Welcome to San Diego

Photo taken by: Cristela Garcia-Spitz

Welcome! The last time that SAA met in San Diego was 1996 and we are pleased to welcome the conference back to America’s Finest City.

As you are travelling around San Diego, we hope you’ll notice an important part of California architecture – the way the outside and the inside are intentionally contiguous. Our climate particularly lends itself to this design and we think you will enjoy what that means for you. Our conference hotel, the San Diego Hilton Bayfront has ample space for networking and ad hoc meetings in lovely spaces both indoors and outdoors, in sun and shade, with countless views overlooking San Diego Bay. You will find the same in many other hotels and restaurants, and even at the ballpark.

Between the structured activities of the conference, there will be many opportunities to socialize and make new connections. When it’s time to take a break from conference activities, there are great places to explore that are only a short distance from the conference hotel.

Photo taken by: Cristela Garcia-Spitz

The Gaslamp Quarter, across the street from the hotel, is a neighborhood of restored Victorian era buildings and also the epicenter of downtown nightlife. There are great views of Coronado across the bay from the conference hotel and it makes a lovely afternoon excursion by taking a ferry from the Broadway Pier. Little Italy, just north and west of the conference hotel, boasts some of the best Italian restaurants in the city. On Saturday morning visit the Little Italy Mercato where you can buy art from local artists and baked goods from neighborhood bakeries. Bring some of those baked goods back to Saturday morning sessions and you’ll be sure to make some new friends!

Balboa Park, the cultural heart of our city is also a great place to spend some time. The Park is home to a variety of museums, theaters, and cultural organizations with a multitude of activities – both indoors and out. We have lined up great opportunities to tour interesting repositories, many of which are in the Park, and we hope you will take advantage of them.

We know you are going to really enjoy your time in our city. We think that you’ll find San Diego to be a perfect place to balance the structure of the conference activities with those serendipitous interactions that we all find invaluable. 

SAA Host Committee 2012

Ardys Kozbial, (Chair) University of California, San Diego

Aubrey Carrier, Wells Fargo & Co. Archives

Eric Chin, NBCUniversal

Steven Coy, University of California, San Diego

Cristela Garcia-Spitz, University of California, San Diego

Timothy Gladson, Geothermal Resources Council

Helene Idels, Escondido Public Library

Amy Jankowski, San Diego Zoo Global

Jane Kenealy, San Diego History Center

Nancy Lenoil, California State Archives

Diane Maher, University of San Diego

Kelly McAnnaney, University of California, San Diego

Stephanie Mirkin, San Diego History Center

Brandon Oswald, Island Culture Archival Support

Katrina Pescador, San Diego Air & Space Museum, Inc.

Alan Renga, San Diego Air & Space Museum, Inc.

Annie Ross, University of California, San Diego

Jeffrey Schermer, Quintiles, Inc.

Bradley Westbrook, University of California, San Diego

Kim Schwenk, University of California, San Diego

Photo taken by: Cristela Garcia-Spitz