When most people think about Balboa Park, they usually think about the zoo and maybe the botanical garden. There is so much more to this park including an amazing history. Balboa Park was originally called City Park and consisted of approximately 1,400 acres of undeveloped land. The bulk of the facilities were built as a temporary venue for the Panama- Exposition of 1915. Think about that – the majority of the buildings were never designed to be in existence in 2025! The Spanish Colonial architecture style truly fits the environment.
Today, Balboa Park is 1,200 acres in size. Throughout the decades, Balboa has experienced growth and a number of different styles of architecture have popped up. In particular, I have wonderful memories of the Starlight Bowl which was built in 1935 and originally called the Ford Bowl. Unfortunately, the theater shut down in 2012. During my childhood, my family attended many nighttime performances of classic musicals. Because of the proximity to Lindbergh Field Airport, performers needed to watch the conductor’s podium for the famous red light. The minute it went on, all performers had to freeze completely until the light went off – basically, once the plane flew over the bowl. It was so much fun to watch actors freeze mid song, dance and so on. In addition, each performance had to use a small red box as a prop. This prop went back to 1945.
During our recent visit, we enjoyed a late lunch at the Prado restaurant. It first opened in 1935 and is located in one of the buildings built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. It offers both great indoor and outdoor seating. Personally, I love going for a late lunch to avoid the crowds. I really like the restaurant’s crab and spinach dip; it is made with mascarpone cheese and is so rich and flavorful. The restaurant’s flan is amazing as well.
The big destination, of course, is the zoo to see the pandas. The pandas are adorable but I much prefer the tigers, hippos and bears. The baby bears are especially adorable. The zoo offers double-decker tour buses but we prefer to walk. During our most recent visit, we saw the highlights and walked almost 6 miles in less than four hours. My advise is to arrive early to avoid the intense afternoon crowds. We arrived a few minutes before 9 AM and found parking by the entrance.
One of the newest museums is the Comic-Con Museum. My father was a comic book writer who created Sabrina the Teenage Witch so this museum is, naturally, a favorite of mine.
In summary, Balboa Park really does offer something for everyone.
NO time for boredom today 
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