Seven Bridges Walk

Seven Bridges San Diego -

By popular demand, we bring you the seven bridges hike, Urban Wine Walker style! This walk can be found on many San Diego sites (there is even an app out there), but ours has wine, and coffee, and great food…and more wine! The walk starts in Hillcrest, goes through the lovely Banker’s Hill neighborhood, travels straight through the heart of Balboa Park, up through North Park, and back to Hillcrest again. Here is a little something about each bridge:

Spruce Street Suspension Bridge is a 375 foot long bridge that hangs 70 feet above Kate Sessions Canyon, and is not for the faint of heart on a windy day! Built in 1912, this footbridge was initially designed to provide pedestrians a passage across the deep canyon to get between the new trolley lines built on Fourth and Fifth avenue. It now serves as a pseudo secret, serene, and romantic spot for those willing to do the “footwork" to find it.

Quince Street Bridge is a 236 foot long bridge built 60 feet above Maple Canyon between 4th Avenue and 5th Avenue. It was constructed in wooden-trestle design in 1905 for pedestrian access to the Fourth Avenue Trolley Station. It was restored in 1990 with pressure-treated douglas fir, so it’s not as ominous as it looks.

First Avenue Bridge (also known as “The People's Bridge”) is the only steel-arch bridge in San Diego. It was built in response to the need for a more direct commute for residents in the Uptown community to their offices downtown, and aided in the growth of the Uptown district prior to World War I. Fun fact: the bridge was assembled in a Midwestern fabrication plant, dismantled, and shipped to San Diego in 1931 to be reassembled over Maple Canyon. Gadzooks, was there anything the Greatest Generation couldn’t do?

Cabrillo Bridge (also known as the Laurel Street Bridge) was built in 1914 as part of the Panama-California Exposition and was the state's first multiple-arched cantilever bridge. Before construction of the 163 freeway, a man-made lagoon (Laguna de Puente) flowed beneath it. The beautiful bridge has survived three fires in 1951, 2004, and 2013. How does a concrete bridge catch fire? The redwood timbers used as concrete forms in the original construction are still inside the (hollow) bridge, and have sometimes been exposed due to disrepair. Add an arsonist or a careless construction worker, and you have a major problem. In 2004 the fire department had to cut holes in the sidewalks to pump foam and water down into the structure in order to save it.

Park Boulevard Bridge is just past the Bea Evenson Fountain on the east side of the park. It’s the simplest of all of the bridges, and crosses Park Boulevard (hence the name…). Once you get to the other side, you can enjoy the Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden and the Desert Garden with its assortment of cacti.

Georgia Street Bridge was built in 1914 and connects North Park to Hillcrest as it crosses over busy University Avenue. The bridge's basic design is Romanesque Spandrel Arch with Mission Revival styling. We have no idea what that means, but it looks pretty cool from below.

Vermont Street Bridge was built in 1995 and replaced a 1916 wooden-trestle bridge. It’s built over Melrose Canyon and connects Hillcrest to University Heights. The current bridge was a labor of love between Caltrans and local residents, who had a major role in developing the design. Be sure to linger here a while to enjoy the artwork and quotations etched into the sides of the bridge.

Are you tired yet? Head back into Hillcrest for some fantastic culinary options.