San Diego Comic Michael "Mike" Kaluta Vintage Starstruck Marvel Graphic Drawing

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (807) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176257077260 SAN DIEGO COMIC MICHAEL "MIKE" KALUTA VINTAGE STARSTRUCK MARVEL GRAPHIC DRAWING. College teams. 2.3 Climate. 2.2 Cityscape. 2.1 Communities and neighborhoods. 2 Geography. 1.2 Spanish period. 1.1 Pre-colonial period. The project lasts almost a year, but is cancelled. A FANTASTIC PENCIL DRAWING BY MIKE KALUTA FOR WHAT i BELIEVE IS A COVER FOR STARSTRUCK WITH TITLE  BRUCILLA, COOKIE AND PUDDY-FACE JOHNSON CASTING A SHADOW! MIKE KALUTA. DRAWING MEASURES 14X17 INCHES AND IS IN FAIR SHAPE WITH STAINING AND CREASING. 

San Diego Con Book Galactic Girl Guide Art can be found online also as a pen and ink on comicartfans
Born August 25th, 1947 in Guatemala, Central America (of U.S. Citizens)   First Art Influence Jon Gnagy on television in the 1950's, drawings of Roy Krenkel, Al Williamson, Frank Frazetta and Alfons Mucha while in High School.   College Richmond Professional Institute (now Virginia Commonwealth University), Richmond, Virginia. 1966-1968. Studied Fine Arts; began doing illustration and comic book work against advice of instructors.   New York City 1969-1973 Begin working in comic books: Charlton Comics, D.C. Comics, Marvel Comics, Blast Magazine, Web of Horror Magazine, first Batman Cover assignments, covers for House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Detective Comics, Ghosts, Doorway to Nightmare, Swamp Thing, Adventure, Sword and Sorcery, and Time Warp. Also illustrated dozens of Science Fiction stories for Amazing and Fantastic digest magazines. First Comic Book Stories Carson of Venus by Edgar Rice Burroughs Spawn of Frankenstein The Shadow   Poster and Book Illustration 1973-1977 As many as eight full-color posters and one portfolio ( Dante's Inferno). First book illustration, 1975-1977: The Lost Valley of Iskander and The Swords of Shahrazar by Robert E. Howard. Posters: Why He Doesn't Sleep at Night, Conan, The Sacrifice, Icarus Had a Sister, Low Tide, Wizard's Knell, Behind Neptune's Throne Lots of drawings and paintings. I am keeping sketch books during the years 1969-1982. Do work for National Lampoon. Private commissions. More work at Marvel Comics: Science Fiction Odyssey cover, Kazar cover, Conan covers, all painted in oil.   Gallery Show A large Gallery sale of original art in 1977 (Comic Art Gallery in Manhattan). I visit Europe and Great Britain, return refreshed.   The Studio 1976-1980 Have joined with three other artists to form "The Studio": Jeffrey Jones, Berni Wrightson, Barry Windsor-Smith. Posters: The Wedding Guest, Solo, She's Leaving Home, Conan: In the Twinkling of an Eye Portfolio : Children of the Twilight -- 4 plates and one b/w drawing. The Studio eventually culminates in the Dragon's Dream (Roger Dean), publication of The Studio, featuring the combined work of all the artists in a large format book. Gallery show in Woodstock, NY, of original art from the Studio.   1980 Meet Elaine Lee. Designed sets, costumes and poster for her sci-fi stage play Starstruck, Network Theater, 51st & 9th, NYC (defunct). Do a six plate b/w Starstruck portfolio. Start doing covers for DC Comics again. Start drawing Starstruck as a comic book, written by Elaine Lee.   1981-1982 Starstruck the comic, almost exclusively.   1983 Starstruck published in Heavy Metal Magazine-- and we put the play on again. Equity Pilot project. Designed sets (and built same) and costumes. TOMI Theater, 73rd & Central Park West, NYC. Stop covers for DC Comics. Begin new series of covers for Marvel Comics: Conan the King and Moonknight. Marvel Comics make a Graphic Novel out of Starstruck. Design nine environments for Revlon Cosmetics photo-shoot, Sean S. Smith, photographer.   1984 Marvel/Epic Comics six issue run of Starstruck. Sell lots of original art.   1985 End Epic Starstruck comics. Byron Preiss: My Name is Paris - four book series for young adults. Color covers and 5 interior illustrations each, published by Random House. I design and do some limited animation for Don't Answer Me, a music video of an Alan Parsons Project song -- runs on MTV.   1986 Begin the Shadow hardback Graphic Novel, Hitler's Astrologer for Marvel Comics. Various DC/ Marvel Comics covers. Various Byron Priess projects. Various private commissions.   1987 Begin work on Metropolis, by Thea von Harbou, for Donning Books (Schiffer Pub). Published in paperback, hardback and special limited slipcased edition. Around 40 illustrations. The Adventures of Brucilla the Muscle, Galactic Girl Guide a 10 page backup feature written by Elaine Lee for Dave Stevens' Rocketeer Adventure magazine. Comico Pub. The Magik poster for Marvel. The first work on Bill, The Galactic Hero sequels by Harry Harrison for Byron Preiss. I do 4 books with multiple illustrations plus cover for the 5th. Published by: Avon The Legacy of Lehr by Katherine Kurtz, cover and eight illustrations, hardback for Byron Preiss, published by: Walker and Co. NYC Shadow Ablaze, limited print for First Team Graphics.   1988 More covers for various publishers. Do design work for advertising animation company for national advertising campaign: Sunlight dishwashing liquid. Two commercials. Begin The Private Files of the Shadow - a reprint book from DC Comics. I write and draw a new 15 page story. The Adventures of Brucilla the Muscle, Galactic Girl Guide #2 for Dave Stevens' Rocketeer Adventure magazine. Comico. Covers, covers, covers...   1989 Illustrate Ricardo, Diary of a Matinee Idol - cover and three interior illustrations. A hardback novel by Richard Alfieri. Published by John Daniel & Co. Draw the comic book adaptation of the James Cameron film The Abyss for Dark Horse Comics. Begin work on Trooper ( lasting 1989 - 91) - complete design plus production paintings for Trooper, a sci-fi/film noir film in production from Metropolitain Film Export, Paris, France. Christophe Gans, writer/director; Samuel Hadida, producer. To star Christopher Lambert (It never happens). Begin The Expanding Universe stories of Starstruck for Dark Horse Comics with Elaine Lee.   1990 Starstruck, The Expanding Universe Production designs for the TV pilot, Human Target for Pet-Fly/Warner Bros television (Pet-Fly authors Danny Bilson/Paul Demeo authored The Rocketeer). Designed the "Black Wing" flying wing and a featured pocket communicator. Show airs summer of1992. Starring Rick Springfield. Produced by Don Kurt. Continue to work on Trooper movie. Working on Bill, The Galactic Hero book illustrations - sequel # 2,3,4 Early production designs for The Flash TV show - Pet-Fly Productions: alternative costume designs and an armored police van Production designs for Universal Cartoon Company's animated pilot based on the film Darkman by Sam Rami, including character, setting and many "mood" drawings for use in style visualization, based on my Shadow approach (Project is still-born). Production designs for Universal Cartoon Company's proposed late night animation: Universal's Famous Monsters, retitled Monster Matinee (Frankenstein, Dracula, Werewolf, etc.) including character designs, settings and "mood" pieces (Project is still-born).   (1990-1991) Presentation drawings and paintings for Lorimar television for a proposed late night animation, Harry B. Trew, a 1930's detective pastiche. Character, settings and mood pieces (Project is still-born). Presentation art for Focus On The Family for a proposed live action video series of 1930's-like adventures for young adults.   1991 First four new Starstruck books are out - 100 new pages of art. Dark Horse Comics Draw and paint three covers for DC Comics/TSR Dragonlance comic, # 30, 31, 32. Draw and paint cover for Harris Publications' Creepy Magazine reprint - trade paperback. Begin work on The Adventures of the Galactic Girl Guards - a five issue comic and activity book from Tundra Publishing with art by Linda Medley, Phil Trumbo and myself (The company will re-define itself and sit on the GGG project: No publication date in view). For Limelight and Largo Entertainment: (1990 - 91) Character, setting, mood and toy prototypes for The Adventures of Brucilla the Muscle, Galactic Girl Guide/Guard, sometimes called Maddie McPhee and the Galactic Girl Guides -- a movie spin off of the aforementioned Starstruck science fiction play-- in development by Pet Fly Productions for Walt Disney Productions, October, 1992 (The project goes nowhere). Begin work on Starstruck #5 for Dark Horse. Cover for Cheval Noir #18 from Dark Horse. Four new Vampirella covers (1 - 4) for Harris Comics and the cover to their first Creepy comic. Production designs for Pet-Fly Productions/ Hollywood Films for G-Men, a 1920's fog, murder and mayhem opus currently on the shelf until such time as these type films start making money again.   1992 Begin a project in company with Charles Vess: Illustrate Anne of Green Gables for a series of English Language workbooks for Japanese children. The project lasts almost a year, but is cancelled. Paint a cover for Glenn Danzig's symphonic CD: Black Aria Draw an 8-page SF story for Heavy Metal Magazine: The Next Best Thing to Being There, destined for the NBM book Skin Tight Orbit, written by Elaine Lee Draw lots of covers for Marvel and DC Comics, and sell lots of original art, most of which is destined for the Words and Pictures Gallery in Northampton, Massachusetts The first of the wave of Collectable Cards start being drawn. This one is for DC Comics, and features Madame Xanadu (a character I designed as the hostess in Doorway to Nightmare for DC years ago). It will be followed by cards for Star Wars and Marvel/Malibu Comics Joel Goss and I begin writing In the Coils of Leviathan, a Shadow Story in Four Books, to be illustrated by Gary Gianni over my layouts. There will be four covers, and each issue will contain several pages of very purple prose I've written and illustrated. Published by Dark Horse Comics   1993 I begin work on the 1994 JRR Tolkien Calendar: 12 paintings between October 1992 and Feb 1993, published in England by HarperCollins Pub Ltd. and in the USA by Ballantine Books The first in a series of Pin-Ups for comic books dedicated to a single character: Death and The Sandman for DC COMICS More covers for Marvel and DC Comics, including the well-received 3 cover series Witchcraft I design the Characters and Aircraft for Stealth Warriors of the Red Pyramid, a Saturday AM Cartoon attempt from Marvel Entertainment. The idea is to produce a 2 1/2 minute teaser to convince the bigwigs to produce 30 of the cartoons. As of NOW, nothing happening I begin to assemble my first Art Card Set for Friedlander Publishing Group (FPG), a 90 + 5 card collection, featuring EVERYTHING I ever did in color that I own the right to, or can get permission to publish. I contribute to the early design work on the movie The Shadow. I will get a screen credit and spend the rest of my life telling Shadow Fans what I DIDN'T like about the movie. I am hired by Carl Fullerton to design The Shadow's makeup over photos of Alec Baldwin. The Shadow's look is based on my print The Shadow: Ablaze from First Team Graphics I draw 10 b/w pictures for White Wolf's Role Playing Game Mage; they are also published in a portfolio and as covers for various game modules   1994 Covers and Colophon for Last Unicorn's Role Playing Game Aria Joel Goss and I adapt the Shadow Movie for Dark Horse Comics, "fixing" the myriad problems we had with the script, yet staying in the bounds of the story, as written. I do the art for the comic. I am contacted by Concrete Marketing/Sony to paint the cover for Nativity In Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath; CD Cover plus 12 interior illustrations. Glenn Danzig asks me to do an interior cover for his 4th Danzig album. It is also used as a T-Shirt design and neck pendant. I do 4 covers for the Marvel series Prince Valiant, written by Charles Vess and Elaine Lee LOTS more trading cards for DC Comics and Marvel Joel Goss and I write Hell's Heat Wave, a three book Shadow story to be illustrated by Gary Gianni over my layouts. Published in May, 1995, by Dark Horse Comics   1995 I begin work on my second Art Card Set for FPG, released in November of 1995: 90 cards, most of these, new art. I do a free painting for a Celebrity Cook Book. My illustration is for Liza Minnelli's Gazpacho Recipe. The book is supposed to get "The Treatment": Media Coverage, a big banquet covered on VH1, etc, summer of '95: a gala evening at the Manhattan Hard Rock Cafe. I paint 30 cards and 3 screen pieces for Last Unicorn Games' new Card Game, Heresy: Kingdom Come released in the fall of 1995. Also for Dark Horse Comics: 6 illustrations for Tarzan, The Lost Adventure,a hardback/paperback edition of a newly discovered Tarzan story fragment.   1996 Still drawing covers for DC Comics, most notably Books of Magic and The Spectre. Still drawing Starstruck, the Expanding Universe for Dark Horse Comics. The first collection is to be published by Marlowe & Co. in the fall of 1996. Marlowe chokes and refuses to publish. Project dead. Designed characters and embellished environments for the CD ROM Onyx (1995-1998), working with an international host of artists (Roger Dean), writers (Elaine Lee), Russian programmers and designers (Animatek), using E-Mail and FTP resources in USA. Russia, Japan and the UK. Due out in 1998. Also designing Characters and Weapons for SegaSoft's Ragged Earth, a Sci-Fi shoot-em-up, again with landscapes by Roger Dean. Product for IBM compatibles, due out for Christmas 1997   1997 Two Covers for Dark Horse Comics' Tarzan comic Book Two Covers for Holistic Designs Role Playing Game Fading Suns Cover for the 1997 DC Comics' Direct Currents Promo Comic, the company's "What We Are Doing This Year" publication I continue drawing and painting the covers for DC Comics' monthly books Books of Magic, Vermillion and Witchcraft. I design a number of Alternative Superman Characters for DC Comics, for use in a film proposal. Various Pin-ups and Covers... Colleen Doran's Distant Soil Book. I design about 20 images for Film Roman for an animated cartoon series titled Lovecraft is Missing, about a man and woman team of psychic investigators searching for HP Lovecraft as all the doors of hell and the universe open.   1998 I draw 20 black and white and 4 color illustrations for the Edgar Rice Burroughs' book Minidoka, the last unpublished story written by the creator of Tarzan. Published in Hardback and Paperback by Dark Horse.   1999 I design the sets and ad art for the play Dark Lantern, produced in New York City. I continue drawing and painting the Books of Magic covers for DC Comics Painted cover for Flinch, a DC Comics adult title: Murder and Mayhem. Concrete Marketing hires me to do their second CD Album Cover, Nativity In Black Part II, a cover plus 12 interior paintings for a tribute to the music of Black Sabbath. It is released in June of 2000. I begin painting the series of covers for Continuum, a time-travelling role playing game. I begin my series of Aquaman Covers for DC Comics, from Issue 64 to issue 75. I am contracted by Warner Brothers to do a month of conceptual designs for their upcoming animated feature Osmosis Jones, starring Chris Rock as a White Blood Cell. I do the cover for Penny Farthing Press' The Victorian #8. Submitted to Spectrum, it wins the Silver Award for excellence in Comic Book Covers.   2000 I design the Main Characters for the proposed animated series Zephyr's Pond I end my run on the Books of Magic covers for DC Comics with issue 75. I indulge in many private commissions to keep the wolf at bay. I set the wheels in motion for a major color hardback about my work, plus another sketchbook, both to be published in September of 2000. RoF: What was the strangest commission you ever took on? Michael Wm. Kaluta: Much easier to describe the strangest commissions I didn't take on: One: A T-shirt idea/visual pun on Hard Rock Cafe with a rooster in the center. Not "Hard Rooster Cafe". Also: ghosting for an artist who was ghosting for Harold Grey on the Little Orphan Annie dailies. I couldn't QUITE justify the anonimity. Then there was designing a logo for a web organization that promoted "conservative family values", with a vengeance! But here's some of the more unusual commissions I HAVE done: designed a clothing label: those tags that hang on sweaters in the department stores; designed a logo for a restaurant based on the owner's German Shepherd, eventually to appear on the restaurant's matchbooks and all the ads in the local newspapers. Designed a small storybook for a friend's wedding based on a story the groom wrote, and borrowing freely from the Russian Artist Bilibin when I did it; designed an in-house product flyer for Singer Sewing Machines, with Charlie Vess, for their Christmas employee's bargain shopping. Another, similar commission: drawing "superhero"-type characters for a trade journal aimed at MBA's -- one a Superman-like flying businessman and the other a huge Monsterman crashing through a wall, representing all the worst stuff that could happen to a salary man. All pretty tame stuff.   