This time of the year is the perfect time to visit San Diego—and not just for the sublime weather, beaches, award-winning craft breweries (there are more than 150), and world-class attractions that include the San Diego Zoo. Winter is also a perfect time to browse through the city’s many museums.
While I’m here for the mainstay museums of Balboa Park—the Mingei International Museum, the San Diego Air and Space Museum, Museum of Photographic Arts, Comic-Con Museum, and Museum of Us—I’m also exploring some lesser-known of more than 80 local cultural outlets. Here are some of the more off-the-beaten path museums on my itinerary.
Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center: Located in the Logan Heights neighborhood of Barrio Logan, CPMCC features exhibitions rotating local Chicano, Latino, and Indigenous artists that highlight these vibrant cultures with historic roots in the area. Adjacent to the museum exhibit space is Chicano Park, the emotional as well as geographical heart of San Diego’s oldest Mexican-American neighborhood. Its seven acres are home to 80 paintings, making it the largest concentration of Chicano murals in the world. It is creatively colorful, interspersed with sculptures, gardens, playgrounds, and picnic tables, making it a wonderful place to grab a bite to eat al fresco as you admire the murals. My favorite? Authentic Mexican street bites from neighboring Salud Tacos.
Brain Observatory: Neuroscience fascinates me, so this “museum” focused on bringing the world of the brain to the community is a must-see. Building on its reputation as a research lab at the University of California, San Diego, the downtown Brain Observatory is building an interactive library of brain images and models to support research, drug development and medical education. The exhibit’s goal is to catalog neuroimaging and stories from as many human brains as possible. Visitors can microscopically view all aspects of the brain at a cellular resolution, using state-of-the-art scientific instruments, and even explore samples from a vast selection of human brains.
Pacific Southwest Railway Museum: If trains more than brains are your thing, then you'll enjoy both locations of PSRM. At the La Mesa Depot, about 10 miles from downtown San Diego, you can pass through a waiting room and ticket area to see the telegrapher’s station and the baggage room exhibit to see the freight cars and a steam locomotive on the neighboring track. At the main Pacific Southwest Railway Museum, about an hour’s drive directly east in Campo, California, you can explore more than 120 locomotive artifacts and pieces of equipment and take vintage train rides on rail cars pulled by early 20th-century locomotives, including a 45-minute ride on the Golden State train through the rugged countryside of San Diego’s backcountry.
The J.A. Cooley Museum: Just a quick 2-mile jaunt north of Balboa Park museums, the Cooley Museum is a veritable treasure-trove of antiquities collections—more than 36 categories that range from music machines, telegraphs, and vintage phones to typewriters, cast-iron toys, spittoons, clocks, and cameras. Car fanatics will also enjoy viewing more than two dozen automobiles dating from 1886 to 1933.
Junipero Serra Museum: Perched just above Old Town San Diego Historic Park and home of the San Diego History Center, the Junipero Serra Museum is one of the West Coast’s most significant historical sites. It’s the location of the first permanent European settlement in California and functioned as an active garrison from 1769 to 1835. Archaeological data at the museum’s Presidio and church highlight the different histories of diverse ethnic communities that settled along the river, including the settlement of the Kumeyaay Indigenous people.
San Diego Police Museum: The San Diego Police Museum is a historical celebration of “America’s Finest” police department from its founding in 1889. Just 10 minutes from downtown in San Diego’s College Heights neighborhood, it is chock-full of vintage artifacts and nostalgic as well as modern police mementos, including vintage uniforms, display cases full of badges and medals, SDPD equipment, and letters and journals representing the history of San Diego’s law enforcement. You can view the Fallen Officer Memorial Wall, a police Patch Wall, and wander through wings showcasing horseback Mounted Enforcement, Jail, and Motor exhibits.
