Sefton Plaza is a hidden gem at the very entrance to Balboa Park, placed between Sixth Ave. and Balboa Dr. at Laurel Street.
This charming plaza makes an ideal meeting place for friends and family to gather for a picnic before walking or driving over the Cabrillo Bridge into El Prado.
For that picnic within Sefton Plaza, almost no other place is better for it than near the massive, venerable Moreton Bay fig tree. It can be easy to miss, however, especially if you’re in the car chugging down Laurel Street to go over the Cabrillo.
This enormous tree is a marvel, inviting you into its generous trunks for a tree-hug. No climbing allowed, though, in this grand ol’ beauty. Furry and feathered creatures make their home in the tree, and for all its majesty, the tree’s roots, branches and trunks are delicate.
Taking care of this tree by letting it be is a unique opportunity for every visitor to maintain the beauty of Sefton Plaza. I certainly felt that way during my last visit.
Important civic leaders are responsible for developing and maintaining Balboa Park’s beauty, including horticulturist and gardener Kate Sessions. Because of her, the trees and shrubs thrive in the once-barren and dusty landscape. She and a few fellow civic leaders, including George Marston, worked together on creating the beauty of the park.
Today, the Balboa Park we know is one of the most florid and outstanding parks in the United States.
You can stand next to the larger-than-life bronze statue of Kate Sessions at the southeastern corner of Sefton Plaza. Sometimes called the Mother of Balboa Park, she stands holding a trowel in one hand and a succulent in the other. The sculpture of Kate stands among a variety of beautiful plants including species she introduced to the park.
Larger-than-life representations of civic leaders
Within Sefton Plaza, you’ll meet other larger-than-life representations of civic leaders who helped make San Diego the destination spot it is today include Alonzo Horton, Ephraim Morse, and George Marston. These three visionaries dreamed up the idea of Balboa Park, then worked tirelessly to create it.
Ephraim Morse, an early settler and promoter of San Diego, and Alonzo Horton, a land speculator responsible for downtown San Diego’s current location, proposed in 1868 that the new City Park — as it was named back then — occupy 1,400 acres.
Today, that is considered a vast size for a park, but back in the late 1800s, it must have seemed an impossibility to most people, considering that San Diego at the time had a mere 2,300 residents.
George Marston, often called the Father of Balboa Park, was a prominent department store owner who personally funded the park’s design. (His grand mansion home I wrote about in my first installation of this column about Balboa Park.) The former superintendent of New York City’s Central Park, Samuel B. Parsons Jr., was hired to the dream park. Construction began in 1903 at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Date Street.
You will find the bronze statues of these three prominent San Diegans at the northeastern side of Sefton Plaza. You can take some unique photos of yourself and friends next to the statues. Imagine the questions you might have for those characters of yesteryear.
Within the little plaza itself, you’ll find other characters, notably furry and feathered ones. During nesting and breeding season, which can last clear through August, you’ll find fox squirrels with their red bushy tails scrambling up trees. They’ll also walk up very close to you or stare you down from their spot in a tree, as desert cotton-tailed rabbits skip, hop, and bop all around.
Sefton Plaza has indeed a wonderful cast of characters.
— Cynthia G. Robertson is an award-winning freelance writer and photographer. She has composed interesting stories about SoCal people and places for more than 30 years. Her stories, essays and poems have also been published in “Acorn Review,” a literary journal, as well as several anthologies, including “Six Feet Apart…in the Time of Corona.” She blogs about her observations of nature and spirituality, and in 2019, she penned her first novel, “Where You See Forever.” She is working on her next book. Find out more at cynthiarobertson.com.
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