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"San Diego" redirects here. For other uses, see San Diego (disambiguation).
San Diego (pronounced /ˌsændiˈeɪgoʊ/) is a coastal Southern California city located in the southwestern corner of the continental United States. As of 2006, the city has an estimated population of 1,256,951. It is the second largest city in California and the eighth largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of San Diego County.Find a County. National Association of Counties. Retrieved on 2008-01-31. and is the economic center of the San Diego–Carlsbad–San Marcos metropolitan area, the 17th-largest metro area in the U.S. with a population of 2.9 million as of 2006, and the 21st largest Metropolitan area in the Americas when including Tijuana (See San Diego-Tijuana Metro.).
San Diego County lies just north of the Mexican border—sharing a border with Tijuana—and lies south of Orange County. It is home to miles of beaches, a mild Mediterranean climate and 16 military facilities hosting the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard and the United States Marine Corps.
The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the affiliated UCSD Medical Center combined with nearby research institutes in the Torrey Pines area of La Jolla make the area influential in biotechnology research. San Diego\'s economy is largely composed of agriculture, biotechnology/biosciences, computer sciences, electronics manufacturing, defense-related manufacturing, financial and business services, ship-repair and construction, software development, telecommunications, and tourism.
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The area has long been inhabited by the Kumeyaay people. The first European to visit the region was Portuguese explorer Juan Rodrigues Cabrillo sailing under the Spanish Flag, (1499 - 1543), who sailed his flagship San Salvador from Navidad, New Spain. Cabrillo claimed the bay for the Spanish Empire and named the site San Miguel. In November of 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno was sent to map the California coast. Arriving on his flagship San Diego, Vizcaíno surveyed the harbor and what are now Mission Bay and Point Loma and named the area for the Catholic Saint Didacus, a Spaniard more commonly known as San Diego. On November 12 1602, the first Christian religious service of record in Alta California was conducted by Fray Antonio de la Ascensión, a member of Vizcaíno\'s expedition, to celebrate the feast day of San Diego.
In 1769, Gaspar de Portolà established the Presidio of San Diego (a military post) overlooking Old Town. Around the same time, Mission San Diego de Alcalá was founded by Franciscan friars under Father Junípero Serra. By 1797, the mission boasted the largest native population in Alta California, with over 1,400 neophytes living in and around the mission proper. After New Spain won its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1823, Mission San Diego de Alcalá\'s fortunes declined in the 1830s after the decree of secularization was enacted, as was the case with all of the missions under the control of Mexico. In 1847 San Diego was a destination of the 2,000-mile (3,200 km) march of the Mormon Battalion which built the city\'s first courthouse with brick.
After the Battle of San Pasqual, the end of the Mexican-American War, and the gold rush of 1848, San Diego was designated the seat of the newly-established San Diego County and was incorporated as a city in 1850. In the years before World War I, the Industrial Workers of the World labor union conducted a free speech fight in San Diego, arousing a brutal response.
Significant U.S. Naval presence began in 1907 with the establishment of the Navy Coaling Station, which gave further impetus to the development of the town. San Diego hosted two World\'s Fairs, the Panama-California Exposition in 1915, and the California Pacific International Exposition in 1935. Many of the Spanish/Baroque-style buildings in the city\'s Balboa Park were built for these expositions, particularly the one in 1915. Intended to be temporary structures, most remained in continuous use until they progressively fell into disrepair. All were eventually rebuilt using castings of the original facades to faithfully retain the architectural style.
After World War II, the military played an increasing role in the local economy, but post-Cold War cutbacks took a heavy toll on the local defense and aerospace industries. The resulting downturn led San Diego leaders to seek to diversify the city\'s economy, and San Diego has since become a major center of the emerging biotechnology industry. It is also home to telecommunications giant Qualcomm.
