Tijuana
Encyclopedia
Tijuana is the largest city on the Baja California Peninsula
and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area
, part of the international
San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. An industrial and financial center of Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence on economics, education, culture, art, and politics. As the city has become a leading center in the country, so has the surrounding metropolitan area, a major industrial and paramount metropolis in northwestern Mexico. Currently one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico, Tijuana maintains global city
status.
On the Gold Coast of Baja California
, Tijuana is the municipal seat, cultural, and commercial center of Tijuana Municipality. A dominant manufacturing center of the North America
n continent, the city maintains facilities of numerous multinational
conglomerate
companies. The 2000's saw Tijuana become the medical device manufacturing capital of North America. Also a growing cultural center, Tijuana has been recognized as one of most important new cultural meccas. The city is the most visited border city in the globe; sharing an approximate 24 kilometres (14.9 mi) with its sister city San Diego, over fifty million people annually cross the border between these two cities. This metropolitan crossing makes the San Ysidro Port of Entry the busiest land-border crossing in the world. It is estimated that the two border crossing stations between the cities proper of San Diego and Tijuana account for 300,000 daily border crossings alone.
Tijuana is the 42nd largest city
in the Americas
and is the westernmost city in Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the Tijuana metropolitan area was the fifth-largest in Mexico
, with a population of 1,784,034. The international metropolitan region was estimated to be just over five million in 2009 and approximately 5,105,769 in 2010, making it the third largest metropolitan area in the Californias, 19th largest metropolitan area in the Americas, and the largest bi-national conurbation
that is shared between US and Mexico.
Tijuana traces its modern history to the arrival of Spanish
explorers in the 1500s who were mapping the coast of the Californias. As the American conquest of northern Mexico ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
, Tijuana's new international position on the border gave rise to a new economic and political structure. The city was founded in July 11, 1889 as urban development began. Often known by its initials, "T.J.", and nicknamed Gateway to Mexico, the city has historically served as a tourist center dating back to the 1880s.
documents — primarily baptism, marriage, and death records — there are mentions of the city with the names: La Tía Juana, Tiguana, Tiuana, Teguana, Tiwana, Tijuan, Ticuan, and the present day name, Tijuana. The commonly accepted theory held among historians is that the modern-day Tijuana is derived from a word of the Kumeyaay language
- the original aboriginal inhabitants of the San Diego-Tijuana region. Tijuana derives from the Kumeyaay word Tiwan, meaning by-the-sea. Common in regional folklore, a myth exists purporting that the name is a conjunction of Tia Juana, the Spanish language version of Aunt Jane. Tia Juana would provided food and a resting place to travelers on their journeys. The story has become a popular myth with residents of the city and has particular resonance among those who like to imagine the city as a place of hospitality.
In Spanish, the name is pronounced "tiˈxwana." In English, its name is probably the most mispronounced in geography, very often being presented incorrectly as the four syllable /tiːəˈwɑːnə/ and sometimes correctly as the three syllable /tiːˈwɑːnə/; the former matches a presumed but incorrect spelling Tiajuana. In California
, and particularly in Southern California
, it is fondly referred to as T.J.. Baja Californians have mimicked this verbal abbreviation and refer to the city is Tiyei - the equivalent Spanish pronunciation. In Spanish the demonym for someone from Tijuana is Tijuanense, while in English demonym is Tijuanan.
The nickname Tijuas is increasingly popular among residents and visitors alike. Due to a recent increase in violence in the city, a new term is developing. The term Yo Tijuaneo, ¿y tú? translates to I Tijuanate, and you?. This term comes from a new popular local verb Tijuanear meaning to Tijuana, describing the cosmopolitan aspects of living in the city and frequently crossing the border. The term is becoming much more popular to help stop unfair and false criticisms of the city.
The land where the city of Tijuana would be built was originally inhabited by the Kumeyaay
, a tribe of Yuman-speaking hunter-gatherers. Europeans arrived in 1542, when the explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
toured the coastline of the area, which was later mapped in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno
. In 1769, Juan Crespí
documented more detailed information about the area that would be called the Valley of Tijuana. Junípero Serra
founded the first mission of Alta California
in nearby San Diego.
More settlement of the area took place near the end of the mission era when José María de Echeandía, governor of the Baja California and Alta California, awarded a large land grant to Santiago Argüello
in 1829. This large cattle ranch, Rancho Tía Juana ("Aunt Jane Ranch"), covered 100 km² (38.6 sq mi).
In 1848, as a result of the Mexican-American War with the United States, Mexico lost all of Alta California. The majority of the 1,000 Hispanic families living in Alta California stayed there, though some moved south to remain inside Mexico.
Because of this Tijuana gained a different purpose on the international border. The area had been populated by ranchers, but Tijuana developed a new social economic structure. These were farming and livestock grazing, plus as a transit area for prospectors.
Urban settlement began in 1889, when descendants of Santiago Argüello and Augustín Olvera
entered an agreement to begin developing the city of Tijuana. The date of the agreement, July 11, 1889, is recognized as the founding of the city.
Tijuana saw its future in tourism from the beginning. From the late 19th century to the first few decades of the 20th century, the city attracted large numbers of Californians coming for trade and entertainment. The California land boom of the 1880s led to the first big wave of tourists, who were called "excursionists" and came looking for echoes of the famous novel "Ramona
" by Helen Hunt Jackson
.
In 1911, during the Mexican Revolution
, revolutionaries claiming loyalty to Ricardo Flores Magón
took over the city for shortly over a month. Federal troops then arrived. Assisted by local loyal militia known as the "defensores de Tijuana", they routed the rebels, who fled north and were promptly arrested by the United States Army
. This event is a source of local controversy, and the "rebels" are almost universally reviled in Tijuana as "filibusteros" (mercenaries).
The Panama-California Exposition of 1915 brought many visitors to the nearby California city of San Diego. Tijuana attracted these tourists with a Feria Típica Mexicana - Typical Mexican Fair. This included curio shops, regional food, thermal baths, horse racing and boxing.
The first professional race track opened in January 1916, just south of the border gate. It was almost immediately destroyed by the great "Hatfield rainmaker" flood of 1916. Rebuilt in the general area, it ran horse races until the new Agua Caliente
track opened in 1929, several miles south and across the river on higher ground.
Legal drinking and gambling attracted U.S nationals in the 1920s during Prohibition
. The Avenida Revolución
area became the city's tourist center, with casinos and the Hotel Caesar's, birthplace of the Caesar Salad
.
In 1928, the Agua Caliente Touristic Complex was opened, including hotel, spa, dog-track, private airport, golf course and gambling casino. A year later, the new Agua Caliente Racetrack joined the complex. During the eight years it operated, the Agua Caliente hotel, casino and spa achieved a near mythical status, with Hollywood stars and gangsters flying in and playing. Rita Hayworth was discovered there. Musical nightclub productions were broadcast over the radio. A singer known as "la Faraona" got shot in a love-triangle and gave birth to the myth of a beautiful lady ghost.
Remnants of the Agua Caliente casino can be seen in the outdoor swimming pool and the "minarete" (actually a former incinerator chimney) nearby the southern end of Avenida Sanchez Taboada, on the grounds of what is now the Lazaro Cardenas educational complex.
In 1935, President Cárdenas decreed an end to gambling and casinos in Baja California, and the Agua Caliente complex faltered, then closed. In 1939, it was reopened as a Junior High School (now, Preparatoria Lázaro Cárdenas). The buildings themselves were torn down in the 1970s and replaced by modern scholastic architecture.
In 1925, the city attempted to shed its negative image of hedonism and lawlessness created by American mob empresarios by renaming itself Zaragoza, but its name soon reverted to Tijuana.
With increased tourism and the large number of Mexican citizens relocating to Tijuana, the city's population grew from 21,971 to 65,364 between 1940 and 1950.
With the decline of nightlife and tourism in the 1950s, the city restructured its tourist industry, by promoting a more family-oriented scene. Tijuana developed a greater variety of attractions and activities to offer its visitors.
In 1994, PRI
presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio
was assassinated in Tijuana while making an appearance in the plaza of Lomas Taurinas, a neighborhood nestled in a valley near Centro. The shooter was caught and imprisoned, but doubts remain about who the mastermind might have been.
, and the largest city of northern Mexico. Located approximately 210 kilometres (130.5 mi) west of the state-capital, Mexicali
, the city is bordered to the north by the cities of Imperial Beach
, San Diego, and unincorporated territory of western San Diego County. To the southwest of the city is Rosarito Beach, while to the south is unincorporated territory of Tijuana Municipality. The city is nestled among hills, canyons, and gullies. The central part of the city lies in a valley through which flows the channeled Tijuana River
.
Housing development in the Tijuana Hills has led to eradication of many seasonal mountain streams. This lack of natural drainage makes places within the city vulnerable to landslides during the rainy season. The varied terrain of Tijuana gives the city elevation extremes that range from 0 metre (0 ft) to 790 metres (2,591.9 ft).
Tijuana is noted for its rough terrain, which includes many canyons, steep hills, and mesas. Among noted canyons in Tijuana are Canyon K and Canyon Johnson. Large Tijuana hills include Red Hill (Cerro Colorado) and Hill of the Bees (Cerro de las Abejas) in the eastern part of the city.
The city is located near the terminus of the Tijuana River and within the Tijuana River Basin. The Tijuana River is an intermittent river, 195 km (121 mi) long, on the Pacific coast of northern Baja California in Mexico and Southern California
in the United States. It drains an arid area along the California–Baja California border, flowing through Mexico for most of its course and then crossing the border for the last 8 km (5 mi) of its course where it forms an estuary that empties into the ocean. The river's lower reaches harbor the last undeveloped coastal wetlands in San Diego County, and some of the last in Southern California, amidst a highly urbanized environment at the southern city limits of Imperial Beach.
As Downtown Tijuana was built at the bottom of the river valley, the district is subject to seasonal flooding created by drain-off from the Tijuana Hills. During this time, east-bound portions of the Via Rapida (east-west highway) may be blocked off by the Tijuana Police due to hazardous conditions.
that would have been located in Playas and reached 98 metres (321.5 ft). Currently the tallest building, and soon to be the largest complex in footage, New City Residential
reaches 102 metres (334.6 ft). Overall, the city maintains 33 completed structures with other proposed and under-construction skyscrapers.
