Sixteen blocks of Victorian storefronts surround you here, once the rowdy Stingaree of the American West's saloons and gambling dens. When entrepreneur Alonzo Horton platted New San Diego near the waterfront in 1867, this area became the city's first commercial core. Saloons, hotels, brothels, and gambling dens lined these streets through the 1880s and 1890s — the neighborhood was known as the Stingaree, a rough waterfront district where sailors, soldiers, and fortune-seekers spent their money.
By the mid-twentieth century the area had declined into skid row. The 1970s and 1980s brought a massive preservation and redevelopment effort: the Victorian cast-iron storefronts were restored, and the Gaslamp Quarter became a National Historic District in 1980. Today the same streets that once housed opium dens and brothels are lined with restaurants, rooftop bars, and nightclubs.
The architecture is genuine — look up at the upper floors and you will see the original brick and ironwork. The Gaslamp is a story of historic preservation succeeding commercially, for better and for worse.