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Description

Rare birdseye view showing the projected development of Mission Beach, issued at the time of its original subdivision by the Mission Beach Syndicate.

A smaller version of this view was included as part of the famous Miss B promotional brochure, distri­buted by the Mission Beach Syndicate, George L. Barney, Manager. The view depicts and extraordinary artist's rendition of Mission Beach, with the greater part of San Diego depicted in the background, from Claremont and the mountains in East County to Old Town, Mission Valley, Bankers Hill, Downtown, Coronado, Point Loma, etc.

The streets of Mission Beach were named in June, 1914 and adopted by the Common Council of San Diego on December 14, 1914. We have dated the view based upon the contemporary smaller view shown in promotional literature.

Mission Bay had been discovered by Cabrillo's expedition and named "Puerto Falso." The name remained and was included on Juan Pantoja's map of 1782 and James Pascoe's 1870 Map of the Pueblo Lands of San Diego. Mission Beach was not developed during the San Diego land boom of the 1880's, as were La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach and Coronado. At the time, it was a narrow strip separating the Pacific from the Bay and considered unuseable.

It was not until John D. Spreckels acquired the land that a plan for its development was set into motion. Spreckels had taken over Coronado's development from Babcock & Story and developed a prospering hotel and Tent City. Spreckels bought parts of the future Mission Bay, Pueblo Lot 1803, and began reselling the land. The name "Mission Bay" had been proposed as early as 1888 by Rose Hartwick Thorpe, a famous American Poet and wife of carriage maker E.C. Tharpe, early resident of Pacific Beach. The name became the official name for the Bay on June 2, 1915, by a decision of the U.S. Geographic Board.

The earliest subdivision map showing all of Mission Beach is apparently Loebenstein's Map of the Subdivision of Mission Beach, as surveyed June, 1914, by D. A. Loebenstein, C.E. Map # 1651, which resides in the San Diego County Recorder's Office. Loebenstein had moved to San Diego from Hawaii, where he had been a surveyor. After a brief period of private work in San Diego, he would become a Lieutenant in the California Naval Militia and subsequently called into service as part of the Pacific Fleet during WWI.

Condition Description
The map has been cleaned and restored and laid on a larger piece of paper for support. Some remaining soiling and one area of manuscript replacement in the lower left side of the plate.