Father Fermin Lasuén founded Mission San Miguel Arcángel on July 25, 1797. The adobe church, completed in 1818, suffered structural damage from the M6.5 San Simeon earthquake on Dec 22, 2003. Renovated, it reopened in October 2009.
More info & images
The Santa Anita Train Depot in what is now Arcadia was built, courtesy E.J. “Lucky” Baldwin, by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1890. It was moved about 1/4 mile onto the LA County Arboretum grounds and restored in 1970.
More info & images
Father Antonio Cruzado and his associates finished construction of the present sanctuary of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in 1805. Fire destroyed the roof of the sanctuary on July 11, 2020. The site reopens for public tours July 1, 2023.
More info & images
Palomar Observatory, in north San Diego County, is a center of astronomical research owned and operated by Caltech. It is home to three active research telescopes, the 200″ Hale Telescope, 48″ Samuel Oschin Telescope and a 60″ telescope.
More info & images
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is an 1,800 acre zoo near Escondido. The park houses a large array of wild and endangered animals including species from the continents of Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America and Australia.
More info & images
Built in the 1810s, Mission La Purísima Concepción, or La Purísima Mission, near Lompoc is the most completely restored of the California mission complexes and one of only two missions no longer governed by the Catholic Church.
More info & images
Alex Madonna started his construction company in 1935 while he was still in high school. The Madonna Inn, designed and built by Alex and decorated by his wife, Phyllis, opened as a motel inn with twelve rooms on December 24, 1958.
More info & images