RoF: What was your favorite commission and why? MWK: Favorite commission recently: the 2002 Celtic Calendar -- because it was such a freeing assignment. The only "rules" were the size constraints and that the images have some relation to the Celtic world. Elaine Lee helped immensely, doing the research on the Celtic Myths and Legends. She's quite knowlegable in that area. Add to that the 1994 Tolkien Calendar, just because I was so successful nailing down scenes I thought I'd never be able to do. What happens with nearly every commission: once I get "into" it: I have a great time. Sometimes the most fun in the doing commissions become the "worst thing I was ever involved with", when the clients either flake on the project or change their minds on what they want after the job is done.   RoF: Why do you think that fantasy art has such great appeal? Is it the color? The form? The promise of escape? MWK: When I was growing up, in the 50's, the only allowed fantasy art was what Walt Disney was doing with his animated films. Comic books were under a cloud and all the fantasy and fairy tale books one remembered were from the 30's and 40's, read as a child. Then, on the one hand, Dover Books started reprinting terrific art from the turn of the century, and Ace Books started re-publishing the fantasy works from the teens and 20's, starting with Edgar Rice Burroughs and then, in '63, Tolkien. The writing engendered art -- at first, dull, misapplied modern covers (with the noted exception of Roy Krenkel and Frank Frazetta), then eventually letting the works inspire cover art that revived the Golden Age of Illustration. Aubrey Beardsley and Mucha and Doré were at the forefront of the rediscovered artists whose creations found a resonance in the 1960's public -- it has grown and grown since then.   RoF: What's more satisfying to you as an artist, working with pattern and detail or with color? Why? It is challenging to integrate both? MWK: The most satisfying thing for me is nailing down the concept -- getting "sense" onto the page. Sometimes it is content but most times it is design that gives me the real jolt. The textures and colors come later for me.   RoF: Sometimes your work seems to be so filled with detail that the viewers may wonder if you are challenging yourself -- and them -- to see how much you can fill the picture plane while still making the image "readable." Is that your intent? MWK: Nope -- if you look at my images in comparison with, say, Durer, you'll see that I've used a shorthand to imply detail, not drawn everything. In my drawings/paintings there's most often a solid shape to hold the picture on the page, then I involve myself with adding the details. Often the detailing is included as a tone, as opposed to an object, to add a sense of depth or implied meaning to the art. Most all of the detail is very thought-out, as opposed to detail for its own sake.   RoF: Why are both pattern and color so compelling to us? MWK: Both pattern and color are sensual experiences. Like cats, human eyes see shape first, along with motion -- then the details. That is why one can recognize a friend from 100 yards distance. Color, like smell, has a number of levels of impact, but, like smell, our reactions to color are often described as "mood" reactions.   RoF: What's your favorite medium? MWK: Pencil -- and ballpoint pen. Then pen and ink.   RoF: Your favorite color? (No, this is not an old Monty Python routine!) MWK: Red, all by itself, a warm red. Least favorite, if you'd like to know, is green. But that is color as color. In Nature, color has context beyond the palette.   RoF: Your favorite character(s)? MWK: In comics? The Spirit; Hopey and friends from Mechanics/Love and Rockets, and all of Gilbert Hernandez's characters; The Rocketeer and characters from that comic book. The characters in Starstruck are particular favorites, of course. I also like Dennis the Menace, naturally, Gary Larson's characters, Astroboy, Daffy Duck, Popeye and Sweet Pea, the entire cast of King of the Hill, 7 of 9 and the Doctor from Voyager, all the characters on Farscape, Magnum PI, the Iron Giant and Hogarth and his mom and the cool sculptor -- shall I go on?   RoF: What makes a character appealing to you in a way that enables you to capture him or her on canvas? MWK: It's that implied depth that comes either from "spending time" with the character, or having that feeling that the character's creator spent time with the character.   RoF: How does the creative process differ for you when doing album covers as compared to doing comic or book covers? Is there any difference in concept or composition? MWK: Oh sure. The CD covers rarely have a "character" central to the product, so the image I do is often symbolic of the energy and intent of the tunes on the CD. Composition is easier on the CD's as the title  will almost always be small and at the top of the art. I know the art is basically square and can work within those limits. The comic book cover needs to present the character inside in a way that the reader will recognize them -- or be surprised at how they are represented. The more covers for a comic book series, the easier and more creative the art becomes. That also, of course, depends on the editor. Same same with the CD's.   RoF: What is it about Metropolis (the book by Thea von Harbeau and silent film by Fritz Lang) that is so fascinating? Specifically, why does that female robot have such iconic power -- over so many decades (nearly a century)?? MWK: The female robot has all sorts of resonances. Can it be that a re-designed woman, created by man and unable to reproduce herself somehow answers the deep awe men have toward biological women? And if so, what happens when the robot controls the man? In the book, Futura was to be a mechanical man, to replace the human workers under Metropolis. It is the inventor/designer Rotwang who makes the robot in the shape of a woman -- to assuage the loss of the woman both he and Fredersen loved when they were young men. It was the vision and memory of loss that controlled his hands. Add to that that the son of Joh Fredersen falls in love with a woman who looks exactly the same as his mother, that the inventor, at Joh Fredersen's insistence, puts her face and body on the robot, in effect re-creating a lost love and the creatrix of all the men concerned, then using the robot/woman to destroy everything they've created, including Joh Fredersen's son -- well, how could that image not resonate through the ages?   RoF: What is it about Art Nouveau and Art Deco that continues to fascinate us? What fascinates you as an artist about these different stylistic approaches? Do they require color to make an impact or can line carry them? MWK: Color is incidental to both styles, in the abstract, but one can evoke both styles with just color -- mauve, pink, peach and yellow and you have Art Nouveau. Silver and black and you have Deco. Nouveau and Deco -- both were reactionary in their time:  Nouveau as a reaction against the new machine age, Deco a reaction against the over-indulgence of Nouveau and a refining of "beauty is the promise of function." Pure Nouveau is a bit much for most people these days, as is "pure" Deco. Both have been adjusted so we feel pleased when we note a nuance of either. They have been digested.   RoF: Have you ever used digital/computer tools -- if not, why? MWK: Yes, of course -- mostly to "tweak" the art done with traditional tools.   RoF: Would you like to comment on the theft/disappearance of your work at Comicon so that readers of Realms of Fantasy will know what to look for? MWK: I'm still hoping it was an accidental thing, something put into a portfolio by mistake. As both missing pieces were in the same sleeve, it can be that. There are images of the missing pieces posted on my Web Site.   RoF: You mentioned in an interview that you'd like to illustrate Flaubert's Salammbo -- why that particular choice? MWK: It's an opulent book. I was approached years ago to do a 44 page graphic novel -- well: impossible! So, if ever, it needs to be illustrated. Pick up a copy and read two pages.   RoF: Do you prefer working on covers or full length stories? MWK: Covers these days, though the call of storytelling is getting strong again -- who knows?   RoF: When you are working, do you listen to music? If so, what kind? (What groups?)  If you're working on an album cover, do you listen to the group's music and does that affect your artistic decisions? MWK: I generally listen to unabridged books on tape while working. When I listen to Music, I listen to genres until I'm full of the themes... say, Bluegrass, or Pink Floyd.. then I go for a LOT of Silence... more than most people, apparently. When commissioned to do a CD Cover, I've never listened to the music until after I've done the cover ideas. I rely on the lyrics to inspire the imagery (the one exception to this is Glenn Danzig's BLACK ARIA. it is a symphonic album).   RoF: Would you consider yourself a romantic/futurist as an artist/illustrator? If not, how do you characterize your work? MWK: I feel I'm just an illustrator. I have no philosophy behind what I do except to try to evoke the sensibilities of the thing illustrated. I like presenting a world that feels full grown, as if there's more beyond the edges of the picture frame. Fantasy and Sci-Fi Art is easier than Historical Art in the fact that in F&SF Art I can make things up that suggest reality as opposed to doing tons of historical research to nail reality. Born in 1947, Michael Wm. Kaluta is only the third illustrator I've profiled who is younger than I. He's the only one of these 100 who has actually been to my home. He's also a hell of a nice guy and a tremendous artist. He was born in Guatemala and spent his childhood on a series of Air Force bases, mainly in the eastern U.S. Kaluta - Eyes of MarsHe was influenced early in his teens by Roy Krenkel and Frank Frazetta. Their work on the Ace reissues of Edgar Rice Burroughs novels, as well as the novels themselves, instilled him with a fascination with fantasy that is evident in everything he draws. Some of Kaluta's earliest published work was for Graphic Showcase, a fan magazine in 1967. Titled Eyes of Mars, it was an obvious tribute to John Carter, Burroughs' famous Martian adventurer. Back in the 1960's, comics fans published dozens, if not hundreds, of fanzines. Young artists who might have been drawing comic books in a more open market were relegated to learning their craft in the pages of these zines. Every subculture has its own hierarchy, and the world of fanzines and fanzine artists was no different. The "best" of them were printed via photo offset and had circulations into the 2000 to 3000 range. Some of these were the "artzines" and their editors strove to get contributions from the likes of Jeffrey Jones, Bernie Wrightson, and Michael Wm. Kaluta. Kaluta - House of Secrets storyThe three young "Turks" of comics fandom met at a convention in 1967. The next year the comic book market opened its doors to newcomers for the first time in 15 years. In 1969, Kaluta was given his first professional assignment. It was for Charlton, a second string comics publisher. He even had some rudimentary strips in 1969 issues of that bastion of hippie counter-culture, The Gothic Blimp Works. But it wasn't long before he was doing short stories for DC comics - one of the top two comic book companies. At right is a panel from a 1970 story in House of Secrets. Kaluta - Carson of Venus Carson of Venus Kaluta - The Shadow #6Michael quickly moved up in the ranks of the new crop of comic book artists. By 1972 he was illustrating the adventures of Carson Napier, better known to Edgar Rice Burroughs aficionados as Carson of Venus. The next year he began his signature run on The Shadow, also for DC comics. The Shadow was a pulp and radio character from the 1930's and 1940's. He was famous for his eerie laugh, his ability to "cloud the minds" of mere mortals and for the question, "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?" Kaluta's treatment was both eerie and sinister and it was during this short run of five issues and a couple of covers that the first inklings of his mature style would surface. Just how low will a struggling young artist stoop to keep the wolf from the door? Take a look at this 1973 record album cover - one of the very few Michael has done in his career. (He also did "Lenny White presents The Adventures of the Astro Pirates" in 1978.) Kaluta - Monster Mash record album The lingering echoes of the old pulp magazines were the science fiction digests like Amazing and Fantastic. For many artists of the era, they provided an outlet for pen or brush and ink drawings that were quickly done. The occasional color cover showcased Michael's developing style in the early 1970's. He honed that style in the mid-seventies as he explored the then-burgeoning market for limited prints and portfolios.One of his earliest attempts at painting was for Christopher Enterprises' 1975 Dante's Inferno Portfolio. Of the eight plates, two showed a direction that Kaluta would follow and eventually claim as his own. Loosely symmetrical and featuring sensuous Art Nouveau curvilinear swirls, this combination of composition and earthiness would become his trademark. Plates 4 & 5 from Dante's Inferno Kaluta - Dante's Inferno Portfolio - 4 Kaluta - Dante's Inferno Portfolio - 5 Dis, Styx, and Dame Fortune Furies and Tombs of the Heretics Other outlets beyond the limited comic book venue were the illustrated books that were making a minor resurgence, especially illustrated editions of Robert E. Howard stories. The Lost Valley of Iskander and The Swords of Shahrazar were two of Kaluta's entries into this growing market in 1974 and 1975. He also painted the dust jacket for The Shudder Pulps in 1975. He even teamed with his childhood idol, Roy Krenkel, on illustrations for a 1975 DAW paperback by Lin Carter, As The Green Star Rises, which must have been a thrill. Kaluta - SoloKaluta - IntoleranceIn 1976, he rented a studio in New York City with Jones, Wrightson, and a young English comic book artist named Barry Smith. Barry would quickly add the upper class "Windsor" to his name and has been known ever since as Barry Windsor-Smith. The impact of The Studio on each of these artists has been debated for decades. It only lasted for four years and produced, in 1979, a documentary record in the form of a book called simply The Studio. Michael's work and style solidified during this time. With a print market ready to gobble up whatever he could produce, he was left to his own devices to develop his work discipline and his drawing and painting skills. Elegant, romantic and exotic compositions were pulled from his mind as he struggled to limn the images he could conceive there. Like "Solo" at left, from 1977, the concept begs for clarification while the composition leads our eyes to every carefully-rendered detail. Other enigmatic Studio-era prints were "Why he doesn't sleep at night," "She's leaving home," "Behind Neptune's throne," "Icarus had a sister," and the fascinating "Intolerance," at right, issued only as a photoprint in an edition of 100. In 1978, Kaluta was one of artists profiled in Dream Makers, a Paper Tiger book devoted to the working space and styles of six fantasy artists. The photo below, taken from that book, of Michael at work in his New York apartment speaks volumes. Kaluta - photo Kaluta - Children of the Twilight Portfolio Seven Sisters For a time, circular