The Tijuana skyline is the third largest skyline in Mexico and is located in the Zona Rio and to a smaller extent, Playas de Tijuana. In the Zona Rio the buildings are concentrated on the Tijuana River, lined parallel to the river on both sides; and on the edges of the Tijuana Country Club. In Playas the highrises are currently focused on the coast. Recent construction on highrises has begun in the aforementioned areas, as buildings such as New City Residential and Grand Hotel Tijuana have been developed and taken prominent places in the skyline as the tallest buildings. From Tijuana's skyline the San Diego skyline can also be seen.
. This area is located at a strategic point north of the city, 1 km (0.621372736649807 mi) from the border line of the United States and Mexico. It is close to Downtown and the Abelardo L. Rodriguez Airport. This district has many hotels, restaurants, buildings, malls, condominiums and hospitals, with wide avenues.
BSh), with about 235 mm (9.25 in) of annual precipitation. It shows characteristics of the Dry-Summer Subtropical Mediterranean climate
(Csa) found to the immediate north, with most of the annual precipitation falling in the winter (between November and March).
During the rainy season, November through March, storms originate from fronts entering off of the Pacific Ocean
. March is the wettest month of the year for the city and during this time a periodic event, similar to June Gloom
, is observed created by marine layer
. Whilst March is the wettest month, January is the coolest month, during which temperatures average 13° Celsius. In the city April signifies the end of winter and the start of Santa Ana winds - observed in Southern California as well. Though the days are predominantly cool with cold nights, heat waves can reach up to 33° Celsius. The hottest months in the city, also the dry season, are August and September, during which temperatures average 22° Celsius.
Frost
and snow are rare phenomena in the city as temperatures are usually warm. Yet, in December 1967, snow fell in the city and in January 2007 feather light snow fell in the east of the city. However, excessive amounts of snow fall have never been recorded in the city. On February 14, 2008 a winter storm caused an unusual snowfall in the upper reaches of the hills of the city. During this time heavy snowfall was also observed in the Cuyamaca Mountains
of San Diego County.
The record low temperature recorded in the city was -6º Celsius, while the highest was 42° Celsius.
population which includes migrants from other parts of Mexico, as well as immigrants from all over the globe. Tijuana is the second-most diverse city and is home to a global populace. The city is home to one of Mexico's largest Asian populations, predominantly consists of Chinese
immigrants, and to a lesser extent, Koreans and Japanese. Tijuana is also home to a large and rapidly growing population of United States citizens, mostly from Southern California, who have moved to the city to avoid the higher cost of living in the region, while still being able to work in Southern California. Many Latin Americans, notable Argentines, Cubans
, and Guatemalans have made Tijuana their home, especially people from Central America
and Andean nations. The city is also called home by many Italian, French
, Spanish
and Lebanese
citizens. A large transitory population exists in Tijuana due to border aspirations or deportations.
The majority of Tijuana's migrant Mexican population hail from Sinaloa
, Michoacán
, Jalisco
, Oaxaca
, and the Federal District. Because of the diversity of Mexico and the influx of immigrants from almost every region in the country, there are no accurate estimates on ethnicity or race of the current population. The heavy influx of immigrants to the city and municipality of Tijuana has led to job creation in the form of over 700 twin-plant (maquiladora) factories, which serve as the basis of employment for the majority of the working class people in northern Mexico. The high poverty level in Tijuana is attributed to the city's "magnet status" for people who have come from the poorer south of the nation and citizens from other nations seeking to escape from extreme poverty. Tijuana holds a status that provides the possibility of employment as well as higher education and the dream of crossing the border. Tijuana and Baja California in general have much stronger economies and higher incomes than other Mexican cities along the United States border.
Tijuana today is one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico with an average of 80,000 people moving to Tijuana yearly. In terms of area, the city grows by approximately three hectares a day. The city experiences the construction of 26,000 new homes a year that has led to the unregulated substandard sprawl that takes place in the hills of ever expanding Tijuana. National Population Council (CONAPO) data has estimated that by 2030, growth rates maintaining, the city will become the second largest in Mexico and anchor to the fourth largest metropolitan area in Mexico. The suburban sprawl observed in Tijuana leaves the downtown and beach areas relatively affluent.
While the INEGI Census 2010 estimated the population of Tijuana to be 1.3 million, Tijuana City Council estimates, from 2010, have placed the population closer to two million, at 1.6 million. As funding for cities is based on the populace of the city, the Council worries about receiving adequate funds to provide for the needs of the city.
According to the Second Census of Population and Housing of the year 2010 conducted by the INEGI (National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics) the municipality of Tijuana has 1,559,683 inhabitants. While the metropolitan area of Tijuana, composed of Tijuana Municipality and Rosarito Beach Municipality, has 1,751,302 inhabitants. Tecate Municipality, adjacent to Tijuana Municipality, has not yet been considered by the government as part of the metropolitan area. However, there is great economic and cultural exchange between the cities regions though there are still expanses of rural land. As Tijuana grows, many of its suburbs have been built increasingly inland, and in the direction of Tecate
; Valley of the Palms is a large planned city between the two.
At the municipal level is a city where a collision Roman Catholic Church
and Protestant beliefs are observed, though, who are strengthened rapidly with growth rates of followers exceeding the percentage of population growth. As of 2005 the majority of the city's population, 96%, adhere to the beliefs Christianity
. The denominations are further divided into followers of Catholicism
- 61& - and of Protestantism
- 35% of the population and additionally observing rapid growth. Consisting of a smaller percentage of the populace, Pentecostalism
accounts for 15% of the Christian populace. Other Protestant groups in the city, accounting for 4% of the population, includes Lutherans, Universal Church of the Kingdom of God
, Presbyterians, and Baptists. Other denominations in the city include Jehovah's Witnesses
, 11% of the city population; Seventh Day Adventist Church, 3% of the city population; Mormonism
, 2% of the population while other beliefs occupying a 4% margin in the city include Taoism
(among other Asian and European religions) and atheism
and agnosticism
.
In recent years, as in most of the world, the Catholic religion has reduced its presence in the city; a phenomenon accompanied by the growth of Protestant groups. If current growth rates are observed, in twenty years Protestant religions will account for the majority of the city's religious followers.
; From 2007 through 2010, Tijuana experienced an unusually high level of violent crime
related to gang violence, in part derived from the Mexican drug war
and human trafficking
. Homicides peaked in 2010, when 844 people were killed, compared to 355 in 2004 and 349 in the first eight months of 2011. Reportedly, the wave of violence resulted from a turf war
as the administration of President Felipe Calderón
weakened the local Arellano Félix
cartel; violence slowed when the larger Sinaloa cartel
took control.
During peak years of violent crime in the city, gun battles between rival cartels, and between cartels and the police, erupted in public. In April 2008, police found 1,500 shell casings on various streets after one battle left 13 suspected drug traffickers dead. In 2009 and depending on the source, Tijuana Municipality experienced either 556 or 1,118 murders, mostly as a result of the drug war
.
In 2011, the crime wave appears to be subsiding, with levels returning to those prior to 2007. "While other parts of Mexico are hit by an increase in drugs violence, the beheadings and massacres familiar a few years ago are now rare in Tijuana, a key battleground on one of the most lucrative drug smuggling corridors to the United States." As of 2011, "organized crime continues, not only drug trafficking but extortion, kidnapping, human smuggling and gun running." These crimes are consolidated under the Sinaloa Cartel
.
(PAN), Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), and Green Party (SVP). The PAN has been the dominant party in the city for 20 years. Historically the PRI has been the dominant party in regional politics, until 1989 when the PAN began to dominate the city, until yet again, in 2004, PRI began regaining prominence and won the Mayor's Office.
Less prominent parties also maintain relations with the dominant parties. These other parties, with less presence include the New Alliance
(HONEYCOMB), Social Encounter Party (PES), and Democratic Revolution Party (PRD). Allied with the PAN at the state and local level under the Alliance for Baja California are the Social Encounter Party (PES) and Partido Nueva Alianza (Panal). Allied with the PRI at the state and local level under the "Alliance for Better Living" are the Green Party (SVP) and Baja California State Party (PEBC).
The city's proximity to Southern California
and its large, skilled, diverse, and relatively inexpensive workforce, makes it an attractive city for foreign companies looking to establish extensive industrial parks composed of assembly plants that are called maquiladora
s, even more so than other cities in the US-Mexican border zone, taking advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) to export products. At its peak, in 2001 Tijuana had roughly 820 of these 'maquiladoras' (today the number is closer to 550). Foreign and domestic companies employ thousands of employees in these plants, usually in assembly related labor. Such jobs are demanding but typically offer above average (although not high paying) salaries for Mexico, with most maqiladoras jobs beginning at Mex$100 per day (about $7.94 in US dollars), significantly above the Mexican minimum wage of Mex$57.46 (about 4.56 US dollars). Companies that have set up maquiladoras in Tijuana include Lanix
, BRAVIA
, Hyundai
, Sony
, Vortec, BMW
, Vizio
, Toyota, Dell
, Samsung
, Kodak, Matsushita/Panasonic, Bimbo
, GE
, Nabisco
, Ford, Microsoft
, Cemex
, Zonda
, Philips
, Pioneer
, Airbus
, Plantronics
, Siemens
, Jaguar
, Pall Medical, Tara, Sanyo
, Volkswagen
and vimay. Many of the maquiladoras are located in the Otay Mesa and Florido sections of Tijuana.
In addition there are also some high-tech firms and telemarketing companies making their way into the city drawing skilled people with technical trades and college degrees to Tijuana. One example is Telvista, a Texas-based telemarketing company which maintains three call centers along Blvd. Agua Caliente. This makes Tijuana a popular city for migrant workers as well as college graduates from other parts of Mexico as well as other countries to the south.
Tijuana also relies on tourism for a major part of its revenue. About 300,000 visitors cross by foot or car from the San Ysidro point of entry in the United States every day. The city's tourist centers include Avenida Revolucion
and Agua Caliente
. Restaurants and taco stands, pharmacies, bars and dance clubs are part of the draw for the city's tourists. Many shops and stalls selling Mexican crafts and souvenirs are also located in walking distance from the border. Mexico's drinking age of 18 (vs. 21 in the United States) make it a common weekend destination for many high school and college aged Southern Californians who tend to stay within the Avenida Revolución. Tijuana is also home to several pharmacies marketed toward visitors from the United States. These pharmacies sell some pharmaceutical drugs without prescriptions, and at much lower costs than pharmacies in the US. Many medications still require a Mexican doctor's prescription though several accessible doctor offices are located near the border as well. In addition Tijuana has a legal "red-light" district known as the Zona Norte
which also adds significant revenue to its economy. Tijuana is also home to many businesses selling products and services at a much cheaper rate than in the United States. Such businesses as auto detailing, medical services, dentistry and plastic surgery are heavily marketed and located near the city's border with the US.
