Point Loma. Point Loma is a coastal peninsula in San Diego, California, known for its historic lighthouse, sweeping ocean views, and natural cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Point Loma has been depicted as a place of dramatic natural beauty, with its rugged coastline, tall cliffs, and panoramic vistas of the Pacific often serving as focal points for plein air painters. Artists such as Charles Reiffel and other members of the California Impressionist movement frequently painted its landscapes, capturing the interplay of light on the ocean, the textured rock formations, and the ever-changing sky. The peninsula's unique geography, where land meets sea in a dramatic way, has inspired both realistic and impressionistic representations, emphasizing the vibrant colors and atmospheric effects typical of Southern California coastal scenes. Point Loma's proximity to the ocean and its historical significance have made it a recurring subject in both historical and contemporary regional art. Point Loma is historically important as the landing place of the first European expedition to come ashore in present-day California. It houses two major military bases, a national cemetery, a national monument, and a university, in addition to residential and commercial areas. Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claiming California for the Spanish Empire in 1542. Loma is the Spanish word for hill. The original Spanish name of the peninsula was La Punta de la Loma de San Diego, translated as Hill Point of San Diego. This was later anglicized to Point Loma. The original Kumeyaay name was 'Amat Kunyily' meaning black earth. There were no permanent indigenous settlements on Point Loma because of a lack of fresh water. Kumeyaay people did probably have a seasonal village remembered by them as Totakamalam and visited Ocean Beach periodically to harvest mussels, clams, abalone and lobsters. Point Loma was discovered by Europeans on September 28, 1542, when Portuguese navigator Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo departed from Mexico and led an expedition for the Spanish crown to explore the west coast of what is now the United States. Cabrillo described San Diego Bay as a very good enclosed port. Historians believe he docked his flagship on Point Loma's east shore, probably at Ballast Point. This was the first landing by a European in present-day California, so that Point Loma has been described as where California began. 1857 map showing Point Loma in relation to San Diego Bay More than 200 years were to pass before a permanent European settlement was established in San Diego in 1769. Mission San Diego itself was in the San Diego River valley, but its port was a bayside beach in Point Loma called La Playa. The historic La Playa Trail, the oldest European trail on the West Coast, led from the Mission and Presidio to La Playa, where ships anchored and unloaded their cargoes via small boats. Part of the route became present-day Rosecrans Street. In his book Two Years Before the Mast, Richard Henry Dana Jr. describes how sailors in the 1830s camped on the beach at La Playa, accumulated cattle hides for export, and hunted for wood and jackrabbits in the hills of Point Loma.
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