During World War II the entire southern portion of the peninsula was closed to civilians and used for military purposes, including a battery of coast artillery. The Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego was commissioned in 1921 and the San Diego Naval Training Center in 1923, both in Point Loma the Naval Training Center was closed in 1997.
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Navy presence in San Diego began in 1901 with the establishment of the Navy Coaling Station in Point Loma.
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Over the next several decades the Army set up a series of coastal artillery batteries and named the area Fort Rosecrans. The southern portion of the Point Loma peninsula was set aside for military purposes as early as 1852. The longtime association of San Diego with the U.S. Ballast Point and La Playa are now on the grounds of Naval Base Point Loma. Fort Guijarros was constructed at Ballast Point in 1797. The beach at La Playa continued to serve as San Diego's "port" until the establishment of New Town (current downtown) in the 1870s.īallast Point got its name from the practice of ships discarding their ballast there on arriving in San Diego Bay and taking on ballast as they left for the open ocean. describes how sailors in the 1830s camped on the beach at La Playa, accumulated cattle hides for export, and hunted for wood and jackrabbits in the hills of Point Loma. In his book Two Years Before the Mast, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Part of the route became present-day Rosecrans Street. The historic La Playa Trail, the oldest European trail on the West Coast, led from the Mission and Presidio to La Playa, where ships anchored and unloaded their cargoes via small boats. Mission San Diego itself was in the San Diego River valley, but its port was a bayside beach in Point Loma called La Playa (Spanish for beach). More than 200 years were to pass before a permanent European settlement was established in San Diego in 1769. United States Boundary Survey of the San Diego area, 1850, showing the La Playa Trail from La Playa to Old San Diego and the Mission This was the first landing by a European in present-day California, so that Point Loma has been described as "where California began". Historians believe he docked his flagship on Point Loma's east shore, probably at Ballast Point. Cabrillo described San Diego Bay as "a very good enclosed port". Point Loma was discovered by Europeans on Septemwhen Portuguese navigator Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo ( João Rodrigues Cabrilho in Portuguese) departed from Mexico and led an expedition for the Spanish crown to explore the west coast of what is now the United States. Kumeyaay people did visit Ocean Beach periodically to harvest mussels, clams, abalone and lobsters. There were no permanent indigenous settlements on Point Loma because of a lack of fresh water.
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The original name of the peninsula was La Punta de la Loma de San Diego, translated as Hill Point of San Diego. Today, Point Loma houses two major military bases, a national cemetery, a national monument, and a university, in addition to residential and commercial areas.ġ857 map showing Point Loma in relation to San Diego Bay The peninsula has been described as "where California began". Point Loma is historically important as the landing place of the first European expedition to come ashore in present-day California. The Peninsula Planning Area, which includes most of Point Loma, comprises approximately 4,400 acres (1,800 ha). Point Loma has an estimated population of 47,981 (including Ocean Beach), according to the 2010 Census. The term "Point Loma" is used to describe both the neighborhood and the peninsula. Together with the Silver Strand / Coronado peninsula, the Point Loma peninsula defines San Diego Bay and separates it from the Pacific Ocean. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, the east by the San Diego Bay and Old Town, and the north by the San Diego River. Point Loma ( Spanish: Punta de la Loma, meaning "Hill Point" Kumeyaay: Amat Kunyily, meaning "Black Earth") is a seaside community within the city of San Diego, California.