{"id":2261,"date":"2022-12-30T20:05:53","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T20:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2261"},"modified":"2022-12-30T20:29:17","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T20:29:17","slug":"old-town-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2261","title":{"rendered":"Old Town San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Temecula Valley is a \u201cforgotten\u201d corner of California\u2019s Wine Country.\u00a0 Much that is written about it (including in a previous issue<\/a> of Power Tasting) starts with, \u201cIf you happen to be in San Diego\u2026\u201d.\u00a0 This time, we\u2019ll take it the other way: If you happen to be wine tasting in Temecula, San Diego isn\u2019t far away.\u00a0 And if you happen to be in San Diego, Old Town is a definite place to visit.<\/p>\n

Let us be honest and begin by saying that Old Town is a bit touristy.\u00a0 Maybe more than a bit.\u00a0 If the shops and the souvenirs were the only attraction, we would neither go there nor recommend it.\u00a0 But there is a great deal more, starting with history.<\/p>\n

This is where California was born.\u00a0 In 1769, Father Junipero Serra established a mission next to a fort called the Presidio in exactly the spot where Old Town is today.\u00a0 Other missions followed up and down what is now California.\u00a0 It is said that he wasn\u2019t very kind to the people who were already there, so there is no reason to celebrate his life, but there is a thrill to stand in the very place he created a lasting achievement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Casa de Estudillo.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of IS Architecture.<\/em><\/p>\n

Old Town is a celebration of the Mexican heritage in San Diego and California more generally.\u00a0 The site is split between a commercial area with shops and restaurants and the Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.\u00a0 The latter is in effect an outdoor museum with many of the older buildings restored and retained.\u00a0 There are a number of historic homes, including the Casa de Estudillo, which was built in 1829 and is made of adobe, one of the oldest such mansions in California.\u00a0 Others of these restored homes are the Casa de Machado y Silvas from the 1840\u2019s: the Casa de Machado y Stewart, a soldier\u2019s home from 1835 and the Little Adobe Chapel, which was destroyed and then rebuilt in the 1930\u2019s, with many of the interior contents restored.\u00a0 There are also museums, trolley car rides, a working blacksmith shop and the oldest brick structure in San Diego, the Whaley House, built in 1865 and, so they say, haunted today.<\/p>\n

But enough of all this culture.\u00a0 Let\u2019s have some fun!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Casa de Reyes restaurant.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of the City of San Diego.<\/em><\/p>\n

There are lots of restaurants in and around Old Town.\u00a0 Most of them serve Mexican food, California style.\u00a0 We\u2019re not quite sure what Cal-Mex is, but it\u2019s different than the Tex-Mex we taste in the rest of the US.\u00a0 The ownership and names change frequently over the years, but we have gravitated to what is now called the Casa de Reyes.\u00a0 There\u2019s a large outdoor courtyard, which San Diegan weather enables most of year.\u00a0 The bar features a large selection of tequilas and you can quaff margheritas the size of bird baths (in somewhat cloudy memory, at least).\u00a0 Mariachis entertain regularly and there is a nice, non-rowdy party atmosphere at all times.\u00a0 It\u2019s the kind of place where families get together.<\/p>\n

Daytimes are the time to visit the cultural attractions, but we recommend you dine in Old Town in the evening.\u00a0 You\u2019ll feel like you dropped onto the set of Romancing the Stone<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Temecula Valley is a \u201cforgotten\u201d corner of California\u2019s Wine Country.\u00a0 Much that is written about it (including in a previous issue of Power Tasting) starts with, \u201cIf you happen to be in San Diego\u2026\u201d.\u00a0 This time, we\u2019ll take it the other way: If you happen to be wine tasting in Temecula, San Diego isn\u2019t … Continue reading Old Town San Diego<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2261"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2270,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261\/revisions\/2270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}