Economic development has its central business district at Zona Río, which with the corridor along Blvd. Agua Caliente (the extension of Avenida Revolución) contains the majority of the higher-end office space in the city. Binational economic development along the US-Mexico border is key to the development of Tijuana going forward. Multiple regional (San Diego-US/Tijuana-MX) think-tanks exist on both sides of the border that promote such regional collaboration and innovation.
, Instituto Cumbres, President Lázaro Cárdenas School, Agua Caliente School Center High, José Fimbres Moreno School and the State High School, and Ignacio Ramírez School located in Cerro Colorado. These schools maintain recognition for their demands and high standards.
Tijuana maintains multiple higher education institutions. These include the Autonomous University of Baja California, Tijuana
(UABC), Universidad Iberoamericana
(UIA-Tijuana), CETYS Universidad
, Universidad Xochicalco
, and University of the Californias. Other colleges included College of Science and Technology Studies at the State of Baja California College, Tijuana University Center, Tijuana University of Technology, Graduate Center of the Northwest, and the University of Professional Development. The city is the seat of the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), an institution of scientific research and higher education, specializing in the study of the problems in the border region between Mexico and the United States. In August 2009, Metropolitan UABC opened in Valle de Las Palmas, in the Tijuana metropolitan area.
s, illegal drugs (especially in and around dance clubs), purchase bootleg brand-name clothing, timepieces, and other personal accessories found globally, as well as manufactured and hand-crafted local curiosities. Locals and regular tourists avoid hassles by visiting the clubs at Plaza Fiesta or other areas of the Zona Río
without the crowds, heavy marketing, and occasional tourist misbehavior or outright lawbreaking common on the Revolución strip. However, Avenida Revolución has been known for its proliferation of nightclub shows, primarily catering to casual tourists. While still an entertaining town with an enjoyable atmosphere, locals and tourists alike would agree that it has lost its "anything goes" mentality which it had once acquired, a mindset that was dangerous to tourists, locals, and the tourism industry as a whole.
Tijuana is also known as the birthplace of the "Tijuana Special," which is a classic Tex-Mex dish consisting of enchiladas, rice and refried beans
. This dish was popularized by Tippy's, an American Tex-Mex restaurant.
is evident throughout certain districts. The Tijuana Cultural Center
(CECUT) opened on October 20, 1982 with the goals of strengthening Tijuana's image, and to advertise cultural tourism from the US. The building was constructed by the architects Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and Manuel Rosen Morrison. The CECUT first opened as part of the National Fund for Social Activities then in 1983 it was part of the Ministry of Tourism. Later that year CECUT was joined into the Ministry of Public Education. Finally, in 1986 the CECUT gained its own independence, and was able to plan its own budget. In 1988 they changed their actions guiding themselves towards a comprehensive national cultural policy.
It is composed of lecture rooms, video rooms, a library, an exhibition hall, the Museum of the Californias, a futuristic planetary movie theater that displays IMAX
films, and a restaurant. Since 1992, the CECUT has hosted the Orchestra of Baja California (OBC), it headquarters the Center of Scenic Arts of the Northwest (CAEN) and the Hispanic-American Center for Guitar (CHG). Since 2001, the CECUT receives about a million visitors per year, making it Baja California's most important cultural center. Another important culture center is La Casa de la Cultura, which comprises a school, a theater, and a public library. Dance, painting, music, plastic arts, photography and languages are taught there. The city also has the Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura (Municipal Institute of Art and Culture), the Tijuana Wax Museum, and the Museo El Trompo (The Trompo
Museum).
The Tijuana Country Club
(Club Campestre de Tijuana) has many affluent members and a famous golf course. A large sized Rotary Club is also located in Tijuana. The Grand Hotel Tijuana and many luxurious restaurants have been developed along Bulevar Agua Caliente (often called "El Bulevar" by locals) and in the Zona Rio. Around the country club and Agua Caliente, many developments of wealthy and luxurious gated communities have filled the hillsides, most of which have views similar to Mount Soledad
in San Diego or areas of Orange County
. Tijuana's most prestigious entertainment center is the Tijuana Country Club golf club, but the Agua Caliente Racetrack would be the most notable that is open to the general public. Parque Morelos has a small zoo and park space; Parque de la Amistad has a small pond, and a running and dirt-bike track. Parque Teniente Guerrero is a park located downtown with a public library and weekend entertainment by clowns. El Foro
was an attraction for being a jai alai venue, but now is commonly used as a concert venue.
The Tijuana Donkey show
s are a legendary form of entertainment involving inter-species erotica
with a donkey
. Since such shows are illegal in Mexico this is almost certainly an Urban Legend
. One may occasionally encounter gullible tourists going up and down La Coahuila street trying to find a show.
., an exhibition of Tijuana's current art scene, is being curated by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
and is traveling across the USA in 2006 and 2007. Art collectives like Bulbo and film production like Palenque Filmaciones explore the use of film like the award winning Tijuana Makes Me Happy
, media like television bulbo TV and print "bulbo PRESS", to show different realities of Tijuana out of Mexico. In 2004, Tijuana earned international acclaim for an art exhibition displayed on the cement banks of the Tijuana River and along the Mexico/U.S. border fence in Otay Mesa.
Graffiti
is widespread in Tijuana. It can range from free-hand writing in spray can and marker form, often carrying social or sexual commentary in English or Spanish, pictures in wheatpaste
and stencils, consisting of stenciled renderings of personalities crucial to Hispanic culture from past and present eras, such as television news announcers or stars, but also extending to images of artists like Salvador Dalí
. Graffiti in Tijuana may seem at first to consist largely of simplistic tags and thus not as technically evolved, colorful, or accepted in the mainstream as the "pieces" of graffiti scenes of the United States, Europe, or Japan, but large, colorful graffiti murals adorn walls from both native Tijuanan artists as well as visiting graffiti writers, especially from California. The Tijuanan art pieces show as much prowess and skill as those made by their more renowned U.S. counterparts, although illicit graffiti is strongly discouraged by the Tijuana government, as in other major metropolitan areas.
, punk
, black metal
, Tijuana Brass and house music
. Famous musical acts from Tijuana include the world known singer Julieta Venegas, hip-hop band Tijuana Rap, and international indie punk bands like Delux & Los Kung-Fu Monkeys
Musical clubs along the Avenida Revolución area and others often cater to a diverse range of tastes by offering nightly variations on musical fare, such as New Wave music
one night, and punk rock bands on the next. Interestingly, some metal bands from Europe whose members cannot perform in the United States due to prior felony convictions in their own countries will play music festivals in Tijuana so as to attract fans from both Mexico and the United States.
Tijuana possesses a diversity of shopping malls including Plaza Río, Plaza Mundo Divertido, Plaza Monarca, Plaza Carrousel, Centro Comercial Playas/Plaza Coronado,and Galerias Hipodromo. Plaza Río is the largest mall and is located just a few minutes away from the U.S. border between Paseo de los Heroes and the Tijuana River. The mall hosts a Cinépolis
and a Cinépolis VIP movie theater, a Sanborns restaurant and a variety of shops, including the large department store Sears. Plaza Mundo Divertido is off of Tijuana's main east-west highway with arcades and rides for the whole family. Plaza Monarca is on a north-south artery known as "Gato Bronco" and is anchored by the movie theater Cinépolis and grocery store chain Soriana (formerly a Gigante Supermarket). Plaza Carrousel, so named because the mall contains a children's merry-go-round, is minutes from the Cinco y Diez retail hub centered around a former five and dime store. The beach community of Playas de Tijuana saw a burst of construction in 2004, which yielded the Plaza Coronado complex next to the existing Comercial Mexicana-anchored Centro Comercial Playas.
Tijuana also enjoys notoriety among Americans and other nationals for its red-light district
Zona Norte (referred to as La Coahuila after one of the main streets in it) which boasts a large number of legal street prostitutes as well as, in parts, a selection of strip clubs offering at least one establishment per block. The strip clubs are typically full-contact, meaning the dancers will allow patrons to fondle them. The dancers in most clubs also sell their sexual services, which are pricier ($US 72 in early-2007) than those of the street prostitutes.
People filling up prescriptions for drugs classified in the US as Schedule II or Schedule III have found it more difficult to locate such medications, and the purchase of pseudoephedrine also has become restricted by Tijuana pharmacies, as it is in the United States. For a prescription to be filled in Tijuana and brought legally to the United States, any drug covered by the US Controlled Substances Act
would require a prescription from the United States for re-import. Americans are allowed to import up to a 90 day supply of non-controlled medications for personal use back to the USA from Mexico and other countries.
The city is home to two professional basketball teams. The Tijuana Dragons
play in the American Basketball Association
against teams from the United States. The team is composed mostly of U.S. players. Their season takes place during the winter months. The Galgos de Tijuana (Tijuana Greyhound
s) play in the LNBP (Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional
). The team is composed mostly of players from Mexico. Both teams play in the Municipal Auditorium.
The city has a strong tradition of association football, Club Tijuana will begin playing on the Mexican first division on the 2011/12 season, who play their matches at the Estadio Caliente
, a new 33,000 seat stadium. The team`s mascot is the Xoloitzcuintle, a famous Mexican hairless dog.
The International Boundary Wastewater Treatment Plant
(IWTP) developed, as a joint project of the USA and Mexico in the mid 1980s following substantial environmental studies, treats 25 million gallons of water per day (mgd) from the Tijuana River; directly pumped across the border from the central collection point in Mexico. When the river is flowing, the diversion system of the plant begins operating and diverts up to about 12-13mgd to the IWTP. The total amount of water being diverted must not exceed 25 mgd, based on a monthly average decided upon by permit conditions, although the IWTP can treat sustained flows up to 45mgd daily and peaks of 70mgd for a short period. The diversion system regular sends approximately six to eight million gallons of water daily to the IWTP. The plant is currently being upgraded to include a secondary treatment facility.
