Casa del Prado

Casa de Balboa is a building in San Diego's Balboa Park, in the U.S. state of California. The building was originally known as the Commerce and Industries Building, and later called the Canadian Building, the Palace of Better Housing, and the Electric Building. It is currently home to the Museum of Photographic Arts, the San Diego History Center, the San Diego Model Railroad Museum, and the Balboa Art Conservation Center.

The San Diego History Center is a museum showcasing the history of San Diego, located in the city's Balboa Park.

The Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) is a museum in San Diego's Balboa Park. First founded in 1974, MOPA opened in 1983. MOPA is one of three museums in the US dedicated exclusively to the collection and preservation of photography, with a mission to inspire, educate and engage the broadest possible audience through the presentation, collection, and preservation of photography, film and video. The museum's address is 1649 El Prado, San Diego, CA, 92101.

The Botanical Building is an historic building located in San Diego's Balboa Park, in the U.S. state of California. Built for the 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition, it remains one of the largest lath structures in the world. Alfred D. Robinson (1867–1942), founder and president of the San Diego Floral Society, suggested the construction of a lath house as a feature of the Panama–California Exposition, which was to open in the City of San Diego on January 1, 1915.

The Timken Museum of Art is a fine art museum, established in 1965 and located at 1500 El Prado in Balboa Park in San Diego, California, close to the San Diego Museum of Art.

Zoro Garden is a 6-acre sunken garden within Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It is located between the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and the Casa de Balboa. The name refers to the Persian mystic Zoroaster.The stone garden was originally built for the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition. During the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition it was the site of the Zoro Garden Nudist Colony, which featured mostly-nude performers rather than practicing nudists.Zoro Garden is now planted as a butterfly garden. It is open to the public and can be reserved for special events.

The San Diego Model Railroad Museum is a model railroad exhibit in San Diego, California. At 27,000 sq. ft., it is the largest such indoor exhibit in North America, and one of the largest in the world. The museum is on the lower level of the Casa de Balboa Building on the Prado in Balboa Park. The museum is open Thursday - Sunday from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. .Nearly three million people have passed through the center since it opened in 1982.The San Diego Model Railroad Museum is a 501(c)(3) organization non profit charity.

Zorro Garden Nudist Colony was an attraction at the 1935-36 Pacific International Exposition in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It was located in Zoro Garden, a sunken garden originally created for the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition. Billed as a nudist colony, it was populated by hired performers rather than actual practicing nudists. The women wore only G-strings; the men wore loincloths or trunks. The participants lounged around in their "colony", played volleyball and other games, and performed a quasi-religious "Sacrifice to the Sun God" five times a day. Fair attendees could pay for admission to bleacher-type seats, or they could peek through knotholes in a wooden fence for free. On August 27, 1936, the colony closed, allegedly "after an argument with Exposition officials about finances."Contemporary newspaper accounts indicate the "colony" was composed of actual nudists, but local historian Matthew Alice has stated that the women were "wearing flesh-colored bras, G-strings, or body stockings so everything was zipped up tight." However, the women were indeed topless, as countless un-doctored photographs plainly show. Nate Eagle, a sideshow promoter who, with partner Stanley R. Graham, created the scandalous Zoro Garden nudist colony. Located in a sunken garden east of the Palace of Better Housing (today's Casa de Balboa), Zoro Garden was, according to the Zoro Garden program, "designed to explain to the general public the ideals and advantages of natural outdoor life." Topless women and bearded men in loincloths read books, sunbathed, and acted in pseudo-religious rituals to the Sun God. According to the program, "Healthy young men and women, indulging in the freedom of outdoor living in which they so devoutly believe, have opened their colony to the friendly, curious gaze of the public." The public's curious gaze quickly turned Zorro Garden into the Exposition's most lucrative outdoor attraction. Despite protests, Zorro Garden lasted for the entire run of the Exposition. The area is now the Zoro Butterfly Garden.

The House of Hospitality is a building located at San Diego's Balboa Park, in the U.S. state of California. It was originally built for the Panama–California Exposition (1915) as the Foreign Arts Building.Intended to be temporary, and was changed to the House of Hospitality for the California Pacific International Exposition (1935). The building was demolished in the 1990s for structural reasons and later reconstructed using the original building as a model. It is currently home to the Balboa Park Visitor's Center, the offices of the Balboa Park Conservancy, and offices for organizations operating in the park.

The San Diego Natural History Museum is a museum located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It was founded in 1874 as the San Diego Society of Natural History. It is the second oldest scientific institution west of the Mississippi and the oldest in Southern California. The present location of the museum was dedicated on January 14, 1933. A major addition to the museum was dedicated in April 2001, doubling exhibit space.

Woman of Tehuantepec, also known as Aztec Woman of Tehuantepec, is an outdoor 1935 fountain and sculpture by Donal Hord, installed in the courtyard of Balboa Park's House of Hospitality, in San Diego, California.

The Moreton Bay fig tree in San Diego's Balboa Park is one of the largest trees in California.