San Diego

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City and US naval air station, on the Pacific Ocean, and on the border of Mexico, in California, USA; population (2000 est) 1,223,400. San Diego is linked to Tijuana, Mexico, by a 26-km/16-mi transit line (1981) popular with tourists. It is an important fishing port. Manufacturing includes aerospace and electronic equipment, metal fabrication, printing and publishing, seafood-canning, and shipbuilding. San Diego is the oldest Spanish settlement in California; a Spanish mission and fort were established here in 1769.

Features
The city's Mexican and Spanish heritage is preserved in the Old Town San Diego State History Park, with the Casa de Machado y Stewart (an 1833 adobe), La Casa de Bandini (a hacienda), and La Casa de Estudillo (an 1829 adobe). San Diego de Alcala Mission, the first mission, has been restored. The Gaslamp Quarter is a restored Victorian area. The San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park commemorates the Mexican War.

San Diego Zoo (1916), San Diego Wild Animal Park, and Sea World (1964), which includes the Rocky Point Preserve (now home of the Alaskan sea otters rescued after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill), are here.

In La Jolla, a suburb of San Diego, there are a number of important institutions, including the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (1962), designed by Louis Kahn; the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the largest in the USA; and the University of California at San Diego. It is also the site of the Mission San Luis Rey (1798).

Red recalls the previous flag. Green represents agricultural produce. Effective date: 24 November 1992. >>