The city also four to five decentralize units that are part of the Tijuana/Rosarito Potable Water and Wastewater Master Plan. This plan was required as part of Public Law 106-457, put into order November 7, 2000, which was written to allow the Bajagua project to move forward. The master plan was a binational collaborative effort by EPA and CESPT and addressed San Diego-Tijuana's needs for the next 20 years. The plants are intended to treat approximately 5mgd each, to tertiary levels and provide the reclaimed water to the surrounding areas for agriculture, industry etc. There are several issues that they are facing: no infrastructure to convey the reclaimed water to customers and inadequate groundwater recharge infrastructure.
Tijuana's telephonic system operates under area code 664
. Telephonic land lines in Tijuana are provided by the company Telnor
; other companies include Axtel and Alestra. Popular cell phone carriers in the city-region include Movistar
, Telcel
, Iusacell
, Unefon
, Nextel, in conjunction with Nextel USA, provides coverage in the city and all of Baja California for American Nextel users. Nextel is popular among businessmen, students, and professionals. Cell phones also have historic usage in Tijuana as the first cellular call in Mexico was made in Tijuana in 1989.
, which runs south through the Baja California peninsula
through Rosarito Beach, Baja Mar
, and Ensenada
before ending in Cabo San Lucas
, Baja California Sur
. From Tijuana to Ensenada, most travelers take Highway 1-D (scenic road), a four-lane, limited access toll road that runs by the coast starting at Playas de Tijuana. Mexican Federal Highway 2 runs east for 1,000 kilometers near the international border, currently as far as Ciudad Juárez
, Chihuahua.
The Tijuana International Airport (General Abelardo L. Rodríguez IA) is the city's main airport and serves eleven airlines with destinations across Mexico and a few into Asia
. Tijuana International is also one of the busiest airports in Mexico. Aeroméxico
introduced intercontinental air travel between Tijuana and two major cities in Asia: Tokyo
in 2007 and Shanghai
in 2008. With several private road lines, U.S. and selected Canadian destinations can be reached via the San Diego International Airport
, located about 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of the international border.
The city's main bus station
is in its eastern borough. There is a small terminal downtown which serves a few Mexican bus lines and U.S.-based Greyhound Lines
and Crucero USA. Another bus station is located near the border with frequent services to Ensenada
, and other major cities including Mazatlán
, Culiacán
, Hermosillo
, and Guadalajara
. Major bus
lines operating in Tijuana include Azul y Blanco de Magallanes (Blue & White) and Transporte Efectivo Express de Tijuana - TEEXTI; modernizing system originally intended to phase out the other lines that partially introduced but ceased and merged with Azul y Blanco.
In 2006, Tijuana underwent a major overhaul of its existing system of guayines, or shared fixed-route station wagons, forcing the replacement of the guayines with new models of vans, serving as fixed-route taxis. Major transit hubs include Centro (Downtown Tijuana), Otay, Soler, and the Cinco y Diez avenues. Taxi lines operating in the city include Free Taxis, those that do not maintain a specific route; Economic Taxis; Diamond Taxis - black or yellow cabs; and regular taxis maintaining a set route. There are as many bus lines and routes as fixed-route taxi ones or calafias, and new routes for buses, taxis or calafias are frequently created, due to high demand of public transportation. Public transportation service is inexpensive, with bus tickets at maximum, USD $0.75. Fixed-route taxis are somewhat more expensive, depending on the taxi route, reaching USD $2.00. Bus, taxi and calafia lines and routes are distinguished from one another by their vehicles colors.
From the U.S. side, San Ysidro
is the southern terminus of San Diego's municipal bus and light rail
(San Diego Trolley
) systems, providing public transportation to and from the Mexican border with Tijuana. The newly-rebuilt San Ysidro trolley station is located directly next to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection
facility. Tijuana is home to the world's busiest border crossing with about 300,000 people crossing the border between San Diego and Tijuana every day. Queues take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more to cross to the United States, on non-US holidays, with wait of a few hours on US national holidays or some Mexican holidays. Expect street vendors during the wait. However, after clearing customs and immigration formalities, Interstate 5 is a major 8-10 lane freeway from San Ysidro to downtown San Diego, Los Angeles, and north to the Canadian border. Interstate 805 branches off from I-5 just north of the border, and takes a more easterly route which bypasses downtown San Diego, rejoining with I-5 in the northern part of the city. From the Otay Mesa border crossing, Otay Mesa Road takes drivers west to connect with both I-805 and I-5.
system for Tijuana, something which had been envisioned since the 1990s during the time of mayor Osuna Jaime. Despite spending millions of pesos on studies, the project never gained traction until the late 2000s.
Currently the project proposes to build the first light rail line along the Tijuana River (which is actually a canal) - Route 01: San Ysidro-El Refugio.
Route 02 would run from Santa Fe to Downtown Tijuana, a bus rapid transit line running along Blvd. Cuauhtemoc Sur. Up to 6 other routes have been proposed.
with the City of Tijuana are:
Overviews
Baja California Peninsula
The Baja California peninsula , is a peninsula in northwestern Mexico. Its land mass separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The Peninsula extends from Mexicali, Baja California in the north to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur in the south.The total area of the Baja California...
and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area
Tijuana metropolitan area
The Tijuana metropolitan area, and in Spanish the Zona Metropolitana de Tijuana, is located on the Pacific Ocean in Mexico. According to the 2005 census, the Tijuana metropolitan area was the sixth-largest in Mexico, with a population of 1,483,992. The 2010 Census placed the Tijuana metropolitan...
, part of the international
International
----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...
San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. An industrial and financial center of Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence on economics, education, culture, art, and politics. As the city has become a leading center in the country, so has the surrounding metropolitan area, a major industrial and paramount metropolis in northwestern Mexico. Currently one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico, Tijuana maintains global city
Global city
A global city is a city that is deemed to be an important node in the global economic system...
status.
On the Gold Coast of Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
, Tijuana is the municipal seat, cultural, and commercial center of Tijuana Municipality. A dominant manufacturing center of the North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n continent, the city maintains facilities of numerous multinational
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
conglomerate
Conglomerate (company)
A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...
companies. The 2000's saw Tijuana become the medical device manufacturing capital of North America. Also a growing cultural center, Tijuana has been recognized as one of most important new cultural meccas. The city is the most visited border city in the globe; sharing an approximate 24 kilometres (14.9 mi) with its sister city San Diego, over fifty million people annually cross the border between these two cities. This metropolitan crossing makes the San Ysidro Port of Entry the busiest land-border crossing in the world. It is estimated that the two border crossing stations between the cities proper of San Diego and Tijuana account for 300,000 daily border crossings alone.
Tijuana is the 42nd largest city
Largest Cities in the Americas
This is a list of the 50 largest cities in the Americas by population. Official definitions of cities are defined according to the concept of city proper, which is the territory within the city limits. The list ranks the world's urban municipal units according to population...
in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
and is the westernmost city in Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the Tijuana metropolitan area was the fifth-largest in Mexico
Metropolitan areas of Mexico
Metropolitan areas in Mexico have been traditionally defined as the group of municipalities that heavily interact with each other, usually around a core city...
, with a population of 1,784,034. The international metropolitan region was estimated to be just over five million in 2009 and approximately 5,105,769 in 2010, making it the third largest metropolitan area in the Californias, 19th largest metropolitan area in the Americas, and the largest bi-national conurbation
Conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area...
that is shared between US and Mexico.
Tijuana traces its modern history to the arrival of Spanish
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
explorers in the 1500s who were mapping the coast of the Californias. As the American conquest of northern Mexico ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...
, Tijuana's new international position on the border gave rise to a new economic and political structure. The city was founded in July 11, 1889 as urban development began. Often known by its initials, "T.J.", and nicknamed Gateway to Mexico, the city has historically served as a tourist center dating back to the 1880s.
Etymology
In early historic missionSpanish Mission
Spanish Mission may mean:*Spanish Colonial Revival architecture*Mission Revival Style architecture*Spanish Missions, institutions established by Catholic religious orders under the auspices of the Spanish crown to convert indigenous peoples of the Americas and Asia and the Philippines, which...
documents — primarily baptism, marriage, and death records — there are mentions of the city with the names: La Tía Juana, Tiguana, Tiuana, Teguana, Tiwana, Tijuan, Ticuan, and the present day name, Tijuana. The commonly accepted theory held among historians is that the modern-day Tijuana is derived from a word of the Kumeyaay language
Kumeyaay language
Kumeyaay , also known as Central Diegueño, Kamia, and Campo, is the Native American language spoken by the Kumeyaay people of southern San Diego and Imperial counties in California. Hinton suggested a conservative estimate of 50 surviving Kumeyaay speakers...
- the original aboriginal inhabitants of the San Diego-Tijuana region. Tijuana derives from the Kumeyaay word Tiwan, meaning by-the-sea. Common in regional folklore, a myth exists purporting that the name is a conjunction of Tia Juana, the Spanish language version of Aunt Jane. Tia Juana would provided food and a resting place to travelers on their journeys. The story has become a popular myth with residents of the city and has particular resonance among those who like to imagine the city as a place of hospitality.
In Spanish, the name is pronounced "tiˈxwana." In English, its name is probably the most mispronounced in geography, very often being presented incorrectly as the four syllable /tiːəˈwɑːnə/ and sometimes correctly as the three syllable /tiːˈwɑːnə/; the former matches a presumed but incorrect spelling Tiajuana. In California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and particularly in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
, it is fondly referred to as T.J.. Baja Californians have mimicked this verbal abbreviation and refer to the city is Tiyei - the equivalent Spanish pronunciation. In Spanish the demonym for someone from Tijuana is Tijuanense, while in English demonym is Tijuanan.
The nickname Tijuas is increasingly popular among residents and visitors alike. Due to a recent increase in violence in the city, a new term is developing. The term Yo Tijuaneo, ¿y tú? translates to I Tijuanate, and you?. This term comes from a new popular local verb Tijuanear meaning to Tijuana, describing the cosmopolitan aspects of living in the city and frequently crossing the border. The term is becoming much more popular to help stop unfair and false criticisms of the city.
History
Kumeyaay
The Kumeyaay, also known as Tipai-Ipai, Kamia, or formerly Diegueño, are Native American people of the extreme southwestern United States and northwest Mexico. They live in the states of California in the US and Baja California in Mexico. In Spanish, the name is commonly spelled...
