Balboa Park West Mesa

Balboa Park West Mesa. . Extending from Sixth Avenue to Highway 163 and from the north to south boundaries of the park, the West Mesa remains Balboa Park's most recognizable example of the design style perfected by American landscape pioneer Frederick Law Olmsted. Samuel Parsons, It was the landscape architect commissioned in 1902 to create a comprehensive plan for San Diego's 1,400 acre City Park. His Olmsted inspired design sought to enhance the natural setting with judicious plantings, curvilinear roads respecting the terrain, and the creation of a pastoral setting without structures and other visual distractions. , Early landscaping of the West Mesa occurred along Sixth Avenue in 1885 and after 1892 when Kate O. Sessions Nursery was established within the park's northern border. Under a ten-year lease, Sessions planted more than 1,000 trees in the park. She demonstrated the horticultural potential of the largely barren land with a wide variety of tree species, seasonal flower displays, and flourishing nursery stock. , For the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, the West Mesa was improved with Balboa Park's first rose garden, sweeping picnic lawns, and an aviary. At the entrance of the dramatic Cabrillo Bridge, small ticket booths and gates were built across Laurel Street, anchored at each end with small stucco gate houses. Left in place when the entry gate was removed, the matching structures were restored in 2016 and offer a subtle introduction to the elaborate Spanish Colonial Revival exposition architecture across Cabrillo Canyon.