Balboa Park: Heart Of San Diego
Balboa Park has been around for more than a hundred years. But the Balboa Park we know today began with the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. The park has had a rich history, and now it’s a charming destination for tourists and locals. Culturally and emotionally, Balboa Park is the heart of San Diego. During this anniversary year of the exposition, KPBS looks at the park's history, its treasures, and the challenges it faces.
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Access to San Diego’s crown jewel is a challenge for visitors and the park organizations that don’t want to turn them away. -
A look at how the five-year-old Balboa Park Conservancy plans to preserve and maintain San Diego's "crown jewel" now that there's a new CEO leading the charge. -
Balboa Park is more than 100 years old and so is some of its plumbing, and that has some folks who work in the park worried. -
Historians explain how the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, which created the Balboa Park we know today, was also a touchstone of the women’s movement in San Diego. -
The Santa Fe Depot — also called Union Station — was built 100 years ago to help bring people to the 1915 Panama-California Exposition at Balboa Park. -
KPBS news anchor Sally Hixson tells the story of a carousel that was kind of like a member of her family. -
There was supposed to be a yearlong party in Balboa Park this year. It’s the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, which put San Diego and Balboa Park on the map. The city’s big party fizzled, but the park museums have a plan of their own. -
The tower at the Museum of Man will open to visitors on New Year's Day -
Balboa Park's California Tower, which has been closed for 80 years, has attracted people from 20 different states since it reopened. -
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park, and events are planned at the 1,200-acre park throughout 2015. -
A red trolley car has been transformed into one featuring photos of Balboa Park from 1915, when the the Panama-California Exposition was held there. -
KPBS Midday EditionFormer California State Librarian Kevin Starr, who is deemed the pre-eminent historian of the Golden State, has died. He was 76. -
KPBS Midday EditionThe San Diego History Center launched its 2015 Centennial Celebration with the opening of "Ingenious! The World of Dr. Seuss." The exhibit features rare and never-before-seen images by San Diego's renowned local author. -
KPBS Midday Edition"Gauguin to Warhol" shows work by 40 of the most famous artists from the late 1800s through the 20th Century. The exhibit is at The San Diego Museum of Art until Jan. 27. -
KPBS Midday EditionThe committee in charge of planning a yearlong party in 2015 at Balboa Park spent $2.6 million that came from taxpayers, and now the group is out of business. KPBS interviewed committee members, museum leaders and community members to find out what went wrong.
KPBS is collecting your Balboa Park memories as the city marks the 100th anniversary of Balboa Park's 1915 Panama-California Exposition.
Balboa Park Memories: Flash Mob Proposal In Balboa Park
Balboa Memories
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The ceremony was one of many happening simultaneously across U.S. during WWII -
My son and I love visiting Balboa Park during summer days to explore the butterfly garden, botanical gardens and outdoor spaces of the park. -
In the summer of 1993, Karl Flores decided to explore his creative side and interned at the Starlight Bowl. -
In the mid-'80s, in my late teens, I thought landscape architecture might be something I'd like to do so I enrolled in a trees class at Mesa College. Our trips to Balboa Park were my favorite sessions — where we were introduced to all the glorious trees living there. -
I love Balboa Park so much I had to get married there. My husband and I were married at the chapel at the San Diego Museum of Man and had a small dinner reception at The Prado. -
Maureen and I were married June 20,1977, in Balboa Park. We had a budget of about $200 for the entire affair. -
We found one of the best dogs we have ever had, Roscoe, at an adoption event in Balboa Park. Roscoe loved Balboa Park's dog parks, joined us for organ concerts and most of all, he loved to wade in the fountain by the (Reuben H.) Fleet theater. -
Thearle's Piano Festival took place at Balboa Park's Starlight Theatre. It involved children of different age groups playing on 100 pianos on live television. -
My husband loved to ride the Balboa Park Carousel as a child. His mother met and fell in love with the man running the carousel and later got married in Balboa Park. We followed in their footsteps and also married in the park. -
The San Diego Museum of Art continually fills me with wonder, and simultaneously moves me to focus deeply on each exhibition. -
I am lucky enough to have many, many wonderful memories of Balboa Park, as I spent much of my childhood in San Diego — and even worked at the Museum of Man as an adult — but one of the most vivid is of going to see plays at the Starlight Bowl.
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As a child, I longed to take tap dancing classes, but my family couldn't afford them. When I was 46, I started taking beginning tap at Balboa Park, and a whole new world opened up to me. -
It's truly a city treasure, and I always leave knowing something I didn't know before I came. -
Allison and I have been together for four years, and I knew that I wanted to propose to her in a very special and unique way. -
These memories include visiting the park as a child, getting married in the Japanese Botanical Garden and taking my sons to the park. -
When I saw the wishing well at The Prado I thought, "I'm going to get married here someday. Just have to find the guy."
