Gaslamp Quarter Layover: Petco Park, San Diego
Part of the full San Diego Layover: The Embarcadero From SAN
San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter runs sixteen blocks of Victorian commercial frontage down Fifth Avenue to Petco Park, where a 1909 brick warehouse was left standing inside the ballpark and its corner painted as the left-field foul pole.
Petco Park’s foul pole is the corner of a 1909 warehouse
When the Padres built at the bottom of the Gaslamp Quarter in 2004, the Western Metal Supply Co. building was already there, four stories of brick from 1909, and rather than clear it they designed the park outward from it. The corner of the building now stands in fair territory at 336 feet from home plate with a yellow stripe painted up it, so the building is part of the field of play and occupied at the same time: a team store on the ground floor, suites on two floors above it and a restaurant on the roof.
You can get inside either way. A guided walk round the ballpark takes in the Padres Hall of Fame and the parts of the ground the public never sees, and on a night when the team is home, a seat at the game is the other option. Either way, note the bag rule first: the gates take a single-compartment clear bag of no more than 12 by 6 by 12 inches, and a purse no bigger than 5 by 7, and nothing else.
Midnight is the cutoff for getting out of the Gaslamp Quarter
Buses on MTS Route 992 leave Broadway for both terminals at San Diego International Airport every fifteen minutes from 4:15am until midnight, take about fifteen minutes and cost a flat $2.50. Fifth Avenue meets Broadway at the top of the district, which puts the stop four blocks from the middle of the quarter, and that midnight cutoff is what makes an evening here workable at all. Budget 45 minutes door to door rather than fifteen once the wait and the terminal walk are in.
If you would rather spend the daylight half of the same trip on the water, the main San Diego layover guide covers the Embarcadero a few blocks west, and the downtown train station sits between the two.
The Davis-Horton House, downtown San Diego’s oldest building
William Heath Davis had a saltbox house shipped in prefabricated sections from the east coast and raised in 1850, seventeen years before Alonzo Horton arrived and started selling the waterfront that became this district. It stands at 410 Island Avenue now, the oldest building left standing downtown, and holds the Gaslamp Museum: period rooms, the district’s own history, and the story of how a red-light quarter called the Stingaree turned into a national historic district.
It is a small house and a short visit, which is exactly what suits a few hours with a flight at the end of them.
Fifth Avenue’s Victorian frontages under the Gaslamp arch
Sixteen blocks between Broadway and Harbor Drive carry more than ninety historic commercial buildings, most of them put up between the 1870s and the 1920s, and Fifth Avenue is where they are stacked most densely: cast-iron columns, bay windows, corner turrets, painted brick, and one arched sign at either end announcing the historic heart of San Diego. Very little of it is a museum piece; the ground floors are restaurants and bars, which is why the quarter reads as a going concern rather than a preserved street.
The trade-off is timing. Nothing here starts early, and the district’s real character shows up between late afternoon and midnight, which happens to suit anyone whose flight is at the end of the day rather than the start of it.
All of that is on foot inside sixteen blocks, and the only thing that makes it awkward is what you are carrying while you do it.
Frequently asked questions
What should I do during a layover near the Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego?
Walk Fifth Avenue between Broadway and L Street, which is where most of the 90-odd Victorian commercial buildings in the district stand, then pick one thing to go inside. The Davis-Horton House at 410 Island Avenue is the oldest building left standing downtown, raised in 1850, and holds the district's museum. Petco Park is at the south end and runs ballpark tours on non-game days as well as selling seats when the Padres are home. Four hours is enough for the streets and one of those two; the quarter is at its best from late afternoon on.
What size bag can I take into Petco Park?
Very small. The ballpark allows single-compartment clear plastic bags no bigger than 12 by 6 by 12 inches, plus clutches and purses up to 5 by 7 inches, with exceptions for infant and medical bags. Anything else is turned away at the gate, and there is no bag check inside to leave it at. Sort your luggage out before you go anywhere near the gates rather than at them.
Is the Gaslamp Quarter worth seeing during the day?
The architecture is, and it reads better in daylight than under neon: cast-iron columns, corner turrets and painted brick along Fifth Avenue, most of it built between the 1870s and the 1920s. The Davis-Horton House is a daytime visit, and so are the ballpark tours. The restaurants and bars that the district is better known for do not really start until late afternoon, so a morning here is a walk rather than a night out.
Can I walk to the Gaslamp Quarter from the downtown train station?
Yes, in about ten minutes. Santa Fe Depot sits northwest of the district on Kettner Boulevard, and the walk down Broadway and into Fifth Avenue is flat and direct. There is also a trolley stop on the district's own edge if you would rather not walk it, one stop from the station.