San Diego
Where California began, on a bay full of Navy gray.
- Population
- 1,386,932 (2020 census)
- Founded
- 1769
- Cabrillo
- 1542
Then
- 1542
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, the first European to visit the region, claims the bay for Spain and names it San Miguel.
- 1602
Sebastián Vizcaíno surveys the harbor and renames it San Diego de Alcalá.
- 1769
The Presidio (May) and Mission San Diego de Alcalá (July) become the first European settlement in what is now California. The Kumeyaay town of Kosa'aay stood nearby.
- Late 1860s
Alonzo Horton promotes a move to the bayside "New Town," which becomes downtown.
- 1901
A Navy coaling station at Point Loma begins the Navy's long presence here.
Now
San Diego is California's second-largest city, and Naval Base San Diego is its largest employer. Defense, tourism, trade and research drive the economy.
This stretch runs from Imperial Beach and South San Diego Bay north past Point Loma to Mission Bay.
8 tide stations around San Diego
- SAN DIEGO (Broadway)0.9 mi
- National City, San Diego Bay4.3 mi
- San Diego, Quarantine Station4.4 mi
- Point Loma5.4 mi
- Quivira Basin, Mission Bay5.5 mi
- Mission Bay, Campland6.5 mi
- South San Diego Bay6.7 mi
- Imperial Beach9.6 mi