James Britton II (1915-1983) was an acute critic of art, architecture and social planning in San Ciego City and County. His thinking had been shaped by the writings of Plato, Emerson, Lewis Mumford, and by the dreams and works of San Diego architect Lloyd Ruocco. Britton's writing were controversial because they evoked thought, challenged prejudices, and presented visions of a tomorrow that could be if people heeded the advice of their best thinkers and planners. While he often pretended he knew all the answers, he was modest enough to admit that other people sometimes knew better. His views are especially interesting in the 21st century partially because of what Britton anticipated and partially because of environmental and ecological problems that he did not anticipate. It is fascinating to see how his strategies for coping with overpopulation became a fear as he saw the catastrophic consequences of the human explosion not only in San Diego but throughout the world.
Amelita Galli-Curci, San Diego Nightingale:
Galli-Curci, hailed as "the world's greatest coloratura soprano" in the 1910's
and 20's, spent her retirement years during the 1950's and 60's in Rancho
Santa Fe and La Jolla.
Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink, A Legend in Her
Time: Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink’s life had the before-and-after
quality of a fairy story. Born in poverty, she became rich. Considered plain
and plump in appearance, on stage she was regal and impressive. When she began
singing in public, at age 15, no one thought she would become a professional
singer. When she moved to San Diego, at age 48, music critics in Europe and
the United States hailed her as "the world's outstanding contralto." It was
her mixture of engaging and contrasting qualities that made Madame Schumann-Heink
a legend in her time
Christmases in Early California: Christmases have always touched the heart.
So it was during California's first Christmases; so it is today.
Balboa City, Balboa Park, Balboa Laundry and Vasco
Nunez De Balboa In the teens and twenties of the 20th century it became
popular for promoters and developers to use the name "Balboa" for cities,
parks and businesses. San Diego began the trend when backers of the Panama-California
Exposition decided to name their in-town City Park after the explorer. After
that, many cities and businesses picked up the name.
Colonel D.C. Collier, Inspiration for the Citizens
of Today: Colonel D. C. Collier was a lawyer, real-estate developer,
public servant, amateur archeologist, dabbler in minerals, and consultant
in the holding of expositions.
John Nolen, Toward A Biography John Nolen was born in Philadelphia in 1869 and died in Cambridge, Mass. in 1937. During his life he laid out plans for cities and towns and designed park systems in all parts of the nation.
City Planner John
Nolen and Balboa Park. Nolen's 1926 plan for San Diego was adopted
as the official plan by the San Diego City Council and has remained as a guide
for city planning ever since. His plans for Balboa Park were, however, "more
honored in the breach than the observance."
John Nolen and The Future of the San Diego Waterfront
In 1978 City Planning Director Glenn Rick noted that the introduction of “hotels, restaurants, yacht clubs and associated uses” along the waterfront reduced the amount of “desirable waterfront land.” To architect Sam Hamill, in 1960, it was “intrusions by the Navy and industry” that spoiled the effect of “a grand [waterfront] entrance” to San Diego. These criticisms applied to developments north of B Street leading to La Playa and Point Loma, though the criticisms were also applicable to unseemly developments south of B Street. (It is worth noting that the E Street terminus for commercial development that John Nolen had recommended in his 1908 comprehensive plan for San Diego had shifted to B Street in his 1926 comprehensive plan. Business and political interests, acting in behalf of themselves and the U.S. Navy, had maneuvered the change.)
John Charles Olmsted's Wrangle with the Panama-California
Exposition Corporation: John Charles Olmsted had worked with
his stepfather on the 1893 Exposition and had laid out the grounds
for the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oregon
and the 1909 Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition in Seattle, Washington.
With such a formidable reputation, it was inevitable that the San Diego
Buildings and Grounds Committee would appoint Olmsted at a fee of $15,000,
to be the landscape architect for the Panama-California Exposition.
