San Diego, CA
Before streaming and television, movies arrived by reel in San Diego
The magic of movies may still be present, but the way audiences experienced them in early San Diego was very different.
In the opening decades of motion pictures, films didn’t originate locally — they arrived.
Before Hollywood’s studio system fully consolidated, movies were distributed as physical reels and moved through regional film exchange networks.
These exchanges supplied theaters across the West Coast, including San Diego, with a steady rotation of new titles. Prints would arrive from distribution hubs in Los Angeles, play brief local runs, and then continue onward to the next city. San Diego was part of the circuit, rather than a production center.
By the early 1900s and into the 1910s, downtown theaters and vaudeville houses quickly adapted to motion pictures as they grew in popularity.
Programs were mixed: silent shorts, live music, vaudeville acts, and newsreels sharing the same stage. Film was not yet a standalone cultural industry — it was part of a broader night of entertainment.
San Diego’s growing downtown and busy port helped sustain this system. Sailors, travelers, and military personnel created a steady audience base, and films rotated frequently enough to keep programs changing week to week.
Films also did not arrive everywhere at once. A title might open in Los Angeles first, then reach San Diego days or weeks later as part of the same distribution circuit. Early cinema was a staggered experience—shared nationally, but consumed locally at different moments in time.
Film historians, including those from the Library of Congress and the American Film Institute, note that these exchange systems were essential to standardizing early American film culture, allowing motion pictures to reach cities far beyond production centers.
(Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)
Within this broader California film landscape, early directors often worked quickly and flexibly. William Bertram, for example, operated in a fast-moving production environment shaped by outdoor locations and rapid shooting schedules rather than permanent studio infrastructure.
Directors with direction
Allan Dwann, whose career stretched from the silent era into the sound age, represents a later stage of that evolution. A prolific filmmaker, he eventually settled in La Jolla, where he lived for many years until he died in 1981. His presence in coastal San Diego reflects the period when the film industry had become firmly rooted in Southern California life.
San Diego’s role in early cinema was not as a production hub, but as a receiving point — its downtown theaters and vaudeville houses acting as stops along a larger national distribution route.
In that sense, early film culture here was defined less by creation than by circulation: reels arriving, audiences gathering, and the city sitting along the path movies traveled as they moved across the country.
Read more history stories here, and do you have a story to tell? Send an email to DebbieSklar@cox.net.
Sources:
Library of Congress — motion picture history and early film distribution/exchange systems.
American Film Institute (AFI) Catalog — silent-era exhibition and industry context.
San Diego History Center — early 20th-century urban development and cultural life.
Eileen Bowser, The Transformation of Cinema, 1907–1915 (MoMA film scholarship)
Other historical references.
San Diego, CA
San Diego Iranians are torn over the World Cup as the U.S.-Iran war and a new peace deal collide
SAN DIEGO (KGTV)- For many Iranians, the World Cup is more than a sporting event. It’s about family, culture, and holding on to a sense of home during a time of tensions between Iran and the United States.
As Iran takes the field in the World Cup, the United States and Iran have reached a deal aimed at ending the war. But even as the conflict has stalled, fans like Reza Gharajedaghi say this is a moment that brings back memories.
“I left Iran when I was 10, right before the first World Cup in ’78 when I used to watch it with my dad,” Gharajedaghi said. “Now, with all that’s going on with the war, and the Iranian community is divided, some people support the team, some don’t.”
Gharajedaghi’s love for the game began as a child in Iran, and some of his most treasured memories involve watching matches with his father.
“We used to go to the games, but the best one was when I went to France in ’98, and my dad sponsored me to go to France, and Iran was playing the U.S., and I called my dad at halftime from a phone in France, and I said we’re up 1-0 and we ended up winning 2-1,” Gharajedaghi said.
His father is now 96 years old and living with dementia, but Gharajedaghi says he is grateful to be by his side as they root for Iran — and put politics to the side.
“Just to be able to be with him and uh watch Iran together after all these years, uh, 40, you know, 47 years is pretty amazing,” Gharajedaghi said.
While politics loom over the game, dozens of San Diegans headed to SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, where Iran played, and vowed to protest the regime and the soccer team.
“We’re not going to cheer for anything that is associated with the regime, including this team. This team will be boycotted,” one protester said.
“All we want to do is just a peaceful protest and be the voice of real Iranian people, not the Islamic regime football team,” another protester said.
Meanwhile, dozens of others gathered to watch and celebrate Iran.
For Gharajedaghi, he will support the team no matter what.
“Win or lose, you know, it’s, it’s just, it’s just national pride,” Gharajedaghi said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SAN DIEGO, CA — [June 15th, 2026] — Art plus story equals culture. Today, three local groups deeply invested in advancing San Diego arts and culture— San Diego FC Playmakers, Art & Design District, and San Diego Magazine—have joined forces to tell its stories.
The initial project will be a landmark September edition of San Diego Magazine—fully dedicated to the people, ideas, and identities of the city’s creative community. After its release, those stories and more will extend across six months of integrated digital, social, and multi-platform coverage. Art & Design District and SDFC Playmakers will serve as co-publishers of the expanded editorial vision.
