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Penning the Past 2026
Insights into San Diego's Historic Neighborhoods and Architecture
Step into the stories of San Diego’s built environment with Penning the Past, SOHO’s engaging Zoom lecture series that explores the city’s historic neighborhoods, architecture, and the people who shaped them. Now in its third year, the series continues to spotlight authors, historians, and preservationists whose research deepens our understanding of San Diego’s cultural and architectural legacy. SOHO members attend free, while non-members are welcome for $10 per lecture. Your participation supports SOHO’s mission to preserve the historic places and stories that make San Diego unique.
June 13 · 11am-12 noon
Balboa Park’s Botanical Building
Nancy Carol Carter
Few structures in San Diego are as beloved or as emblematic of Balboa Park as the Botanical Building. Opened for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and recently restored to its historic grandeur, this iconic structure reflects the city’s deep horticultural and architectural legacy.
Historian and landscape scholar Nancy Carol Carter traces the Botanical Building’s design, purpose, and evolution, situating it within Balboa Park’s broader landscape history while offering insight into the philosophy and challenges behind its careful restoration.
Author bio Nancy Carol Carter is a historian, writer, and leading authority on San Diego’s horticultural and landscape history. Associate editor of California Garden, she has published widely on Balboa Park and the legacy of figures such as Kate Sessions and Paul Thiene.
PURCHASE ADVANCE TICKETS
Free for SOHO members · $10 for non-members
July 11 · 11am-12 noon
Clairemont: the Village within a City
Alex Bevil
Explore the origins, design, and enduring legacy of one of San Diego’s most influential post war communities, Clairemont. Historian, researcher, preservation advocate, and long-time Clairemontian Alex Bevil will trace how developers Lou Burgener and Carlos Tavares transformed a windswept mesa above Mission Bay into one of the nation’s largest planned suburban communities, forever reshaping San Diego’s growth and identity.
Drawing from his extensive research and contribution toward SOHO’s acclaimed Clairemont: The Village within a City tour and accompanying booklet, Bevil will examine Clairemont’s innovative “Village within a City” concept, its pioneering suburban planning, leaving a remarkable collection of Mid-Century Modern architecture. From winding streets and cul-de-sacs to stylish tract homes designed by prominent architects including Sim Bruce Richards, Robert J. Platt, and Lloyd Ruocco, Clairemont captured the optimism and prosperity of postwar America while helping define modern San Diego living.
This fascinating presentation will offer a deeper understanding of how architecture, planning, and preservation intersect in one of San Diego’s significant but often overlooked historic communities.
Author bio A recent recipient of SOHO's Lifetime Legacy Award, Alex Bevil is a retired California State Parks historian, researcher, and preservation advocate whose work has led to numerous National Register and local historic designations throughout San Diego County. He is the author of several tour booklets over the years for SOHO, including the aforementioned Clairemont: The Village within a City tour and booklet, as well as Tiki: A Guide to San Diego’s Tiki Architecture and Rediscovering Calle Judeo: The Jewish Men & Women of Enterprise in Old Town San Diego (State Historic Park).
PURCHASE ADVANCE TICKETS
Free for SOHO members · $10 for non-members
August 8 · 11am-12 noon
Down the Rabbit Hole: The Women of Talmadge
Laura Henson
What can the lives of individual women tell us about a neighborhood? In "Down the Rabbit Hole: The Women of Talmadge," historian Laura Henson explores the often-overlooked women who shaped the early development of this San Diego community.
Through biography and place-based research, Henson reveals how individual lives illuminate broader themes of housing, independence, and community identity.
Author bio Laura Henson is a local historian, preservation advocate, and former president of the Talmadge Historical Society and the author of the award-recognized series "Down the Rabbit Hole: The Women of Talmadge."
PURCHASE ADVANCE TICKETS
Free for SOHO members · $10 for non-members
September 12 · 11am-12 noon
Ninety Years of Classic San Diego Tiki, 1928–2018
Martin S. Lindsay
Join author and food historian Martin S. Lindsay for a spirited exploration of San Diego’s unique role in America’s Tiki and Polynesian pop culture. From Prohibition-era bars to postwar tropical lounges, Lindsay’s richly illustrated lecture showcases the restaurants, artists, and designers who defined nearly a century of San Diego’s island-inspired style.
Author bio Martin S. Lindsay, AIGA, is an art director, food historian, and board chair of the Culinary Historians of San Diego. Author of Ninety Years of Classic San Diego Tiki, 1928–2018 and founder of ClassicSanDiego.com, Martin is a celebrated resource on local culinary and cultural history.
PURCHASE ADVANCE TICKETS
Free for SOHO members · $10 for non-members
October 10 · 11am-12 noon
Cemeteries of San Diego
Seth Mallios
Just in time for Halloween season, Cemeteries of San Diego explores the city’s past through its burial grounds. Archaeologist and historian Seth Mallios reveals how cemeteries reflect cultural change, memory, and the pressures of urban growth.
Based on the San Diego Gravestone Project, this illustrated lecture uncovers lost cemeteries and forgotten stories, showing how the city’s dead continue to speak to the living.
Author bio Dr. Seth Mallios is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the South Coastal Information Center at San Diego State University and director of the San Diego Gravestone Project.
PURCHASE ADVANCE TICKETS
Free for SOHO members · $10 for non-members
November 14 · 11am-12 noon
U.S. Highway 80
Chris Wray
Long before Interstate 8, U.S. Highway 80 was the lifeline that connected San Diego to the mountains, desert, and the wider Southwest. In this richly illustrated lecture, historian and author Chris Wray traces the story of this legendary transcontinental highway from downtown San Diego to the Imperial Valley and beyond, revealing how shifting routes, roadside communities, and changing transportation needs shaped the region.
Drawing on historic photographs, maps, and on-the-ground research, Wray explores Highway 80’s multiple alignments through the city and backcountry, from early surface streets and mountain grades to its eventual replacement by the modern freeway system. Along the way, he highlights forgotten towns, scenic passes, and roadside landmarks that once defined travel across San Diego County’s most rugged landscapes.
Blending transportation history with place-based storytelling, U.S. Highway 80 offers a compelling look at how one highway helped create—and ultimately transform—San Diego’s relationship with its mountains and desert.
Author bio Chris Wray is a San Diego historian and author specializing in the history of the county’s backcountry, mountains, and desert regions. He is the author of U.S. Highway 80, Highways to History, and The Historic Backcountry, and has produced a series of videos documenting historic places throughout San Diego County.
PURCHASE ADVANCE TICKETS
Free for SOHO members · $10 for non-members
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TOURS & EVENTS
Marston House Museum
Warner-Carrillo Ranch House Museum
Group Tours
Third Sunday Walking Tours
Self-Guided Tours
Penning the Past Zoom Lecture Series
Online Exhibits
Online Activities
People In Preservation Awards
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