Information about Point Loma - 92106

Single Family Residence Median Price: $650,000

Condo Median Price: $255,000

General Information- Today the Cabrillo Monument Park, part of the National Park Service, just above Ballast Point offers exhibits, living history lessons and tours of the Old Point Loma Lighthouse. Views from the park overlook the city, the Navy's submarine pens and the open Pacific.  The Tide Pools along the base of the cliffs below the park offer visitors a chance to see various species of marine life up close and personal.

The peninsula is home to 63,000 plus residents who enjoy its location near the heart of the city and its spectacular skyline and ocean views. Some lucky homeowners have views of both. The Navy is one of the largest land holders on the Point.  Fort Rosecrans Military Reservation and National Cemetery run almost the length of the Peninsula.  The National Cemetery is a dignified resting place for veterans from many wars with its dignified rows of markers and spectacular views.  The cemetery is also home to a number of monuments to sunken ships and those who went down with them, 

In the 90s, the Navy announced plans to close the Naval Training Center that occupied prime bayside land on the peninsula.  The City of San Diego took possession of the land in 2000 and immediately began creating a new urban village for San Diego called Liberty Station.
 Liberty Station is a mixed use project that will include homes, offices, shopping, cultural and arts facilities, a boat channel and hotels.  The project is well underway with the first residents moving in during  2003.

Point Loma is also known for its secluded coves and spectacular cliffs.  Sunset Cliffs Natural Park stretches along the Pacific Ocean side of the peninsula offers spectacular ocean views and California Gray Whale watching during the annual migration from Alaska to Baha.

Point Loma Nazarine University is another fixture on Point Loma with a beautiful campus overlooking the Pacific. The campus includes several historical buildings including the Greek Amphitheatre, the first facilty of its type built in the United States.

Neighborhoods on the peninsula include Loma Portal, Midway District, Ocean Beach, Point Loma Heights, Centraloma, Roseville, Fleetridge, Sunset Cliffs, College Area, Woods, Wooded Acres and La Playa.

 

 

History of Point Loma

Point Loma was one of the original 8 west coast lighthouses, built in 1855 in the Cape Cod style that was used for all of them. The forty foot tower rises from the center of the keeper's house, fitted with a third-order fresnel lens.

The Lighthouse Board often built these early west coast lights high up on hills, as was the custom in New England. This tactic failed in the west, as the light often shone above the low-lying fog that is prevalent along the Pacific coast, making the light useless to passing ships. As a result, Pt. Loma served for only 36 years before being replaced in 1891 by a skeletal tower built near sea level.

Today Old Point Loma Lighthouse is the centerpiece of Cabrillo National Monument, with a spectacular view of San Diego Harbor.

Throughout the 1920s, Fort Rosecrans was reduced to the caretaker status of keeping guns and equipment in good condition. The garrison remained small, although activity increased somewhat during the later years of the decade. Despite the de-emphasis of armament during the 1920s, additional batteries of antiaircraft guns had been installed on Point Loma by 1930. The increased artillery consisted of two batteries installed to cover the southwest, west, and northwest approaches to San Diego Harbor. The installations were known as Battery Point Loma (located on the west side of the peninsula below the Cabrillo National Monument lighthouse) and Battery Gillespie (located on the northwest corner of the military reservation).

From 1930 to 1940, Point Loma's defenses were revitalized. On 22 July 1936, Battery White was practice-fired for the first time in 11 years. The following year construction of the new building and an additional battery started. The new battery was called Battery Strong and represented the latest in seacoast fortifications designed to defend against attack by battleships and long-range and carrier-borne aircraft. In 1939, with the outbreak of war in Europe, and France falling in 1940, the U.S. concern for defense increased. By 1940, this concern accelerated the schedule for construction of coastal defenses. San Diego's plan called for a network of artillery batteries and fire-control facilities along approximately 30 miles of coastline. The plan called for batteries in three locations: Point Loma, Silver Strand, and Fort Emory. Battery Strong, begun in 1937, was completed. Construction of the other batteries began in early 1941, before the attack on Pearl Harbor, and continued through 1945.
 

Point Loma was the first sight, of what was to become California, that greeted Europeans when they sailed up the coast from Mexico in 1542.  The peninsula juts into the Pacific Ocean and creates the shelter for San Diego Bay.  Ballast Point, site of the 1542 landing by Rodriquez Cabrillo and his crew, is named for the cobblestones loaded as ballast to replace the goods later ships delivered to a growing San Diego.  Many of the stones ended up lining the streets of Boston.
 

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