"Keeweechic's Tijuana" a Tijuana Travel Page by keeweechic

Tijuana lies just in the northwest corner of Baja California along the Pacific Ocean and the Mexico-U.S. border, 12 miles south of San Diego, California. The city of Tijuana was officially founded in 1889 when it was a cattle pasturing area. Following the Mexican Revolution of 1910 a group of Industrial Workers of the World briefly took control of the town until Mexican federal troops entered Tijuana on June 22, 1911 and shot down 31 of the Workers. A few years later word spread throughout the Southwest about Tijuana’s reputation as the ‘wildest of the wild’ mainly because of the cockfighting, casino gambling and bullfights that were being showcased there. San Diego banned cabaret dancing and Tijuana quickly stepped into build more cabarets and casinos. A steady trek down from the California coast soon developed and in 1920 when the U.S. outlawed alcoholic beverages, Tijuana picked up the slack with thirsty US citizens and hasn’t looked back.

In the 20th century Tijuana became the main entry point to Mexico from California for American tourists, and tourism still remains its most important economic activity.

Tijuana is not usually high on the list of places to ‘must see’ but if you are in LA or San Diego, it is so close that you might as well do a day trip down to at least say you have been. You might even pick up a bargain or two.