By Debbie L. Sklar / Special to the OB Rag
Pacific Beach looked very different in the summer of 1893.
The seaside community was still developing, with a hotel, a large dance pavilion and a railroad that brought visitors from San Diego to the beach. For San Diegans looking for a summer escape, Pacific Beach offered music, surf bathing, picnics and dancing.
On August 26 — exactly 133 years ago — it offered something else: an all-day outing organized by the Elks that drew about 600 people.
San Diego Lodge No. 168 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks had been established just three years earlier, in 1890. By 1893, the lodge was meeting at the B.P.O.E. Hall in the Fisher Opera House.
For the Aug. 26 outing, the Elks planned a full day of entertainment.
Music played throughout the day and continued during an evening dance. There were a street pageant, races and games, including climbing a greased pole and a tug-of-war.
There was also baseball.
A team of nine representing San Diego’s city government faced nine county officials in a game played “in the open air.” The county team, known as the “court house boys,” defeated the “city hall nine” 16 to 8 in five innings.
Prizes were awarded to the contestants at 7:15 p.m. in the pavilion. Afterward came a social gathering, with more music and dancing.
The Elks’ outing came during a busy August at Pacific Beach. Earlier in the month, four or five hundred people had attended a Christian Endeavor picnic at the beach. The gathering included a song service in the big pavilion, surf bathing and other recreation.
On Aug. 22, another excursion brought visitors to Pacific Beach for an evening of music and dancing. The Fisher Opera House orchestra, a 12-piece ensemble directed by Professor Boeckh, provided the music. Round-trip tickets, including the dance, cost 25 cents.
The railroad helped make such outings possible.
The San Diego, Old Town & Pacific Beach Railway connected San Diego with Pacific Beach, making the resort accessible to excursionists and day-trippers. The line ran along Grand Avenue to a depot near the beach.
The railroad’s history was still evolving in 1893. In September of that year, its owners received a franchise to extend the railroad from Pacific Beach to La Jolla. Construction began the following year, and the extension was completed in May 1894. The line was then renamed the San Diego, Pacific Beach & La Jolla Railway.
Pacific Beach itself had been developing as a resort since the late 1880s. The Pacific Beach Company promoted the area, while the hotel, pavilion and railroad gave visitors reasons to make the trip.
But on Aug. 26, 1893, the attraction was the Elks’ outing.
About 600 people came out for a day filled with music, competition, games and baseball. The activities continued into the evening, when the crowd gathered at the pavilion for prizes, socializing and dancing.
Today, Pacific Beach is one of San Diego’s best-known beach communities. In 1893, however, it was still a developing resort where a railroad excursion could transform the beach into a gathering place for hundreds of people.
For one August day, city and county officials put aside their offices for a baseball game, contestants tackled a greased pole, crowds watched races and games, and music carried on into the evening.
It was a very different Pacific Beach — but even then, San Diegans knew how to spend a day at the beach.
I wonder if it was as hot as it is now.
Sources
San Diego Union, August 1893, contemporary reports on Pacific Beach activities and the Aug. 26 Elks outing
John Thom, Directory of San Diego City and County for 1893-94 (1893).
San Diego History Center, History of San Diego, 1542-1908, historical account of San Diego Lodge No. 168.
San Diego History Center, The High Iron to La Jolla, history of the San Diego, Old Town & Pacific Beach Railway.
San Diego History Center, historical photograph collections, Pacific Beach.
