PC-000-802

 

 

 

Mike Roberts, Berkeley, California, US

 

A night scene of the lit Hilton Inn on San Diego's Mission Bay is shown on this glossy picture postcard. In 2013, the San Diego Tourism Authority gave the age of the facility as 50, pushing the date range of this photograph back no farther than 1963. The hotel site was granted in 1926 by the State Board of Harbor Commissiioners for San Diego. In this way, the history of the Hilton is bound up with the history of Mission Bay, beginning in 1924 when entrepreneur and civic leader John D. Spreckels (1853-1926), after subdividing the spit of land called Mission Beach, ran his streetcar line out to what was meant to be a combined amusement park and subdivision. However, all the bridges to the area were destroyed by winter storms in 1926 and 1927. It wasn't until the 1940s and 1950s that the area was developed and bridges rebuilt. The original hotel on this site was built by hotelier Del Webb and was called The OceanHouse, with a design meant to resemble an "English ship moored in Tahiti," according to the San Diego News of July 2012. The property was sold to the Hilton hotel chain in 1964, changing its name to the San Diego Hilton in 1975, to San Diego Hilton Beach and Tennis Resort in 1984, and then to Hilton San Diego Resort & Spa in 2000. It seems likely that this photograph belongs to the "San Diego Hilton" era, from 1975 to 1984. In 1967, some areas of the hotel were used as locations for the Jerry Lewis comedy "The Big Mouth."

Hilton hotel chain; Hotels; San Diego Hilton; The Big Mouth movie; Hilton Inn--Mission Bay; Hilton San Diego Resort and Spa; Resorts; San Diego; Mission Bay

1775 East Mission Bay Drive

California - San Diego

 

 

MS-0008

 

Hilton Inn

Postcard

3.5 inches x 5.5 inches

No

 

 

 

Image

TIFF

20.35 MB