As we go to press , the news that the ill advised Jacobs/Sanders plan to redesign, develop, and bring paid parking into Balboa park has reared its ugly head again.  You can be sure we will keep you apprised.

And now please, enjoy the July issue of Our Heritage News.

Even though I've lived in San Diego for more than a decade, I still think like a tourist. For all the millions of lucky people who get to visit San Diego every year, there are millions more who only wish they could be here. I try never to take these facts for granted, which ... Read more

SOHO is featuring Irving Gill, San Diego's most prominent architect and a trailblazing early Modernist, for a six-month celebration called Irving Gill: Progress & Poetry in Architecture beginning September 23 and 24. SOHO and 12 other museums and institutions, 11 in San Diego County plus the University of California Santa Barbara's AD&A Museum, are part of a multidisciplinary collaborative united ...Read more

California Theatre

Time for an Encore, Not an Overture

A new project for the California Theatre site (downtown at 4th Avenue and C Street) proposes the complete demolition of this local icon and historic resource. Overture, the name of the 40-story tower with mixed-use development, was discussed at two public design review meetings in early June. First, the Pre-Design Subcommittee for the Downtown Community Planning Council (DCPC) met on June 7; the next morning, the...Read  more

Peruvian Pepper Trees

San Diego's Signature Historical Tree

This past April I went down to CalTrans' offices for a special meeting about the Peruvian pepper trees (Schinus molle) of Old Town. The city had invited citizenry to comment on their proposed project to remove and destroy some 18 or more pepper trees as part of their plan to improve sidewalks along Juan Street. 

There were a number of people in attendance including city engineers, arborists, archaeologists, and historians. Luminaries included Bruce Coons, the executive director of Save Our Heritage (SOHO) Organisation. Almost everyone...Read  more

Spoiler Alert

Meet SOHO's Jeopardy! Contestant

Ellen Green joined SOHO as Museum Staff Coordinator in May. Originally from Milwaukee, she majored in German and French at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She taught at the

 middle- and high-school levels for several years. In the mid-1980s, Ellen vacationed in Southern California, and a few months later, made San Diego her home. She has worked in  ...Read   more

COMMUNITY

Triumphs and Tragedies

Hillcrest LGBT History Tour by Lambda Archives

· Do you know how Hillcrest became "the gay neighborhood?"
· Have you read the hate crimes plaque on University Avenue? Did you even know one is there?
· Ever read the stories at the base of the Pride flagpole?

Join the walking tour, get a peek into the secret garden, and more. 

Lambda Archives' guided Hillcrest walking tour will next be held on July 13 and 14 at 6:15pm. Meet at the corner of Third and University Avenues, outside...Read   more