Gaslamp Walking Tour
Sidewalk cafes and open air restaurants, jazz clubs, late night dancing, resident artists, distinctive hotels and micro breweries all contribute to the festive spirit of the Gaslamp Quarter. San Diego’s legendary historic district! The Gaslamp Quarter is a 16½ block historical neighborhood in downtown San Diego. The name “Gaslamp Quarter” is a reference to the gas lamps that were common in San Diego in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The area is listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places and includes 94 historic buildings. Its main period of development began in 1867, when Alonzo Horton bought the land in hopes of creating a new city center closer to the bay, and chose 5th Avenue as its main street. The area now boast over 200 restaurants, bars, nightclubs and lounges, and countless boutiques, art galleries and shops. The Gaslamp has definitely established itself both as the playground of hip, eclectic San Diegans and as an elite urban destination. Mass Transit routes # 3, 11, 120. OrangeTrolley line.
The tour includes architecturally significant structures of the period from Old City Hall (1874) to the Romanesque style Keating Building (1890) to the Baroque Revival Louis Bank of Commerce (1888), along with fascinating stories of the people and characters that shaped the destiny of San Diego,
From William Heath Davis, who first attempted the building of “New Town,” to Alonzo Horton who came here in 1867 and finished the job, the cultural heritage of San Diego speaks through the buildings of a by-gone era that stand as testimony to its richness.
The tour takes under two hours and includes the William Heath Davis House Museum.
Tickets cost $10 for adults, and $8 for those 55 and older, military and students. Children are always free.