Samuel Parsons, Jr., Landscape Architect (1844-1923)
Finds Xanadu in San Diego: When in October 1902 Parsons accepted the
commission to design San Diego's City Park, his landscaping firm had more
than enough business. Due to his training at Yale University and the education
he had received from his father, Samuel Parsons, Sr., a noted horticulturist,
he had a firm grasp of the identity and nature of many plant species and he
was confident that his abilities as a landscape architect were as good as
or superior to those of his competitors.
Mexican-American War in Baja California:
The Baja California expedition was neither costly nor bloody and its outcome
had no effect upon the conclusion of the war. Naval historians give the Baja
California incursion more attention than general historians because the conduct
of the war sheds light on the characters of naval commanders and reveals the
weaknesses of an over-extended, under-supported naval operation.
The Cabrillo Bridge CALTRANS and Balboa Park: At the outset, the Panama-California Exposition Corporation established a maximum cost of $150,000.00 for a bridge that would span Cabrillo Canyon and extend Laurel Street east through Balboa Park.
The Highs and Lows of the Botanical Building
in Balboa Park. For all its limitations and diminutiveness no one
in San Diego wants to do away with the Botanical Building. History tells us
that City Bureaucrats proposed doing this in 1944, but even in its most dilapidated
state in the years following World War II, San Diegans wanted to hold on to
the building.
The California Building, A Case of the Misunderstood
Baroque: Very few people
appear to have looked carefully at the south facade of the California Building
in San Diego's Balboa Park. H. K. Raymenton described it as Plateresque in
style.
History of Federal Building: The
Federal Building in the Palisades section of Balboa Park was constructed
in nine weeks after the U.S. Congress had approved a bill March 7, 1935
authorizing construction of an exhibit building for $125,000 with another
$225,000 for presentation of exhibits at the California Pacific International
Exposition to be held in Balboa Park beginning May 29, 1935 (49 Stat.
50).
San Diego Natural History Museum: Despite
shortcomings, the prognosis of the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park is
good. Not only has it and inspired leaders who have helped to advance San
Diego, the Southwest and Baja California, and provided a place to display
scientific knowledge, it has made visitors, members and students aware of
the disastrous consequences of the disregard for natural balance on which
the fate of homo sapiens as a species depends.
San Diego Museum of Art: The San Diego Museum
of Art in Balboa Park had its beginnings in the Panama-California Exposition
of 1915-16.
San Diego Zoo Eyes Florida Canyon (updated
12/99): In late 1997 and early 1998, the San Diego Zoo revived its plan
to occupy the west slope of Florida Canyon. This time the plan was grander
and more destructive than the 1970 plan. It called for the construction
four six-level garages for 8,000 vehicles to replace the Zoo's parking lot
and to enable the Zoo to expand to the edge of Park Boulevard.
San Diego Zoo Expansion: After a year of review
by a panel appointed by the City of San Diego consisting of representatives
of neighborhood and veterans groups, delegates from city committees, and
city staff , the San Diego Zoo on May 17, 2001 made public a plan for expansion
prepared by landscape architect Steve Estrada. Estrada had been a critic
of the zoo's plan to expand into the area occupied by a nondescript building
set aside as a Veterans War Memorial Building.
US Naval Hospital and Balboa Park: The
greatest Naval Hospital expansion in Balboa Park began after the December
7,1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The hospital went from 56 buildings with
a bed capacity of1,424 in 1941 to 241 buildings covering 247 acres with
a bed capacity of 10,499 in 1945.
Whose Park? - Balboa Park: The word "people" has a high level of generalization. As such
it is synonymous with human being. It means everybody who has or had the
characteristics of a human being. This excursion into abstractions may be
of assistance to those who refer to Balboa Park as a "people's park" or "a
park for the people"
History of East Side Balboa Park: Before
the coming of landscape architect Samuel Parsons, Jr. to
City
Park
in 1903, all the park had a similar appearance. The
Ladies Annex in 1889 & Kate Sessions in 1892 had tried to develop the 6th
(Park) Avenue side of the park. Property
owners in Golden Hill, under the leadership of Matt J. Heller, and in Mulvey Canyon
between Date & Juniper on the southwest side of the park in the early 1900's
planted areas near their homes with semitropical trees & shrubbery & put
in arbors, terraces, bridges
& fountains. After the playground
movement accelerated, the property owners in the Golden Hill area added recreational
facilities for children & young adults.
