Though I had visited San Diego Zoo as a child several times, I never explored Balboa Park of which it is a part. One of the main sites I wanted to see on our California trip was this multi-use center of San Diego. Since we were arriving on a Sunday, we decided to get there early enough to hear the Spreckels Organ concert. My sister and her husband had never been there at a time when that performance was taking place either.
The organ had not yet been rolled out to the stage
We packed a lunch to eat when we arrived, and we left plenty of time to travel as we didn’t know how quickly the seats would fill up. As it turned out, there were lots of seats and a rather poor turnout. On the drive from Whittier, as we got closer to San Diego, we experienced a down pouring of rain. Amazing! California after all is in a drought. However, by the time we got to Balboa Park, though there was cloud cover, there was no rain. Too bad the clouds went away that afternoon as the sun beat down pretty fiercely.
We ate lunch; our relatives staked out seats right up front and let us meander. My husband went to an automotive museum while I headed in the opposite direction toward the Botanical Building.
The buildings and landscaping are the legacy of the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition and the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition. The Botanical Building, a wood lath structure, was constructed in 1915. It is off of El Prado, the boulevard created for the exposition.
There is a nice lily pond in front of the Botanical Building.
Inside were orchids and other interesting plants.
Before arriving at the Botanical Building, I had stopped at the Hospitality House to pick up a brochure.
Armed with that information, I strolled El Prado, admiring the architecture.
Carillon which was from a later date
Museum of Man
The tiles and shapes reminded me of Moorish art.
I thought I heard the organ playing. The concert wasn’t scheduled until 2 p.m. and this was a little after 1 p.m. I hurried to the Spreckels Organ Pavilion. Now the organ was in view. The Pavilion was built in 1915. The organ has been updated through the years with a new console and additional pipes. It has 4,518 pipes. The organist was a man practicing for a Monday night concert.
There is an official civic organist, Dr. Carol Williams; she plays the pieces on Sunday. It got pretty hot once the clouds left. The Spreckels Organ Society was renting out shade umbrellas for $2, starting about 1:30. They had lots of business. I sat and watched several Quincenera and wedding parties coming for photo shoots among the portico pillars.
I finally decided to cross the street to explore the “houses” belonging to the House of Pacific Relations that were left from the 1935-36 event. There was an art sale taking place on the lawns as well.
Apparently there was going to be some kind of folk dancing on a grassy area between the small buildings. That was in the shade, but you had to sit on the grass or bring your own chair. The “houses” had a few cultural items inside, but mostly literature about different countries.
When I got back to the Pavilion, it was about 15 minutes until the concert started.
The concert was about an hour. There were 10 pieces; one of the suites was written by Dr. Williams. The concert ended in a rousing rendition of the National Anthem. Those big pipes can really growl. Though the umbrella helped some, I finally draped my tote bag over my feet as they were not sheltered and felt like they were starting to get a sunburn. You were allowed to walk thru the pipe housing and get close to the console after the performance as well as ask questions about the instrument. I was glad we had attended.
On our last day in San Diego, we drove to Old Town where San Diego began. The old adobe buildings mostly have stores with tourist goods and restaurants. We ate at my sister’s favorite Mexican restaurant, then strolled thru a few shops.
We didn’t stay long, though, because we needed to head for Whittier so my husband and I could gather up our things and start packing for our flight to Chicago the next morning. It had been a long time since I had been in Southern California in summer. I am so glad that we made the trip.
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