During the development of the interurban electric rail system in San Diego,  
California, John D. Spreckels and his colleagues developed the famous Mission  
Cliffs Gardens on the edge of an upland overlooking Mission Valley and the 
San  Diego River to the north. This right angle turn on the San Diego Electric  
Railway was less than one mile from the trolley barns. During the 1915-1916  
Panama-California Exposition, this was a primary sight-seeing stop and a great  
many tourists actually bought land in the surrounding University Heights  
neighborhood. People from all over the region would take the trolley to the  
Mission Cliffs Gardens to walk on the paths, relax, read, and just stare out the  
views. During the Great Depression, the gardens fell into ruin and the 
property  sold for a housing project. The perimeter stone walls and an internal 
garden  circular wall have been landmarked and are protected. The trolley line 
ceased in  1949, when President Isenhower ordered the Interstate freeway system to 
replace  aging interurban rail lines across the nation (some think the 
emerging auto  industry, tire industry, and oil industry lobbied him to make that  
policy).
 
Ron May