A roundup of San Diego, California facts:
- San Diego, California is the seventh largest city in the United
States, with 2.5 million residents.
- The Hotel del Coronado on Coronado Island is the largest wooden
structure in the United States.
- San Diego, California is rimmed with seventy miles of beaches.
- San Diego's Zoo is home to the only pair of giant pandas in the
United States, and when Hua Mei was born here, she was the first baby
panda born in the Western Hemisphere since 1990 (she is now in China.
- San Diego, California is famed for the best climate in the United
States.
- San Diego, California is home of the first European settlement on
the West Coast.
- Legal drinking age is 21. Across the border in Tijuana, it's 18.
San Diego, California Taxes
- Hotel tax is 10%
- Sales tax is 7.5% (A helpful hint: when calculating a 15%
restaurant tip, all you have to do is double the tax!) Most San Diegans
consider the city's climate close to perfect, and Holiday Magazine even
voted San Diego "the only area in the United States with perfect
weather." The weather is tempered by the Pacific Ocean, which results in
relatively cool summers and warm winters. Temperatures below freezing
are rare, while hot weather, 90 degrees and above, is more frequent.
Winter is considered the rainy season; however, each winter month
averages 1.5 inches of rainfall, hardly enough to qualify for monsoons!
San Diego's weather patterns are affected by the "Marine Layer", a giant
layer of air in direct contact with ocean water. This moist, cool air
covers San Diego at night and recedes during the day, resulting in foggy
or hazy mornings that usually burn off by noon.
Santa Ana winds are another local weather phenomenon. Driven down from
the mountains to the east, Santa Anas compress as they descend to sea
level, generating heat and high temperatures. Santa Anas generally occur
in September and October, sometimes in November. Temperature often
exceed 90 degrees during these months; however, the heat is offset by
very low humidity, which often drops below 20 percent.
Just about every day is pleasant in San Diego, and its residents golf,
swim, play tennis, bicycle, rollerblade and do every other outdoor
activity imaginable under a canopy of sun and warmth year-round.
Part of the charm of any urban area is its diverse ethnic make-up, where
a variety of peoples converge on one area, creating a wealth of cultural
options, colorful ethnic eateries and a variety of perspectives. And San
Diego is no exception to this
San Diego content reprinted with permission from
City of San Diego gov
