Christine Donovan
Director of Heritage Programs
Hotel del Coronado
What are three of the most unique cultural experiences you would recommend for groups visiting San Diego County?
Director of Heritage Programs
Hotel del Coronado
What are three of the most unique cultural experiences you would recommend for groups visiting San Diego County?
- Balboa Park: The centerpiece of culture in San Diego is Balboa Park. It’s extraordinary that a city like San Diego has a real park like that in its urban center. It’s huge, and the reason San Diego has it is because some visionary people set land aside, way before anybody had any idea how big cities could get. It was the scene of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition when the Panama Canal was finished, and from that grew all the museums. And of course, we have the San Diego Zoo there and some wonderful restaurants.
- Maritime Marvels: We have the USS Midway aircraft carrier here, and it’s a museum now. It’s in the harbor, down the pier from the Maritime Museum. The Maritime Museum has an 1863 sailing ship, the Star of India, that still actually sails; they take it out every once in a while, and it’s amazing. If you’re lucky, they put all the sails up, and it’s just beautiful. Then they have an 1898 ferryboat and a 1904 steam yacht. It’s all berthed right there, and down just a couple of blocks from the Midway.
- Regional Theater: You can see some fabulous theater in San Diego. There’s the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park, and the La Jolla Playhouse is where so many Broadway shows begin. Then there’s the Lamb’s Players Theatre, an award-winning regional theater in a lovely historic building in Coronado, and they do top stuff. It’s another nice aspect about Coronado.