SDRotary - Getting Involved

November 7, 2001

This Bulletin Was Written By Jim Lauth.

This Week's Meeting

This week’s meeting was off-site. We met for a continental breakfast at the historic Horton Grand Hotel, which set the stage nicely for the program. The meeting began with an abbreviated opening agenda. President Blackburn called the meeting to order. Martin Blair led the Pledge of Allegiance (in the direction of a stars-and-stripes sweater in the absence of a flag). Rick Logan offered an invocation reflecting on life lessons to consider after September 11. In the interests of expediency, there was no song.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

In the interests of expediency, the announcements were brief. Our guests were introduced, and for the remainder of announcements, check the bulletin.

FINES? NO FINES!

In the interests of expediency, there were no fines this week.

PROPOSED NEW MEMBER

The following person has been proposed as a new member. He will be inducted under the classification listed below unless written objection is received by our Club Secretary within ten days of the date of this Bulletin:

Greg Simmons

7450 Hazard Center Drive, San Diego, CA 92108

Employer: Hilton Hotels

Position: H.R. Coordinator

Proposed Classification: Hotel: Human Resources

Proposer: Melissa Blackburn

This Week’s Speaker

The program was a delightful walking tour to see historic buildings in the Gaslamp Quarter. Our guide was Nancy Taylor, a columnist for the Daily Transcript and a third-generation San Diegan with an obvious passion for the history of her home town. She began her presentation by noting that the Gaslamp Quarter is unusual for its collection of restored Victorian commercial buildings. Apparently, many cities have restored Victorian homes, but San Diego is special for this 16 block historic district of commercial buildings.

Our speaker, Nancy Taylor

We started at the Horton Grand Hotel, which consists of two separate historic hotels that were reconstructed on the current Fourth Avenue site. The Horton Grand had previously been on the site that is now Horton Plaza, and was reassembled brick-by-brick to be restored.

We walked up Fifth Avenue, starting at a corner near the Spaghetti Factory. That building was constructed in 1893 from an Irving Gill design in his “ant-Victorian” simpler style. Next, the Brunswig Drug. Co. building (pictured below), which has the well-known mural of Wyatt Earp and his gang on its westerly wall. Not so well known is the fact that the present owner of the building, as a condition of permitting the mural to be painted, required that he be in the picture, too! He is the last one on the right and seems to fit in quite nicely.

Brunswick Drug Co. Bldg.

Nancy pointed out that time and architectural styles move up Fifth Avenue, reflecting San Diego’s development. We went from Fifth and J (the Grand Pacific Hotel, a Victorian building on its original lot), to Fifth and Island (Chinese style architecture as Chinese immigrants came to San Diego), to Fifth and Market (the center of town during Alonzo Horton’s days, with distinctive Italian-esque buildings), to Fifth and G (where old theaters are near the new movie theater that was designed to blend in with the other buildings, and the restored City Hall building that is now Jimmy Love’s), to Fifth and F (to see the little yellow building built in 1872 that is among the oldest buildings in town and the Keating Building from 1890 that included San Diego’s first elevator).

This fascinating tour was a short version of the walking tour that is offered most Saturdays starting at 11:00 am from the William Heath Davis house near the Horton Grand.

Fifth and Market, the heart of town in Horton’s day.

Martin Blair stealing the stage to point out that his building was once a brothel.

Martin’s building which used to house the Kansas City Steakhouse.

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