Downtown San Diego has been undergoing an urban renewal since the early 1980s, beginning with the opening of Horton Plaza, the revival of the Gaslamp Quarter, and the construction of the San Diego Convention Center. The Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC), San Diego\'s downtown redevelopment agency, has transformed what was a largely abandoned downtown into a glittering showcase of waterfront skyscrapers, expensive live-work loft developments, five-star hotels, and many cafes, restaurants, and boutiques.
The North Embarcadero is slated to have parks in addition to a waterfront promenade. And Balboa Park will be linked to downtown with a view corridor. The recent boom in the construction of condos and skyscrapers has brought with it a gentrification frenzy, and some people are concerned that speculators have played too big a role in the condo market downtown. In the meantime, the city is committed to a "smart growth" development scheme that would increase density along transit corridors in older neighborhoods (the "City of Villages" planning concept.) Some neighborhoods are resisting this planning approach, but "mixed-use development" has had its successes, especially the award-winning Uptown Shopping Center in Hillcrest.
The latest accomplishment of CCDC has been the recent inauguration of PETCO Park. The once-industrial East Village adjacent to the new ballpark is now the new frontier in San Diego\'s downtown urban renewal.
A series of scandals has rocked the city in recent years. With mounting pressure aggravated by underfunding of pensions for city employees that began prior to his administration, Mayor Dick Murphy, in April 2005, announced his intention to resign by mid-July. Two city council members, Ralph Inzunza and deputy mayor Michael Zucchet — who was to take Murphy\'s place — were ultimately convicted of extortion, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for taking campaign contributions from a strip club owner and his associates, allegedly in exchange for trying to repeal the city\'s "no touch" laws at strip clubs. Both subsequently resigned. The judge later set aside (overturned) the conviction in Zucchet\'s case.
On November 28 2005, U.S. Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham resigned over a bribery scandal. Cunningham represented California\'s 50th congressional district, which mostly lies outside (north) of the city of San Diego proper. He is currently serving a one-hundred-month prison sentence.
The city of San Diego itself has deep canyons separating its mesas, creating small pockets of natural parkland scattered throughout the city. The same canyons give parts of the city a highly segmented feel, creating literal gaps between otherwise proximal neighborhoods and contributing to a low-density, car-centered built environment. Downtown San Diego is located on San Diego Bay. Balboa Park lies on a mesa to the northeast. It is surrounded by several dense urban communities and abruptly ends in Hillcrest to the north. The Coronado and Point Loma peninsulas separate San Diego Bay from the ocean. Ocean Beach is on the west side of Point Loma. Mission Beach and Pacific Beach lie between the ocean and Mission Bay, a man-made aquatic park. La Jolla, an affluent community, lies north of Pacific Beach. Mount Soledad in La Jolla offers views from northern San Diego County to Mexico. Mountains rise to the east of the city, and beyond the mountains are desert areas. Cleveland National Forest is a half-hour drive from downtown San Diego. Numerous farms are found in the valleys northeast and southeast of the city. San Diego County has one of the highest count of animal and plant species that are on the endangered species list than other counties in the United States.http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070328-9999-1n28esa.html
