San Diego County at a Glance

© McCormack's Guides

 

Drenched by the sun, located on the Pacific and cooled by ocean breezes, San Diego is one of the most popular counties in the U.S., a mix of suburban, rural and metropolitan life that has turned countless visitors into residents.

The county is bordered on the south by Mexico, on the north by Riverside County and Orange County, home of Disneyland, on the east by Imperial County and on the west by the Pacific.

There are two San Diegos. The first is the county, population 3,173,407, and within the county, the City of San Diego, population 1,353,993.

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The county is rectangular in shape and measured at its approximate center runs roughly 73 miles from east to west and 58 miles north to south.

In land, San Diego County covers 4,255 square miles, about half the size of Israel (7,984 sq. mi.) and Massachusetts (8,257 sq. mi.), twice the size of Delaware (2,057 sq. mi.), and a little over three times the size of Rhode Island (1,214 sq. mi.). Among the states, its closest approximation is Connecticut, 5,009 sq. mi.

Size, however, misleads. Over 90 percent of the residents live in towns and cities within 20 miles of the coast. As you move inland, the temperature rises, the terrain steepens and both combine to discourage development.

Much of central and east San Diego County has been left in ranches, Indian reservations and parks.

Weather

The air is dry, the summer mornings along the coast cool and often overcast (a condition called the June gloom), the afternoons and evenings hot but rarely humid, except in September when ocean evaporation puts more water into the air.

In an average year, 10 inches of rain fall in downtown San Diego, a scarcity which suggests that this is not the place for lawns. Nonetheless, many slightly burnt, they decorate the countryside. Alpine gets an average of 17 inches of rain per year, Oceanside 11 and Poway 13. Alpine, located in the mountains, usually gets a dusting of snow in winter. Rain in winter, sunshine in spring, summer and fall. In a word, Mediterranean.

In recent years, the county has suffered droughts. But you could not tell this by the flowers. Birds of paradise grow wild. Bougainvillea spills over fences and freeway walls. Many residents express their artistic souls through their gardens.

Droughts raise the danger of fire and in 2003 San Diego was brutally reminded that fire conditions cannot be ignored. Brush fires swept through the central county, destroying about 2,500 homes and a dozen commercial buildings and killing 16. A word to the wise ... trees and shrubs are pretty but if you allow them to jungle up to your doorstep, you're asking for trouble.

Mesas, Sun and Ocean

Coastal San Diego is peppered with mesas or plateaus. They rise usually several hundred feet and flatten, providing much land for residential development. Homes by the thousands have been built along the rims of these mesas.

If you look from the street toward the rear of the homes, the yards disappear, dropping off usually into sloping ravines. Many of these homes have so-so views (the ravine), many striking views.

San Diego is located roughly along the same latitude as Phoenix, Dallas and Charleston, South Carolina, and Tripoli (Libya), Jerusalem and Baghdad. It is a land where the sun intrudes, pleasurably, into everyday life: glorious sunrises over mountains to the east, marvelous sunsets over the Pacific to the west.

Rolling up against the sandy shore and bluffs, the Pacific complements the sun. Although California has the reputation of being a surfer-swimming paradise, many people in fact avoid the Pacific. Arctic currents bubble up along much of the coast, making the water inhospitable to all but young and the hardy, and in summer creating fog banks that obscure views.

Southern California gets its morning fogs but the sun quickly burns them away and exercises, in much greater strength, its warming powers on Pacific waters. And this — combined with a shoreline that is generally accessible — brings the Pacific more into the lives of San Diegans. About two dozen public beaches, some miles long, grace the San Diego shore.

Weather forecasts include a surf report with predictions of the size and frequency of waves. See Weather.

Put everything together — sun, land, ocean, balmy weather throughout the year — and there emerges an upbeat culture oriented toward the outdoors.

Other Pluses

Crime has dropped sharply but unevenly. In 1990, the county recorded 216 homicides. By 2001, the number had dropped to 92. In 2002 came another drop, to 87, and in 2003, the trend continued, 65 homicides. In 2004, the count rose to 128 and in 2005 it dropped to 98.

The big killer, rarely tallied, traffic accidents: In 2003, within the county, 290 people were killed in traffic accidents and 24,280 injured.

