San Diego, A Whimsical Map

Published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Marston Company: “This Limned Carte portraying with most exacting Fidelity the History, Romance and Humour of the glorious City of San Diego by the Pacific, likewise showing the Noble Harbour and its surrounding Terraine, is presented to you herewith by the Marston Company in Souvenir of its Golden Anniversary and dedicated to the memory of the bold Navigator and Discoverer of the Port Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. R.I.P”.

Mora’s justly celebrated map captures the historic and burgeoning city of San Diego with humour  and accurate detail: the Hotel del Coronado, the San Diego Mission, Mount Helix, the roller coaster at Mission Beach, the Point Loma lighthouse, the “aviation” field (now an international airport), and Balboa Park which had been the centre of the Panama-California Exposition in 1915. The Pacific teems with modern fishermen and early explorers, whales, sea-monsters, mermaids, warships and submarines.

Marston’s famous department store was founded by George White Marston (1850-1946) in 1878. As the owner of the only department store in San Diego, Marston became quite wealthy and used his considerable influence to develop the young city of San Diego. Among his greatest achievements is Balboa Park which at the time of this map was a great urban green space, the equivalent of New York’s Central Park.