San Diego predominantly has a semi-arid warm steppe climate (Koppen climate classification BSh). It enjoys mild, Dry-Summer subtropical, sunny weather throughout the year. Average monthly temperatures range from about 57 °Fahrenheit (14 °C) in January to 72 °Fahrenheit (22 °C) in July, although late summer and early autumn are typically the hottest times of the year. The average annual daily temperature is 70.5 °Fahrenheit. Snow and ice are virtually nonexistent in the wintertime, typically occurring only inland from the coast when present. "May gray and June gloom", a local saying, refers to the way in which San Diego sometimes has trouble shaking off the marine layer, a cloudy layer typically higher in the atmosphere than fog, that comes in during those months. Temperatures soar to very high readings only on rare occasions, chiefly when easterly winds bring hot, dry air from the inland deserts (these winds are called "Santa Anas"). The record highest temperature at the airport is 111°F (44 °C) on September 26, 1963, and the record lowest temperature is 29°F (-2 °C) on January 4, 1949.http://www.ggweather.com The National Weather Service reports that San Diego\'s all-time lowest temperature was 25°F (-4 °C) on January 7, 1913.http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sgx/document/weatherhistory.pdf The National Climatic Center says that temperatures exceed 90°F (32°C) on an average of 3.5 days annually and 100°F on only .2 day annually.http://www.ggweather.com
The average annual precipitation is less than 12 inches (300 mm), resulting in a borderline arid climate. Rainfall is strongly concentrated in the cooler half of the year, particularly the months December through March, although precipitation is lower than any other part of the U.S. west coast. The summer months are virtually rainless. Rainfall is highly variable from year to year and from month to month, and San Diego is subject to both droughts and floods. Thunderstorms are very rare. National Weather Service research has found documentation of a hurricane which hit San Diego on October 2, 1858, the only hurricane in history to reach California.http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/releases2005/jan05/noaa05-r501.html There is even greater documentation of a tropical storm which affected much of the southern California coast in September 1939.http://www.weather.gov The greatest 24-hour rainfall at the airport was 2.71 inches on February 6, 1937, and the greatest monthly rainfall was 9.09 inches in January 1993.http://www.ggweather.com/com Measurable snowfall has never occurred in downtown San Diego; snow flurries were reported at the airport in January 1949 and January 1979. Light amounts of snow have occurred in higher locations within the city limits, according to the National Weather Service\'s climatological summary.
Climate in the San Diego area often varies dramatically over short geographical distances, due to the city\'s topography (the Bay, and the numerous hills, mountains, and canyons): frequently, particularly during the "May gray / June gloom" period, a thick "marine layer" cloud cover will keep the air cool and damp within a few miles of the coast, but will yield to bright cloudless sunshine between about 5 and 15 miles (24 km) inland -- the cities of El Cajon and Santee for example, rarely experience the cloud cover. This phenomenon is known as microclimate.
| Weather averages for San Diego | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °F | 65.1 | 65.7 | 64.9 | 66.7 | 67.1 | 69.3 | 73.0 | 74.8 | 75.4 | 73.4 | 68.9 | 65.3 | 70.2 |
| Average low °F | 48.9 | 50.7 | 52.9 | 55.6 | 59.2 | 61.9 | 65.7 | 67.3 | 65.7 | 61.0 | 54.0 | 48.7 | 55.0 |
| Precipitation inch | 2.28 | 2.04 | 2.26 | 0.75 | 0.20 | 0.09 | 0.03 | 0.09 | 0.21 | 0.44 | 1.07 | 1.31 | 10.77 |
| Average high °C | 18.4 | 18.7 | 18.3 | 19.3 | 19.5 | 20.7 | 22.8 | 23.8 | 24.1 | 23.0 | 20.5 | 18.5 | 21.2 |
| Average low °C | 09.4 | 10.4 | 11.6 | 13.1 | 15.1 | 16.6 | 18.7 | 19.6 | 18.7 | 16.1 | 12.2 | 09.3 | 12.8 |
| Precipitation mm | 57.9 | 51.8 | 57.4 | 19.0 | 05.1 | 02.3 | 00.8 | 02.3 | 05.3 | 11.2 | 27.2 | 33.2 | 273.6 |
| Source: worldclimate.comWeatherbase: Historical Weather for San Diego, California, United States of America. Retrieved on Jan 21, 2007. Jan 2007 | |||||||||||||
Northern: Bay Ho, Bay Park, Carmel Valley, Clairemont Mesa East, Clairemont Mesa West, Del Mar Mesa, La Jolla, La Jolla Village, Mission Beach, Mission Bay Park, North City, North Clairemont, Pacific Beach, Pacific Highlands Ranch, Torrey Hills, Torrey Pines, University City
