art.
30. Sun God
Sun God is a monumental statue by French-American sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle, located on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. The figurative sculpture is a 14-foot (4.3 m) multicolored bird-like creature, perched atop a 15-foot (4.6 m) tall arch-shaped, vine-covered concrete pedestal.
31. Californian
Californian is a 1984 replica of the United States Revenue Marine cutter Lawrence, which operated off the coast of California in the 1850s. On July 23, 2003, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Bill No. 965, making her the "official state tall ship" of California.
32. Medea
The Medea is a 1904 steam yacht preserved in the Maritime Museum of San Diego, United States. Named after Medea, the wife of Jason, she was built in a record 51 days on the Clyde at Alexander Stephen and Sons shipyard at Linthouse by John Stephen for William Macalister Hall of Torrisdale Castle, Scotland.
33. San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park
San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park honors the soldiers who fought in the 1846 Battle of San Pasqual, the bloodiest battle in California during the Mexican–American War. The battle was fought between United States troops under the command of General Stephen Kearny, and the Californio forces under the command of General Andres Pico on December 6, 1846.
34. Fallen Star
Fallen Star is an art installation by South Korean artist Do Ho Suh on the grounds of the University of California, San Diego. It is a cottage perched at an angle off the edge of the main Jacobs School of Engineering building.
35. Georgia Street
The Georgia Street Bridge in San Diego, California, was constructed in 1907 to carry traffic, after a streetcar line was cut through a ridge where Georgia Street stood. In 1914, a Romanesque spandrel arch with Mission Revival styling made of reinforced concrete and designed by J.R. Comly was built there.
36. Dream. A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dream is an outdoor 2001 public artwork by Roberto Salas, installed along San Diego's Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade, in the U.S. state of California. The work, which includes five bronze hand sculptures, is one of several commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. along the promenade, including Melv Edwards' Breaking of the Chains and Shedding the Cloak by Jerry and Tama Dumlao and Mary Lynn Dominguez.
37. Montgomery Memorial
The Montgomery Memorial is a monument dedicated on May 21, 1950, to the pioneering aviation achievement of John J. Montgomery and his early glider flights in the 1880s in Otay Mesa, San Diego. It is situated adjacent to the Montgomery-Waller Recreation Center. The monument features a 93-foot high stainless steel static test wing panel for the Consolidated B-32 Dominator mounted upright that is visible for miles. Because of this feature, it is also sometimes referred to locally as Silver Wing.
38. San Diego Museum of Art
The San Diego Museum of Art is a fine arts museum in Balboa Park in San Diego, California, that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. It opened as the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego on February 28, 1926, and changed to its current name in 1978. The official Balboa Park website calls it "the region's oldest and largest art museum". Nearly half a million people visit the museum each year.
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