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Did You Ever Dream of Sleeping in an Old Brothel?
And although there are no brothels—or none that advertise—the area has been reborn with bars and restaurants and interesting retail. San Diego’s flamboyant past began on the block where Bridgeworks now stands. From 1875 when the city was a boomtown through the 1880s when the city went bust, this site was full of activity. In the 1880s it was known as the Stingaree redlight district. Among the brothels and commercial warehouses, the Stingaree boasted 71 saloons including the famed First and Last Chance Saloon, the Phoenix, and the Hole in the Wall Saloons. Following the City’s raid to clean up the Stingaree in 1913 the area became a commercial district. The Silver Gate Pickle and Vinegar Works, San Diego Broom Works and the T.M. Cobb Company were among the businesses that made their home in warehouses and buildings at the foot of Fifth Avenue between 1880 and 1960. The Gaslamp Quarter was revitalized n 1976, after years of urban decay. The City of San Diego and the Port District implemented a plan to fill in a strip of land along the bay to develop a waterfront tourist district that would support a beautiful new Convention Center. The Centre City Development Corporation envisioned the Gaslamp Quarter as the link between the Convention Center and downtown San Diego. A century later, the site is a gateway, from the Convention Center to the Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego's historic district. Completed in August 2001, the 282-room Hilton San Diego was the first newly constructed hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter in almost a century. Conveniently located at the gateway to the exciting Gaslamp Quarter and across from the Convention Center and new Petco Park, the hotel offers a boutique setting with modern amenities and comforts. DON’T MISSExploring downtown. The Gaslamp Quarter encompasses more than 16 blocks, stretching from the Convention Center at Harbor Drive to Broadway, with Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Avenues as its main drags. The northern end of the district is anchored by Horton Plaza. This small square with its beautiful fountain acts as the front yard for Westfield Shoppingtown Horton Plaza, an outdoor mall with a kaleidoscopic design in a striking blend of colors and styles, featuring some 140 shops, theatres and restaurants. For more info call the Gaslamp Quarter Association 619-233-5227 SECRET SAN DIEGO Access San Diego MOON HANDBOOKS Gayot The best of Los Angeles and Southern California WHERE TO EATNew Leaf @ the Hilton Gaslamp Quarter Hotel Chive Helpful resourcesDiscount Theatre Tickets San Diego This Week Magazine has lots of discount coupons in center Most colorful sightBazaar del Mundo Best way to start your dayBreakfast at New Leaf at the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter. Get the banana bread pudding Edited by Madelyn Miller |
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The Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter, and the multi-use
complex in which it resides, formerly known as Bridgeworks, is a far cry
from the brothels and saloons that once lined the historic Quarter. More
than 100 years ago, long before the San Diego Convention Center and Harbor
Drive were constructed on landfill at the southern end of the Gaslamp, the
Bridgeworks site stood on San Diego Bay. The Pacific Coast Steamship Company
operated a depot and wharf here from about 1870 to 1935. The wharf was a
main thoroughfare for businessmen, travelers, sailors, and those working in
the commercial district just across from the wharf.