View of the center from West Harbor Drive

Panoramic view of the Gaslamp Quarter from the convention center, with the Hilton Gaslamp Quarter in the center and Petco Park and the Metropolis at the Omni Hotel to the far right.

Convention Center as seen from PETCO Park

The San Diego Convention Center is the primary convention center in San Diego, California. It is located in the Marina district of downtown San Diego near the Gaslamp Quarter, at 111 West Harbor Drive. The center is managed by the San Diego Convention Center Corporation, a non-profit public benefit corporation.

The convention center offers 615,701 square feet (57,200 square meters) of exhibit space. As of 2009 it was the 24th largest convention facility in North America.[1] It was designed by Canadian architect Arthur Erickson. Capacity for the facility is 125,000.^[1]

The center's most distinguishing feature is the Sails Pavilion, a 90,000 square foot exhibit and special event area. The Sails Pavilion's roof consists of distinctive Teflon-coated fiberglass "sails" intended to reflect San Diego's maritime history, as well as to advertise the center's proximity to the San Diego shore. The Pavilion was originally built as an open-air facility under the roof. However, the center found it hard to convince potential users to book an open-air facility, so the Pavilion area was enclosed in glass, greatly expanding the usable area of the center.^[2]

[edit] History

San Diego voters approved a measure to fund construction of a new convention center in 1983 on land owned by the Port of San Diego. Construction of the original building began in March 1987 and was completed in November 1989. An expansion which doubled the gross square footage of the facility was completed in September 2001. In September 2008 the center took steps to acquire adjacent property for an additional expansion.^[3]

Notable events hosted at the convention center include the annual Comic Con convention, the Society for Neuroscience and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) International Convention. Television game show Wheel of Fortune did live tapings of shows at the Convention Center featuring contestants from the San Diego area that aired nationally in 1997, 2003 and 2007. It was also the venue for the 1996 Republican National Convention and the 2007 California Democratic Party Convention. Famous guests include Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Gates, Halle Berry and Hugh Jackman.

[edit] In popular culture

The center appeared briefly in the movie Duplicity.^[4]

The center also was shown in the movie Demolition Man.^[5]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Convention Center website
• Port of San Diego website

Coordinates: 32°42′23″N 117°09′40″W / 32.706278°N 117.161207°W / 32.706278; -117.161207