Northeastern: Black Mountain Ranch, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Miramar, Miramar Ranch North, Mira Mesa, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Encantada, Rancho Peñasquitos, Sabre Springs, San Pasqual Valley, Scripps Ranch, Sorrento Valley, Torrey Highlands
Eastern: Allied Gardens, Birdland, Del Cerro, Grantville, Kearny Mesa, Lake Murray, Mission Valley East, San Carlos, Serra Mesa, Tierrasanta
Western: Burlingame, Hillcrest, La Playa, Linda Vista, Loma Portal, Midtown, Midway District, Mission Hills, Mission Valley West, Morena, North Park, Ocean Beach, Old Town, Point Loma Heights, Roseville-Fleetridge, Sunset Cliffs, University Heights, Wooded Area
Central: Balboa Park, Bankers Hill, Barrio Logan, City Heights, Downtown (Columbia, Core, Cortez Hill, East Village, Gaslamp Quarter, Horton, Little Italy, Marina), Golden Hill, Grant Hill, Logan Heights, Memorial, Middletown, Sherman Heights, South Park, Stockton
Mid-City: City Heights (comprising Azalea Park, Bayridge, Hollywood Park, Castle, Cherokee Point, Chollas Creek, Colina Del Sol, Corridor, Fairmount, Fox Canyon, Islenair, Ridgeview/Webster Rolando, Swan Canyon, Teralta East, Teralta West), College East, College West, Darnall, El Cerrito, Gateway, Kensington, Normal Heights, Oak Park, Talmadge
Southeastern: Alta Vista, Bay Terrace, Broadway Heights, Chollas View, Emerald Hills, Encanto, Jamacha-Lomita, Lincoln Park, Mountain View, Mt. Hope, Paradise Hills, Shelltown, Skyline, Southcrest, Valencia Park
Southern: Egger Highlands, Nestor, Ocean Crest, Otay Mesa, Otay Mesa West, Palm City, San Ysidro, Tijuana River Valley
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1850 | 650 | ||
| 1860 | 731 | 12.5% | |
| 1870 | 2,300 | 214.6% | |
| 1880 | 2,637 | 14.7% | |
| 1890 | 16,159 | 512.8% | |
| 1900 | 17,700 | 9.5% | |
| 1910 | 39,578 | 123.6% | |
| 1920 | 74,361 | 87.9% | |
| 1930 | 147,995 | 99.0% | |
| 1940 | 203,341 | 37.4% | |
| 1950 | 333,865 | 64.2% | |
| 1960 | 573,224 | 71.7% | |
| 1970 | 696,769 | 21.6% | |
| 1980 | 875,538 | 25.7% | |
| 1990 | 1,110,549 | 26.8% | |
| 2000 | 1,223,400 | 10.2% | |
| Est. 2006 | 1,256,951 | 2.7% | |
As of the censusAmerican FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31. of 2000, there were 1,223,400 people, 450,691 households, and 271,315 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,771.9 people per square mile (1,456.4/km²).
Population by race/ethnicity (Census 2000 def.).San Diego Race and Hispanic Origin
There were 451,126 households out of which 30.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.6% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.8% were non-families. 28.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.30.
In the city the population was spread out with 24.0% under the age of 18, 12.4% from 18 to 24, 34.0% from 25 to 44, 19.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 101.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $45,733, and the median income for a family was $53,060. Males had a median income of $36,984 versus $31,076 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,609. About 10.6% of families and 14.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.0% of those under age 18 and 7.6% of those age 65 or over.
According to estimates on January 1 2006 by the San Diego Association of Governments, the median household income and population have slightly increased from the year 2000. The population of San Diego is estimated to be 1,311,162, up 7.2% from 2000, and median household income is estimated to be $47,816 (when adjusted for inflation in 1999 dollars), up 5.9% from 2000.Population and Housing Estimates. SANDAG: Profile Warehouse (2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-19.According to the U.S. Census 2004 American Community Survey, San Diego city had the fifth largest median household income of places with a population of 250,000 or more.Places within United States:Median Household Income (In 2004 inflation-adjusted Dollars): 2004. U.S. Census Bureau: FactFinder. Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
The population as of January 2007 was above 1.3 million.