Although San Diego's economy is influenced by national trends and events— Sept. 11, the tech stock meltdown, the housing market — it has more resiliency than many other places. The private sector has diversified into technology and bio-tech. The county has a gigantic government sector, headed by the Navy and Marine Corps. San Diego is home to many Navy ships.

The roads and freeways are almost constantly being improved. In 2004, Highway 56, connecting two major freeways, was completed. In 2007, Highway 125 at Chula Vista is to be extended.

After years of being starved for funds, public schools in the late 1990s received millions extra. Class sizes in grades 1 to 3 were lowered to 20-to-one. In some instances, they had been running 25- and 30-to-one.

When technology plummeted in 2001 and 2002, state revenues dropped and school funding was reduced. Since then, the economy has revived and more money has been sent to the schools.

The City of San Diego, once thought a paragon of fiscal responsibility, was revealed recently to have vastly underestimated its pension bill.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has sworn no new state taxes. But wanting to keep services and repair the schools, voters have increased taxes on themselves through state bonds and local elections. There's a lot of grumbling but California and San Diego have been down this road before and muddled through.

In sports, amusements, civic amenities such as libraries and parks, San Diegans have done very well for themselves, their children and generations to come. The county has many lovely parks and beaches. Balboa Park in the City of San Diego rivals and possibly surpasses Central Park in New York for beauty and amusements, including a world-class zoo. In 2004, the City of San Diego opened a baseball park in its downtown.

The Problems

The heat that pleases also dries out the countryside and creates conditions ideal for fires. San Diego County has had several giant fires over the last 10 years.

Millions have been spent to stop beach pollution, yet it still happens, although not as much as in the past. More money is being spent on this problem and on beach erosion. San Diego is replenishing its beaches with sand.

San Diego County boasts some of the highest academic scores in the state and some of the lowest. Well-intentioned people differ markedly over how to run the local schools.

Arguments rage over protecting the environment, over development, over the quality of life. Some cities are voting to limit growth but others favor it.

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In the 1990s, the county increased its population by 13 percent. Civic leaders point out that the days of building large tracts in outlying areas are coming to the end. Future growth will have to be handled by rebuilding the old cities, particularly the City of San Diego.

Immigration is a touchy topic. In 2006, thousands demonstrated for amnesty for illegals. The Escondido City Council voted to require hotels and motels to check identifications for illegals and the mayor of National City declared his city welcomed illegal immigrants. About 2,300 people, many illegal farmworkers, live in shanties in the hills and canyons; they can’t afford housing, say government officials.

For years, the City of San Diego has been trying to shift some air traffic out of Lindbergh Field, the international airport near the downtown. No luck.

Freeways congest and infuriate. To speed things up on Interstate 15, the state allows solo drivers to buy their way into car-pool lanes. Scanners do the billing.

In 2003, the state tallied in San Diego County 2,281,979 motor vehicles. This breaks down to about two vehicles for every three people. The great majority drive solo to work, government studies show.

Navy jets moved out of Miramar Naval Air Station and Marine Corps jets moved in, followed by Marine helicopters, versatile machines but loud. Some residents perturbed. In city profiles, see Mira Mesa. 

San Diego is earthquake country. It doesn't shake, rattle and roll as much as other California counties but the potential for a Big One is there. For how to prepare for a quake and what to do when one strikes, read the opening pages of your telephone book.

The Military

Summer, winter, fall, spring, many San Diegans fly the flag. San Diego is the true Pacific home of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Camp Pendleton, the Marine base, dominates the coastal north; the Navy, San Diego harbor. When President George W. Bush wanted to thank returning sailors and marines, he landed on a carrier just off the San Diego coast.

Navy carriers and ships are a familiar sight in San Diego harbor. Military jets and helicopters take off and land and cruise the skies — all the time. Efforts are made to suppress noise and keep flights away from residential areas but they are not always successful (In noise, the biggest offender is a civilian: San Diego Airport [Lindbergh Field], whose jumbo jets approach over downtown San Diego.)

Local histories acknowledge the military but little has been written about how military values and policies influence local life. Military retirees and veterans groups are numerous. In politics, San Diego generally votes conservative-middle road and the leading local paper, while conservative, is anything but jingoistic.

