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SOHO Newsletter / Sept-Oct. 2026

San Diego’s historic Wonder Bread Building at 171 14th Street in downtown is to be transformed by a winning new recipe into a 4,000-capacity music venue expected to open in 2028. Live Nation Entertainment’s project will adaptively reuse the 1924 red-brick landmark, bringing new life and revenue to one of the area’s distinctive industrial buildings.

In 2016, SOHO named the Wonder Bread Building to our Most Endangered List, when plans for a new stadium threatened its future. At the time, SOHO warned against both demolition and “facadectomy,” which would preserve only a thin historic exterior while sacrificing the historic building itself. Nearly a decade later, the building’s survival makes possible an exciting, forward-thinking adaptive reuse project.

SOHO Executive Director Bruce Coons, who met with the project team, welcomed their approach to the landmark, which was designed by San Diego master architect Eugene Hoffman. Coons routinely works with developers, owners, architects, and designers who bring projects to SOHO, helping them work through any issues, explore solutions, and identify the highest preservation practices and standards.

By Noah Robertson,Tara Copp, Warren P. Strobel, and Alex Horton / Washington Post / Sept. 18, 2026

More American service members have died in the Middle East during the ongoing Iran war than the Pentagon has disclosed publicly, according to six U.S. officials familiar with the Defense Department’s internal casualty accounting data.

Five of the officials said there have been at least 22 military fatalities — four more than what appears in the Pentagon’s public database, known as the Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS.

A sixth official, who like the others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the figures, said 23 service members have died since Feb. 28, when the Trump administration, in concert with Israel, initiated the Iran war. Not all of the undisclosed deaths are directly tied to the conflict but have involved U.S. personnel who were in the Middle East amid ongoing hostilities, this person said.

Additionally, the official said, three U.S. contractors who were based in the region have died since combat operations began.

Ariana Baio and Maanvi Singh / The Guardian US / Sept. 21, 2026

The major US television news outlets agreed to suspend their video coverage of Donald Trump after the administration banned journalists from several outlets from entering the White House grounds.

The collective decision came after the barred outlets – CNN, MS Now and Politico – sued the administration on Monday, saying the president’s actions were a violation of their first amendment rights.

The ban was an extraordinary escalation of Trump’s battle against news outlets. After a coalition of networks including ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC – which along with CNN form a press “pool” that share the responsibilities of capturing and distributing footage of the president carried by news outlets worldwide – announced they would cease coverage in solidarity with the barred outlets, the White House promoted its own feed online, branding it “Trump TV”. The channel purported to show “top past moments, announcements, and the latest and greatest from the administration all in one place”.

It is extremely rare for a president to travel or make public appearances without the accompaniment of a representative from the White House television pool. Network cameras have provided coverage of the president since 1950.

By Robert Campbell

On August 28, 2026, the San Diego Housing Commission held a special meeting, a quick under-the-radar addition. In this meeting the Commission unanimously passed massive, 100% deed-restricted affordable housing projects, two of which are in the city’s Chollas View and Encanto neighborhood area. A 244-unit prefabricated development at 4970 Market Street and a 64-unit project at 6601 Imperial Avenue on the corner of Woodman.

Rather than marking a triumph for housing equity, the hearing revealed a profound institutional disdain for vulnerable communities, exposing how municipal leaders and outside developers continue to weaponize low-income housing policy to entrench structural segregation.

In urban planning and fair housing, the single greatest factor in breaking generational cycles of poverty is opportunity area placement. Ensuring that subsidized housing is built in high resource neighborhoods with access to high performing schools, low environmental toxicity, high paying job centers, and robust community infrastructure.

Yet, throughout the entire August 28 Housing Commission discussion, opportunity area and resource metrics were given no discussion.

The conversation was restricted to narrow technical checkboxes, does the project have solar integration (no, but “solar ready”), cost-per-unit metrics ($442k for the prefab per unit on Market, $848k per unit for the traditional build on Imperial), transit access (.5 and 1.2 miles for Imperial to the Trolley), and drastically reduced parking minimums (such as providing a meager 15 parking spots for 64 units on Imperial of which 17 units are 3 bedroom). There was no discussion whatsoever regarding physical unit sizes, the prefab on Market appears to have units little bigger than parking stalls, ignoring whether these spaces are functionally adequate for families

By JW August
 
If you check your email, you don’t have to be told election time is upon us. Please look at the email I received from the AFL-CIO (at end of article).  I can guess where they are coming from politically (Democratic) but what interests me is the service performed for me.  It quickly confirmed my registration details.  It is a more sophisticated “get out the vote” campaign.  Try it yourself.  But of course, the unions will have my voting and contact information.

I sent two widely respected academics the email and asked them if this AFL-CIO message demonstrates a new strategy for getting information on voters.  Both said the same thing, Carl Luna, the Director of the Institute for Civil Civic Engagement, also a professor at the University of San Diego and Thad Kousser, Co-Director for the Center for Transparent and Trusted Elections and a professor of political science at UC San Diego.

by Christine Smith / Times of San Diego / Sept. 20, 2026

Midway Rising goes before the city’s Land Use and Housing Committee in October and the City Council later this fall. It’s billed as a major affordable housing win for San Diego with 4,254 homes, including 2,000 deed-restricted ones for households at or below 80% of area median income.

