Masonry Magazine October 1982 Page. 6
san
diego
Dynamic Host City for
MCAA's 33rd Annual International
Masonry Conference & Trade Show
at the Town & Country Hotel
February 20-24, 1983
"San Diego feels good all over." That new marketing and promotion slogan (the western counterpart of "I Love New York") was recently adopted by the city of San Diego to symbolize the wide array of attributes that make it one of the most interesting and exciting places anywhere.
As one San Diegan put it, "We don't have a Golden Gate Bridge or an Eiffel Tower. Instead, we have a wealth of attractions-great climate, beaches, mountains, deserts, sports, Mexican food-you name it! San Diegans feel good about their city, and we want to share this feeling with our many visitors."
Host to MCAA Conference
MCAA members will have a chance to learn in person what that slogan really means when they attend MCAA's 33rd International Masonry Conference and Educational Trade Show Show-February 20-24-at the Town & Country Hotel in San Diego. The Conference program, now under development, and San Diego's wonderful attractions promise to make MCAA's '83 Conference one of the most memorable to date.
San Diego boasts a long and colorful history. It is the birthplace of California. Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain in 1542. In 1769-seven years before the Declaration of Independence-Padre Junipero Serra established the first link of his 21-mission chain at Mission San Diego de Alcala. The city has grown up under Spanish, Mexican, and then, in 1846, American rule. It is now the second largest city in California and the ninth largest in the United States.
San Diego is wrapped about 17-mile long San Diego Bay and extends eastward over rolling hills from the Pacific Ocean. It was recently voted by Holiday magazine the "only area in the United States with perfect weather." The average annual temperature is 70 degrees, and most daily forecasts show San Diego to be mild, warm and sunny. And the air is always crystal clear.
Beautiful Natural Harbor
Among the many magnificent sights surrounding the area is San Diego Harbor, one of the most beautiful and expansive natural harbors in the world. Bustling with activity, the sparkling bay is home port for Navy ships, a large sportfishing fleet, thousands of pleasure craft, commercial shipping and tuna seiners.
6 MASONRY-SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER, 1982
Historic Coronado Nearby
Another major attraction is historic Coronado, the Crown City. Situated across the bay from San Diego's downtown, this semi-island is connected to the mainland by a long, narrow sandbar known as the Silver Strand. Previously, although in sight of San Diego, Coronado could be reached only by ferry or a long drive via Imperial Beach to the south. The opening of the gracefully curving San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge in 1969 now makes Coronado readily accessible by car.
Coronado's development dates back to the construction of the world-famous Hotel del Coronado in 1888. Prior to that time the area was the province mainly of jackrabbits and coyotes. It was two rabbit hunters, in fact, who first realized the potential of the place.
In 1885, Elisha S. Babcock of Indiana and Henry L. Story of Chicago, who had retired to San Diego for their health, purchased the entire peninsula (Coronado and North Island) for $110,000. Before 1870, this entire tract of land-more than 4,100 acres was valued at just $1,000. The partners divided their property into city lots and used the profits to finance the construction of Hotel del Coronado.
Architects James and Merritt Reid masterminded the building of the 400-room wooden structure at a time when San Diego had neither lumber nor skilled carpenters. Both had to be imported from San Francisco.
With its turrets, tall cupolas, hand-carved wooden pillars and Victorian filigree, the hotel still dominates the community's shoreline and has been designated a State of