News 8 Throwback 1978: Development in downtown San Diego, Horton Plaza

In the summer of 1978, downtown San Diego was experiencing lots of change. News 8's Dave Cohen reported on a 50-acre residential redevelopment project in the Marina and Columbia districts. Reporter Carol Kendrick showcased the Horton Plaza redevelopment area and contractor Ernest Hahn's vision for the three-story mall which would take several years to create.

[@METALFAN4EVS]

Love seeing videos of my city. Wish we could go back to this time, today sucks

[@seandaugherty9171]

I wish they'd have left it alone. I liked it the way it was. :-(

[@jimmac6054]

Yeah! Dirty filthy Broadway!

[@iFriendofYours]

This should be broadcast over and over in the four corners of San Diego the city. Unbelievable.

[@iamkarlwithak]

Horton Plaza is the definitive development that shows how developers have taken advantage of the incompetence that has plagued the City Council and local government. Current affordable housing in downtown is a tent. 🙏💪🌍🌏🌎❤️🇺🇸🖖

[@romansroad2007]

Where is the low income housing at ? Ya right

[@Baynewsvideo]

@2:19 "Itinerant preachers and Down and Outers" ...I love you Carol Kendrick! Wish Ch-8 still had snappy writing like that.

[@CJinsoo]

love that there is no political correct B.S., tyhey are bums and they won’t be stopping progress-hit the bricks!

[@Voorhees-Jason]

Also low income my foot, that area now that has condos and homes is one of the most expensive places to live!!!

[@Voorhees-Jason]

I wondered if he knew that mall would only have a life span of 35 years after it's grand opening

[@thomasyarnall999]

35 years is longer than the average lifespan for a mall. Luckily this one is being repurposed.

[@Nirvezz]

@@thomasyarnall999 plaza Bonita I believe is older, and doing fine, the old Chula Vista mall and even the ghetto Price Breakers in national city. Horton plaza was beautiful and should have lasted longer and popular

[@CJinsoo]

that’s a pretty long time for a mall with stores that are heavily frequented. seems like it did well.

[@dexterpace7710]

Horton Plaza was a bad design from the start. Getting “ lost” got old quickly

[@spacedye2001]

@@CJinsooHorton Plaza was terrible from the beginning and destined to fail.

[@andreamurphy1126]

Watching this in November 2020. That mall was soooo confusing. It was so Suessical .

[@Nirvezz]

I often saw confused and angry shoppers. Mainly because they felt stuck in a maze.

[@durf2753]

Downtown sure looked more vibrant then than now. After all, Horton Plaza only lasted 30 years and went bust. Downtown is even worse shape now. Sad

[@pamelamays4186]

Low income. Low income residents have been chased out of downtown.

[@noreenanthony-tabar2148]

While in the US Navy I got stationed at Subase Point Loma and we were told to not go downtown San Diego, too dangerous and this was in 1993. When Horton Plaza was already making the area safer for sailors. But nice to see how San Diego was before Horton Plaza.

[@seaweed2007]

That’s the biggest bunch of bunk I’ve ever heard. I was a young woman then and spent so much time down there. There was nothing dangerous about it.

[@Nirvezz]

They probably misinformed you. It’s probably the street hookers right outside the base in national city and to avoid the historical Trophy Lounge, which is closed.

[@noreenanthony-tabar2148]

@@seaweed2007 What year?

[@seaweed2007]

@@noreenanthony-tabar2148 64 to 95.

[@noreenanthony-tabar2148]

@@seaweed2007 31 years?

[@kingmanarizona2661]

I was there in 1978, statiioned at Balboa Hospital. Spent a lot of time there, walked, watched late night movies, etc. But that place was a slum! I remember waiting for a bus one late night in that park, and in 5 minutes I was offered drugs 5 times, women 7 times, then a car stopped, tossed a guy out, beat him up, tossed him back in, and drove away! Fun times. The beaches were also slums. Funny how things change over time... San Diego was a fairly cheap place to live. Mission Beach, PB, OB were beach bum paradises. Sometimes change is not for the better.

[@jjcooks7401]

What a visionary

[@romansroad2007]

It’s messed up even after they did it What a waste. They are still back to square one. The big Store’s are gone too

[@bradsteinwehe3204]

At :58 note the sign on the building advertising “nudity”. I wonder if they are still in business.😂

[@efrem1]

Stayed at the Armed Forces Ymca next to that place back in the early 1980s. All of that stuff was long gone by the 1990s with several hotels standing on that site.

[@daikatana65]

horton plaza is history now!!!!

[@darthmaul33]

Can I get one ticket for the Martial Arts Mayhem at the Cabrillo, please?

[@armandtoledo6706]

What a horrifying cold and ugly place downtown has become. Much better back then

[@danielmaher7108]

I grew up in San Diego but left in 1985. The last time I visited was in November of 2018 and I couldn't believe how gentrified downtown had become.

[@6galaxy]

The underground restrooms were already sealed by this time.

[@sandiegofilm4923]

Bum were they bad?

[@6galaxy]

@@sandiegofilm4923 Back then my Mom told me people would get robbed down there and also fights would happen. Hard to escape out of there.

[@jimmac6054]

Were there ever any Gaslamps in downtown SD or does it just sound less seedy & in need of penicillin than the "Stingaree" district?

[@nelsongarcia9894]

We never had any gaslamps. It was just a rebranding moniker make up in the 70s to give it a “Victorian” feel. I still refuse to call it that. It was The “Stingaree.”

[@onefatstratcat]

'78 was the year I escaped from high school :)

[@medavog]

IN 1980 MY MOM AND MY BROTHERS ARRIVED TO THAT FOUNTAIN TO GO 2 BLOCKS AWAY TO IMMIGRATION BUILDING TO GET A FINGERPRINTS- I REMEMBER EXACTLY THAT SCENE OF OLD, DECAY AND I HAVE NEVER OR MY FAMILY SEEN HOMELESS OR BLACK PEOPLE - TRULY IMPRESSIVE CHANGE BUT THE HOMELESS ARE MORE NOW THAN EVER BEFORE, GOD BLESS DOWNTOWN AND SAN DIEGANS! i loveee black men now lol

[@ivanhoesanchez2606]

NICE STORY

[@adriena.samuels9726]

Genius hahn

[@DankSi]

Remember were parked on pineapple!

[@Zero-xl2ef]

And it did. Sadly it’s gone now, the mall will become office spaces smdh

[@chenydeniz3594]

It was not better at all. It got worse

[@spacedye2001]

How did Horton Plaza work out? 😂😅

[@Nirvezz]

Better off demolishing that area and re-do the design of downtown.

[@voiceofraisin241]

I wonder how many of those low income units are still low income. Wait I can tell you. Zero. They buy them cheap but when they go to sell them they get full price.

[@pontiacgto2005]

CCDC has not done the job.

[@sdrob6374]

Now the Homeless and tweakers are trying to return it to the 70's.

[@johnjaco5544]

Complete failure

[@JacoZawinul]

02:17 "Seedy refuge of itinerate creatures and down and outers that assaults the camera’s eye” Carol Kendrick

[@DankSi]

Now that's writing