A photographic tour of Downtown San Diego

Modern Cities' Ennis Davis takes readers on a photographic tour of Downtown San Diego.

Downtown San Diego Map

Civic/Core

Considered the central business district of San Diego, the Core contains most of the city’s central government, financial and corporate institutions.

Columbia

Located west of the Core, the Columbia District is increasing becoming home to a number of modern highrise residential developments and the location of historic Santa Fe Depot. Built in 1915, the depot is served by the Trolley (light rail), the Coaster (commuter rail) and the Pacific Surfliner (intercity rail).

The portion of the Embarcadero in the Columbia District includes the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum and the Maritime Museum. Commissioned a week after the end of World War II, Midway was the largest ship in the world until 1955. Decommissioned after the Persian Gulf War, the museum opened to the public on June 7, 2004, attracting 879,281 visitors in its first year of operation.

Convention Center

Initially completed in November 1989, the San Diego Convention Center was expanded in 2001 to include 2,600,000 square feet of total floor area, a 615,700 square foot exhibition hall and 1,950 parking spaces. Notable events hosted at the convention center include the Society of Neuroscience and the Comic-Con International Convention.

East Village

Once an early 20th century warehouse district, the East Village had become well known for its vacant buildings and dive bars by the 1990s. In 2004, it became the location of Petco Park, home of Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres. Today, the 130 square block neighborhood has gentrified to become downtown San Diego largest urban neighborhood filled with studios, lofts, galleries, restaurants and retailers.