Gaslamp Quarter

You’re now on Fifth Avenue, the main thoroughfare through downtown San Diego. Today, it is best known for the restaurants, bars, and nightlife of the Gaslamp Quarter. But as you walk along it, you are also following the original backbone of New Town, the district envisioned by Alonzo Horton in the late 19th century. That is why so many historic buildings still line this street. Further down Fifth Avenue, you’ll see the famous illuminated Gaslamp Quarter arch suspended above the street. Despite its old-fashioned appearance, the arch is not historic. The idea first emerged in the 1980s, and the structure was installed in 1990. Its purpose was mainly symbolic, and it quickly became the defining image of the modern Gaslamp district. Its name refers to the roughly 50 gas lamps installed here in the late 19th century. At the time, gas lighting was considered a modern urban technology, lending the district an air of elegance and ambition. Another distinctive feature of the cityscape is the way the streets around you are named. Downtown San Diego follows a simple grid laid out during the city’s early development. The north-south avenues are numbered—First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Avenue—while the east-west streets were originally named with letters: A Street, B Street, C Street, and so on. As the city expanded northward, the pattern continued with the names of trees, including Ash, Beech, Cedar, Date, Elm, and Fir. This system made it easy to lay out a new city quickly and divide the land into lots for Horton to sell. In fact, as you listen, you are probably near the intersection of Fifth Avenue and K Street.