, a tribe of Yuman-speaking hunter-gatherers. Europeans arrived in 1542, when the explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo was a Portuguese explorer noted for his exploration of the west coast of North America on behalf of Spain. Cabrillo was the first European explorer to navigate the coast of present day California in the United States...
toured the coastline of the area, which was later mapped in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno
Sebastián Vizcaíno
Sebastián Vizcaíno was a Spanish soldier, entrepreneur, explorer, and diplomat whose varied roles took him to New Spain, the Philippines, the Baja California peninsula, the California coast and Japan.-Early career:...
. In 1769, Juan Crespí
Juan Crespi
Father Juan Crespí was a Majorcan missionary and explorer of Las Californias. He entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen. He came to America in 1749, and accompanied explorers Francisco Palóu and Junípero Serra. In 1767 he went to the Baja Peninsula and was placed in charge of the...
documented more detailed information about the area that would be called the Valley of Tijuana. Junípero Serra
Junípero Serra
Blessed Junípero Serra, O.F.M., , known as Fra Juníper Serra in Catalan, his mother tongue was a Majorcan Franciscan friar who founded the mission chain in Alta California of the Las Californias Province in New Spain—present day California, United States. Fr...
founded the first mission of Alta California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
in nearby San Diego.
More settlement of the area took place near the end of the mission era when José María de Echeandía, governor of the Baja California and Alta California, awarded a large land grant to Santiago Argüello
Santiago Argüello
-Life:Santiago Argüello was born in Monterey, California, the son of José Darío Argüello, a soldier, and María Ignacia Moraga, a niece of the acting governor of Alta California. Argüello was tall and stout. His fair complexion and black hair, along with his reserved manner gave him a regal...
in 1829. This large cattle ranch, Rancho Tía Juana ("Aunt Jane Ranch"), covered 100 km² (38.6 sq mi).
In 1848, as a result of the Mexican-American War with the United States, Mexico lost all of Alta California. The majority of the 1,000 Hispanic families living in Alta California stayed there, though some moved south to remain inside Mexico.
Because of this Tijuana gained a different purpose on the international border. The area had been populated by ranchers, but Tijuana developed a new social economic structure. These were farming and livestock grazing, plus as a transit area for prospectors.
Urban settlement began in 1889, when descendants of Santiago Argüello and Augustín Olvera
Agustin Olvera
Agustin Olvera was a pioneer of Los Angeles, California and was active in the turbulent political affairs of the time.-Biography:...
entered an agreement to begin developing the city of Tijuana. The date of the agreement, July 11, 1889, is recognized as the founding of the city.
Tijuana saw its future in tourism from the beginning. From the late 19th century to the first few decades of the 20th century, the city attracted large numbers of Californians coming for trade and entertainment. The California land boom of the 1880s led to the first big wave of tourists, who were called "excursionists" and came looking for echoes of the famous novel "Ramona
Ramona
Ramona is a 1884 United States historical novel written by Helen Hunt Jackson. It is the story of a Scots-Native American orphan girl in Southern California, who suffers racial discrimination and hardship. Originally serialized in the Christian Union on a weekly basis, the novel became immensely...
" by Helen Hunt Jackson
Helen Hunt Jackson
Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, born Helen Fiske , was a United States writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the U.S. government. She detailed the adverse effects of government actions in her history A Century of Dishonor...
.
In 1911, during the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
, revolutionaries claiming loyalty to Ricardo Flores Magón
Ricardo Flores Magón
Cipriano Ricardo Flores Magón was a noted Mexican anarchist and social reform activist. His brothers Enrique and Jesús were also active in politics. Followers of the Magón brothers were known as Magonistas....
took over the city for shortly over a month. Federal troops then arrived. Assisted by local loyal militia known as the "defensores de Tijuana", they routed the rebels, who fled north and were promptly arrested by the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. This event is a source of local controversy, and the "rebels" are almost universally reviled in Tijuana as "filibusteros" (mercenaries).
The Panama-California Exposition of 1915 brought many visitors to the nearby California city of San Diego. Tijuana attracted these tourists with a Feria Típica Mexicana - Typical Mexican Fair. This included curio shops, regional food, thermal baths, horse racing and boxing.
Agua Caliente Racetrack
The Agua Caliente Racetrack is a greyhound racing and former horse racing track in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. It opened in December 1929 at a cost of $2.5 million.One year before, the Agua Caliente Casino and Hotel opened in June 1928....
track opened in 1929, several miles south and across the river on higher ground.
Legal drinking and gambling attracted U.S nationals in the 1920s during Prohibition
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
. The Avenida Revolución
Avenida Revolución
Avenida Revolución is the tourist center in Tijuana, Baja California, México.-History:It was the first paved road of the 20th century, an important center of economic development, and a tourist attraction notable for the visitors who crossed the border daily from San Diego, California...
area became the city's tourist center, with casinos and the Hotel Caesar's, birthplace of the Caesar Salad
Caesar salad
A Caesar salad is a salad of romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and black pepper. It may be prepared tableside.-History:...
.
In 1928, the Agua Caliente Touristic Complex was opened, including hotel, spa, dog-track, private airport, golf course and gambling casino. A year later, the new Agua Caliente Racetrack joined the complex. During the eight years it operated, the Agua Caliente hotel, casino and spa achieved a near mythical status, with Hollywood stars and gangsters flying in and playing. Rita Hayworth was discovered there. Musical nightclub productions were broadcast over the radio. A singer known as "la Faraona" got shot in a love-triangle and gave birth to the myth of a beautiful lady ghost.
Remnants of the Agua Caliente casino can be seen in the outdoor swimming pool and the "minarete" (actually a former incinerator chimney) nearby the southern end of Avenida Sanchez Taboada, on the grounds of what is now the Lazaro Cardenas educational complex.
In 1935, President Cárdenas decreed an end to gambling and casinos in Baja California, and the Agua Caliente complex faltered, then closed. In 1939, it was reopened as a Junior High School (now, Preparatoria Lázaro Cárdenas). The buildings themselves were torn down in the 1970s and replaced by modern scholastic architecture.
In 1925, the city attempted to shed its negative image of hedonism and lawlessness created by American mob empresarios by renaming itself Zaragoza, but its name soon reverted to Tijuana.
With increased tourism and the large number of Mexican citizens relocating to Tijuana, the city's population grew from 21,971 to 65,364 between 1940 and 1950.
With the decline of nightlife and tourism in the 1950s, the city restructured its tourist industry, by promoting a more family-oriented scene. Tijuana developed a greater variety of attractions and activities to offer its visitors.
In 1994, PRI
Institutional Revolutionary Party
The Institutional Revolutionary Party is a Mexican political party that held power in the country—under a succession of names—for more than 70 years. The PRI is a member of the Socialist International, as is the rival Party of the Democratic Revolution , making Mexico one of the few...
presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio
Luis Donaldo Colosio
Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta was a Mexican politician, and PRI presidential candidate, who was assassinated at a campaign rally in Tijuana during the Mexican Presidential campaign of 1994.-Political history:...
was assassinated in Tijuana while making an appearance in the plaza of Lomas Taurinas, a neighborhood nestled in a valley near Centro. The shooter was caught and imprisoned, but doubts remain about who the mastermind might have been.
Geography
Tijuana is the western-most city in Mexico, and consequently in Latin AmericaLatin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, and the largest city of northern Mexico. Located approximately 210 kilometres (130.5 mi) west of the state-capital, Mexicali
Mexicali
Mexicali is the capital of the State of Baja California, seat of the Municipality of Mexicali, and 2nd largest city in Baja California. The City of Mexicali has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the population of the entire metropolitan area reaches 936,826.The city...
, the city is bordered to the north by the cities of Imperial Beach
Imperial Beach, California
Imperial Beach is a residential beach city in San Diego County, California, with a population of 26,324 at the 2010 census. The city is the most southern beach city in Southern California and the West Coast of the United States...
, San Diego, and unincorporated territory of western San Diego County. To the southwest of the city is Rosarito Beach, while to the south is unincorporated territory of Tijuana Municipality. The city is nestled among hills, canyons, and gullies. The central part of the city lies in a valley through which flows the channeled Tijuana River
Tijuana River
The Tijuana River is an intermittent river, 120 mi long, on the Pacific coast of northern Baja California in Mexico and southern California in the United States.-Location:...
.
Housing development in the Tijuana Hills has led to eradication of many seasonal mountain streams. This lack of natural drainage makes places within the city vulnerable to landslides during the rainy season. The varied terrain of Tijuana gives the city elevation extremes that range from 0 metre (0 ft) to 790 metres (2,591.9 ft).
Tijuana is noted for its rough terrain, which includes many canyons, steep hills, and mesas. Among noted canyons in Tijuana are Canyon K and Canyon Johnson. Large Tijuana hills include Red Hill (Cerro Colorado) and Hill of the Bees (Cerro de las Abejas) in the eastern part of the city.
The city is located near the terminus of the Tijuana River and within the Tijuana River Basin. The Tijuana River is an intermittent river, 195 km (121 mi) long, on the Pacific coast of northern Baja California in Mexico and Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
in the United States. It drains an arid area along the California–Baja California border, flowing through Mexico for most of its course and then crossing the border for the last 8 km (5 mi) of its course where it forms an estuary that empties into the ocean. The river's lower reaches harbor the last undeveloped coastal wetlands in San Diego County, and some of the last in Southern California, amidst a highly urbanized environment at the southern city limits of Imperial Beach.
As Downtown Tijuana was built at the bottom of the river valley, the district is subject to seasonal flooding created by drain-off from the Tijuana Hills. During this time, east-bound portions of the Via Rapida (east-west highway) may be blocked off by the Tijuana Police due to hazardous conditions.
Cityscape
The city's skyscraper history is relatively recent. Some of the first highrise building complexes constructed in the city were the twin towers of Grand Hotel Tijuana. Tijuana experienced a building boom that was brought to a halt by the Great Recession. Among buildings that succumbed to the time period was the Trump Ocean Resort Baja MexicoTrump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico
Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico was a failed luxury condominium-hotel resort located in the Playas de Tijuana borough of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, just 30 minutes south of downtown San Diego....
that would have been located in Playas and reached 98 metres (321.5 ft). Currently the tallest building, and soon to be the largest complex in footage, New City Residential
New City Residential
NewCity Residential is a high-rise complex of seven skyscrapers in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. In the San Diego–Tijuana region the buildings are increasingly being referred to as New City. The complex has just began construction and will consist of seven towers, out of which only two have...
reaches 102 metres (334.6 ft). Overall, the city maintains 33 completed structures with other proposed and under-construction skyscrapers.
