Gaslamp Quarter
Victorian-era saloon district named for the sting of bay rays, now lined with bars and restaurants.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego traces how the blocks south of Market Street earned the nickname the Stingaree in the eighteen eighties, after the stingrays that once lurked in the bay's shallows. You'll hear how the district packed in dozens of saloons and over a hundred brothels, gambling halls and opium dens, and how gunfighter Wyatt Earp spent a quieter few years here running gambling halls. It follows the neighborhood into the early nineteen hundreds, as the city grew anxious about its image ahead of a world's fair. Look up at the brickwork above today's restaurants and bars for a glimpse of the buildings that lived through it all.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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