National City Travel Guide

National City Boulevard, known to us as, "The Miracle Mile of Cars," spans the north-south length of National City. It is fitting that the whole focus of this road is the car.

The area of land that is now National City, was origianally an Indian Rancheria. Apusquele, of the Hamacha Tribe called it home. In 1769 the ranch was used by Mision de Alcala and named "La Purisma Conception." A dirt rut, used by Spanish explorers, Missionaries and Pioneers for a hundred years to travel the north-south route was called, "El Real para de Frontera" which is the earliest known name of National City Boulevard.

By 1796, Spanish soldiers from the Presidio took the land and called it "El Rancho Del Rey." Later, Pio Pico, the govenor of Alta California granted land--which included the area of National City--to his brother-in-law, Don Juan Froester who called it "El Rancho de la Nacion." In 1866 it was registered by U.S. President Andrew Johnson as "National Ranch."

Two years later Frank Kimball and his brothers bought the land and named it, "National City" with the plan of creating a new town along the well established route they called, "National Street."

The first Ford dealership opened in the early 1920s and by then the steet was called, "National Avenue." Also during this time Hollywood greats such as Clack Gable, Jean Harlow and Gary Cooper, graced National Avenue with their glorious cars as they motored south to gamble and drink in Mexico--prohibition, remember?

It seems this historic byway continued to be a living museum of travel as California became the center of the New Car Culture. In an advertisment of the Acme Chevrolet car dealership, the term "Miracle Mile of Cars" was coined and from then on used to denote the location of an ever growing new and used car dealership center.

It was 1987 when National Avenue became National City Boulevard and to this day the "Miracle Mile of Cars" has become an international market for automobiles from around the globe.

This is a popular place for everyone. The latest movies are shown here and there is plenty of free parking. However, if you are relying on public transportation there is bus stop in the parking lot.

The whole mall has been renovated and the AMC theaters are in a new spot located at the south end, in the midst of the food court. They have added several extra theaters in the multi-plex so more choices for you.

Dress Code: No real dress code here, just come as you are.

Plaza Bonita is the place to shop in National City. It is a nice mall with a myriad variety of shops, department stores, restaurants and movie theaters to choose from. One of the things to consider about Plaza Bonita is that the prices at each store will be generally lower than in the same brand store that is also located in a mall at the north end of San Diego. The savings is not always very much, but over all would be worth shopping here.

I'm not into shopping much but this is a big mall and easy to get around. Also, it is an enclosed mall so a great place to stay cool in the summer and warm/dry in the winter.

What to buy: What to buy? Well, what ever you want or need from designer clothes to kids toys and most anything in between. The best thing is that you'll spend less here than at other malls in the county.

You never know what flavors will assault your taste buds.

Oftentimes people have found a jewel buried in those hole-in-the-wall places, but my experience in this area has been that it not the case around here. Generally speaking this type of place serves the worst foods to be found.

There are really great restaurants that might look a bit shabby or outdated because they haven't re-decorated since the first day, but they've kept up the quality of food since.

Just be aware and check such a place out before committing yourself to a meal there.

Unique Suggestions: Better go to McDonalds than order at this type of place.