Mission Beach History

by Nancy Sutton Smith

Overview

Mission Beach History

Mission Beach in the northwestern part of San Diego is a delightfully laid back California tourist area. The year-round beach, warm inland waters of Mission Bay, Sea World, vacation resorts and perfect weather have made Mission Beach one of the top West Coast destinations to live and play.
History

In 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator working for Spain, sailed into the area and named San Diego Bay, San Miguel and Mission Bay, False Bay because his sailors were confusing the two. Spaniard Sebastián Vizcaíno changed the name to San Diego in 1602, but the Mission area was called False Bay until the 1800s.

Early Development

Millionaire developer John D. Spreckels always envisioned Mission Beach as a tourist playground. He and several other developers drew up resort plans in the early 1900s. But World War I, a real estate bust, flooding in 1926 and the Great Depression made funding difficult.
Mission Beach Amusement Center

In 1926, Spreckels was able to build the Mission Beach Amusement Center in what is now Belmont Park. It featured the famous wooden roller coaster, The Giant Dipper and Mission Beach Plunge, the largest indoor heated swimming pool in Southern California.
Mission Bay Aqautic Park

Vital to Mission Beach development was the creation of Mission Bay, which was originally tidewater marshland. In the 1940s, city officials dredged up 25 million cubic yards of silt and sand to create Mission Bay Aqautic Park.

Mission Bay--PDPhoto/Wikitravel
Rebuilding Belmont Park

The Giant Dipper Roller Coaster and the Mission Beach Plunge fell into disrepair in the late 1970s and '80s. The Roller Coaster was almost torn down, but was saved by National Landmark designation.
Original Sea World

Just east of Belmont Park in Mission Bay is the first Sea World, built in 1964. It was originally supposed to be an underwater restaurant.

Sea World-Damijan Movrin/Wikimedia