The Tijuana skyline is the third largest skyline in Mexico and is located in the Zona Rio and to a smaller extent, Playas de Tijuana. In the Zona Rio the buildings are concentrated on the Tijuana River, lined parallel to the river on both sides; and on the edges of the Tijuana Country Club. In Playas the highrises are currently focused on the coast. Recent construction on highrises has begun in the aforementioned areas, as buildings such as New City Residential and Grand Hotel Tijuana have been developed and taken prominent places in the skyline as the tallest buildings. From Tijuana's skyline the San Diego skyline can also be seen.
Districts
The Zona Río is the city's Financial DistrictCentral business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
. This area is located at a strategic point north of the city, 1 km (0.621372736649807 mi) from the border line of the United States and Mexico. It is close to Downtown and the Abelardo L. Rodriguez Airport. This district has many hotels, restaurants, buildings, malls, condominiums and hospitals, with wide avenues.
Climate
Tijuana's climate is semi-arid (Köppen climate classificationKöppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
BSh), with about 235 mm (9.25 in) of annual precipitation. It shows characteristics of the Dry-Summer Subtropical Mediterranean climate
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...
(Csa) found to the immediate north, with most of the annual precipitation falling in the winter (between November and March).
During the rainy season, November through March, storms originate from fronts entering off of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. March is the wettest month of the year for the city and during this time a periodic event, similar to June Gloom
June Gloom
June Gloom is a southern California term for a weather pattern that results in cloudy, overcast skies with cool temperatures during the late spring and early summer. June Gloom in southern California is caused by the marine layer effect common to the West Coast, and is enhanced by the Catalina eddy...
, is observed created by marine layer
Marine layer
A marine layer is an air mass which develops over the surface of a large body of water such as the ocean or large lake in the presence of a temperature inversion. The inversion itself is usually initiated by the cooling effect of the water on the surface layer of an otherwise warm air mass...
. Whilst March is the wettest month, January is the coolest month, during which temperatures average 13° Celsius. In the city April signifies the end of winter and the start of Santa Ana winds - observed in Southern California as well. Though the days are predominantly cool with cold nights, heat waves can reach up to 33° Celsius. The hottest months in the city, also the dry season, are August and September, during which temperatures average 22° Celsius.
Frost
Frost
Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air as well as below the freezing point of water. Frost crystals' size differ depending on time and water vapour available. Frost is also usually...
and snow are rare phenomena in the city as temperatures are usually warm. Yet, in December 1967, snow fell in the city and in January 2007 feather light snow fell in the east of the city. However, excessive amounts of snow fall have never been recorded in the city. On February 14, 2008 a winter storm caused an unusual snowfall in the upper reaches of the hills of the city. During this time heavy snowfall was also observed in the Cuyamaca Mountains
Cuyamaca Mountains
The Cuyamaca Mountains, locally the Cuyamacas, are a mountain range in San Diego County, California. The mountains run roughly northwest to southeast. The highest elevations are Cuyamaca Peak at and Stonewall Peak at...
of San Diego County.
The record low temperature recorded in the city was -6º Celsius, while the highest was 42° Celsius.
Demographics
Tijuana has a diverse cosmopolitanMulticulturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
population which includes migrants from other parts of Mexico, as well as immigrants from all over the globe. Tijuana is the second-most diverse city and is home to a global populace. The city is home to one of Mexico's largest Asian populations, predominantly consists of Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
immigrants, and to a lesser extent, Koreans and Japanese. Tijuana is also home to a large and rapidly growing population of United States citizens, mostly from Southern California, who have moved to the city to avoid the higher cost of living in the region, while still being able to work in Southern California. Many Latin Americans, notable Argentines, Cubans
Cubans
Cubans or Cuban people are the inhabitants or citizens of Cuba. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
, and Guatemalans have made Tijuana their home, especially people from Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and Andean nations. The city is also called home by many Italian, French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
, Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
and Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
citizens. A large transitory population exists in Tijuana due to border aspirations or deportations.
The majority of Tijuana's migrant Mexican population hail from Sinaloa
Sinaloa
Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales....
, Michoacán
Michoacán
Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...
, Jalisco
Jalisco
Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...
, Oaxaca
Oaxaca
Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions...
, and the Federal District. Because of the diversity of Mexico and the influx of immigrants from almost every region in the country, there are no accurate estimates on ethnicity or race of the current population. The heavy influx of immigrants to the city and municipality of Tijuana has led to job creation in the form of over 700 twin-plant (maquiladora) factories, which serve as the basis of employment for the majority of the working class people in northern Mexico. The high poverty level in Tijuana is attributed to the city's "magnet status" for people who have come from the poorer south of the nation and citizens from other nations seeking to escape from extreme poverty. Tijuana holds a status that provides the possibility of employment as well as higher education and the dream of crossing the border. Tijuana and Baja California in general have much stronger economies and higher incomes than other Mexican cities along the United States border.
Tijuana today is one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico with an average of 80,000 people moving to Tijuana yearly. In terms of area, the city grows by approximately three hectares a day. The city experiences the construction of 26,000 new homes a year that has led to the unregulated substandard sprawl that takes place in the hills of ever expanding Tijuana. National Population Council (CONAPO) data has estimated that by 2030, growth rates maintaining, the city will become the second largest in Mexico and anchor to the fourth largest metropolitan area in Mexico. The suburban sprawl observed in Tijuana leaves the downtown and beach areas relatively affluent.
According to the Second Census of Population and Housing of the year 2010 conducted by the INEGI (National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics) the municipality of Tijuana has 1,559,683 inhabitants. While the metropolitan area of Tijuana, composed of Tijuana Municipality and Rosarito Beach Municipality, has 1,751,302 inhabitants. Tecate Municipality, adjacent to Tijuana Municipality, has not yet been considered by the government as part of the metropolitan area. However, there is great economic and cultural exchange between the cities regions though there are still expanses of rural land. As Tijuana grows, many of its suburbs have been built increasingly inland, and in the direction of Tecate
Tecate
Tecate is a small city in Baja California, Mexico and the municipal seat of Tecate Municipality. It is located on the border with Tecate, California, United States in the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. There is a small port of entry betwixt the sister cities that serves as a calmer...
; Valley of the Palms is a large planned city between the two.
At the municipal level is a city where a collision Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and Protestant beliefs are observed, though, who are strengthened rapidly with growth rates of followers exceeding the percentage of population growth. As of 2005 the majority of the city's population, 96%, adhere to the beliefs Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. The denominations are further divided into followers of Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
- 61& - and of Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
- 35% of the population and additionally observing rapid growth. Consisting of a smaller percentage of the populace, Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
accounts for 15% of the Christian populace. Other Protestant groups in the city, accounting for 4% of the population, includes Lutherans, Universal Church of the Kingdom of God
Universal Church of the Kingdom of God
Universal Church of the Kingdom of God is a Pentecostal Christian organisation established in Brazil on July 9, 1977, with a presence in many countries...
, Presbyterians, and Baptists. Other denominations in the city include Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
, 11% of the city population; Seventh Day Adventist Church, 3% of the city population; Mormonism
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
, 2% of the population while other beliefs occupying a 4% margin in the city include Taoism
Taoism
Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...
(among other Asian and European religions) and atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
and agnosticism
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
.
In recent years, as in most of the world, the Catholic religion has reduced its presence in the city; a phenomenon accompanied by the growth of Protestant groups. If current growth rates are observed, in twenty years Protestant religions will account for the majority of the city's religious followers.
Crime
Tijuana is well known for being the birthplace and base of the Tijuana CartelTijuana Cartel
The Tijuana Cartel is a Mexican drug cartel based in Tijuana. The cartel has been described as "one of the biggest and most violent criminal groups in Mexico"...
; From 2007 through 2010, Tijuana experienced an unusually high level of violent crime
Crime in Mexico
Crime is among the most urgent concerns facing Mexico, as Mexican drug trafficking rings play a major role in the flow of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana transiting between Latin America and the United States. Drug trafficking has led to corruption, which has had a deleterious effect on Mexico's...
related to gang violence, in part derived from the Mexican drug war
Mexican Drug War
The Mexican Drug War is an ongoing armed conflict taking place among rival drug cartels who fight each other for regional control, and Mexican government forces who seek to combat drug trafficking. However, the government's principal goal has been to put down the drug-related violence that was...
and human trafficking
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
. Homicides peaked in 2010, when 844 people were killed, compared to 355 in 2004 and 349 in the first eight months of 2011. Reportedly, the wave of violence resulted from a turf war
Turf war
According to Wordnet the definition of a turf war is "a bitter struggle for territory or power or control or rights". For example: a turf war erupted between street gangs; the president's resignation was the result of a turf war with the board of directors. In larger companies Turf wars could...
as the administration of President Felipe Calderón
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is the current President of Mexico. He assumed office on December 1, 2006, and was elected for a single six-year term through 2012...
weakened the local Arellano Félix
Ramón Arellano Félix
Ramon Arellano Félix was a Mexican drug trafficker whom authorities linked to the Tijuana drug cartel ....
cartel; violence slowed when the larger Sinaloa cartel
Sinaloa Cartel
The Sinaloa Cartel is the most powerful drug cartel in Mexico and considered by the United States Intelligence Community as "the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world." The Sinaloa Cartel is based in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, but also operates in the Mexican states of Baja...
took control.
During peak years of violent crime in the city, gun battles between rival cartels, and between cartels and the police, erupted in public. In April 2008, police found 1,500 shell casings on various streets after one battle left 13 suspected drug traffickers dead. In 2009 and depending on the source, Tijuana Municipality experienced either 556 or 1,118 murders, mostly as a result of the drug war
Mexican Drug War
The Mexican Drug War is an ongoing armed conflict taking place among rival drug cartels who fight each other for regional control, and Mexican government forces who seek to combat drug trafficking. However, the government's principal goal has been to put down the drug-related violence that was...
.