elements dominated his compositions. All four plates in his 1979 Children of the Twilight Portfolio were structured around a circle motif (see Seven Sisters above), as were the pen and ink plates for his 1984 Bird of Death Portfolio. He eventually expanded beyond the circle, but his work maintains a precisely composed feel that anchors each image solidly so that we can examine all of the intricate detail at our leisure without losing our grounding. Kaluta - Starstruck Starstruck, "The Luckless, the Abandoned and Forsaked" Fortunately for us, the elfin side of him, that Puck-ish humor that was getting lost in the intolerance of twilight deaths, was rescued by his meeting with playwright Elaine Lee. Together they crafted Starstruck, an exotic, erotic, obtuse and wildly humorous sf space opera, first produced as a play in 1980 and again in 1983. Populated mainly by increasingly intriguing females like Brucilla, Galatia 9 and Erotica Ann, it appeared in glorious comic form in Heavy Metal Magazine starting with the November 1982 issue. Kaluta placed Lee's outrageous and improbable characters in rollicking, wild and violent worlds that were impossible to create on the stage. Starstruck quickly took on a new life as a comic book. Kaluta - My Name is Paris #4 cover Kaluta - My Name is Paris #4 interiorTo my mind, the mature Kaluta style debuts in a 1987 series of novels for teenage girls. There were four titles in the My Name is Paris series and they took place at the turn of the 20th century. Taking inspiration from the Art Nouveau movement of the time, Michael combined the composition, the symmetry, the circles and the sensuous line of his pen into a cohesive approach that would serve as his artistic approach for decades. At left is the cover for the fourth in the series, The Mystery of the Deadly Diamond. Each title also contained four black & white plates (see sample at right). His comic work in the Eighties was primarily covers, though he did pencil a Shadow graphic novel in 1988. While Hitler's Astrologer is an excellent job, the inks by comic book great Russ Heath took some of the tension out of Kaluta's lines and resulted in a great comic story but a less than satisfying Kaluta one. Kaluta - Metropolis When looking for Kaluta's masterpiece, high consideration must be given to the amazing 1988 illustrated edition of Thea von Harbou's Metropolis. Not a comic adaptation, but a true illustrated book in the classic sense, this has color and duotone plates, plus chapter headings (see above) and striking dust wrapper and endpaper illustrations. Fusing his Art Nouveau line with an Art Deco design that befit the project, Metropolis was written by the wife of Fritz Lang who realized the vision on the silent screen in 1927. Kaluta's reinterpretation is faithful to both the heart of the screenplay and the spirit of the film. Other projects fleshed out the decade: new Starstruck projects for comics, a graphic adaptation of the film, The Abyss, and illustrations for a couple of book projects. Like many a facile artist, Kaluta found himself drawn into visualizing film properties and characters for animation and computer games. Many of these projects would never come to fruition and exist only in his copious notebooks. Echoes, The Drawings of Michael William Kaluta was published in 2007 by J. David Spurlock of Vanguard Publishing. Michael Kaluta - The Books of Magic coverMichael Kaluta - Wheel of Dreams coverThe nineteen nineties brought one of the more bizarre teamups on a series of Harry Harrison collaborations for his Bill the Galactic Hero character. While each of the four 1991 books featured a 16-page insert section of nice Kaluta pen drawings, the covers were Steve Fastner airbrush renditions of drawings that displayed fewer Kaluta characteristics than Hitler's Astrologer. Weird. Another little-known Kaluta image is the 1996 Del Rey paperback, The Wheel of Dreams. His 12 paintings for the 1994 J.R.R. Tolkien Calendar are classics and make that year one of the most sought after of the long series. He did lots more comic book covers, including a long run on DC/Vertigo's The Books of Magic from 1996 on and a superb series on The Spectre, also from DC. Edgar Rice Burroughs' siren call was heard once more in 1998 as Michael was chosen to provide illustrations for the last unpublished ERB story, Minidoka. Kaluta - Victorian #8 cover In 2001, his cover for issue #8 of The Victorian comic book received the Spectrum Silver Award in the comics category. He just keeps getting better and better. He's a fitting capstone to my biographical efforts on this web site. My hat's off to you, Michael. I'm looking forward to whatever you do next. Utopia Comics: Hello Mike, I am Francesco Argento of Utopia Comics Magazine from Italy. These are the questions for the interview. (Excuse me for my english...) What was your first and your last (...until now) professional work? Michael Wm. Kaluta: My very first published professional Comic Book work came out through Charlton Comics. I did three very short stories for them in 1969: Off the Beach, a romance (love) story; The Amazons of Reed’s Crossing (a western) and The Great Battles of History: Shiraz (a historical story). My most recent Comic Book Work is the covers for the new mini-series called Witchcraft, from DC Comics (Le Terruer), summer of 1998, plus the on-going Books Of Magic covers for DC's Vertigo Imprint.   UC: I remember your works for House of Secrets and House of the Mystery. What do you remember about that experience? MWK: The most palpable memory of those days drawing covers and stories for House of Mystery/Secrets was the “battle” that Berni Wrightson and I waged over who could do the better cover, around 1971-73. I think Berni won! During that time, we’d try to outdo each other drawing either a cover or interior title page for one or another of the Mystery comic books... it was fun, and amazing to see the new work we both turned out. The other memory I have is of the day in 1970 when Carmine Infantino, then publisher of DC Comics, tracked me down at the DC Comics’ office. As he watched me draw, he asked if I would consider drawing covers for Batman and Detective Comics, and possibly covers for House of Mystery/Secrets and the Sinister House of Secret Love, Ghosts, Forbidden Tales and so on. I took him up on the offer and have never regretted it.   UC: The Shadow. Your DC series is a cult for the collectors. Why, for you, the character does not has success now ? Maybe for the "no-blockbuster" recent movie ? MWK: I know for certain if the recent Shadow Movie HAD been a blockbuster, I’d be drawing a lot more Shadow Stuff today. The people who’ve always been intrigued by The Shadow still hold on to their enjoyment, ignoring the Shadow movie like the Doc Savage fans ignore the Doc Savage movie. Yes... although I worked some on the Shadow Movie, and the Universal Studios art team used a lot of my comic work to define the look, the movie didn’t have a real Shadow flavor. I had told both the producer and the director the script was not good enough, that it centered on the villian. It was a Shiwan Khan story, not a Shadow Story... they listened and they ignored my comments, and the comments of many of the Big Fans of The Shadow... too bad. With only a little concentration on the Shadow’s Character, there would have been two sequels by now! Someday someone else will take on the task of developing The Shadow for the Big Screen... let’s hope that those people have the insight to keep The Shadow as the mysterious force against evil he was in the Pulps, on radio, and in most of the comics. To blow my own horn, if one reads the Comic Book adaptation that Joel Goss and I did of The Shadow Movie for Dark Horse, they’ll find the same story, but with The Shadow as the character he perhaps should have been in the movie.   UC: The director Sam Raimi, some years ago, told us that his Darkman is the real movie about the Shadow. Are you agree ? MWK: I agree somewhat, tho I think Sam Raimi eventually concentrated a little too much on the UGH APPEAL of The Darkman’s tragic deformities, and his madness. I think Sam Raimi would have been one of the Best writer/directors to DO a Shadow Movie, as would Joel and Ethan Coen.   UC: I have the Batman book with the guest appereance of the Shadow. Great Cover! MWK: Do you mean the cover with The Shadow, guns out, leaning over a railroad siding with the Batman reacting to his presence? That cover might be everyone’s all-around favorite. I get many requests to sign it. My one regret about that cover is I didn’t do too good a job drawing the correct kind of wheels on the rail cars. One must admit, whoever colored that cover gave it a lot of its appeal.   UC: What do you think about the Batman? Do you like the actual rendition of the Dark Knight? MWK: I always enjoyed thinking about and drawing Batman, tho I did almost all my cover drawing in the years way before The Dark Knight years... let’s call them The Neal Adams’ Years. It was impossible to top Neal’s rendition, but it was SOOOOoooo much fun to try!   UC: What heroe did you like to revamp? MWK: None, really. I always seemed to like the original characters best. Many of my friends in the American Comics business couldn’t WAIT to change a character from the old one they loved as a kid... I was happy to be able to re-evoke my original feelings of the old charcters and the mood of the stories as I remembered them.   UC: You're the great illustrator. What are your preferred works of your career? MWK: In the Comic Book Area: it has to be Starstruck, Carson of Venus and The Shadow. In the Poster area: Why He Doesn’t Sleep At Night, The Sentry, The Sacrifice and The Fate of Dollies Lost In Dreams. In Illustrating: The Swords of Shahrazar by Robert E. Howard, and Metropolis by Thea Von Harbou.   UC: Tell us about your actual and future project... MWK: These days I am painting the covers for DC Comics’ Vertigo title: Books of Magic. I’ve painted these covers since issue 26 with only two gaps. I plan to continue to paint these covers for as long as my editors will allow. Just now I have the cover for issue #50 on my drawing board. As I type this, DC Comics has just released a poster announcing the second Witchcraft mini-series. The Poster is a triptych of images that will be cut into three covers. I’ve painted another poster for Books Of Magic, due out this summer. In the realm of Illustrating, I am just starting to sketch out about 16 illustrations for a small, previously unpublished book by Edgar Rice Burroughs, called: Minidoka, 937th Earl of One Mile, Series M, an historical fairy tale. This book is to be released through Dark Horse Comics, and will have as a cover an Unpublished J.Allen St. John painting. I’m very excited by this project!!! Also, if everything works out, there will be a CD ROM Adventure Game out for Christmas 1998 called: The Secret Of The Black Onyx... I am working on the characters, interiors, weapons, costumes and incidental furniture, waggons, barrels etc, designing all this material for my boss: Roger Dean (Cover Artist for the Recording Group Yes). Roger is handling the Over All Look of the project and has designed the buildings and landscapes. The Story, a sort of 10th Century Russian/Viking Fantasy, has been written by Elaine Lee, my partner from the Starstruck Comic book.   UC: Do you read and/or collect comics ? MWK: I do read comics, but very few, as there is little time to do so. I’ve been a fan of Love and Rockets from the first, and now also read anything the Bros Hernandez publish. I ALWAYS read whatever Charles Vess is having published. I read The Books Of Magic to keep up with the writer <--- a little joke. And I read other comics as they are suggested to me or I find them by accident. I do read a LOT of Manga. My Comics Collection includes work by Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Roy Krenkel, Berni Wrightson, Neal Adams, Barry Windsor-Smith and so on... I have a small collection of Planet Comics and a small collection of Plastic Man. I also have a small collection of Will Eisner’s Spirit sections, and, of course, many many european artists, such as Jean Giraud, Beb Deum, Ted Benoit, Calvo, Joost Swarte, Chaland, Daniel Torres and many more.   UC: Many collectors are searchin for the 70's titles ("bronze age comics"). Do you think is just a speculative interest or that comics are better of the actual books... MWK: I really have no idea about the “market” for the comic books... I try to buy the stories I like... that keeps me very busy!!!   UC: The 90's are the "Bad girls" years in the comics...What do you think about? MWK: There are SOME Bad Girl Comics I like, but they are mostly from the 1940’s, and the girls were “bad” only because they did what they wanted to, not what they were told to. Many of the modern comics with Hot Women in them, while some are drawn very well, don’t really appeal to me. As I mentioned above, I DO read The Bros Hernandez... their work never seems to demean the women as a symbol for ALL WOMEN. Their Characters are seperate individuals who live their lives as best they can. I notice, going to some conventions, there are many comics with just hot pictures of naked, full-chested women in them... I have no Idea what these comics are about. There are OTHER comics with women characters in them: Girl Talk, Action Girl, much of the Japanese Manga... these I buy and read.   UC: Do you like tha manga style? MWK: Mostly, yes, but I will have to add, I like Otomo’s style, and that of Hayao Miyazaki much more than some, but over all, yes, I do. I’m a big fan of the work by Shirow and am ALWAYS looking at Adamo’s drawings and paintings.   UC: Do you realize paintings? MWK: I’m supposing that is asking do I paint, like with oil paint... I HAVE, in the past (the Dante’s Inferno Portfolio for Christopher Enterprises, back in 1975, plus some Conan and Kazar Covers for Marvel), and I WILL, in the future, but just NOW, I am satisfied to paint in watercolor. All my covers are in Pen line and Watercolor.   UC: What is the "W" in Mike "W" Kaluta? MWK: The “W” stands for William... The name KALUTA is Russian, ByeloRus to be more precise, and my Mother’s family is Italian, Govoni, from near Ferrara.   UC: Favorite comic character... and why? MWK: My favorite Comic Book Characters are the one’s Elaine Lee wrote in Starstruck... they are such great characters, and I find they have lives of their own, always telling me what to draw and why... I shouldn’t neglect them!   UC: What is the writer you would most like to work with ? MWK: I am happy with all my writers... I’d like to try Illustrating books by terrific authors, like Gustav Flaubert (Specifically Salammbo), but I don’t think about doing comics much: it takes SOOOO long to draw a comic book. I shouldn’t want to think of any writer to work with until I finish Elaine’s Starstruck work!   UC: Did you like the black and white style ? In Italy is very popular... MWK: I am very in-tune with Black and White comics... I USED to be able to do all sort of rendering styles to amplify the use of Black and White: Crosshatch and tone. Charles Vess and Gary Gianni are perhaps the best at this approach to b/w, whereas Frank Miller, David Lloyd (V for Vendetta) and Mike Mignola are perhaps the best representitives of the modern use of straight b/w. Geof Darrow heads up the gallery of Great Line Men and Women.   UC: Some "vital stats"... Where do you live now ? What is your birthplace and birthdate? MWK: I now live in the USA, in New York City, on the island of Manhattan. I live very close to where the actresses Elizabeth McGovern and Mary Elizabeth Mastroantonio live. I was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala, Central America (My parents were stationed there just after WWII). My birthdate is August 25th, 1947. UC: Thank you for your time, Mike best, francesco Michael William Kaluta, sometimes credited as Mike Kaluta or Michael Wm. Kaluta (born August 25, 1947),[1] is an American comics artist and writer best known for his acclaimed 1970s adaptation of the pulp magazine hero, The Shadow with writer Dennis O'Neil. Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Awards 4 Bibliography 4.1 Dark Horse Comics 4.2 DC Comics 4.2.1 America's Best Comics 4.2.2 Vertigo 4.3 Marvel Comics 4.4 Other publishers 4.5 Books and compilations 5 References 6 External links Early life Born in Guatemala to U.S. citizens, Kaluta studied at the Richmond Professional Institute (now Virginia Commonwealth University). Career Kaluta sketching Howard the Duck on a copy of Fear Itself: Fearsome Four, at a June 8, 2011 Midtown Comics appearance Kaluta's early work included a three-page adventure story, "The Battle of Shiraz", in Charlton Comics Flash Gordon #18 (Jan. 1970) and an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Venus novels for DC Comics.[2] Kaluta's influences and style are drawn from pulp illustrations of the 1930s and the turn of the century poster work of Alphonse Mucha – his signature motif is elaborate decorative panel designs – rather than the comic books of the Silver Age. Kaluta has worked rarely with the superhero genre although one of his early contributions for DC was a "World of Krypton" backup story in Superman #240 (July 1971).[3] His first cover for a comic book was House of Mystery #200 (March 1972).[4] Associated during the 1970s with Bernie Wrightson and Jeffrey Jones, he contributed illustrations to Ted White's Fantastic and Amazing. Kaluta co-created Eve in Secrets of Sinister House #6 (Aug.–Sept. 1972), a horror comics "host" character later turned into a supporting character in The Sandman. He and writer Dennis O'Neil produced a comics adaptation of The Shadow for DC in 1973–1974.[5] Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "Kaluta's style [on The Shadow] is an homage to Graves Gladney, master of the pulp magazine covers of the 1930s."[6] Kaluta left the series after drawing five of the first six issues.[7] Kaluta was one of the four comic book artists/fine illustrator/painters (the others being Jeffrey Jones, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Bernie Wrightson) who formed the artists' commune The Studio in a loft in Manhattan's Chelsea district from 1975 to 1979. In addition to many comic book stories and covers, Kaluta has done a wide variety of book illustrations. Kaluta drew the cover for the Madame Xanadu one-shot in 1981 which was DC's second direct sales only comic.[8][9][10] He and writer Elaine Lee crafted Marvel Graphic Novel #13 "Starstruck: The Luckless, the Abandoned and Forsaked" which led to an ongoing series which ran for six issues.[2] Kaluta and O'Neil reunited on The Shadow: 1941 – Hitler's Astrologer graphic novel published in 1988.[11] In 2006, Kaluta was one of the artists on the 1001 Nights of Snowfall graphic novel written by Bill Willingham.[12] In 1984 he drew the illustrations for and directed the music video of "Don't Answer Me" by The Alan Parsons Project, which became one of the most requested videos of the year on the cable video channel MTV. Among music fans, Kaluta is known as the cover artist of Glenn Danzig's instrumental album Black Aria and for the interior illustration of Danzig's fourth album, the latter of which appeared in 1994 and 1995 as a pendant sold at Danzig concerts, and on Danzig T-shirts and sweaters produced in the same period. Kaluta created the CD covers and interior booklet illustrations for Nativity in Black I and II, tribute albums to the music of Black Sabbath. Kaluta drew the cover art for the Bobby Pickett album The Original Monster Mash when it was reissued in 1973.[13] Kaluta has worked for role-playing game companies such as White Wolf Publishing. He has done artwork for collectible card games companies, including a comic book for Wizards of the Coast's Magic: The Gathering and illustrating cards on Last Unicorn Games' Heresy: Kingdom Come.[14] In the early 1990s, he was active in Compuserve's Macintosh Gaming Forum, in the flight simulator enthusiast group which called itself VFA-13 Shadow Riders. He contributed a number of designs for airplane nose art and flight suit unit patches. Awards Kaluta's work has won him a good deal of recognition, including the Shazam Award for Outstanding New Talent in 1971,[15] the Inkpot Award in 1977,[16] and the 2003 Spectrum Award for Grand Master.[17] San Diego (/ˌsæn diˈeɪɡoʊ/ SAN dee-AY-goh, Spanish: [san ˈdjeɣo]; Spanish for 'Saint Didacus') is a major city in the U.S. state of California on the coast of the Pacific Ocean and immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932,[11] San Diego is the eighth most populous city in the United States and second most populous in California (after Los Angeles). The city is the county seat of San Diego County, the fifth most populous county in the United States, with 3,338,330 estimated residents as of 2019. The city is known for its mild year-round climate, natural deep-water harbor, extensive beaches and parks, long association with the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and recent emergence as a healthcare and biotechnology development center. Historically home to the Kumeyaay people, San Diego is frequently referred to as the "Birthplace of California", as it was the first site visited and settled by Europeans on what is now the West Coast of the United States.[12] Upon landing in San Diego Bay in 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain, forming the basis for the settlement of Alta California 200 years later. The Presidio and Mission San Diego de Alcalá, founded in 1769, formed the first European settlement in what is now California. In 1821, San Diego became part of the newly declared Mexican Empire, which reformed as the First Mexican Republic two years later. California became part of the United States in 1848 following the Mexican–American War and was admitted to the union as a state in 1850. San Diego's main economic engines are military and defense-related activities, tourism, international trade, research, and manufacturing. The city is the economic center of the San Diego–Tijuana conurbation, the second most populous transborder metropolitan area in the western hemisphere (after Detroit–Windsor), home to an estimated 4,922,723 people as of 2012.[13] The primary border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, the San Ysidro Port of Entry, is the busiest international land border crossing in the world outside of Asia (fourth-busiest overall). The city's airport, San Diego International Airport, is the busiest single-runway airport in the world.[a][14] Contents 1 History 1.1 Pre-colonial period 1.2 Spanish period 1.3 Mexican period 1.4 American period 2 Geography 2.1 Communities and neighborhoods 2.2 Cityscape 2.3 Climate 2.4 Ecology 3 Demographics 4 Economy 4.1 Defense and military 4.2 Tourism 4.3 International trade 4.4 Companies 4.5 Top employers 4.6 Real estate 5 Government 5.1 Local government 5.2 State and federal representation 5.3 Election history 5.4 Major scandals 5.5 Crime 6 Education 6.1 Primary and secondary schools 6.2 Colleges and universities 6.3 Libraries 7 Culture 8 Sports 8.1 Teams 8.1.1 Major professional team 8.1.2 Highest-level professional teams 8.1.3 Minor league professional teams 8.1.4 College teams 8.2 Events 8.2.1 Annual events 9 Media 10 Infrastructure 10.1 Utilities 10.2 Street lights 10.3 Transportation 11 Notable people 12 Sister cities 13 Notes 14 References 14.1 General sources 15 External links History See also: History of San Diego For a chronological guide, see Timeline of San Diego. Pre-colonial period Full length portrait of a man in his thirties wearing a long robe, woman and child visible behind him and dog to his left The Kumeyaay, also known as the Diegueño, have inhabited the area of San Diego for thousands of years. The original inhabitants of the region are now known as the San Dieguito and La Jolla people.[15][16] The Kumeyaay people migrated into the area of San Diego around 1000 CE,[17][unreliable source?][18] who erected villages scattered across the region, including the village of Cosoy (Kosa'aay) which was the Kumeyaay village that the future settlement of San Diego would stem from in today's Old Town.[19][20] The village of Cosoy was made up of thirty to forty families living in pyramid-shaped housing structures and was supported by a freshwater spring from the hillsides.[19] Spanish period San Diego's namesake is the 15th-century Spanish saint Didacus of Alcalá. The first European to visit the region was explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, sailing under the flag of Castile but possibly born in Portugal. Sailing his flagship San Salvador from Navidad, New Spain, Cabrillo claimed the bay for the Spanish Empire in 1542, and named the site "San Miguel".[21] In November 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno was sent to map the California coast. Arriving on his flagship San Diego, Vizcaíno surveyed the harbor and what are now Mission Bay and Point Loma and named the area for the Catholic Saint Didacus, a Spaniard more commonly known as San Diego de Alcalá. On November 12, 1602, the first Christian religious service of record in Alta California was conducted by Friar Antonio de la Ascensión, a member of Vizcaíno's expedition, to celebrate the feast day of San Diego.[22] The permanent European colonization of both California and San Diego began in 1769 with the arrival of four contingents of Spaniards from New Spain and the Baja California peninsula. Two seaborne parties reached San Diego Bay: the San Carlos, under Vicente Vila and including as notable members the engineer and cartographer Miguel Costansó and the soldier and future governor Pedro Fages, and the San Antonio, under Juan Pérez. An initial overland expedition to San Diego from the south was led by the soldier Fernando Rivera and included the Franciscan missionary, explorer, and chronicler Juan Crespí, followed by a second party led by the designated governor Gaspar de Portolà and including the mission president (and now saint) Junípero Serra.[23] In May 1769, Portolà established the Fort Presidio of San Diego on a hill near the San Diego River above the Kumeyaay village of Cosoy,[19] which would later become incorporated into the Spanish settlement,[20] making it the first settlement by Europeans in what is now the state of California. In July of the same year, Mission San Diego de Alcalá was founded by Franciscan friars under Serra.[24][25] The mission became a site for a Kumeyaay revolt in 1775, which forced the mission to relocate six miles (10 km) up the San Diego River.[26] By 1797, the mission boasted the largest native population in Alta California, with over 1,400 neophytes living in and around the mission proper.[27] Mission San Diego was the southern anchor in Alta California of the historic mission trail El Camino Real. Both the Presidio and the Mission are National Historic Landmarks.[28][29] Mexican period José María Estudillo served as commandant of the Presidio of San Diego and founded the Estudillo family, a powerful San Diego clan of Californios. In 1821, Mexico won its independence from Spain, and San Diego became part of the Mexican territory of Alta California. In 1822, Mexico began its attempt to extend its authority over the coastal territory of Alta California. The fort on Presidio Hill was gradually abandoned, while the town of San Diego grew up on the level land below Presidio Hill. The Mission was secularized by the Mexican government in 1834, and most of the Mission lands were granted to former soldiers. The 432 residents of the town petitioned the governor to form a pueblo, and Juan María Osuna was elected the first alcalde ("municipal magistrate"), defeating Pío Pico in the vote. Beyond the town, Mexican land grants expanded the number of California ranchos that modestly added to the local economy. (See, List of pre-statehood mayors of San Diego.) However, San Diego had been losing population throughout the 1830s, due to increasing tension between the settlers and the indigenous Kumeyaay and in 1838 the town lost its pueblo status because its size dropped to an estimated 100 to 150 residents.[30] The ranchos in the San Diego region would face Kumeyaay raids in the late 1830s and the town itself would face raids in the 1840s.[31] Americans gained an increased awareness of California, and its commercial possibilities, from the writings of two countrymen involved in the often officially forbidden, to foreigners, but economically significant hide and tallow trade, where San Diego was a major port and the only one with an adequate harbor: William Shaler's "Journal of a Voyage Between China and the North-Western Coast of America, Made in 1804" and Richard Henry Dana's more substantial and convincing account, of his 1834–36 voyage, the classic Two Years Before the Mast.[32] The 1846 Battle of San Pasqual was a decisive battle between American and Californio forces during the U.S. Conquest of California. In 1846, the United States went to war against Mexico and sent a naval and land expedition to conquer Alta California. At first, they had an easy time of it, capturing the major ports including San Diego, but the Californios in southern Alta California struck back. Following the successful revolt in Los Angeles, the American garrison at San Diego was driven out without firing a shot in early October 1846. Mexican partisans held San Diego for three weeks until October 24, 1846, when the Americans recaptured it. For the next several months the Americans were blockaded inside the pueblo. Skirmishes occurred daily and snipers shot into the town every night. The Californios drove cattle away from the pueblo hoping to starve the Americans and their Californio supporters out. On December 1, the American garrison learned that the dragoons of General Stephen W. Kearney were at Warner's Ranch. Commodore Robert F. Stockton sent a mounted force of fifty under Captain Archibald Gillespie to march north to meet him. Their joint command of 150 men, returning to San Diego, encountered about 93 Californios under Andrés Pico. In the ensuing Battle of San Pasqual, fought in the San Pasqual Valley which is now part of the city of San Diego, the Americans suffered their worst losses in the campaign. Subsequently, a column led by Lieutenant Gray arrived from San Diego, rescuing Kearny's battered and blockaded command.[33] Stockton and Kearny went on to recover Los Angeles and force the capitulation of Alta California with the "Treaty of Cahuenga" on January 13, 1847. As a result of the Mexican–American War of 1846–48, the territory of Alta California, including San Diego, was ceded to the United States by Mexico, under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. The Mexican negotiators of that treaty tried to retain San Diego as part of Mexico, but the Americans insisted that San Diego was "for every commercial purpose of nearly equal importance to us with that of San Francisco," and the Mexican–American border was eventually established to be one league south of the southernmost point of San Diego Bay, so as to include the entire bay within the United States.[34] American period Oval, black and white shoulder-height portrait of a man in his forties or fifties, slightly balding wearing a suit The namesake of Horton Plaza, Alonzo Horton developed "New Town," which became Downtown San Diego. The state of California was admitted to the United States in 1850. That same year San Diego was designated the seat of the newly established County of San Diego and was incorporated as a city. Joshua H. Bean, the last alcalde of San Diego, was elected the first mayor. Two years later the city was bankrupt;[35] the California legislature revoked the city's charter and placed it under control of a board of trustees, where it remained until 1889. A city charter was reestablished in 1889, and today's city charter was adopted in 1931.[36] The original town of San Diego was located at the foot of Presidio Hill, in the area which is now Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. The location was not ideal, being several miles away from navigable water at its port at La Playa. In 1850, William Heath Davis promoted a new development by the bay shore called "New San Diego", several miles south of the original settlement; however, for several decades the new development consisted only of a pier, a few houses and an Army depot for the support of Fort Yuma. After 1854, the fort became supplied by sea and by steamboats on the Colorado River and the depot fell into disuse. From 1857 to 1860, San Diego became the western terminus of the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line, the earliest overland stagecoach and mail operation from the Eastern United States to California, coming from Texas through New Mexico Territory in less than 30 days.