San Diego has the lowest percentage of Hispanics for any city adjacent to the United States-Mexico border.2030 Regional Growth Forecast Update. SANDAG: Profile Warehouse (2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-18.Census 2000 Profile. SANDAG: Profile Warehouse (2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
San Diego has had a declining crime rate since the early 1990s.Tony Manolatos and Kristina Davis. "County crows at glowing crime report", The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2006-04-14. Retrieved on 2006-04-29. In 2004, San Diego had the sixth lowest crime rate of any U.S. city with over half a million residents.Template error: argument title is required. In 2005, San Diego had 4.2 murders per 100,000 (national average of 5.9) and was the lowest U.S. city over one million residents.Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime & Justice Data Online. U.S. Department of Justice · Office of Justice Programs (October 2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-21. According to FBI Crime Index, from 2002 to 2006, Violent Crime decreased 12.4% while overall crime only decreased 0.8% partly due to a 1.1% increase in property crime.Crime in the San Diego Region Mid-Year 2006 Statistics. http://www.sandag.org/ San Diego\'s Regional Planning Agency] (2006-02-16). Retrieved on 2007-01-28.
According to 2005 FBI crime reports,San Diego CA Crime Statistics (2005 Crime Data). www.AreaConnect.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. in the year 2004, all violent crimes, which includes murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults, were lower than the national average. The total property crimes are lower than the national average; however, while burglaries and larceny/thefts were lower than the national average, vehicle thefts were twice as high as the national average.
Downtown San Diego at night.
The Coronado Bridge at night. The bridge was built high enough to allow ships to navigate under.
The three largest sectors of San Diego\'s economy are defense, manufacturing, and tourism respectively.Powell, Ronald W. "Tourism district OK\'d by council". San Diego Union Tribune (10-17-2007). Pg. C1/C4.
Several areas of San Diego (in particular La Jolla and surrounding Sorrento Valley areas) are home to offices and research facilities for numerous biotechnology companies. Major biotechnology companies like Neurocrine Biosciences and Nventa Biopharmaceuticals are headquartered in San Diego, while many biotech and pharmaceutical companies, such as BD Biosciences, Biogen Idec, Integrated DNA Technologies, Merck, Pfizer, Élan, Genzyme, Cytovance, Celgene and Vertex, have offices or research facilities in San Diego. There are also several non-profit biotech institutes, such as the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, the Scripps Research Institute and the Burnham Institute. The presence of University of California, San Diego and other research institutions helped fuel biotechnology growth. In June 2004, San Diego was ranked the top biotech cluster in the U.S. by the Milken Institute.MilkenInstitute.org. America\'s Biotech and Life Science Clusters: San Diego\'s Position and Economic Contributions. Retrieved on 2006-12-10.
San Diego is home to companies that develop wireless cellular technology. Qualcomm Incorporated was founded and is headquartered in San Diego; Qualcomm is the largest private-sector technology employer (excluding hospitals) in San Diego County.SD Daily Transcript. Largest employers in San Diego County. Retrieved on 2006-05-20. The largest software company in San Diego (acccording to the San Diego Business Journal) is security software company Websense Inc. Websense was founded and is headquartered in San Diego.
The economy of San Diego is influenced by its port, which includes the only major submarine and shipbuilding yards on the West Coast, as well as the largest naval fleet in the world. The cruise ship industry, which is the second largest in California, generates an estimated $2 million annually from the purchase of food, fuel, supplies, and maintenance services.Connie Lewis. "Cruise Ships Face Stiffer Anti-Pollution Policies", Proquest: San Diego Business Journal. "The Port of San Diego is the state\'s fastest-growing port in terms of cruise ship dockings, and the second largest behind the Port of Los Angeles... ...The dockings are estimated to have an economic impact of more than $2 million on the local economy from the purchase of food, supplies and fuel,, as well as maintenance services."
