John Fry

Pacific Beach Through Time John Fry

Founded as a college community in 1887, Pacific Beach was a rural suburb of San Diego during the first part of the twentieth century. WWII brought a five-fold increase in its population and it became a community of family homes. In the latter part of the century those homes were increasingly replaced with apartment buildings, and the population changed to young people looking for "fun in the sun." That trend has only increased in this early part of this century. Old structures disappear on a daily basis, replaced with businesses catering to a younger crowd. Only a few homes survive from the town's earliest years and a handful of business buildings from the 1920s. Unlike the solid brick buildings in the East, structures in Pacific Beach change, and change, and change again. Color photos of "the old Pacific Beach" are a treat to young and old.