[37] In the late 1860s, Alonzo Horton promoted a move to the bayside area, which he called "New Town" and which became Downtown San Diego. Horton promoted the area heavily, and people and businesses began to relocate to New Town because its location on San Diego Bay was convenient to shipping. New Town soon eclipsed the original settlement, known to this day as Old Town, and became the economic and governmental heart of the city.[38] Still, San Diego remained a relative backwater town until the arrival of a railroad connection in 1878. In 1884–1886, John J. Montgomery made the first controlled flights by an American in a heavier-than-air unpowered glider just south of San Diego at Otay Mesa, helping to pioneer a new science of aerodynamics. In 1912, San Diego was the site of a free speech fight between the Industrial Workers of the World and the city government who passed an ordinance forbidding the freedom of speech along an area of "Soapbox Row" that led to civil disobedience, vigilantism, police violence, the abduction of Emma Goldman's husband Ben Reitman and multiple riots.[39][40] San Diego's proximity to Tijuana during the Mexican Revolution made this one of the most significant free speech fights during the Wobbly era.[41] In 1916, the neighborhood of Stingaree, the original home of San Diego's first Chinatown and "Soapbox Row", was demolished by anti-vice campaigners to make way for the Gaslamp Quarter.[42] Hand drawn illustration of Balboa Park Balboa Park on the cover of a guidebook for the World Exposition of 1915 In the early part of the 20th century, San Diego hosted the World's Fair twice: the Panama-California Exposition (1915) and the California Pacific International Exposition in 1935. Both expositions were held in Balboa Park, and many of the Spanish/Baroque-style buildings that were built for those expositions remain to this day as central features of the park. The buildings were intended to be temporary structures, but most remained in continuous use until they progressively fell into disrepair. Most were eventually rebuilt, using castings of the original façades to retain the architectural style.[43] The menagerie of exotic animals featured at the 1915 exposition provided the basis for the San Diego Zoo.[44] During the 1950s there was a citywide festival called Fiesta del Pacifico highlighting the area's Spanish and Mexican past.[45] In the 2010s there was a proposal for a large-scale celebration of the 100th anniversary of Balboa Park, but the plans were abandoned when the organization tasked with putting on the celebration went out of business.[46] The southern portion of the Point Loma peninsula was set aside for military purposes as early as 1852. Over the next several decades the Army set up a series of coastal artillery batteries and named the area Fort Rosecrans.[47] Significant U.S. Navy presence began in 1901 with the establishment of the Navy Coaling Station in Point Loma, and expanded greatly during the 1920s.[48] By 1930, the city was host to Naval Base San Diego, Naval Training Center San Diego, San Diego Naval Hospital, Camp Matthews, and Camp Kearny (now Marine Corps Air Station Miramar). The city was also an early center for aviation: as early as World War I, San Diego was proclaiming itself "The Air Capital of the West".[49] The city was home to important airplane developers and manufacturers like Ryan Airlines (later Ryan Aeronautical), founded in 1925, and Consolidated Aircraft (later Convair), founded in 1923.[50] Charles A. Lindbergh's plane The Spirit of St. Louis was built in San Diego in 1927 by Ryan Airlines.[49] During World War II, San Diego became a major hub of military and defense activity, due to the presence of so many military installations and defense manufacturers. The city's population grew rapidly during and after World War II, more than doubling between 1930 (147,995) and 1950 (333,865).[51] During the final months of the war, the Japanese had a plan to target multiple U.S. cities for biological attack, starting with San Diego. The plan was called "Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night" and called for kamikaze planes filled with fleas infected with plague (Yersinia pestis) to crash into civilian population centers in the city, hoping to spread plague in the city and effectively kill tens of thousands of civilians. The plan was scheduled to launch on September 22, 1945, but was not carried out because Japan surrendered five weeks earlier.[52][53][54][55] After World War II, the military continued to play a major role in the local economy, but post-Cold War cutbacks took a heavy toll on the local defense and aerospace industries. The resulting downturn led San Diego leaders to seek to diversify the city's economy by focusing on research and science, as well as tourism.[56] From the start of the 20th century through the 1970s, the American tuna fishing fleet and tuna canning industry were based in San Diego, "the tuna capital of the world".[57] San Diego's first tuna cannery was founded in 1911, and by the mid-1930s the canneries employed more than 1,000 people. A large fishing fleet supported the canneries, mostly staffed by immigrant fishermen from Japan, and later from the Portuguese Azores and Italy whose influence is still felt in neighborhoods like Little Italy and Point Loma.[58][59] Due to rising costs and foreign competition, the last of the canneries closed in the early 1980s.[60] Downtown San Diego was in decline in the 1960s and 1970s, but experienced some urban renewal since the early 1980s, including the opening of Horton Plaza, the revival of the Gaslamp Quarter, and the construction of the San Diego Convention Center; Petco Park opened in 2004.[61] Outside of downtown, San Diego annexed large swaths of land and for suburban expansion to the north and control of the San Ysidro Port of Entry. As the Cold War ended, the military shrank and so did defense spending. San Diego has since become a center of the emerging biotech industry and is home to telecommunications giant Qualcomm. San Diego had also grown in the tourism industry with the popularity of attractions such as the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld San Diego, and Legoland California in Carlsbad.[citation needed] Geography See also: List of beaches in San Diego, California and Parks in San Diego Satellite view of San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico According to SDSU professor emeritus Monte Marshall, San Diego Bay is "the surface expression of a north-south-trending, nested graben". The Rose Canyon and Point Loma fault zones are part of the San Andreas Fault system. About 40 miles (64 km) east of the bay are the Laguna Mountains in the Peninsular Ranges, which are part of the backbone of the American continents.[62] The city lies on approximately 200 deep canyons and hills separating its mesas, creating small pockets of natural open space scattered throughout the city and giving it a hilly geography.[63] Traditionally, San Diegans have built their homes and businesses on the mesas, while leaving the urban canyons relatively wild.[64] Thus, the canyons give parts of the city a segmented feel, creating gaps between otherwise proximate neighborhoods and contributing to a low-density, car-centered environment. The San Diego River runs through the middle of San Diego from east to west, creating a river valley that serves to divide the city into northern and southern segments. During the historic period and presumably earlier as well, the river has shifted its flow back and forth between San Diego Bay and Mission Bay, and its fresh water was the focus of the earliest Spanish explorers. Miguel Costansó, a cartographer, wrote in 1769, "When asked by signs where the watering-place was, the Indians pointed to a grove which could be seen at a considerable distance to the northeast, giving to understand that a river or creek flowed through it, and that they would lead our men to it if they would follow."[65][66] That river was the San Diego River.[65] Several reservoirs and Mission Trails Regional Park also lie between and separate developed areas of the city. Mission Valley facing Northwest, taken from Arista Street. Mission Bay can be seen in the distance. Notable peaks within the city limits include Cowles Mountain, the highest point in the city at 1,591 feet (485 m);[8] Black Mountain at 1,558 feet (475 m); and Mount Soledad at 824 feet (251 m). The Cuyamaca Mountains and Laguna Mountains rise to the east of the city, and beyond the mountains are desert areas. The Cleveland National Forest is a half-hour drive from downtown San Diego. Numerous farms are found in the valleys northeast and southeast of the city. In its 2013 ParkScore ranking, The Trust for Public Land reported that San Diego had the 9th-best park system among the 50 most populous U.S. cities.[67] ParkScore ranks city park systems by a formula that analyzes acreage, access, and service and investment. Communities and neighborhoods Main article: List of communities and neighborhoods of San Diego Normal Heights, a neighborhood of San Diego The City of San Diego recognizes 52 individual areas as Community Planning Areas.[68] Within a given planning area there may be several distinct neighborhoods. Altogether the city contains more than 100 identified neighborhoods. Downtown San Diego is located on San Diego Bay. Balboa Park encompasses several mesas and canyons to the northeast, surrounded by older, dense urban communities including Hillcrest and North Park. To the east and southeast lie City Heights, the College Area, and Southeast San Diego. To the north lies Mission Valley and Interstate 8. The communities north of the valley and freeway, and south of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, include Clairemont, Kearny Mesa, Tierrasanta, and Navajo. Stretching north from Miramar are the northern suburbs of Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, Rancho Peñasquitos, and Rancho Bernardo. The far northeast portion of the city encompasses Lake Hodges and the San Pasqual Valley, which holds an agricultural preserve. Carmel Valley and Del Mar Heights occupy the northwest corner of the city. To their south are Torrey Pines State Reserve and the business center of the Golden Triangle. Further south are the beach and coastal communities of La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, and Ocean Beach. Point Loma occupies the peninsula across San Diego Bay from downtown. The communities of South San Diego (an Exclave), such as San Ysidro and Otay Mesa, are located next to the Mexico–United States border, and are physically separated from the rest of the city by the cities of National City and Chula Vista. A narrow strip of land at the bottom of San Diego Bay connects these southern neighborhoods with the rest of the city.[69] For the most part, San Diego neighborhood boundaries tend to be understood by its residents based on geographical boundaries like canyons and street patterns.[70] The city recognized the importance of its neighborhoods when it organized its 2008 General Plan around the concept of a "City of Villages".[71] Cityscape Main article: List of tallest buildings in San Diego San Diego skyline, seen in January 2021 San Diego was originally centered on the Old Town district, but by the late 1860s the focus had shifted to the bayfront, in the belief that this new location would increase trade. As the "New Town" – present-day Downtown – waterfront location quickly developed, it eclipsed Old Town as the center of San Diego.[38] The development of skyscrapers over 300 feet (91 m) in San Diego is attributed to the construction of the El Cortez Hotel in 1927, the tallest building in the city from 1927 to 1963.[72] As time went on, multiple buildings claimed the title of San Diego's tallest skyscraper, including the Union Bank of California Building and Symphony Towers. Currently the tallest building in San Diego is One America Plaza, standing 500 feet (150 m) tall, which was completed in 1991.[73] The downtown skyline contains no super-talls, as a regulation put in place by the Federal Aviation Administration in the 1970s set a 500 feet (152 m) limit on the height of buildings within a one-mile (1.6 km) radius of the San Diego International Airport.[74] An iconic description of the skyline includes its skyscrapers being compared to the tools of a toolbox.[75] There are several new high-rises under construction, including two that exceed 400 feet (122 m) in height. Climate Main article: Climate of San Diego San Diego Climate chart (explanation) J F M A M J J A S O N D   2  6650   2.2  6652   1.5  6755   0.7  6957   0.3  7060   0.1  7263   0.1  7566   0  7768   0.1  7766   0.5  7562   0.8  7155   1.7  6650 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches Source: NOAA[76] Metric conversion San Diego has one of the top-ten best climates in the United States, according to the Farmers' Almanac[77] and has one of the two best summer climates in the country as scored by The Weather Channel.[78] Under the Köppen–Geiger climate classification system, the San Diego area has been variously categorized as having either a semi-arid climate (BSh in the original classification[79] and BSkn in modified Köppen classification with the n denoting summer fog)[80] or a Mediterranean climate[81] (Csa).[82] San Diego's climate is characterized by warm, dry summers and mild winters, with most of the annual precipitation falling between December and March. The city has a mild climate year-round,[83] with an average of 201 days above 70 °F (21 °C) and low rainfall (9–13 inches [230–330 mm] annually). The climate in San Diego, like most of Southern California, often varies significantly over short geographical distances, resulting in microclimates. In San Diego, this is mostly because of the city's topography (the Bay, and the numerous hills, mountains, and canyons). Frequently, particularly during the "May gray/June gloom" period, a thick "marine layer" cloud cover keeps the air cool and damp within a few miles of the coast, but yields to bright cloudless sunshine approximately 5–10 miles (8–16 km) inland.[84] Sometimes the June gloom lasts into July, causing cloudy skies over most of San Diego for the entire day.[85][86] Even in the absence of June gloom, inland areas experience much more significant temperature variations than coastal areas, where the ocean serves as a moderating influence. Thus, for example, downtown San Diego averages January lows of 50 °F (10 °C) and August highs of 78 °F (26 °C). The city of El Cajon, just 12 miles (19 km) inland from downtown San Diego, averages January lows of 42 °F (6 °C) and August highs of 88 °F (31 °C). The average surface temperature of the water at Scripps Pier in the California Current has increased by almost 3 °F (1.7 °C) since 1950, according to scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.[87] Additionally, the mean minimum is now above 40 °F (4 °C), putting San Diego in hardiness zone 11, with the last freeze having occurred many decades ago. Surfers at Pacific Beach Annual rainfall along the coast averages 10.65 inches (271 mm) and the median is 9.6 inches (240 mm).[88] The months of December through March supply most of the rain, with February the only month averaging 2 inches (51 mm) or more. The months of May through September tend to be almost completely dry. Although there are few wet days per month during the rainy period, rainfall can be heavy when it does fall. Rainfall is usually greater in the higher elevations of San Diego; some of the higher areas can receive 11–15 inches (280–380 mm) per year. Variability from year to year can be dramatic: in the wettest years of 1883/1884 and 1940/1941, more than 24 inches (610 mm) fell, whilst in the driest years there was as little as 3.2 inches (80 mm). The wettest month on record is December 1921 with 9.21 inches (234 mm). Snow in the city is so rare that it has been observed only six times in the century-and-a-half that records have been kept. In 1949 and 1967, snow stayed on the ground for a few hours in higher locations like Point Loma and La Jolla. The other three occasions, in 1882, 1946, and 1987, involved flurries but no accumulation.