The Art & Design District is evolving into San Diego’s first home for the performing arts at iconic downtown venues like the Civic Theatre and Jacobs Music Center alongside research and development programs focused on artist live/work spaces, galleries, studios, and New School of Architecture & Design.
“[The Art & Design District initiative] is a long-term investment in San Diego’s creative life and the creative workforce that powers our cultural experiences and creative industries here at home and across the world,” says Jonathan Glus, Prebys Senior Fellow for Art & Design in Residence at Downtown San Diego Partnership. “But infrastructure alone is not enough. The public needs to see, understand, and participate in what’s being built and why. Joining as co-publisher of this issue means helping ensure that the story of San Diego’s creative community—its artists, its institutions, its future—gets told at the level of ambition the moment requires.”
San Diego has entered a defining chapter in how the region invests in its creative community, with civic and philanthropic leaders working alongside artists, brands, institutions, and people to chart a new model of public-private support for arts and culture.
As digital co-publishers of San Diego Magazine‘s arts and culture coverage, SDFC’s Playmakers partnership will include a six-month integrated collaboration designed to sustain the visibility of San Diego’s creative community well beyond a single issue.
“The Playmakers program was built on the belief that the creative community is essential to what makes San Diego, San Diego,” says Sebastian, San Diego FC’s SVP of Brand and Innovation. “Investing in local media that tells those stories—and reaches the audiences who need to hear them—is one of the most direct ways we can support the artists, organizations, and cultural leaders shaping this city’s future. We’re proud to step in as digital co-publishers of San Diego Magazine‘s arts and culture coverage and the founding partner of this new editorial program.”
Under the partnerships:
- The Art & Design District joins as Co-Publisher of the September 2026 Arts & Culture Issue, undwriting San Diego Magazine‘s most ambitious editorial event of the year.
- SDFC Playmakers joins as Digital Co-Publisher of San Diego Magazine‘s arts and culture coverage, founding a six-month integrated partnership that includes co-publisher presence in the September issue.
The partnership represents a new model for regional media: civic and cultural institutions providing the resources required for sustained, ambitious, local editorial media focused on the neighborhoods it serves.
“For 78 years, the magazine has told the story of arts and culture here,” says Claire Johnson, CEO of San Diego Magazine. “But the fragmentation of traditional media has made it harder than ever to cover this community at the depth and scale it deserves. SDFC Playmakers and the Art & Design District have recognized something critical: Media is not separate from the civic conversation, it’s the stage for the conversation.”
San Diego Magazine retains full editorial control over all reporting, features, and original content produced under both partnerships.
“Our role in this ecosystem is to tell the story of San Diego’s culture and provide context for our readers.” says Johnson. “These partnerships give us the resources to do justice to that responsibility—and to extend that commitment well beyond a single issue. Our readers also deserve to know exactly how this work was funded. I’m grateful to our partners, and to the arts and culture community in San Diego for letting us tell this story.”
The September Arts & Culture Issue will be released early September 2026, with digital, social, video, and podcast coverage rolling out through early 2027.
ABOUT SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE For 78 years, San Diego Magazine has been the region’s leading lifestyle and culture publication, reaching approximately 6 million readers monthly across print, digital, newsletter, and social platforms. Owned and operated locally, the magazine has been the connective tissue of San Diego’s cultural conversation since 1948.
PARTNER CONTENT
A Holistic Approach to Women’s Wellness and Leadership
Elevating an Icon: Inside the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Clu…
ABOUT SDFC PLAYMAKERS The Playmakers program is an ongoing initiative that seeks to identify and showcase the talent of San Diego creatives who are contributing to the culture, substance, and flow of our community. We want to bring the San Diego community together by marrying football and creativity to provide a platform for these Playmakers who are positively impacting our culture by pushing the boundaries through innovative ideas. The goal is to create a program that consistently provides growth and exposure opportunities for San Diego creatives, while shaping an authentic direction for San Diego FC’s brand and community-building process. Through this program we hope to contribute to the creative fabric of our city by providing paid jobs, projects, collaborations, as well as networking opportunities for Playmakers.
ABOUT THE ART & DESIGN DISTRICT The Art & Design District is a Downtown San Diego Partnership initiative, supported by the Prebys Foundation, working to shape a connected, vibrant arts and design district in downtown San Diego. Led by Art and Culture Expert Fellow Jonathan Glus, the initiative convenes artists, cultural leaders, civic stakeholders, and residents in service of a downtown that reflects the creativity, identity, and diversity of the region. Learn more at downtownsandiego.org.
One person was killed late Sunday in a crash on Interstate 15 north of the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
The crash was reported at 10:27 p.m. on the southbound freeway just north of Carroll Canyon Drive in the Mira Mesa area, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Witnesses told the CHP that multiple vehicles were involved in the crash and that one vehicle was engulfed in flames. One witness said the occupants were out of the burning vehicle.
An arriving officer reported that CPR was being performed on someone involved in the crash, and 10 minutes later, the Medical Examiner’s Office was called to the scene.
An officer also reported that only the burned vehicle was involved in the crash.
At least three southbound lanes were closed while the crash was investigated and cleared.
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