San Diego has its faded neighborhoods — the sun does a real number on paint jobs — but many retain a trim look, a reflection perhaps of habits learned under ship discipline.

Multicultural

San Diego has its ethnic neighborhoods. Not too many decades ago, discrimination was routinely practiced in housing. Problems remain but much has changed.

The military is an integrated institution and its values have moved out into the larger society. Restrictive laws have been repealed, schools make a much greater effort to help kids get along, regardless of ethnic background.

Many schools have ethnic makeups reflective of the larger societies. The largest school district in the county, San Diego Unified, runs a magnet program to encourage integration (but because of court decisions, the district avoids formal policies based on race.)

The 2000 census counted 1,548,833 Caucasians, 750,965 Hispanics, 249,802 Asians, 186,679 African-Americans and 24,337 Native Americans.

Cosmopolitan-Internationalist

San Diego County is much more at ease with Willie Nelson than Mozart or Beethoven. But the county has its Nobel winners and, for those who want it, a sophisticated social life. Much of it revolves around the University of California campus, located at La Jolla, a neighborhood of the City of San Diego.

But it also can be found scattered throughout the City of San Diego and the suburbs. Escondido has opened a performing arts complex that any American city would envy. The county is also home to two California state universities (San Diego and San Marcos) and several private colleges, including the University of San Diego.

Opera, concerts, jazz and classical, plays, musicals, classes, art galleries, miscellaneous cultural activities — they’re there for the taking.

San Diego has a “cosmopolitan” life, not big but definitely there. California has hundreds of cities, just about all of them small or regional towns that make no pretence of being cosmopolitan. Only three in California aspire to or can claim big-league status: first Los Angeles, second San Francisco, third, San Diego. Coming up strong but not quite there: San Jose and Sacramento.

California used to be dotted with military bases. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, all but a few have been closed and the Naval power concentrated in San Diego. Ships that sail from San Diego patrol the waters of the globe. The men and women who staff them are San Diego residents, with families and local friends. This encourages the county to pay attention to what goes on abroad and to global trouble spots, notably Iraq.

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A few decades ago, Tijuana was not a strong presence. Now the City of San Diego has grown right to the Tijuana border. With the passage of NAFTA (trade agreement with Mexico and Canada), San Diego's financial ties with Tijuana and with Mexico have grown stronger and more complex. NAFTA included funds to reduce pollution from the Tijuana River, which periodically fouls San Diego beaches.

Public affairs in Mexico are followed closely in local newspapers.

Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods — the Difference

Often the three are confused. In California, cities are legal entities with precise boundaries and specific political powers. Cities are run by city councils. A city may be large or small, it may have many people or few people. San Diego, population 1,311,162 is a city. So is Del Mar, population 4,524. In power and influence, San Diego far exceeds Del Mar but within its borders Del Mar reigns supreme.

A town is not a legal entity. It is often a cluster of homes with a business section and an identity bestowed upon it by tradition, habit or force of circumstances.

Homes are built outside city limits. Stores follow. The area used to be known as Spring Valley, or Mt. Helix or Casa De Oro. “Town” names follow. Boundaries are imprecise, and for this reason so are population counts.

Towns are governed by the county board of supervisors, which is based in the City of San Diego. Towns are considered “unincorporated,” a frequently used term. About 12 percent of the county’s residents live in unincorporated areas (2006).

Some towns really are no more than neighborhoods. Often they are just a subdivision or two out in the country.

The City of San Diego is divided into neighborhoods.

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In the real world, both town and neighborhood groups exercise a lot of indirect power because the politicians listen to them and use them to sound out voter opinions.

Other Governments

• The military. On their bases, the Navy and Marines do their own planning, run their own courts and police services and, in some instances, provide their own housing. Marine and Navy children attend local schools.

On many matters, the Navy works closely with elected politicians and bureaucrats from local governments. One naval position is unofficially called “The Navy's Mayor.” The officer holding this position is expected to explain the Navy's views to the civilian world and keep Navy-civilian relations purring along.

• School Districts. In California, schools and municipal governments are separate entities, although they often cooperate on recreational activities.

Almost all public schools are controlled by local school districts. Policy for these districts is set by a school board, usually five residents elected by local voters. Superintendents — hired by the boards — principals and teachers run the schools day-to-day. The state, through its control over the purse, exercises great influence. See Schools.

