A Balboa Park Automotive Museum Would Appeal to Every Car Lover

Something exciting is on the horizon for Balboa Park--a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between San Diegans young and old, to bring to San Diego a dynamic new program involving all facets of San Diego society. All this would be manifested in the art, technology and culture represented in the world-class collection of vehicles at the San Diego Automotive Museum.

Museum patrons will be able to see a Duesenberg, a vehicle that in the early 20th Century, when most cars sold for $400, sold for around $20,000. Children will be able to see restoration techniques of old--which will more than prove the contention that they just don’t make ‘em like that anymore. Others will be able to visit our technical research library to leaf through a nationally ranked collection of photos, restoration manuals, booklets and other information that can tell what type of upholstery should go in a ’57 Chevy or which type of horn should be placed in an old Ford truck.

The museum’s meeting rooms will be available to accommodate a Boy Scout troop as it works on obtaining the automotive merit badge.

The San Diego Automotive Museum has a lot to offer the residents of San Diego, yet the issue of what to do with the Conference Building has generated many emotional responses. Often in issues where emotions run high, the facts get swept aside. There are a few salient points I’d like to address before they, too, get swept under the rug:

Let’s start with a matter that has taken top priority with the City Council--that of displacing current building users. Visit the Conference Building just about any day of the week and you will find it vacant. We know. The museum office is currently located there.

This building costs us taxpayers $34,000 annually, yet it is far from being utilized to its full potential. In its current state, it simply does not appeal to a whole lot of San Diegans.

But it does appeal to some--and that is important. We at the museum, and the city staff, have been assured and reassured by the Balboa Park staff that there are indeed alternative places inside the park for every single user of the Conference Building--except one. This means that most of those who do currently use the building--handicapped hockey players, Ping-Pong players and bazaar holders-- can be accommodated at another place in the park.

The big-noise opposition to the museum’s occupancy of the Conference Building has come for that one group that cannot be accommodated in an equivalent fashion inside the park--a group of square dancers known as the Raylin Cloggers. There are 150 of them who use the building regularly. What seems to have been overlooked is that there are alternatives for these people outside the park, and that for a nominal fee (usually between 32 cents to 90 cents per person) they can use private facilities for their activities.

The City of San Diego has not only the right but the responsibility to ensure the Conference Building, as city property, is preserved for the highest and best use of the greatest number of San Diegans. A council vote in favor of the San Diego Automotive Museum proposal will do this.

The museum program has five components, four designed primarily for San Diegans:

- A core collection of culturally and historically significant vehicles.

- Rotating collections featuring the finest of our area’s automotive clubs, changing quarterly.

- A nationally ranked technical research library and resource center.

- Complete restoration facilities that will be open to the public.

- Community meeting rooms for group get-togethers and special educational classes.

Implementation of the museum’s proposal will turn this sleeping giant into a bustling activity center, appealing to San Diegans from all walks of life. And its location next to the Aerospace Historical Center is a logical reinforcement to the cultural reputation of Balboa Park. Direct community involvement is what will make this museum special.

Sure, the museum will attract tourists. But it will first and foremost be a place open to San Diego, where residents of all ages can work, learn and socialize together, bridging the gaps that are too common in society today. This is what our Balboa Park is all about.

The museum is currently working with San Diego City Schools to develop educational and vocational programs in which our children will be able to learn from seasoned professionals. And talks are under way with the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to develop special programs for students on the dangers of drinking and driving.

It is community outreach programs such as these that we’re hoping will provide valuable alternatives for our underprivileged youth, getting them off the streets and into constructive self-help programs.

The Conference Building in its current state is an embarrassment to the park. Although it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, its stucco is cracked and peeling, weeds choke its periphery and the building is in need of some $300,000 in structural and cosmetic repairs. Unfortunately, the city just doesn’t have the money to repair it properly.

The San Diego Automotive Museum not only has the means but the expertise and commitment to immediately begin restoring this building to its 1935 beauty. It will also take responsibility for maintenance fees, which now cost taxpayers $34,000 a year. Financially, the proposal of the San Diego Automotive Museum is the best deal the City of San Diego is going to get.

For these reasons, and many more, the San Diego Automotive Museum has received the endorsement of the Park and Recreation Board and of the city manager in his report to the City Council.

The museum also has the support of civic groups such as the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Gaslamp Quarter Council, community groups such as the YMCA and the Boys Clubs of San Diego County, and practically every cultural institution in the park. It also has pledges of support from the gamut of car enthusiast groups in the county--more than 45 different organizations.

Now what, in all honesty, is the best and highest use of the Conference Building for the greatest number of San Diegans? I think the answer is obvious.

Current Conference Building users do have alternatives. To be successful--and accessible--to the highest number of people in San Diego, the San Diego Automotive Museum must be in Balboa Park, next to the Aerospace Historical Center. That is the opinion of representatives of the San Diego Zoo, and that is the opinion of virtually every other museum in Balboa Park. They ought to know.