Due to San Diego\'s military influence, major national defense contractors, such as General Atomics and Science Applications International Corporation are headquartered in San Diego.
Tourism is also a major industry owing to the city\'s climate. Major tourist destinations include Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo, Seaworld, nearby Wild Animal Park and Legoland, the city\'s beaches and golf tournaments like the Buick Invitational.
San Diego has experienced dramatic growth of real estate prices in the last decade, to the extent that the current situation is sometimes described as a "housing affordability crisis". Median house prices more than tripled between 1998 and 2007. According to the California Association of Realtors,C.A.R. reports sales decrease 25 percent in May in May 2007, a median house in San Diego cost $612,370. Growth of real estate prices has not been accompanied by comparable growth of household incomes: housing affordability index (percentage of households that can afford to buy a median-priced house) fell below 20% in early 2000\'s and remains very low. San Diego metropolitan area has second worst median multiple (ratio of median house price to median household income) of all metropolitan areas in the United States. As a consequence, San Diego has been experiencing negative net migration since 2004, with significant numbers of people moving to Baja California and Riverside county, with many residents commuting daily from Tijuana, Temecula, and Murrieta, to their jobs in San Diego. Others are leaving the state altogether and moving to more affordable regions."Greener pastures outside of county?", San Diego Union Tribune, March 22,[2007].
The San Diego Public Library, headquartered downtown, has 34 branches throughout the city.Library Fact Sheet FY 2006. San Diego Public Library. Retrieved on 2007-03-02. The San Diego libraries have had reduced operating hours since 2003 due to the city\'s lack of finances. In 2006 the city increased spending on libraries by $2.1 million. Matthew T. Hall. "Budget spares libraries, parks", The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2006-04-12. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
The San Diego Unified School District, also known as San Diego City Schools, is the school district that serves the majority of the city, it includes 113 elementary schools, 23 middle schools, 4 atypical schools, 10 alternative schools, 27 high schools and 25 charter schools. In the northern part of the county, Poway Unified School District and San Dieguito Union High School District are districts outside city limits, but serve several schools within city limits. In the southern part of the county, Sweetwater Union High School District serves multiple schools within city limits, although it is headquartered outside city limits.
San Ysidro School District (K-8) serves areas of San Diego also served by Sweet Water Union High School District. Del Mar Union Elementary School District and Solana Beach Elementary School District serve areas of San Diego also within San Dieguito.
According to education rankings released by the U.S. Census Bureau, 40.4 percent of San Diegans ages 25 and older hold bachelor\'s degrees. The census ranks the city as the ninth most educated city in the United States based on these figures.America\'s smartest cities. CNNmoney.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
Public colleges and universities in the city include University of California, San Diego (UCSD), San Diego State University (SDSU), and the San Diego Community College District, which includes San Diego City College, San Diego Mesa College, and San Diego Miramar College.
Private colleges and universities in the city include Alliant International University (AIU), Design Institute of San Diego (DISD), John Paul the Great Catholic University, National University, NewSchool of Architecture and Design, Pacific Oaks College, The Art Institute of California, San Diego, Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU),Woodbury University School of Architecture\'s satellite campus, and University of San Diego (USD) .
There is one medical school in the city, the UCSD School of Medicine. There are three ABA accredited law schools in the city, which include California Western School of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and University of San Diego School of Law. There is also one unaccredited law school, Western Sierra Law School.