[89] On February 21, 2019, snow fell and accumulated in residential areas of the city, but none fell in the downtown area.[90] vte Climate data for San Diego Int'l Airport (1991–2020 normals,[b] extremes 1874–present)[c]  London-Gatwick and Mumbai International, which both handle more traffic, each have two operational runways, though only one can be used at a time because of aircraft separation requirements (leading to these airports frequently being misleadingly referred to as "single-runway airports").  Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the highest and lowest temperature readings during an entire month or year) calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020.  Official precipitation records for San Diego were kept at the Weather Bureau Office in downtown from October 1850 to December 1859 at the Mission San Diego and from November 1871 to June 1939 and a variety of buildings at downtown, and at San Diego Int'l (Lindbergh Field) since July 1939.[91] Temperature records, however, only date from October 1874. For more information on data coverage, see ThreadEx Ecology See also: California coastal sage and chaparral Torrey Pines State Park Valley Coastal canyon in Torrey Pines State Reserve Like much of Southern California, the majority of San Diego's current area was originally occupied on the west by coastal sage scrub and on the east by chaparral, plant communities made up mostly of drought-resistant shrubs.[95] The steep and varied topography and proximity to the ocean create a number of different habitats within the city limits, including tidal marsh and canyons. The chaparral and coastal sage scrub habitats in low elevations along the coast are prone to wildfire, and the rates of fire increased in the 20th century, due primarily to fires starting near the borders of urban and wild areas.[96] San Diego's broad city limits encompass a number of large nature preserves, including Torrey Pines State Reserve, Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, and Mission Trails Regional Park. Torrey Pines State Reserve and a coastal strip continuing to the north constitute one of only two locations where the rare species of Torrey Pine, Pinus torreyana, is found.[97] San Diego against Witch Creek Fire smoke San Diego viewed against the Witch Creek Fire smoke Due to the steep topography that prevents or discourages building, along with some efforts for preservation, there are also a large number of canyons within the city limits that serve as nature preserves, including Switzer Canyon, Tecolote Canyon Natural Park,[98] and Marian Bear Memorial Park in San Clemente Canyon,[99] as well as a number of small parks and preserves. San Diego County has one of the highest counts of animal and plant species that appear on the endangered list of counties in the United States.[100] Because of its diversity of habitat and its position on the Pacific Flyway, San Diego County has recorded 492 different bird species, more than any other region in the country.[101] San Diego always scores high in the number of bird species observed in the annual Christmas Bird Count, sponsored by the Audubon Society, and it is known as one of the "birdiest" areas in the United States.[102][103] San Diego and its backcountry suffer from periodic wildfires. In October 2003, San Diego was the site of the Cedar Fire, at that time the largest wildfire in California over the past century.[104] The fire burned 280,000 acres (1,100 km2), killed 15 people, and destroyed more than 2,200 homes.[105] In addition to damage caused by the fire, smoke resulted in a significant increase in emergency room visits due to asthma, respiratory problems, eye irritation, and smoke inhalation; the poor air quality caused San Diego County schools to close for a week.[106] Wildfires four years later destroyed some areas, particularly within Rancho Bernardo, as well as the nearby communities of Rancho Santa Fe and Ramona.[100] Demographics Historical population Census Pop. %± 1850 500 — 1860 731 46.2% 1870 2,300 214.6% 1880 2,637 14.7% 1890 16,159 512.8% 1900 17,700 9.5% 1910 39,578 123.6% 1920 74,361 87.9% 1930 147,995 99.0% 1940 203,341 37.4% 1950 334,387 64.4% 1960 573,224 71.4% 1970 696,769 21.6% 1980 875,538 25.7% 1990 1,110,549 26.8% 2000 1,223,400 10.2% 2010 1,307,402 6.9% 2020 1,386,932 6.1% Population History of Western U.S. Cities & Towns, 1850–1990[51] U.S. Decennial Census[107] 2010–2020[11] Racial composition 2020[108] 2010[109] 1990[110] 1970[110] 1940[110] White (non-Hispanic) 40.7% 45.1% 58.7% 78.9%[111] n/a Hispanic or Latino 29.7% 28.8% 20.7% 10.7%[111] n/a Asian (non-Hispanic) 17.6% 15.9% 11.8% 2.2% 1.0% Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 6.6% 6.7% 9.4% 7.6% 2.0% Map of racial distribution in San Diego, 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: ⬤ White ⬤ Black ⬤ Asian ⬤ Hispanic ⬤ Other The city had a population of 1,307,402 according to the 2010 census, distributed over a land area of 372.1 square miles (963.7 km2).[112] The urban area of San Diego extends beyond the administrative city limits and had a total population of 2,956,746, making it the third-largest urban area in the state, after that of the Los Angeles metropolitan area and San Francisco metropolitan area. They, along with the Riverside–San Bernardino, form those metropolitan areas in California larger than the San Diego metropolitan area, which had a total population of 3,095,313 at the 2010 census. The 2010 population represents an increase of just under 7% from the 1,223,400 people, 450,691 households, and 271,315 families reported in 2000.[109] The estimated city population in 2009 was 1,306,300. The population density was 3,771.9 inhabitants per square mile (1,456.3/km2). The racial makeup of San Diego was 58.9% White, 6.7% African American, 0.6% Native American, 15.9% Asian (5.9% Filipino, 2.7% Chinese, 2.5% Vietnamese, 1.3% Indian, 1.0% Korean, 0.7% Japanese, 0.4% Laotian, 0.3% Cambodian, 0.1% Thai). 0.5% Pacific Islander (0.2% Guamanian, 0.1% Samoan, 0.1% Native Hawaiian), 12.3% from other races, and 5.1% from two or more races. The ethnic makeup of the city was 28.8% Hispanic or Latino (of any race);[109][113] 24.9% of the total population were Mexican American, 1.4% were Spanish American and 0.6% were Puerto Rican. Median age of Hispanics was 27.5 years, compared to 35.1 years overall and 41.6 years among non-Hispanic whites; Hispanics were the largest group in all ages under 18, and non-Hispanic whites constituted 63.1% of population 55 and older. A U.S. Navy vice admiral and an intelligence specialist celebrating Hispanic American Heritage Month in San Diego As of January 2019, the San Diego City and County had the fifth-largest homeless population among major cities in the United States, with 8,102 people experiencing homelessness.[114] In the city of San Diego, 4,887 individuals were experiencing homelessness according to the 2020 count.[115] In 2000 there were 451,126 households, out of which 30.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.6% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.8% were non-families. Households made up of individuals account for 28.0%, and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61, and the average family size was 3.30. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that in 2000, 24.0% of San Diego residents were under 18, and 10.5% were 65 and over.[109] As of 2011 the median age was 35.6; more than a quarter of residents were under age 20 and 11% were over age 65.[116] Millennials (ages 18 through 34) constitute 27.1% of San Diego's population, the second-highest percentage in a major U.S. city.[117] The San Diego County regional planning agency, SANDAG, provides tables and graphs breaking down the city population into five-year age groups.[118] In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $45,733, and the median income for a family was $53,060. Males had a median income of $36,984 versus $31,076 for females. The per capita income for the city was $35,199.[119] According to Forbes in 2005, San Diego was the fifth wealthiest U.S. city,[120] but about 10.6% of families and 14.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.0% of those under age 18 and 7.6% of those age 65 or over.[119] San Diego was rated the fifth-best place to live in the United States in 2006 by Money magazine,[121] and it was rated #6 in Best Big Cities in 2018.[122] As of January 1, 2008 estimates by the San Diego Association of Governments revealed that the household median income for San Diego rose to $66,715, up from $45,733 in 2000.[123] San Diego was named the ninth-most LGBT-friendly city in the U.S. in 2013.[124] The city also has the seventh-highest population of gay residents in the U.S. Additionally in 2013, San Diego State University (SDSU), one of the city's prominent universities, was named one of the top LGBT-friendly campuses in the nation.[125] According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, 68% of the population of the city identified themselves as Christians, with 32% professing attendance at a variety of churches that could be considered Protestant, and 32% professing Roman Catholic beliefs.[126][127] while 27% claim no religious affiliation. The same study says that other religions (including Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism) collectively make up about 5% of the population. Economy Main article: Economy of San Diego The largest sectors of San Diego's economy are defense/military, tourism, international trade, and research/manufacturing.[128][129] In 2014, San Diego was designated by a Forbes columnist as the best city in the country to launch a small business or startup company.[130] San Diego recorded a median household income of $79,646 in 2018, an increase of 3.89% from $76,662 in 2017.[131] The median property value in San Diego in 2018 was $654,700,[131] and the average home has two cars per household.[131] Defense and military USS Midway museum ship F/A-18 Hornet flying over San Diego and the USS John C. Stennis The economy of San Diego is influenced by its deepwater port, which includes the only major submarine and shipbuilding yards on the West Coast.[132] Several major national defense contractors were started and are headquartered in San Diego, including General Atomics, Cubic, and NASSCO.[133][134] San Diego hosts the largest naval fleet in the world:[135] In 2008 it was home to 53 ships, over 120 tenant commands, and more than 35,000 sailors, marines, Department of Defense civilian employees and contractors.[136] About 5 percent of all civilian jobs in the county are military-related, and 15,000 businesses in San Diego County rely on Department of Defense contracts.[136] Military bases in San Diego include US Navy facilities, Marine Corps bases, and Coast Guard stations. The city is "home to the majority of the U.S. Pacific Fleet's surface combatants, all of the Navy's West Coast amphibious ships and a variety of Coast Guard and Military Sealift Command vessels".[136][137] The military infrastructure in San Diego is still growing and developing, with numerous military personnel stationed there, numbers of which are expected to rise. This plays a significant role in the city's economy, as of 2020, it provides roughly 25% of the GDP and provides 23% of the total jobs in San Diego.[138][139][140] Tourism View on Harbor Drive Tourism is a major industry owing to the city's climate, beaches,[141] and tourist attractions such as Balboa Park, Belmont amusement park, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and SeaWorld San Diego. San Diego's Spanish and Mexican heritage is reflected in many historic sites across the city, such as Mission San Diego de Alcalá and Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. Also, the local craft brewing industry attracts an increasing number of visitors[142] for "beer tours" and the annual San Diego Beer Week in November;[143] San Diego has been called "America's Craft Beer Capital."[144] San Diego County hosted more than 32 million visitors in 2012; collectively they spent an estimated $8 billion. The visitor industry provides employment for more than 160,000 people.[145] San Diego's cruise ship industry used to be the second-largest in California. Numerous cruise lines operate out of San Diego. However, cruise ship business has been in decline since 2008, when the Port hosted over 250 ship calls and more than 900,000 passengers. By 2016–2017, the number of ship calls had fallen to 90.[146] Local sightseeing cruises are offered in San Diego Bay and Mission Bay, as well as whale-watching cruises to observe the migration of gray whales, peaking in mid-January.[147] Sport fishing is another popular tourist attraction; San Diego is home to southern California's biggest sport fishing fleet.[148] International trade Downtown San Diego, as seen from Coronado Island San Diego's commercial port and its location on the United States–Mexico border make international trade an important factor in the city's economy. The city is authorized by the United States government to operate as a Foreign Trade Zone.[149] The city shares a 15-mile (24 km) border with Mexico that includes two border crossings. San Diego hosts the busiest international border crossing in the world, in the San Ysidro neighborhood at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.[150] A second, primarily commercial border crossing operates in the Otay Mesa area; it is the largest commercial crossing on the California-Baja California border and handles the third-highest volume of trucks and dollar value of trade among all United States-Mexico land crossings.[151] One of the Port of San Diego's two cargo facilities is located in Downtown San Diego at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal. This terminal has facilities for containers, bulk cargo, and refrigerated and frozen storage, so that it can handle the import and export of many commodities.[152] In 2009 the Port of San Diego handled 1,137,054 short tons of total trade; foreign trade accounted for 956,637 short tons while domestic trade amounted to 180,417 short tons.[153] Historically tuna fishing and canning was one of San Diego's major industries,[154] although the American tuna fishing fleet is no longer based in San Diego. Seafood company Bumble Bee Foods is headquartered in San Diego and Chicken of the Sea was until 2018.[155][156] Companies Modern five-story office building Qualcomm corporate headquarters San Diego hosts several major producers of wireless cellular technology. Qualcomm was founded and is headquartered in San Diego, and is one of the largest private-sector employers in San Diego.[157] Other wireless industry manufacturers headquartered here include Nokia, LG Electronics,[158] Kyocera International,[159] Cricket Communications and Novatel Wireless.[160] San Diego also has the U.S. headquarters for the Slovakian security company ESET.[161] San Diego has been designated as an iHub Innovation Center for potential collaboration between wireless and the life sciences.[162] The University of California, San Diego and other research institutions have helped to fuel the growth of biotechnology.[163] In 2013, San Diego had the second-largest biotech cluster in the United States, below the Boston area and above the San Francisco Bay Area.[164] There are more than 400 biotechnology companies in the area.[165] In particular, the La Jolla and nearby Sorrento Valley areas are home to offices and research facilities for numerous biotechnology companies.[166] Major biotechnology companies like Illumina and Neurocrine Biosciences are headquartered in San Diego, while many other biotech and pharmaceutical companies have offices or research facilities in San Diego. San Diego is also home to more than 140 contract research organizations (CROs) that provide contract services for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.