In 2011, the crime wave appears to be subsiding, with levels returning to those prior to 2007. "While other parts of Mexico are hit by an increase in drugs violence, the beheadings and massacres familiar a few years ago are now rare in Tijuana, a key battleground on one of the most lucrative drug smuggling corridors to the United States." As of 2011, "organized crime continues, not only drug trafficking but extortion, kidnapping, human smuggling and gun running." These crimes are consolidated under the Sinaloa Cartel
Sinaloa Cartel
The Sinaloa Cartel is the most powerful drug cartel in Mexico and considered by the United States Intelligence Community as "the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world." The Sinaloa Cartel is based in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, but also operates in the Mexican states of Baja...
.
Regional
At present the parties with greater presence in Tijuana are the National Action PartyNational Action Party
National Action Party may mean:*National Action Party *National Action Party *National Action Party *National Action Party...
(PAN), Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), and Green Party (SVP). The PAN has been the dominant party in the city for 20 years. Historically the PRI has been the dominant party in regional politics, until 1989 when the PAN began to dominate the city, until yet again, in 2004, PRI began regaining prominence and won the Mayor's Office.
Less prominent parties also maintain relations with the dominant parties. These other parties, with less presence include the New Alliance
New Alliance
The New Alliance is an oppositional political party in Benin.At the last legislative elections, 30 March 2003, the party won 2 out of 83 seats....
(HONEYCOMB), Social Encounter Party (PES), and Democratic Revolution Party (PRD). Allied with the PAN at the state and local level under the Alliance for Baja California are the Social Encounter Party (PES) and Partido Nueva Alianza (Panal). Allied with the PRI at the state and local level under the "Alliance for Better Living" are the Green Party (SVP) and Baja California State Party (PEBC).
International
Tijuana's importance and rise to a global city has led to its recognition among countries worldwide. In addition to international cultural recognition, Tijuana has received political recognition and is a developing a political center currently host to eight consulates from European, Asian, and North American countries.Economy
Tijuana is a large manufacture center, and in addition to tourism, it serves as a cornerstone of the city economy. In the past decade alone, Tijuana became the medical device manufacture capital of the North American continent, surpassing previous leader Minneapolis - Saint Paul.The city's proximity to Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
and its large, skilled, diverse, and relatively inexpensive workforce, makes it an attractive city for foreign companies looking to establish extensive industrial parks composed of assembly plants that are called maquiladora
Maquiladora
A maquiladora or maquila is a concept often referred to as an operation that involves manufacturing in a country that is not the client's and as such has an interesting duty or tariff treatment...
s, even more so than other cities in the US-Mexican border zone, taking advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
(NAFTA) to export products. At its peak, in 2001 Tijuana had roughly 820 of these 'maquiladoras' (today the number is closer to 550). Foreign and domestic companies employ thousands of employees in these plants, usually in assembly related labor. Such jobs are demanding but typically offer above average (although not high paying) salaries for Mexico, with most maqiladoras jobs beginning at Mex$100 per day (about $7.94 in US dollars), significantly above the Mexican minimum wage of Mex$57.46 (about 4.56 US dollars). Companies that have set up maquiladoras in Tijuana include Lanix
Lanix
Lanix is a Mexican electronics company based in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. It is Mexico's largest domestically owned electronics company, and sells a wide array of both consumer and professional electronics...
, BRAVIA
BRAVIA
BRAVIA is a Sony brand used to market its high-definition LCD televisions, projection TVs and front projectors and for the PlayStation 3 , along with its home cinema range under the sub-brand BRAVIA Theatre. The BRAVIA name is an acronym of "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture"...
, Hyundai
Hyundai
Hyundai ) is a global conglomerate company, part of the Korean chaebol, that was founded in South Korea by one of the most famous businessmen in Korean history: Chung Ju-yung...
, Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
, Vortec, BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
, Vizio
Vizio
Vizio is a privately held producer of consumer electronics, based in Irvine, California, USA. It was founded in October 2002 as V Inc. Vizio's major partner in the consumer electronics arena is AmTran Technology, a Taiwan-based OEM/ODM that manufactures more than half of the televisions sold...
, Toyota, Dell
Dell
Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...
, Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
, Kodak, Matsushita/Panasonic, Bimbo
Bimbo
Bimbo, in its popular English language usage, describes a woman who is physically attractive but is perceived to have a low intelligence or poor education. The term can also be used to describe a woman who acts in a sexually promiscuous manner...
, GE
Gê
Gê are the people who spoke Ge languages of the northern South American Caribbean coast and Brazil. In Brazil the Gê were found in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piaui, Mato Grosso, Goias, Tocantins, Maranhão, and as far south as Paraguay....
, Nabisco
Nabisco
Nabisco is an American brand of cookies and snacks. Headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey, the company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Kraft Foods. Nabisco's plant in Chicago, a production facility at 7300 S...
, Ford, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, Cemex
Cemex
CEMEX is the world's largest building materials supplier and third largest cement producer. Founded in Mexico in 1906, the company is based in Monterrey, Mexico...
, Zonda
Zonda Telecom
Zonda Telecom is a Mexican Telecommunications company founded in Guadalajara, Jalisco, in 1968 as a Television manufacturer.This company has several manufacturing plants in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, which manufacture its own products as well as manufacture electronic products for other...
, Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
, Pioneer
Pioneer Corporation
is a multinational corporation that specializes in digital entertainment products, based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. The company was founded in 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair shop...
, Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
, Plantronics
Plantronics
Plantronics is an electronics company producing audio communications equipment for business and consumers. Its' products provide unified communications, mobile use, gaming and music...
, Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
, Jaguar
Jaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
, Pall Medical, Tara, Sanyo
Sanyo
is a major electronics company and member of the Fortune 500 whose headquarters is located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo targets the middle of the market and has over 230 Subsidiaries and Affiliates....
, Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
and vimay. Many of the maquiladoras are located in the Otay Mesa and Florido sections of Tijuana.
In addition there are also some high-tech firms and telemarketing companies making their way into the city drawing skilled people with technical trades and college degrees to Tijuana. One example is Telvista, a Texas-based telemarketing company which maintains three call centers along Blvd. Agua Caliente. This makes Tijuana a popular city for migrant workers as well as college graduates from other parts of Mexico as well as other countries to the south.
Avenida Revolución
Avenida Revolución is the tourist center in Tijuana, Baja California, México.-History:It was the first paved road of the 20th century, an important center of economic development, and a tourist attraction notable for the visitors who crossed the border daily from San Diego, California...
and Agua Caliente
Agua Caliente, Tijuana
Agua Caliente is an historic entertainment center and present day district of Tijuana, Baja California. The Agua Caliente Tourist Complex formed in the late 1920's along Agua Caliente Boulevard when a road was built that led from the historic Rio Zone to a natural hot springs two miles up the...
. Restaurants and taco stands, pharmacies, bars and dance clubs are part of the draw for the city's tourists. Many shops and stalls selling Mexican crafts and souvenirs are also located in walking distance from the border. Mexico's drinking age of 18 (vs. 21 in the United States) make it a common weekend destination for many high school and college aged Southern Californians who tend to stay within the Avenida Revolución. Tijuana is also home to several pharmacies marketed toward visitors from the United States. These pharmacies sell some pharmaceutical drugs without prescriptions, and at much lower costs than pharmacies in the US. Many medications still require a Mexican doctor's prescription though several accessible doctor offices are located near the border as well. In addition Tijuana has a legal "red-light" district known as the Zona Norte
Zona Norte (Tijuana)
Zona Norte is a red light district located in Tijuana, Mexico. It is known for its brothels, street prostitution, and illicit drug sales. Due to its proximity to San Diego, California, it is frequented by US citizens as well as locals...
which also adds significant revenue to its economy. Tijuana is also home to many businesses selling products and services at a much cheaper rate than in the United States. Such businesses as auto detailing, medical services, dentistry and plastic surgery are heavily marketed and located near the city's border with the US.
Economic development has its central business district at Zona Río, which with the corridor along Blvd. Agua Caliente (the extension of Avenida Revolución) contains the majority of the higher-end office space in the city. Binational economic development along the US-Mexico border is key to the development of Tijuana going forward. Multiple regional (San Diego-US/Tijuana-MX) think-tanks exist on both sides of the border that promote such regional collaboration and innovation.
Education
Tijuana is home to many private Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and High Schools as well as nationally high ranked colleges and universities. Notable primary and secondary schools include Instituto MéxicoInstituto México
Instituto México de B.C. is a private Catholic preparatory school located in the city of Tijuana, Mexico.- History :As a first step, the Instituto México de B.C. civil association was constituted on June 13, 1963. The school's inauguration was held on September 6, 1965 and its students numbered 204...
, Instituto Cumbres, President Lázaro Cárdenas School, Agua Caliente School Center High, José Fimbres Moreno School and the State High School, and Ignacio Ramírez School located in Cerro Colorado. These schools maintain recognition for their demands and high standards.
Tijuana maintains multiple higher education institutions. These include the Autonomous University of Baja California, Tijuana
Autonomous University of Baja California, Tijuana
The Autonomous University of Baja California, Tijuana is a public research university campus located in the Mesa de Otay borough of Tijuana, Baja California. The branch under the Autonomous University of Baja California maintains three sub-campus' in Tecate, Rosarito Beach, and Palm Valley....
(UABC), Universidad Iberoamericana
Universidad Iberoamericana
The Ibero-American University is a Mexican private institution of higher education sponsored by the Society of Jesus...
(UIA-Tijuana), CETYS Universidad
Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior
The Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior is a Mexican private university commonly referred to as CETYS Universidad.This institution was founded on February 17, 1961 with Fernando Macías Rendón as first president in Mexicali, Baja California...
, Universidad Xochicalco
Universidad Xochicalco
Xochicalco University is a private university with campuses in Tijuana, Ensenada, and Mexicali in Baja California, Mexico. Universidad Xochicalco has a medical school as well as an International Medical Graduate program. Additionally, Xochicalco University offers programs in optometry, medicine...
, and University of the Californias. Other colleges included College of Science and Technology Studies at the State of Baja California College, Tijuana University Center, Tijuana University of Technology, Graduate Center of the Northwest, and the University of Professional Development. The city is the seat of the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), an institution of scientific research and higher education, specializing in the study of the problems in the border region between Mexico and the United States. In August 2009, Metropolitan UABC opened in Valle de Las Palmas, in the Tijuana metropolitan area.