Prior to 2000, San Diego voted Republican.[citation needed] However, since 2000, San Diego has voted Democratic in presidential elections.[citation needed] In August 2007, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 7 to 6.Voter Registration in the City of San Diego (pdf). San Diego Office of the City Clerk (2007-08-01). Retrieved on 2007-08-21. Despite the edge in voter registration for Democrats, the current mayor, Jerry Sanders, is a Republican. San Diego has not elected a Democratic mayor since 1988. Democrats hold a 5-3 majority in the city council, including the current Council President, Scott Peters, a Democrat who often sides with the mayor. 55% of the city of San Diego voted for Democrat John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election.http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2004_general/ssov/pres_general_ssov_all.pdf
On September 18 2007, the City Council with support from Mayor Sanders, voted 5-3 to endorse a pending lawsuit before the California Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 22, which banned same-sex marriage in California. Proposition 22 was supported by 62 percent of San Diego voters."San Diego Mayor Backs Same-Sex Marriage". The Guardian. 2007-11-20. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
In the state legislature San Diego is located in the 36th, 38th, 39th and 40th Senate District, represented by Republicans Dennis Hollingsworth and Mark Wyland, and Democrats Christine Kehoe and Denise Moreno Ducheny., and in the 74th, 75th, 76th, 77th, 78th and 79th Assembly District, represented by Republicans Martin Garrick and George A. Plescia, Democrat Lori Saldaña, Republicans Joel Anderson and Shirley Horton and Democrat Mary Salas. Federally, San Diego is located in California\'s 49th, 50th, 51st, 52nd, and 53rd congressional districts, which have Cook PVIs of R +10, R +5, D +7, R +9, and D +12 respectivelyWill Gerrymandered Districts Stem the Wave of Voter Unrest?. Campaign Legal Center Blog. Retrieved on 2008-02-10. and are represented by Republicans Darrell Issa. and Brian Bilbray, Democrat Bob Filner, Republican Duncan Hunter, and Democrat Susan Davis. respectively.
Many popular museums, such as the San Diego Museum of Art, the San Diego Natural History Museum, the San Diego Museum of Man, and the Museum of Photographic Arts are located Balboa Park. The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) is located in an ocean front building in La Jolla and has a branch located at the Santa Fe Depot downtown. The Colombia district downtown is home to historic ship exhibits as well as the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum featuring the USS Midway aircraft carrier.
San Diego has a growing art scene. "Kettner Nights" at the Art and Design District in Little Italy has art and design exhibitions throughout many retail design stores and galleries on selected Friday nights. "Ray at Night" at North Park host a variety of small scale art galleries on the second Saturday evening of each month. La Jolla and nearby Solana Beach also have a variety of art galleries.
The San Diego Symphony at Symphony Towers performs on a regular basis and is directed by Jahja Ling. The San Diego Opera at Civic Center Plaza was ranked by Opera America as one of the top 10 opera companies in the United States. Old Globe Theatre at Balboa Park produces about 15 plays and musicals annually. The La Jolla Playhouse at UCSD is directed by Christopher Ashley. The Joan B. Kroc Theatre at Kroc Center\'s Performing Arts Centeris is a 600-seat state-of-the-art theatre that hosts music, dance and theatre performances. The San Diego Repertory Theatre at the Lyceum Theatres in Horton Plaza produces a variety of plays and musicals. Serving the northeastern part of San Diego is the California Center for the Arts in Escondido, a 400-seat performing arts theater.
Tourism has affected the city\'s culture, as San Diego houses many tourist attractions, such as SeaWorld San Diego, Belmont amusement park, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park, and nearby Legoland. San Diego\'s Spanish influence can be seen in the many historic sites across the city, such as the Spanish missions and Balboa Park. Cuisine in San Diego is diverse, and there is an abundance of wood fired California-style pizzas, and Mexican and East Asian cuisine. Annual events in San Diego include Comic-Con, San Diego/Del Mar Fair, and Street Scene Music Festival.
San Diego has a large gay population and gay culture. The annual Gay Pride Parade usually draws crowds in excess of 100,000 people. According to U.S. Census data from the year 2000, San Diego had a gay index of 186 (gay male index of 226 and a lesbian index of 144); the national average gay index is 100.San Diego, CA (San Diego County) - city gay Index. ePodunk (2007). Retrieved on 2007-01-02. San Diego has the highest gay index in Southern California, surpassing Los Angeles (168).Los Angeles, CA (Los Angeles County) - city gay Index. ePodunk (2007). Retrieved on 2007-01-02. Most of the gay community, including the LGBT center and every gay bar, in San Diego is located in Hillcrest and surrounding neighborhoods of University Heights and North Park.