[167] Top employers See also: List of companies headquartered in San Diego According to the city's 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report,[168] the top employers in the city are: Employer Employees Naval Base San Diego 43,003 University of California, San Diego 35,807 Sharp HealthCare 19,321 County of San Diego 17,285 Scripps Health 14,001 San Diego Unified School District 13,559 Qualcomm, Inc. 11,200 City of San Diego 11,295 Kaiser Permanente 9,166 Northrop Grumman Corporation 5,652 Real estate Skyline view of the Village of La Jolla in San Diego San Diego has high real estate prices. San Diego home prices peaked in 2005, and then declined along with the national trend. As of December 2010, prices were down 36 percent from the peak,[169] median price of homes having declined by more than $200,000 between 2005 and 2010.[170] As of May 2015, the median price of a house was $520,000.[171] In November 2018 the median home price was $558,000. The San Diego metropolitan area had one of the worst housing affordability rankings of all metropolitan areas in the United States in 2009.[172] Consequently, San Diego has experienced negative net migration since 2004. A significant number of people moved to adjacent Riverside County, commuting daily to jobs in San Diego, while others are leaving the region altogether and moving to more affordable regions.[173] Government Local government See also: Mayor of San Diego, San Diego City Council, and Government of San Diego County Official portrait of Mayor Todd Gloria The city is governed by a mayor and a nine-member city council. In 2006, its government changed from a council–manager government to a strong mayor government, as decided by a citywide vote in 2004. The mayor is in effect the chief executive officer of the city, while the council is the legislative body.[174] The City of San Diego is responsible for police, public safety, streets, water and sewer service, planning and zoning, and similar services within its borders. San Diego is a sanctuary city,[175] however, San Diego County is a participant of the Secure Communities program.[176][177] As of 2011, the city had one employee for every 137 residents, with a payroll greater than $733 million.[178] The members of the city council are each elected from single-member districts within the city. The mayor and city attorney are elected directly by the voters of the entire city. The mayor, city attorney, and council members are elected to four-year terms, with a two-term limit.[179] Elections are held on a non-partisan basis per California state law; nevertheless, most officeholders do identify themselves as either Democrats or Republicans. In 2007, registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans by about 7 to 6 in the city,[180] and Democrats currently (as of 2022) hold an 8–1 majority in the city council. The current mayor, Todd Gloria, is a member of the Democratic Party. Wood paneling floor to ceiling with seats for 8 members and support staff San Diego City Council chambers San Diego is part of San Diego County, and includes all or part of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th supervisorial districts of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors,[181] Other county officers elected in part by city residents include the Sheriff, District Attorney, Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk, and Treasurer/Tax Collector. Areas of the city immediately adjacent to San Diego Bay ("tidelands") are administered by the Port of San Diego, a quasi-governmental agency which owns all the property in the tidelands and is responsible for its land use planning, policing, and similar functions. San Diego is a member of the regional planning agency San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). Public schools within the city are managed and funded by independent school districts (see below). State and federal representation In the California State Senate, San Diego County encompasses the 38th, 39th and 40th districts,[182] represented by Brian Jones (R), Toni Atkins (D), and Ben Hueso (D), respectively. In the California State Assembly, lying partially within the city of San Diego are the 77th, 78th, 79th, and 80th districts,[183] represented by Brian Maienschein (D), Chris Ward (D), Akilah Weber (D), and David Alvarez (D), respectively. In the United States House of Representatives, San Diego County includes parts or all of California's 49th, 50th, 51st, 52nd, and 53rd congressional districts,[184] represented by Mike Levin (D), Darrell Issa (R), Juan Vargas (D), Scott Peters (D), and Sara Jacobs (D), respectively. Election history After narrowly supporting Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, San Diego provided majorities to all six Republican presidential candidates from 1968 to 1988. However, in more recent decades, San Diego has trended in favor of Democratic presidential candidates for president. George H. W. Bush in 1988 is the last Republican candidate to carry San Diego in a presidential election. San Diego city vote by party in presidential elections Year Democratic Republican Third Parties 2020[185] 68.55% 461,985 29.14% 196,373 2.32% 15,614 2016[186] 65.86% 364,108 28.00% 154,797 6.13% 33,909 2012[187] 61.29% 312,832 36.43% 185,922 2.28% 11,660 2008[188] 62.57% 335,724 35.73% 191,711 1.69% 9,086 2004[189] 55.06% 270,746 43.91% 215,904 1.03% 5,071 2000[190] 53.13% 221,979 42.27% 176,616 4.59% 19,193 1996[191] 50.75% 198,169 39.93% 155,912 9.33% 36,414 1992[192] 43.53% 192,829 31.85% 141,093 24.62% 109,084 1988[193] 43.94% 177,207 54.67% 220,472 1.40% 5,631 1984[194] 39.10% 142,985 59.61% 218,025 1.29% 4,716 1980[195] 31.32% 106,282 54.96% 186,491 13.72% 46,569 1976[196] 44.63% 131,525 53.54% 157,780 1.97% 5,801 1972[197] 39.04% 114,997 57.93% 170,636 3.03% 8,916 1968[198] 39.58% 91,276 54.10% 124,769 6.32% 14,572 1964[199] 51.38% 112,469 48.62% 106,422 Major scandals San Diego was the site of the 1912 San Diego free speech fight, in which the city restricted speech, vigilantes brutalized and tortured anarchists, and the San Diego Police Department killed a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). In 1916, rainmaker Charles Hatfield was blamed for $4 million in damages and accused of causing San Diego's worst flood, during which about 20 Japanese American farmers died.[200] Then-mayor Roger Hedgecock was forced to resign his post in 1985, after he was found guilty of one count of conspiracy and 12 counts of perjury, related to the alleged failure to report all campaign contributions.[201][202] After a series of appeals, the 12 perjury counts were dismissed in 1990 based on claims of juror misconduct; the remaining conspiracy count was reduced to a misdemeanor and then dismissed.[203] A 2002 scheme to underfund pensions for city employees led to the San Diego pension scandal. This resulted in the resignation of newly re-elected Mayor Dick Murphy[204] and the criminal indictment of six pension board members.[205] Those charges were finally dismissed by a federal judge in 2010.[206] On November 28, 2005, U.S. Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham resigned after being convicted on federal bribery charges. He had represented California's 50th congressional district, which includes much of the northern portion of the city of San Diego. In 2006, Cunningham was sentenced to a 100-month prison sentence.[207] He was released in 2013. In 2005 two city council members, Ralph Inzunza and Deputy Mayor Michael Zucchet – who briefly took over as acting mayor when Murphy resigned – were convicted of extortion, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for taking campaign contributions from a strip club owner and his associates, allegedly in exchange for trying to repeal the city's "no touch" laws at strip clubs.[208] Both subsequently resigned. Inzunza was sentenced to 21 months in prison.[209] In 2009, a judge acquitted Zucchet on seven out of the nine counts against him, and granted his petition for a new trial on the other two charges;[210] the remaining charges were eventually dropped.[211] In July 2013, three former supporters of mayor Bob Filner asked him to resign because of allegations of repeated sexual harassment.[212] Over the ensuing six weeks, 18 women came forward to publicly claim that Filner had sexually harassed them,[213] and multiple individuals and groups called for him to resign. Filner agreed to resign effective August 30, 2013, subsequently pleaded guilty to one felony count of false imprisonment and two misdemeanor battery charges, and was sentenced to house arrest and probation.[214][215] Crime Main article: Crime in San Diego San Diego Police Department car in the city center Like most major cities, San Diego had a declining crime rate from 1990 to 2000. 1991 would mark the city's deadliest year, registering 179 homicides[216] within city limits (while the region as a whole peaked at 278 homicides),[217] capping off an unabated, eight-year climb in murders, rapes, robberies, and assault dating back to 1983. At the time, the city was ranked last among the 10 most populous U.S. cities in homicides per 1,000 population, and ninth in crimes per 1,000.[218] From 1980 to 1994, San Diego surpassed 100 murders ten times before tapering off to 91 homicides in 1995. That number would not exceed 79 for the next 15 years.[219] Crime in San Diego increased in the early 2000s.[220][221][222] In 2004, San Diego had the sixth lowest crime rate of any U.S. city with over half a million residents.[222] From 2002 to 2006, the crime rate overall dropped 0.8%, though not evenly by category. While violent crime decreased 12.4% during this period, property crime increased 1.1%. Total property crimes per 100,000 people were lower than the national average in 2008.[223] According to Uniform Crime Report statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2010, there were 5,616 violent crimes and 30,753 property crimes. Of these, the violent crimes consisted of forcible rapes, 73 robberies and 170 aggravated assaults, while 6,387 burglaries, 17,977 larceny-thefts, 6,389 motor vehicle thefts and 155 acts of arson defined the property offenses.[224] In 2013, San Diego had the lowest murder rate of the ten largest cities in the United States.[225] Education Primary and secondary schools Main article: Primary and secondary schools in San Diego Public schools in San Diego are operated by independent school districts. The majority of the public schools in the city are served by the San Diego Unified School District, the second-largest school district in California, which includes 11 K–8 schools, 107 elementary schools, 24 middle schools, 13 atypical and alternative schools, 28 high schools, and 45 charter schools.[226] Several adjacent school districts which are headquartered outside the city limits serve some schools within the city; these include the Poway Unified School District, Del Mar Union School District, San Dieguito Union High School District, and Sweetwater Union High School District. In addition, there are a number of private schools in the city. Colleges and universities San Diego State University's Hepner Hall According to education rankings released by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2017, 44.4% of San Diegans (city, not county) ages 25 and older hold bachelor's degrees, compared to 30.9% in the United States as a whole. The census ranks the city as the ninth-most educated city in the United States, based on these figures.[227] The largest university in the area is the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). The university is the southernmost campus of the University of California system and is the second largest employer in the city. It is the only university in the city that is classified "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity", and it has the 7th largest research expenditure in the country.[228] Other public colleges and universities in the city include San Diego State University (SDSU) and the San Diego Community College District, which includes San Diego City College, San Diego Mesa College, and San Diego Miramar College. Private non-profit colleges and universities in the city include the University of San Diego (USD), Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU), National University's San Diego campus, University of Redlands' School of Business San Diego campus, Brandman University's San Diego campus, San Diego Christian College, and John Paul the Great Catholic University. For-profit institutions include Alliant International University (AIU), California International Business University (CIBU), California College San Diego, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising's San Diego campus, NewSchool of Architecture and Design, Platt College, Southern States University (SSU), UEI College, and Woodbury University School of Architecture's satellite campus. There is one medical school in the city, the UCSD School of Medicine. There are three ABA accredited law schools in the city, which include California Western School of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and University of San Diego School of Law. There is also one law school, Western Sierra Law School, not accredited by the ABA. Libraries University of California, San Diego's Geisel Library, named for Theodor Seuss Geisel ("Dr. Seuss") The city-run San Diego Public Library system is headquartered downtown and has 36 branches throughout the city.[229] The newest location is in Skyline Hills, which broke ground in 2015.[230] The libraries have had reduced operating hours since 2003 due to the city's financial problems. In 2006 the city increased spending on libraries by $2.1 million.[231] A new nine-story Central Library on Park Boulevard at J Street opened on September 30, 2013.[232] In addition to the municipal public library system, there are nearly two dozen libraries open to the public run by other governmental agencies, and by schools, colleges, and universities.[233] Noteworthy are the Malcolm A. Love Library at San Diego State University, and the Geisel Library at the University of California, San Diego. Culture Main article: Culture of San Diego See also: City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture The Museum of Us Many popular museums, such as the San Diego Museum of Art, the San Diego Natural History Museum, the Museum of Us, the Museum of Photographic Arts, and the San Diego Air & Space Museum, are located in Balboa Park, which is also the location of the San Diego Zoo. The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) is located in La Jolla and has a branch located at the Santa Fe Depot downtown. The downtown branch consists of two buildings on two opposite streets. The Columbia district downtown is home to historic ship exhibits belonging to the San Diego Maritime Museum, headlined by the Star of India, as well as the unrelated San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum featuring the USS Midway aircraft carrier. The San Diego Symphony at Symphony Towers performs on a regular basis; from 2004 to 2017, its director was Jahja Ling. The San Diego Opera at Civic Center Plaza, directed by David Bennett. Old Globe Theatre at Balboa Park produces about 15 plays and musicals annually. The La Jolla Playhouse at UCSD is directed by Christopher Ashley. Both the Old Globe Theatre and the La Jolla Playhouse have produced the world premieres of plays and musicals that have gone on to win Tony Awards[234] or nominations[235] on Broadway. The Joan B. Kroc Theatre at Kroc Center's Performing Arts Center is a 600-seat state-of-the-art theatre that hosts music, dance, and theatre performances. The San Diego Repertory Theatre at the Lyceum Theatres in Westfield Horton Plaza produces a variety of plays and musicals. Hundreds of movies and a dozen TV shows have been filmed in San Diego, a tradition going back as far as 1898.