• Special Agencies. As needs arose that could not be met through traditional government groups, special agencies were formed. These include a port commission, a coast commission and many agencies to provide water or fire protection.

A Little History

• Native Americans. First came the Indians, who lived in the region for well over 10,000 years. They fished, hunted and lived off the fruits of the land. When the Spanish (and later the Americans) arrived, much of the land was seized outright. After the Civil War, President Grant ordered the establishment of 10 reservations throughout the county. Altered later, these reservations form the landholdings of the modern Indians of San Diego County.

The major groups include the Kumeyaay, the Luiseños, the Cupeños and the Cahuillas. For most of San Diego’s modern history, scant attention was paid to the interests and well-being of the Indians. Only in recent decades has it generally been conceded that in the colonial and pioneer days of San Diego great injuries were inflicted and great injustices done. Some tribes have opened casinos and with changes in the law, slot machines are allowed.

• The Spanish. In 1542 Juan Cabrillo, a Portuguese in the service of Spain, sailed into San Diego Bay, named it San Miguel Bay and sailed off. In 1602, Sebastian Vizcaino, another explorer, put into the bay on the feast of San Diego and renamed it San Diego. This name stuck. Vizcaino sailed away.

Not until 1769 — the eve of the American Revolution — did the Spanish make a concerted effort to colonize California and even then the attempts drew few adventurers. The Mexican desert, hostile Indians and the winds of the Pacific, which made sailing difficult, worked against the explorers.

Father Junipero Serra opened the first mission in 1769 and, in accordance with the beliefs of his culture and era, tried to convert the Indians and bring them into the mission system. Exposed to European diseases, many died.

Lacking their own laborers, the Spanish dragooned the Indians for mission jobs and for working the large cattle ranches that became financially popular. A second mission, San Luis Rey, was opened in what is now Oceanside.

• The Days of the Dons, who were also known as Californios. For a long time, this era was romanticized because the Dons set up a gracious society that prized hospitality among themselves and among the few visiting Europeans. But it was a short era.

Mexico revolted against Spain in 1821 and in California the countryside was divided into large grants of land bestowed upon the descendents of the first settlers. The missions were secularized and fell into disrepair. Edicts and governors dispatched from Mexico City were ignored. Few colonists came to replenish the first settlers.

• Mexican-American War. After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Americans pushed West. First came the explorers and mountain men, including Kit Carson, then farmers, merchants and craftsmen.

When the war came in 1846, the San Diego Californios inflicted a defeat — 22 dead — on General Kearny in a skirmish east of Escondido, but simply by numbers the U.S. would have prevailed.

Historians differ over how many Spanish- or Mexican-Americans lived in California at the time of the war but the low number is about 6,000 and the high about 14,000, neither substantial. Immigrants from the U.S. equaled or exceeded these numbers. When the war came, the U.S. took California with fewer than 1,000 troops. By 1860, the population had soared to 360,000.

• Statehood-Early Years. California was admitted as a state in 1850. Farms and orchards blossomed. An overland mail route was established. Alonzo Horton laid out a development plan for the downtown. The Spanish land grants were carved up. The railroad arrived in 1885.

The original San Diego County included what is now Orange and Riverside counties. Those latter two counties split off about the turn of the century.

San Diego County welcomed the 20th century with 35,090 residents.

• 1900-1950. In 1908, to demonstrate American’s growing might, President Theodore Roosevelt dispatched what was called the “White Fleet” on a world cruise. The ships visited San Diego and received a tumultuous welcome. In retrospect, the visit foreshadowed world events that were to dramatically change San Diego and the West Coast. The United States was now an Atlantic and a Pacific country. Around the planet, a few nations had carved out empires and spheres of influence, arousing the envy of other nations and inculcating within them imperialistic ambitions. There followed World War I. To secure its Pacific flank, the United States installed bases on the West Coast. San Diego’s, opened in 1917, was one of the largest.

World War II came. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the headquarters for the Pacific Naval command was moved from Honolulu to San Diego. Great fleets sailed from San Diego harbor. Camp Pendleton was opened in 1942. Armies were trained in the county and sent to distant islands and battlefields. The Unites States became a world power.