Can San Diego Hold a Legitimate International Exposition?:
Someone in San Diego is always advocating the holding of an international
exposition. Despite this constant advocacy, the city has never held a genuine
World's Fair.
Eviction at Cupa: Before 1795 the Cupeno Indians of
Southern California occupied a roughly circular valley about ten miles
in diameter at the headquarters of the San Luis Rey River. A narrow range
of mountains separated the valley from the desert. Cupenos called the valley
Hakupin and Ephi, Spaniards and Mexicans the Valley of San Jose, and Americans
Warner's Ranch. Cupenos resided in two villages, Cupa or Agua Caliente,
near today's Warner Springs, and Wilakalpa at San Ysidro. Although Cupenos
went from one village to the other and married between villages, the villages
were politically independent.
Horton Plaza Park: From its beginnings, proponents of Horton Plaza Park
use have divided into those who favored using the park as a passive setting
for plants and trees and those who wanted the plaza to be an active center
for civic events. Both groups compromised to reach their goals, but, as pressures
mounted, control of plaza development shifted from one group to the other.
Organ Balboa Park: The Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park would not
exist if it were not for a timely and costly donation by John D[iedrich]
Spreckels (1853-1926), whose name the Organ and the Pavilion proudly bear.
John D. Spreckels was the son of Claus Spreckels (1823-1908), an immigrant
to the United States and to California from Hanover, Germany, and founder
of a sugar empire in California and in Hawaii. John D. was one of the wealthiest
and most powerful men in San Diego County. He had decided to move to Coronado,
then part of San Diego, from San Francisco after the disastrous 1906 earthquake.
Other Articles
The West Facade of San Francisco Javier in Tepotzotlan: The west façade of the Church of San Francisco Javier (1760-1762), the principal church of the college and monastery of San Martin at Tepotzotlan (1584-1767), is one of the best know churrigueresque facades in Mexico. It ranks with the facades of the Church of El Carmen at San Luis Potosi (1749-1764), the twin facades of the Sagrario Metropolitano at Mexico City (1750-1768), the façade of the Sanctuary of Ocotlan at Tlaxacala (1745 ? )), the façade of San Cayetano de la Valenciana at Guanajuato (1765-1788), the façade of La Santisima Trinidad at Mexico City (1775-1783), and the façade of San Francisco at San Miguel de Allende (1779-1799).
Index to City Park in the United States: Acres and prominent attractions
of parks around the United States
Inside City Parks by Peter Harnik; Book:
(Reviewed by Richard W. Amero)
Japanese-Style Gardens of the Pacific West Coast
by Kendall H. Brown; Book (Reviewed by Richard W. Amero).
Capital Punishment: Now that Caryl Chessman
is dead the public will breathe a sigh of welcome relief for he had become
a sore trial to all.
Lessons from Hetch Hetchy After being informed
of the loss of Hetch Hetchy Valley, John Muir wrote to a friend: "The destruction
of the charming groves and gardens goes to my heart. But in spite of Satan
& Company some sort of compensation may surely come out of this dark damn-dam
damnation."
Milton and Dostoyevsky There are many approaches to the study of English poet John Milton. Biographers
discuss his life, thinkers his thought, artists his art. Each approach is
valuable, yet each is so limited that complete understanding is impossible.
Scholars are forever discovering new aspects of Milton's
personality and thought. Ideally, the end product of this research should not
be obscurity, but an increase in knowledge.
Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Unquiet
Element: Thirty
years ago readers regarded The House of Seven Gables as Nathaniel Hawthorne's
masterpiece. Students discussed its meanings in high school English classes.
