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Old Town San Diego is a favorite tourist attraction for its colorful gift shops, Mexican food, music and folklore dances. But from the old photos exhibited in the tourist office one realizes that the early residents of San Diego had a very hard life.

San Diego became the “Birthplace of California” when, in 1769, the King of Spain sent men to establish a fort and mission on the hill above present-day Old Town. The settlement was the first permanent European presence on the west coast of the United States.

Word finally reached San Diego in 1821 that, following years of skirmishes and disputes, Spain had ceded its control of Alta California to Mexico. This change meant little to the tiny settlement.

From 1820-1850s, a handful of foreigners from France, Russia, England, and the United States arrived by sea, joining Mexican ranchers arriving from the south to establish trading ventures.

According to New England author Richard Henry Dana, in 1835 “San Diego was a rough town with buildings made of mud clustered around an ill-defined central plaza.”

In 1847, the United States Congress decreed that San Diego would be one of the scheduled stops for steamboat service by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company from San Francisco. The first ship finally arrived two years later.

In 1848 California became a US territory, and an international border was created between Mexico and the United States.

In 1850 California was admitted as the 31st state of the United States. The population of San Diego was recorded as 650, but this figure did not include Native Americans living in the surrounding area.