At the same time, strong industries were developed, particularly in aircraft construction, which had a local tradition. Charles Lindbergh made the first solo flight to Europe in a plane built in San Diego, “The Spirit of St. Louis.”

During this period, many cities were incorporated, parks and schools established, and government structures — city councils, school districts— set up. Most of the residential construction was confined to downtown San Diego and its immediate neighborhoods.

Had the world wars not occurred, San Diego still would have grown but probably not as rapidly. By 1950, the county had increased its population to 556,808. Many of the new arrivals were veterans who had been stationed in San Diego and liked what they saw.

• 1950 to 1990. In these four decades, San Diego more than quadrupled its population. The 1990 census counted 2,498,016 residents. Cities expanded to absorb the newcomers and new cities were formed. Freeways were built that tied San Diego to the rest of the state and country, and made it more accessible.

Two smaller wars — Korea and Vietnam — accentuated the region’s role in national defense. A long period of hostile competition with the Soviet Union slanted the county toward defense work. San Diego has many peaceful endeavors and industries but for over 50 years the county, its residents and its economy have been tied closely to military work.

• 1990-1994. The Soviet Union collapsed, forcing painful readjustments to the California and San Diego economies. In 1993, the feds began deciding in earnest which bases would be closed and what operations would be revamped. Overall, San Diego came out ahead. It remains the major Navy-Marine location on the West Coast. But the Naval Training Center near downtown San Diego was closed. San Diego voted for Proposition 187, the anti-immigration measure, but many people emphasized they favored legal immigration.

• 1995-2000. Home prices and home sales picked up, then really elevated. City of San Diego gave the green light to expanding convention center and, with much argument, building a baseball stadium near convention center.

• 2000 plus. The county greeted the millennium with 2,813,833 residents, an increase of 2.2 million people since 1950. In the 1990s, the county added about 316,000 people.

• 2003. Fires raged in countryside. 2,722 homes destroyed, 16 killed. Many homes were rebuilt in 2004 and 2005. At least one fire district is requiring all new homes to have fire-resistant materials, including sprinklers, fireproof roofs, chimney-spark arresters and fire-resistant plants. One goal is to get the homes safe enough so people won't have to flee— that's when many are injured or killed.

• 2004. Highway 56 completed. It connects Interstate 5 and Interstate 215 between Del Mar and Rancho Peñasquitos.

• Mirror, mirror. Which city has the best-looking people? In 2004, a survey asked this question. The answer: No 3, Austin, Tex; No. 2, Honolulu, and No. 1, San Diego.

• 2005. Scandals and deficits swept major figures out of San Diego city hall. See profile of City of San Diego.

UC San Diego breaks ground for a science research park, 30 acres.

2006. Local congressman dispatched to prison for taking bribes. Housing prices drop. County swelters in the heat wave that gives some credibility to global warming. San Diego takes another shot at finding an alternative to the cramped international airport. But voters shoot down the conversion of part of Miramar Air Station into a civilian field. Another alternative: Tijuana International, just over the border.

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The average San Diegan will live to be 78.6 years, unless American Indian. The average for that group is 86. So said a Harvard study released in 2006.

Miscellaneous

• Residents divide the county into four regions:

City of San Diego

North County, generally everything from Del Mar north to the county line

South Bay, the neighborhoods and towns between Chula Vista and the Mexican border

East County, the towns, cities and often rugged country east of the City of San Diego.

• Names to know.

The Merge, where Interstates 5 and 805 meet, north of La Jolla.

Golden Triangle — generally the same area, moving south to Highway 52. Here's where you'll find many of the county's high-tech businesses.

• San Diego distinguishes between beaches that face to the west, such as Del Mar, and beaches that face south, such as Coronado. Each has a different wave pattern.

Big and sprawling. The City of San Diego winds and twists from San Ysidro on the Mexican border to San Pasqual, just east of Escondido. The city has identified about 100 neighborhoods but in general descriptions many are folded into larger neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods — La Jolla, Carmel Valley, Rancho Bernardo, San Ysidro, to name just a few — are often spoken of as if they were cities. Not the case. All are part of the City of San Diego and governed by the city council and patrolled by city police officers.

Official County Website: http://sdpublic.sdcounty.ca.gov