[236] Sports Main article: Sports in San Diego Petco Park, home of the Padres since 2004 San Diego is home to one major professional sports team, MLB's San Diego Padres. The area once hosted the NFL's Chargers and the NBA's Clippers, but those teams moved to the Los Angeles metropolitan area. San Diego has other highest-level professional teams, minor league teams, semi-pro and amateur teams, and college athletics teams. Teams Major professional team Club Sport Since League Venue (capacity) San Diego Padres Baseball 1969[a] Major League Baseball (MLB) Petco Park (40,209)  Originally founded in 1936 as a minor league team: San Diego Padres (PCL) Highest-level professional teams Club Sport Since League Venue (capacity) Titles San Diego Wave FC Soccer (women's) 2022 National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) Snapdragon Stadium (35,000)[a] San Diego Seals Lacrosse 2017 National Lacrosse League (NLL) Pechanga Arena (12,920) San Diego Legion Rugby union 2018 Major League Rugby (MLR) Snapdragon Stadium (35,000)[b] San Diego Sockers Indoor soccer 1978[c] Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) Pechanga Arena (12,000)[d] 15[e] San Diego Strike Force Indoor football 2019 Indoor Football League (IFL) Pechanga Arena (12,000) San Diego Aviators Tennis 2014[f] World TeamTennis (WTT) Omni La Costa Court (2,100) 1 (2016)[g][h] San Diego Surfers Rugby union(women's) 2011[i] Women's Premier League Rugby (WPL) Robb Athletic Field 2 (2016, 2018) San Diego Lions Australian football 1997 United States Australian Football League (USAFL) varies 2 (2001, 2006) San Diego Growlers Ultimate disc 2015 American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL) varies San Diego Yacht Club Sailing 1886 America's Cup San Diego Bay 3 (1987, 1988, 1992)  Wave FC plans to move to Snapdragon Stadium (capacity 35,000) upon the stadium's completion in September 2022[237]  The Legion plans to move to Snapdragon Stadium (capacity 35,000) in 2023[238]  3rd San Diego Sockers iteration of highest-level professional indoor soccer, re-founded in 2009. Previous teams: San Diego Sockers (1978–1996) and San Diego Sockers (2001–2004)  The Sockers plan to move to CaliFino Arena (capacity 6,367), a newly constructed arena in Oceanside in 2023[239]  Sockers franchise includes titles won by its previous iteration, San Diego Sockers (1978–1996), in preceding top professional indoor soccer leagues. The franchise's titles by league are as follows: MASL: 5 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2021) MISL: 8 (1983, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992) NASL Indoor: 2 (1982, 1984)  Franchise was founded in 1995 in New York City, relocated to San Diego in 2014  Does not include 2 titles (2005 & 2008) won by the franchise before relocating from New York to San Diego  The city's previous WTT franchise, the San Diego Buds, additionally won 2 titles (1984 & 1985)  Founded in 1975 as an amateur club Minor league professional teams Club Sport Since League Venue (capacity) Competition Tier San Diego Gulls Ice hockey 1966[a] American Hockey League (AHL) Pechanga Arena (12,920) 2 San Diego Loyal SC Soccer 2020 USL Championship (USLC) Torero Stadium (6,000) 2 San Diego Surf Riders Cricket 2021 Minor League Cricket (MiLC) Canyonside Park 2 Albion San Diego Soccer 2019 National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) varies 3  4th San Diego Gulls iteration of minor league professional ice hockey, re-founded in 2015. Previous teams: San Diego Gulls (1966–1974), San Diego Gulls (1990–1995) & San Diego Gulls (1995–2006) College teams San Diego hosts three NCAA Division I universities: San Diego State University; the University of California, San Diego; and the University of San Diego. The city also hosts Point Loma Nazarene University of NCAA Division II. Also in the San Diego area are California State University, San Marcos of NCAA Division II and the University of Saint Katherine of the NAIA, both located in San Marcos, and San Diego Christian College of the NAIA, located in Santee. Club University Founding Enrollment Affiliation League Primary conference San Diego State Aztecs San Diego State University 1897 35,081 Public (California State University) NCAA Division I (FBS) Mountain West Conference San Diego Toreros University of San Diego 1949 8,328 Private (Roman Catholic) NCAA Division I (FCS) West Coast Conference UC San Diego Tritons University of California, San Diego 1960 40,473 Public (University of California) NCAA Division I Big West Conference Cal State San Marcos Cougars California State University San Marcos 1989 13,893 Public (California State University) NCAA Division II California Collegiate Athletic Association Point Loma Nazarene Sea Lions Point Loma Nazarene University 1902 3,480 Private (Church of the Nazarene) NCAA Division II Pacific West Conference San Diego Christian Hawks San Diego Christian College 1970 681 Private (Evangelical) NAIA Golden State Athletic Conference Saint Katherine Firebirds University of Saint Katherine 2011 300 Private (Eastern Orthodox) NAIA California Pacific Conference Events Annual events Event Sport Since League Current venue Farmers Insurance Open Golf 1952 PGA Tour Torrey Pines Golf Course Holiday Bowl College football 1978 NCAA Division I FBS Petco Park JTBC Classic Golf (women's) 2012 LPGA Tour Aviara Golf Club (Carlsbad) San Diego Bayfair Cup Hydroplane racing 1964 H1 Unlimited Mission Bay Park San Diego has hosted numerous other major sports events. College football's annual bowl game, the Holiday Bowl, is held in the city. The annual Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament (formerly the San Diego Open and Buick Invitational) on the PGA Tour occurs at Torrey Pines Golf Course. This course was also the site of the 2008 U.S. Open Golf Championship. Soccer, American football, and track and field are also played in Balboa Stadium, the city's first stadium, which was constructed in 1914.[240] The San Diego Yacht Club hosted the America's Cup yacht races three times during the period 1988 to 1995. The amateur beach sport Over-the-line was invented in San Diego,[241] and the annual world Over-the-line championships are held at Mission Bay every year.[242] Media See also: Media in San Diego and List of media set in San Diego Published within the city are the daily newspaper, The San Diego Union Tribune and its online portal of the same name,[243] and the alternative newsweeklies, the San Diego CityBeat and San Diego Reader. Times of San Diego is a free online newspaper covering news in the metropolitan area. Voice of San Diego is a non-profit online news outlet covering government, politics, education, neighborhoods, and the arts. The San Diego Daily Transcript is a business-oriented online newspaper. San Diego is also the headquarters of national far-right cable TV channel One America News Network (OANN), which was founded in 2013 and is owned by Herring Networks. The network gained notoriety for being ardent supporters of Donald Trump and providing a platform for right-wing conspiracy theories. San Diego led U.S. local markets with 69.6 percent broadband penetration in 2004 according to Nielsen//NetRatings.[244] San Diego's first television station was KFMB, which began broadcasting on May 16, 1949.[245] Since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licensed seven television stations in Los Angeles, two VHF channels were available for San Diego because of its relative proximity to the larger city. In 1952, however, the FCC began licensing UHF channels, making it possible for cities such as San Diego to acquire more stations. Stations based in Mexico (with ITU prefixes of XE and XH) also serve the San Diego market. Television stations today include XHCPDE 11 (Canal Once (Mexico)), XETV 6 (Canal 5/Nueve), KFMB 8 (CBS, with The CW/MNTV on DT2), KGTV 10 (ABC), XEWT 12 (Televisa Regional), KPBS 15 (PBS), KBNT-CD 17 (Univision), XHTIT-TDT 21 (Azteca 7), XHJK-TDT 1 (Azteca Uno), XHAS 33 (Azteca America), K35DG-D 35 (UCSD-TV), KDTF-LD 36 (Unimás), KNSD 39 (NBC), KUAN-LD 48 (Telemundo), KSEX-CD 42 (Infomercials), XHBJ-TDT 45 (Canal 6 (Mexico)), XHDTV 49 (Milenio Televisión), KUSI 51 (Independent), XHUAA-TDT 19 (Canal de las Estrellas), and KSWB-TV 69 (Fox). San Diego has an 80.6 percent cable penetration rate.[246] Due to the ratio of U.S. and Mexican-licensed stations, San Diego is the largest media market in the United States that is legally unable to support a television station duopoly between two full-power stations under FCC regulations, which disallow duopolies in metropolitan areas with fewer than nine full-power television stations and require that there be eight unique station owners that remain once a duopoly is formed (there are only seven full-power stations on the California side of the San Diego-Tijuana market).[247] Though the E. W. Scripps Company owns KGTV and KZSD-LP, they are not considered a duopoly under the FCC's legal definition as common ownership between full-power and low-power television stations in the same market is permitted regardless to the number of stations licensed to the area. As a whole, the Mexico side of the San Diego-Tijuana market has two duopolies and one triopoly (Entravision Communications owns both XHAS-TV and XHDTV-TV, Azteca owns XHJK-TV and XHTIT-TV, and Grupo Televisa owns XHUAA-TV and XHWT-TV along with being the license holder for XETV-TV, which was formerly managed by California-based subsidiary Bay City Television). San Diego's television market is limited to only San Diego County. The Imperial Valley, including El Centro, is in the Yuma, Arizona television market while neighboring Orange and Riverside counties are part of the Los Angeles market. (Sometimes in the past, a missing network affiliate in the Imperial Valley would be available on cable TV from San Diego.) As a result, San Diego is the largest single-county media market in the United States. The radio stations in San Diego include nationwide broadcaster iHeartMedia; Entercom Communications, Local Media San Diego, and many other smaller stations and networks. Stations include: KOGO AM 600, KGB AM 760, KCEO AM 1000, KCBQ AM 1170, K-Praise, KLSD AM 1360, KFSD 1450 AM, KPBS-FM 89.5, Channel 933, Star 94.1, FM 94/9, FM News and Talk 95.7, Q96 96.1, KyXy 96.5, Free Radio San Diego (AKA Pirate Radio San Diego) 96.9FM FRSD, KWFN 97.3, KXSN 98.1, Big-FM 100.7, 101.5 KGB-FM, KLVJ 102.1, KSON 103.7, Rock 105.3, and another Pirate Radio station at 106.9FM, as well as a number of local Spanish-language radio stations. Infrastructure Utilities Water is supplied to residents by the Water Department of the City of San Diego. The city receives most of its water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Gas and electric utilities are provided by San Diego Gas & Electric, a division of Sempra Energy. Street lights In the mid-20th century the city had mercury vapor street lamps. In 1978, the city decided to replace them with more efficient sodium vapor lamps. This triggered an outcry from astronomers at Palomar Observatory 60 miles (100 km) north of the city, concerned that the new lamps would increase light pollution and hinder astronomical observation.[248] The city altered its lighting regulations to limit light pollution within 30 miles (50 km) of Palomar.[249] In 2011, the city announced plans to upgrade 80% of its street lighting to new energy-efficient lights that use induction technology, a modified form of fluorescent lamp producing a broader spectrum than sodium vapor lamps. The new system is predicted to save $2.2 million per year in energy and maintenance.[250] The city stated the changes would "make our neighborhoods safer."[250] They also increase light pollution.[251] In 2014, San Diego announced plans to become the first U.S. city to install cyber-controlled street lighting, using an "intelligent" lighting system to control 3,000 LED street lights.[252] Transportation Main articles: Transportation in San Diego and Streets and highways of San Diego I-5 looking south toward downtown San Diego With the automobile being the primary means of transportation for over 80 percent of residents, San Diego is served by a network of freeways and highways. This includes Interstate 5, which runs south to Tijuana and north to Los Angeles; Interstate 8, which runs east to Imperial County and the Arizona Sun Corridor; Interstate 15, which runs northeast through the Inland Empire to Las Vegas and Salt Lake City; and Interstate 805, which splits from I-5 near the Mexican border and rejoins I-5 at Sorrento Valley. Major state highways include SR 94, which connects downtown with I-805, I-15 and East County; SR 163, which connects downtown with the northeast part of the city, intersects I-805 and merges with I-15 at Miramar; SR 52, which connects La Jolla with East County through Santee and SR 125; SR 56, which connects I-5 with I-15 through Carmel Valley and Rancho Peñasquitos; SR 75, which spans San Diego Bay as the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, and also passes through South San Diego as Palm Avenue; and SR 905, which connects I-5 and I-805 to the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. The stretch of SR 163 that passes through Balboa Park is San Diego's oldest freeway, and has been called one of America's most beautiful parkways.[253] View of Coronado and San Diego from the air San Diego's roadway system provides an extensive network of cycle routes. Its dry and mild climate makes cycling a convenient year-round option; however, the city's hilly terrain and long average trip distances make cycling less practicable. Older and denser neighborhoods around the downtown tend to be oriented to utility cycling. This is partly because of the grid street patterns now absent in newer developments farther from the urban core, where suburban style arterial roads are much more common. As a result, the majority of cycling is recreational. In 2006, San Diego was rated the best city (with a population over 1 million) for cycling in the U.S.[254] San Diego is served by the San Diego Trolley light rail system,[255] by the SDMTS bus system,[256] private jitneys in some neighborhoods,[257] and by Coaster[258] and Amtrak Pacific Surfliner[259] commuter rail; northern San Diego county is also served by the Sprinter light rail line.[260] The trolley primarily serves downtown and surrounding urban communities, Mission Valley, east county, and coastal south bay. A mid-coast extension of the Trolley operates from Old Town to University City and the University of California, San Diego along the I-5 Freeway since November 2021. The Amtrak and Coaster trains currently run along the coastline and connect San Diego with Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura via Metrolink and the Pacific Surfliner. There are two Amtrak stations in San Diego, in Old Town and the Santa Fe Depot downtown. San Diego transit information about public transportation and commuting is available on the Web and by dialing "511" from any phone in the area.[261] Cross Border Xpress bridge from the terminal in San Diego on the right to the main terminal of Tijuana Airport on the left The city has two major commercial airports within or near its city limits. Downtown San Diego International Airport (SAN), also known as Lindbergh Field, is the busiest single-runway airport in the United States.[262] It served over 24 million passengers in 2018, and is dealing with larger numbers every year.[263] It is located on San Diego Bay, three miles (4.8 km) from downtown, and maintains scheduled flights to the rest of the United States (including Hawaii), as well as to Canada, Germany, Mexico, Japan, and the United Kingdom. It is operated by an independent agency, the San Diego Regional Airport Authority. Tijuana International Airport has a terminal within the city limits in the Otay Mesa district connected to the rest of the airport in Tijuana, Mexico, via the Cross Border Xpress cross-border footbridge. It is the primary airport for flights to the rest of Mexico, and offers connections via Mexico City to the rest of Latin America. In addition, the city has two general-aviation airports, Montgomery Field (MYF) and Brown Field (SDM).[264] Recent regional transportation projects have sought to mitigate congestion, including improvements to local freeways, expansion of San Diego Airport, and doubling the capacity of the cruise ship terminal. Freeway projects included expansion of Interstates 5 and 805 around "The Merge" where these two freeways meet, as well as expansion of Interstate 15 through North County, which includes new high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) "managed lanes". A tollway (the southern portion of SR 125, known as the South Bay Expressway) connects SR 54 and Otay Mesa, near the Mexican border. According to an assessment in 2007, 37 percent of city streets were in acceptable condition. However, the proposed budget fell $84.6 million short of bringing streets up to an acceptable level.[265] Expansion at the port has included a second cruise terminal on Broadway Pier, opened in 2010. Airport projects include expansion of Terminal Two.[266]
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