As the oldest green space in the city, Pantoja Park represents one of the most distinct connections to the past in San Diego, California. By featuring such distinct features and monuments, it has become a place that is also inherently connected to the present community, cultivating a legacy set to last into the far future.
Connected to the very first map of San Diego
Originally built in 1850, Pantoja Park is named after Don Juan Pantoja y Arriola, a Spanish navigator who drew the very first map of San Diego in 1782. A statue of Benito Juarez, the 26th president of Mexico, is the most notable landmark of the park. A gift from Mexico to San Diego in 1981, it showcases Juarez looking out and onto the horizon. Both of these features indirectly highlight the incredible impact of Spanish culture on San Diego.
The statue of Benito Juarez is set near the sidewalk, allowing audiences to have distinct experiences with the piece and the large grassy area and multiple trees that define the rest of Pantoja Park. Audiences can take in this history or relax at their leisure, providing both residents and visitors with distinct and numerous experiences.
Listed as the seventh historical landmark of San Diego by the Historical Resources Board in 1969, Pantoja Park has become an important element of the community in a way that has cultivated different types of engagement that span multiple eras.
A Legacy of the Past and Community of the Present
Mentioned as an essential natural harbor in the concrete ocean of downtown San Diego, audiences can celebrate the legacy of the past or community in the present in Pantoja Park, allowing them to define for themselves what will resonate most. In a location that could just have been like any other unremarkable green space, these sorts of options highlight what it can mean to create a landmark that means so much to so many different types of audiences.
