Covering 75: April

SDM August 1949

Printed IssueSubscribe and get 1 year for $18

In August 1949, the editors of San Diego Magazine reported on a massive new project: the Mission Bay Aquatic and Recreational Park, a multimillion-dollar “aquatic playground” expected to significantly boost the city’s tourist revenue. For the cover, the magazine’s first art director, Enid Miller, illustrated a dream of what the park might entail for beachgoers—a grinning, swim-capped woman skimming over the surface of the bay.

But today, sections of Mission Bay are under advisory, bacteria levels in the water hovering above acceptable health standards. Would-be swimmers (and skiers) are urged to remain dry.

Covering 75 April Cover

We’re celebrating 75 years of SDM by asking local artists to recreate iconic covers from our past. When reimagining this drawing for 2023, Golden Hill–based muralist and illustrator Celeste Byers embraced the city’s limitless possibilities (handsome mermen instead of skis!) but couldn’t ignore the wrench in the works of our coastal bliss: millions of gallons of raw sewage flowing from spills in Tijuana to San Diego’s beaches. “I made an art piece about the sewage problem maybe 15 years ago,” Byers says. “And it’s still a problem today.”

Last summer, the United States and Mexican governments agreed to commit nearly half a billion dollars to replace crumbling treatment plants and hopefully spell an end to the pollution—facilitating a future in which seaside play is purely magic.