Today readers put The Scarlet Letter in the number one spot. The reader's
increasing awareness of the techniques that go into the making of a novel
and of the complications that bring individuals and society into conflict
are responsible for their changing preference.
Bridge Hart Crane: Hart Crane, prominent poet of the twenties, combined the
optimistic outlook of Walt Whitman and the pessimistic outlook of Edgar
Allan Poe in his poem The Bridge. These were not the only people to
influence Crane. Other writers contributed to the formation of his views,
but Whitman and Poe were his primary American poetic parents.
Henry David Thoreau and Self-Realization:
To begin to think about Thoreau meaningfully, one must understand his ideas
for it is through them that he approaches and challenges us.
Striking Through the Mask or the Allegorical Meanings in Moby Dick: Herman Melville's habits of
writing and rewriting and of intensifying and philosophizing transformed his
story into a tragedy of many meanings
Quality of Experience in Proust and Joyce: In
Remembrance of Things Past and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man Marcel Proust and James Joyce are concerned about the artist's relation
to his craft and his relation to society. Artist-heroes in both books share
many of the traits and experiences of their authors. The artist-heroes shed
light on the problems of the artist in the modern world as they cope with
and are shaped by their experiences. The characters are, nonetheless, conceived
within the context of novels and are not transcriptions from personal diaries.
Tale of Genji, Lady Murasaki and Buddhism,
Chapter 1: Murasaki does not relish dying and the Lady of Akashi reminds her
that the Buddha served a hermit for a thousand years before he obtained The
Scripture of the Lotus Flower.
Tale of Genji, Historical Background,
Chapter 2: In its production of an art of pleasing beauty, this age is comparable
to the Augustan Age in Rome, the T'ang Age in China, the Golden Age in France,
and the Elizabethan/Jacobean Period in England
Tale of Genji, Character: Four main character types occupy Lady Murasaki.
There are those who are analyzed more thoroughly from within than the others,
such as Genji, Kaoru, Agemaki and Ukifune. These are the well-rounded. There
are those who are presented through pertinent detail and incident, such as
Yugao, Utsusemi, Rokujo, Tamakatsura, Kashiwagi, Higekuro and Niou. The latter
people, though they feel their predicaments intensely, do not have the emotional
or philosophical depth of the former.
Tale of Genji, Scenery: In a book as large as The Tale
of Genji some
scenes are more impressive than others. The readers' choice of such scenes
depends on the significance they have for him. Many readers (and critics)
have, however, acclaimed certain scenes above the rest.
Lady Murasaki and History: Above
all, Lady Murasaki is discreet. She knows her role well. Supposed to please
and ornament a society that exalted female beauty and gracious behavior,
she, by neglecting this, risked abandonment. Already by learning the Chinese
language she had transgressed one of the established rules, for educated
women were looked upon as upsetting. Nonetheless Lady Murasaki's discretion
was not entirely assumed since she accepted the values of her society. Still
it puzzles by its implications of the unspoken, of the so much more she could
tell, but will not from fear of shocking masculine notions and placing
herself too far outside graceful spheres as an oddity.
Tale of Genji, Evaluation: So
widespread was the power of The Tale of Genji that
Buddhists and Confucian thinkers claimed it as their own. To Buddhists the novel was a literary
rendition of the Lotus Sutra, while to Confucians it contained
edifying female biographies. As
a counter to these distortions, Motoori Norinaga, an eighteenth century critic, said the love poetry
of The Tale of Genji was superior to
didactic verse and its reflections on beauty superior to essays on good
and evil.
Thoughts of Censorship As
I am a supposedly educated person who has been exposed to some of this world's
most famous and controversial thinkers, it appears to me I should have some
thoughts on the subject of censorship.
Please email comments to: ramero@cox.net
(For additional articles by Richard Amero see:
Balboa Park Expositions
San Diego Expositions:
www.sandiegohistory.org/balboapk.htm)