San Diego has always been a hotbed for surf and skateboard culture. Headquartered here are some of the industry\'s biggest names including Sector 9 Skateboards, TransWorld Media, and Rusty Surfboards. Some very well known surf spots include Swamis, Black\'s Beach,and Windansea. The region even has its own chain of surf shops, Sun Diego. Pro surfers Rob Machado and Taylor Knox, pro skateboarder Tony Hawk, and pro snowboarder Shaun White call the San Diego area their home.
| Club | Sport | League | Stadium |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego Padres | Baseball | MLB (National League) | PETCO Park |
| San Diego Chargers | American Football | AFL 1961-1969, NFL 1970-Present | Qualcomm Stadium |
| O.M.B.A.C. RFC | Rugby union | Rugby Super League (US) | Little Q Rugby Pitch at Qualcomm |
| San Diego Pumitas | Soccer | National Premier Soccer League | Balboa Stadium |
| San Diego WFC SeaLions | Soccer | Women\'s Premier Soccer League | Cathedral Catholic High School |
| San Diego Sunwaves | Soccer | USL W-League | Torero Stadium |
| San Diego Wildcats | Basketball | ABA | Kroc Center |
San Diego has several sports venues: Qualcomm Stadium is the home of the NFL San Diego Chargers, NCAA Division I San Diego State Aztecs, as well as local high school football championships. Qualcomm Stadium also hosts international soccer games, Supercross events and formerly hosted Major League Baseball. Three NFL Super Bowl championships and many college football bowl games have been held there. Balboa Stadium is the city\'s first stadium, constructed in 1914, and former home of the San Diego Chargers. Currently Balboa Stadium hosts soccer, American football and track and field.
PETCO Park in downtown San Diego is the home of Major League Baseball\'s San Diego Padres. The ballpark is also the current home of the semi-final and final games of the World Baseball Classic series, having hosted the inaugural series championship games in 2006. PETCO Park will be the home to the 2009 World Baseball Classic semi-finals and final as well. Other than baseball, PETCO Park hosts other occasional soccer and rugby events. The San Diego Sports Arena hosts basketball, and has also hosted ice hockey, indoor soccer and boxing. Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl on the campus of San Diego State University hosts the NCAA Division I San Diego State Aztecs men\'s and women\'s basketball games. Torero Stadium at the University of San Diego hosts college football and soccer, and the Jenny Craig Pavilion at USD hosts basketball and volleyball.
The San Diego State Aztecs (MWC) and the San Diego Toreros (WCC) are NCAA Division I teams. The UCSD Tritons (CCAA) are members of NCAA Division II while the Point Loma Nazarene Sea Lions (GSAC) are members of the NAIA.
San Diego has been the home of two NBA franchises, the first of which was called the San Diego Rockets. The Rockets represented the city of San Diego from 1967 until 1971. After the conclusion of the 1970-1971 season, they moved to Texas where they became the Houston Rockets. Seven years later, San Diego received a relocated NBA franchise (the Buffalo Braves), which was renamed the San Diego Clippers. The Clippers played in the San Diego Sports Arena from 1978 until 1984. Prior to the start of the 1984-1985 season, the team was moved to Los Angeles, and is now called the Los Angeles Clippers.
Other sports franchises that represented San Diego include the San Diego Conquistadors of the American Basketball Association, the San Diego Sockers (which played in various indoor and outdoor soccer leagues during their existence), the San Diego Flash and the San Diego Gauchos, both playing in different divisions of the United Soccer League, the San Diego Spirit of the Women\'s United Soccer Association, the San Diego Mariners of the World Hockey Association, and three different San Diego Gulls ice hockey teams. The San Diego Riptide and the San Diego Shockwave were indoor football teams that played at the Sports Arena and Cox Arena, respectively. San Diego has long been a candidate for a Major League Soccer franchise