But the developer’s pledge to build those affordable units is not enough. The city must require an enforceable contract that guarantees the affordable units are built within a specified timeframe, to ensure the project complies with state housing incentives.

As presented to the Planning Commission in September 2025, the proposed agreement includes a waiver letting the developer delay the affordable units, if subsidy funding cannot be secured. Without a firm deadline and meaningful consequences, nothing ensures the affordable units will be built. Because the project relies on California’s Surplus Land Act and Density Bonus Law, the city must hold the developer — not San Diego taxpayers — responsible for constructing them.

Debbie L Sklar / Times of San Diego  / Sept. 18, 2026

A motorist traveling through San Diego in the 1930s didn’t need a large hotel to spend the night. Small tourist courts offered a room, a parking space, and a convenient stop along the road.

The tourist court emerged as automobile travel became more common. By the 1930s, Americans increasingly needed lodging that accommodated both themselves and their cars, and San Diego’s major automobile routes became natural locations for this new kind of business.

The city of San Diego identifies the tourist court — also called an auto camp or auto court — as the predecessor of the modern motel. Early courts generally consisted of small, one-story buildings with a limited number of rooms and nearby parking, or individual cabins arranged around a central parking area.

One example was the El Portal Motel and Apartments at 5252 El Cajon Boulevard, along Business Route U.S. 80. A vintage postcard advertised the property as “Doorway to Western Hospitality” and described it as a 54-unit motel and apartment complex with kitchens, a heated pool, and other amenities.

By Michael J. Stepner & Mary Lydon / San Diego Daily Transcript / Sept. 17, 2026

Residents in San Diego County overwhelmingly feel a deep sense of ownership for their beloved Balboa Park, but there is not an entity with comprehensive resources and authority to run it. The result is a dysfunctional dynamic that has been brewing for decades. Without a plan for sustainability, Balboa Park is doomed to a slow, steady decline.

Earlier this month a city of San Diego planning team presented its strategy for updating the Balboa Park Masterplan to the City of San Diego Balboa Park Committee. This is an official advisory committee for the mayor and city council on policy issues relating to the acquisition, development, maintenance and operation of Balboa Park.

Mayor Todd Gloria called for the plan to be updated three years ago but there was no money in the budget for it. Now, thanks to grants from the State of California, SANDAG and the Prebys Foundation, the planning process is moving forward.

Since the plan’s original adoption in 1989, it has had four amendments. Longtime park leaders and planners Howard Blackson and Vicki Estrada recommend amending and updating the existing Master and Precise Plans into one unified Master and Implementation Plan for the entire park to save time and money.

From SOHO

EACH YEAR, SAVE OUR HERITAGE ORGANISATION honors the people, organizations, public agencies, and homeowners whose vision and dedication ensure that San Diego County’s historic places continue to enrich our communities. The People In Preservation Awards celebrate those whose work reminds us that while preservation is about protecting our historic places and buildings it is also about stewarding the places that tell our collective story.

The 2026 People In Preservation Award recipients exemplify preservation in its fullest sense. This year’s honorees include individuals whose decades of leadership have shaped the preservation movement, homeowners who embraced the responsibility of caring for significant historic residences, skilled professionals who restored architectural landmarks with outstanding craftsmanship, and public agencies that invested in the long-term future of some of San Diego’s most treasured civic buildings.

OB Historical Society Presents

Did you know that Shelter Island, which we are all familiar with, started out as a sandbar and a shifting shoal that was considered to be a navigational hazard? The Island was nearly dredged out of existence before it was ever connected to Point Loma

By Debbie L. Sklar / Special to the OB Rag

Today, it is difficult to imagine that the Point Loma waterfront once contained a federal medical complex whose job was to help keep contagious diseases from entering San Diego.

But for decades, a quarantine station operated at La Playa, on the Point Loma waterfront.

The location had a long history before the federal government arrived. La Playa was the site of the Mexican-era hide houses and one of the earliest commercial areas around San Diego Bay. By the late 19th century, however, the federal government had another concern: ships arriving in San Diego could bring contagious diseases with them.

The Quarantine Station at La Playa was established in 1888, according to the San Diego History Center’s History of San Diego, 1542-1908. Work on its buildings began in 1891, and the Marine Hospital associated with the station occupied nearly the site of the old hide houses.

The federal quarantine system was becoming increasingly important as San Diego’s maritime connections expanded.

The National Archives records describe the Point Loma station as a federal quarantine facility responsible for San Diego Bay. When ships arrived, inspectors boarded them and reviewed the voyage and the health of passengers and crew.

By Robert Burns

I live part-time in Tijuana.  I have long shared the popular public dismay with M.T.S. and its often barely loaded big busses, limited ridership, and every rising fares.

In Tijuana public transit is provided by the private sector–not taxpayers– with fleets of single-level vans and large busses.  More of this is discussed below.

The Moovit app discusses public transit in Tijuana :

Get around Tijuana by public transit!
Traveling around Tijuana has never been so easy. See step by step directions as you travel to any attraction, street or major public transit station. View bus and train schedules, arrival times, service alerts and detailed routes on a map, so you know exactly how to get to anywhere in Tijuana.