Saved buildings
save our heritage organisation

San Diego's Historic Neighborhoods

Listed by SOHO in 2023 and 2024 as the primary threat to our region, historic neighborhoods now face their most serious endangerment yet—from the combined impacts of California SB 79 and the City’s Preservation and Progress initiative, with its first of two parts expected to go before the San Diego City Council in January 2026.

Together, these measures severely undermine the hard-won protections that safeguard San Diego’s heritage. SB 79, signed into law in 2025, fast-tracks development in older neighborhoods by limiting local governmental and public review and exempting many projects from crucial environmental oversight. At the same time, the City’s Preservation and Progress initiative seeks to streamline its preservation ordinance—effectively weakening the process that identifies and designates historic resources and districts, and diminishing the authority of its Historical Resources Board.

These actions, driven by development interests and political pressure to build housing and other projects at any cost, risk erasing the architectural and cultural fabric that defines San Diego’s most beloved communities. Once lost, these vibrant neighborhoods—and the sense of place they create—cannot be rebuilt.

What You Can Do

  • Stay informed about the City’s Preservation and Progress initiative and speak out during public hearings and email comments to historicplanning@sandiego.gov
  • Contact your councilmember and urge them to strengthen—not weaken—historic protections.
  • Support SOHO’s ongoing advocacy to defend San Diego’s preservation ordinance and ensure balanced growth that honors our city’s past.

(Scroll to view more photos)

3330 and 3340 6th Avenue in Bankers Hill before

3330 and 3340 6th Avenue in Bankers Hill after

Third Avenue and Nutmeg Street

301 Spruce Street before

301 Spruce Street before

301 Spruce Street after

324 Grape Street before

324 Grape Street after

701 Robinson Avenue before

701 Robinson Avenue after

Red bungalow before

Red bungalow demolition, October 5, 2023. Screen shots from video by Brenda Kay Baird

Red bungalow after

Photos courtesy Gregory May except where noted otherwise.

2025

Newly and continued threatened

Sites to watch

2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021

2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016

2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011

2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006

2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

Mailing - PO Box 80788 · San Diego CA 92138 | Offices - 3525 Seventh Avenue · San Diego CA 92103
Offices, Museums & Shops (619) 297-9327
Home | Contact