Balboa-Park Survey Begins

by J. Fredrick Lawrence

- Windamer & his Bugatti Edizione Speciale clear a path -

With the help of her childhood friend Grace Park, the two set about turning a scrub-brush mesa into the "Emerald of San Diego." Andrea's brother Windamer had become quite an accomplished surveyor during a two-year mapping expedition to the Pampas with the National Geographic Society.

Windamer, ever the dilettante, drove his 1909 Bugatti Edizione Speciale up and down the hills and through the native vegetation in order to complete his survey. Opening ceremonies were not held until 1928.

Andrea and Grace had at first proposed to call their project the Balboa-Park Gardens, but  later settled on calling it simply Balboa Park.