English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -iː

Noun

stingaree

1. another name for a stingray

For the 1934 film, see Stingaree (1934 film). For the 1915 film serial, see Stingaree (serial)

The Stingaree was a neighborhood of San Diego between the boom of the 1880s and the cleanup of 1916. The reason for the neighborhood's fame was its role as the home to the city's "undesirables", including prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers and gamblers. For similar reasons of societal exclusion, it was also the site of the city's first Chinatown . Additionally, the neighborhood was home to many other lower-class citizens, and was in the center of a wider blue-collar residential area encompassing much of the city south of Broadway .

Though the name "Stingaree" refers primarily to the period before 1916, the neighborhood's character as a vice district lasted until its massive redevelopment in the 1980s.

Area

The exact boundaries of the neighborhood are contested and likely changed throughout the years. The Health Department identified them as First and Fifth streets and Market and K streets .

Restricted District

Gambling and prostitution were illegal in California after 1855. However, law enforcement throughout America and especially in the West saw these vices as impossible to eradicate. Special "restricted" districts were created in many cities where the vices were allowed to be practiced in the open, provided that they were kept within the boundaries of the district and that there were no greater crimes involved. Illegal payments from the vice trade to the police were also typical components of these bargains. The Stingaree, like the more famous Barbary Coast in San Francisco, was one of these districts. Vice and poverty dominated the area until its redevelopment in the 1980s.

Gaslamp Quarter

The wild character of the neighborhood was only removed by modern-day redevelopment. Many of the neighborhood's residents -- and modern red-light uses -- were removed with eminent domain, tax increment financing and other strong-arm techniques. Interestingly, the redevelopment efforts hinged on turning the neighborhood into a 1880s-themed upscale shopping area. The new Gaslamp Quarter recreates a "gaslamp era" town that has few characteristics of its actual history as the Stingaree. The last vestiges of the neighborhood's red-light history have been overcome by historical recreationism. There is now a restaurant and bar called Stingaree at the corner of 6th and Island.

References