Old Town San Diego SHP

2013 Special Event Calendar

The new special event calendar is here! We are really excited about this year's programs, and we hope to see you there. Click here for the event calendar.

You may now make room reservations for the Cosmopolitan Hotel through Reserve America! 

Do you have an interest in community service?  A respect for history?  An interest in early San Diego?  Want to meet new people?  Opportunities for Volunteers in Old Town

A list of current park programs for strategic planning, volunteer, and sponsorship opportunities:  Educational & Interpretive Programming - 10/21/11

Searching for people married at “Ramona’s Marriage Place” in Old Town San Diego
       News Release Waterman Project

View a Video of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
      Marketing Video

California State Parks Launches Video Gallery Featuring Huell Howser’s California’s Golden Parks Video Series - News Release
      Video Link

Park Information

Old Town San Diego State Historic Park presents the opportunity to experience the history of early San Diego by providing a connection to the past.

Learn about life in the Mexican and early American periods of 1821 to 1872.  Even today, life moves more slowly in this part of San Diego, where the hustle and bustle is balanced with history and fiestas.  Visitors are offered a glimpse into yesteryear, as converging cultures transformed San Diego from a Mexican pueblo to an American settlement.  The core of restored original historic buildings from the interpretive period are complemented by reconstructed sites, along with early twentieth century buildings designed in the same mode.  The Historic Plaza remains a gathering place for community events and historic activity.  Five original adobe buildings are part of the historic park, which includes museums, unique retail shops, and several restaurants.

La Casa de Estudillo is a mansion built around a garden courtyard.  La Casa de Machado y Stewart is full of artifacts that reflect ordinary life of the period.  Some of the other historic buildings include the Mason Street School (California's first public schoolhouse), La Casa de Machado y Silvas, the San Diego Union Printing Office (site of the city's oldest surviving newspaper office), and the first brick courthouse.  The Seeley Stables Museum, with newly rehabilitated exhibits on overland transportation, houses one of the finest wagon and carriage collections.

Visitors can experience a working blacksmith shop, enjoy music, see or touch the park's burros and engage in activities that represent early San Diego.

San Diego became California's first Spanish settlement when a mission and fort were established in 1769.

 
Location-Directions
The park is located on San Diego Avenue and Twiggs Street in San Diego, and is conveniently adjacent to the Old Town Transit Center, with Coaster, Trolley, and MTS Bus service.
 
Old Town San Diego, CA Latitude/Longitude: 32.7542 / -117.1961

Robinson-Rose House Visitor Information Center

James Robinson came to San Diego from Texas in the Spring of 1850 and developed a successful law practice. He built this two-story structure in 1853 to serve not only as his family residence but also as the home of the San Diego Herald, the San Diego and Gila Railroad office, as well as other private offices. Robinson died in 1857 and his widow Sarah Robinson sold the building to Louis Rose, who probably purchased it as a family residence. Fire destroyed the roof in 1874 and the building fell into ruins by the turn of the century. The reconstructed building now serves as Old Town State Historic Park's visitor center and has on display a model of Old Town as it looked in 1872, created by Joseph Toigo.

McCoy House Museum

Children in Nature Campaign

Discover California's Past as part of the Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights.

Brief History & Walking Tour Guide

A new guide book, revised and updated!
Available at the Visitor Information Center.

The Cosmopolitan Hotel Restored

A Tribute to Skilled Labor
Victor A. Walsh, State Park Historian

When Albert Seeley built the Cosmopolitan Hotel in 1869, faux finishes were extremely popular and in high demand. Many techniques were refined and many materials were developed to help skilled crafts people make common or inexpensive building materials look more elegant or expensive. Wooden panels were often painted to look like fine marble, soft or inexpensive woods refinished to look like prized hardwood.

Faux finishes continued to be popular until the demand for sleek, modern, mass-produced, pre-fabricated goods dominated the market. Even with the renewed interest in the techniques and crafts of the past, there are few people who are skilled in them today.

The first floor of the Cosmopolitan Hotel was constructed of adobe, sun baked clay blocks that were finished to look like mortared stone! How do you make adobe blocks resemble mortared stone?

Three coats of lime plaster are used to finish the walls on the first floor. Lime is used because it allows the thick adobe walls to “breathe.” Unlike cement or paint, it does not trap moisture inside the walls.

To apply the third and final coat, the walls must be wetted down with water; rubbed free of all cracks, and then smoothed and leveled. Plaster is usually mixed at a ratio of 2½ parts washed sand to 1 part lime putty.

The finish coat must be thinly applied — no more than ⅛” thick. Masons traditionally used cork-faced wood floats to enhance smoothness, and long, two-handled wood floats, called a darby, to level the finish coat. They used a straightedge and sharp-pointed awl to line the simulated mortar joints in the plaster while it dried.

Popular taste has changed over the years but the craft has changed little since these adobe walls were first scored in 1873 to resemble a “stone front.”