Culture and contemporary life
Many foreigners travel to Tijuana to drink and dance, buy prescription drugPrescription drug
A prescription medication is a licensed medicine that is regulated by legislation to require a medical prescription before it can be obtained. The term is used to distinguish it from over-the-counter drugs which can be obtained without a prescription...
s, illegal drugs (especially in and around dance clubs), purchase bootleg brand-name clothing, timepieces, and other personal accessories found globally, as well as manufactured and hand-crafted local curiosities. Locals and regular tourists avoid hassles by visiting the clubs at Plaza Fiesta or other areas of the Zona Río
Zona Río, Tijuana
Downtown Tijuana, commonly known as Zona Río or Río Zone, is the Central business district of Tijuana.Zona Río is located at a strategic point, in the north of the city, about from the U.S.-Mexico border and from Centre City in San Diego. The Río Zone is within the Centre borough, a main borough...
without the crowds, heavy marketing, and occasional tourist misbehavior or outright lawbreaking common on the Revolución strip. However, Avenida Revolución has been known for its proliferation of nightclub shows, primarily catering to casual tourists. While still an entertaining town with an enjoyable atmosphere, locals and tourists alike would agree that it has lost its "anything goes" mentality which it had once acquired, a mindset that was dangerous to tourists, locals, and the tourism industry as a whole.
Tijuana is also known as the birthplace of the "Tijuana Special," which is a classic Tex-Mex dish consisting of enchiladas, rice and refried beans
Refried beans
Refried beans is a dish of cooked and mashed beans and is a traditional staple of Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, although each cuisine has a somewhat different approach when making the dish.-Ingredients and preparation:...
. This dish was popularized by Tippy's, an American Tex-Mex restaurant.
Entertainment and performing arts
Although poverty is widespread throughout the city, a very affluent and prominent society has developed in Tijuana. GentrificationGentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
is evident throughout certain districts. The Tijuana Cultural Center
Tijuana Cultural Center
The Tijuana Cultural Center opened its doors October 20, 1982, with over a million visitors a year. This touristic attraction has been the main center for the regional arts, and represents one the most important in the northwest of the country...
(CECUT) opened on October 20, 1982 with the goals of strengthening Tijuana's image, and to advertise cultural tourism from the US. The building was constructed by the architects Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and Manuel Rosen Morrison. The CECUT first opened as part of the National Fund for Social Activities then in 1983 it was part of the Ministry of Tourism. Later that year CECUT was joined into the Ministry of Public Education. Finally, in 1986 the CECUT gained its own independence, and was able to plan its own budget. In 1988 they changed their actions guiding themselves towards a comprehensive national cultural policy.
It is composed of lecture rooms, video rooms, a library, an exhibition hall, the Museum of the Californias, a futuristic planetary movie theater that displays IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
films, and a restaurant. Since 1992, the CECUT has hosted the Orchestra of Baja California (OBC), it headquarters the Center of Scenic Arts of the Northwest (CAEN) and the Hispanic-American Center for Guitar (CHG). Since 2001, the CECUT receives about a million visitors per year, making it Baja California's most important cultural center. Another important culture center is La Casa de la Cultura, which comprises a school, a theater, and a public library. Dance, painting, music, plastic arts, photography and languages are taught there. The city also has the Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura (Municipal Institute of Art and Culture), the Tijuana Wax Museum, and the Museo El Trompo (The Trompo
Trompo
A Trompo or Whipping Top is a toy popular in Latin America much like a top. Its name can vary between countries. In Spain it is known as "peonza" or "trompo"...
Museum).
The Tijuana Country Club
Tijuana Country Club
The Tijuana Country Club is a country club located in Tijuana. The Country Club was the site of the historic Agua Caliente Open and Tijuana Open Invitational, former golf tournaments on the PGA Tour...
(Club Campestre de Tijuana) has many affluent members and a famous golf course. A large sized Rotary Club is also located in Tijuana. The Grand Hotel Tijuana and many luxurious restaurants have been developed along Bulevar Agua Caliente (often called "El Bulevar" by locals) and in the Zona Rio. Around the country club and Agua Caliente, many developments of wealthy and luxurious gated communities have filled the hillsides, most of which have views similar to Mount Soledad
Mount Soledad
Mount Soledad is a prominent landmark in the city of San Diego, California, United States. The mountaintop is the site of the Mount Soledad cross, the subject of a continuing controversy over the involvement of religion in government.- Geography :...
in San Diego or areas of Orange County
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
. Tijuana's most prestigious entertainment center is the Tijuana Country Club golf club, but the Agua Caliente Racetrack would be the most notable that is open to the general public. Parque Morelos has a small zoo and park space; Parque de la Amistad has a small pond, and a running and dirt-bike track. Parque Teniente Guerrero is a park located downtown with a public library and weekend entertainment by clowns. El Foro
El Foro
El Foro is currently a 3,000-seat venue for concerts in the city of Tijuana. A few years ago, this venue was used in Tijuana as a fronton/jai alai venue. In 2002 was closed by the local government, and was totally reconstructed. It was reopened in 2003. Since then, artists like Julieta Venegas,...
was an attraction for being a jai alai venue, but now is commonly used as a concert venue.
The Tijuana Donkey show
Donkey show
A donkey show is a form of sex tourism entertainment most often associated with Tijuana, Mexico, in which a local woman engages in zoophilia with a donkey....
s are a legendary form of entertainment involving inter-species erotica
Zoophilia
Zoophilia, from the Greek ζῷον and φιλία is the practice of sex between humans and non-human animals , or a preference or fixation on such practice...
with a donkey
Donkey
The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...
. Since such shows are illegal in Mexico this is almost certainly an Urban Legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
. One may occasionally encounter gullible tourists going up and down La Coahuila street trying to find a show.
Art
Tijuana also has a very active and independent artist community whose internationally recognized work has earned Tijuana the title of "one of the most important new cultural meccas", according to NewsweekNewsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
., an exhibition of Tijuana's current art scene, is being curated by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego , in San Diego, California, USA, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present.-History:...
and is traveling across the USA in 2006 and 2007. Art collectives like Bulbo and film production like Palenque Filmaciones explore the use of film like the award winning Tijuana Makes Me Happy
Tijuana Makes Me Happy
Tijuana Makes Me Happy is a 2006 film made in Tijuana, Mexico. It was directed by Dylan Verrechia, and co-written by James Lefkowitz, with original music by Nortec Collective...
, media like television bulbo TV and print "bulbo PRESS", to show different realities of Tijuana out of Mexico. In 2004, Tijuana earned international acclaim for an art exhibition displayed on the cement banks of the Tijuana River and along the Mexico/U.S. border fence in Otay Mesa.
Graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
is widespread in Tijuana. It can range from free-hand writing in spray can and marker form, often carrying social or sexual commentary in English or Spanish, pictures in wheatpaste
Wheatpaste
Wheatpaste is a liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water. It has been used since ancient times for various arts and crafts such as book binding, decoupage, collage, and papier-mâché...
and stencils, consisting of stenciled renderings of personalities crucial to Hispanic culture from past and present eras, such as television news announcers or stars, but also extending to images of artists like Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
. Graffiti in Tijuana may seem at first to consist largely of simplistic tags and thus not as technically evolved, colorful, or accepted in the mainstream as the "pieces" of graffiti scenes of the United States, Europe, or Japan, but large, colorful graffiti murals adorn walls from both native Tijuanan artists as well as visiting graffiti writers, especially from California. The Tijuanan art pieces show as much prowess and skill as those made by their more renowned U.S. counterparts, although illicit graffiti is strongly discouraged by the Tijuana government, as in other major metropolitan areas.
Music
Tijuana is home of the Nortec, a fusion of Norteñas or typical northern-Mexican music and electronic music, such as the music of The Nortec Collective and other electronic music artists whom have placed Tijuana in the international eye of specialized magazines and forums in recent years. Additionally, Tijuana also enjoys a large base of support in many other musical scenes, such as Mexican hip hop, hardcoreHardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
, punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
, Tijuana Brass and house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
. Famous musical acts from Tijuana include the world known singer Julieta Venegas, hip-hop band Tijuana Rap, and international indie punk bands like Delux & Los Kung-Fu Monkeys
Los Kung-Fu Monkeys
Los Kung Fu Monkeys are ska punk band from Tijuana, Mexico that formed in late 1997. Their lyrics are predominantly written in English, but also in Spanish...
Musical clubs along the Avenida Revolución area and others often cater to a diverse range of tastes by offering nightly variations on musical fare, such as New Wave music
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
one night, and punk rock bands on the next. Interestingly, some metal bands from Europe whose members cannot perform in the United States due to prior felony convictions in their own countries will play music festivals in Tijuana so as to attract fans from both Mexico and the United States.
Shopping
Cinépolis
Cinépolis is a Mexican chain of movie theaters. Its name means City of Cinéma and its slogan is La Capital del Cine .Cinépolis is the biggest cineplex chain in Mexico with 205 theaters in 65 cities,...
and a Cinépolis VIP movie theater, a Sanborns restaurant and a variety of shops, including the large department store Sears. Plaza Mundo Divertido is off of Tijuana's main east-west highway with arcades and rides for the whole family. Plaza Monarca is on a north-south artery known as "Gato Bronco" and is anchored by the movie theater Cinépolis and grocery store chain Soriana (formerly a Gigante Supermarket). Plaza Carrousel, so named because the mall contains a children's merry-go-round, is minutes from the Cinco y Diez retail hub centered around a former five and dime store. The beach community of Playas de Tijuana saw a burst of construction in 2004, which yielded the Plaza Coronado complex next to the existing Comercial Mexicana-anchored Centro Comercial Playas.
Tijuana also enjoys notoriety among Americans and other nationals for its red-light district
Red-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
Zona Norte (referred to as La Coahuila after one of the main streets in it) which boasts a large number of legal street prostitutes as well as, in parts, a selection of strip clubs offering at least one establishment per block. The strip clubs are typically full-contact, meaning the dancers will allow patrons to fondle them. The dancers in most clubs also sell their sexual services, which are pricier ($US 72 in early-2007) than those of the street prostitutes.
People filling up prescriptions for drugs classified in the US as Schedule II or Schedule III have found it more difficult to locate such medications, and the purchase of pseudoephedrine also has become restricted by Tijuana pharmacies, as it is in the United States. For a prescription to be filled in Tijuana and brought legally to the United States, any drug covered by the US Controlled Substances Act
Controlled Substances Act
The Controlled Substances Act was enacted into law by the Congress of the United States as Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. The CSA is the federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use and distribution of certain...
would require a prescription from the United States for re-import. Americans are allowed to import up to a 90 day supply of non-controlled medications for personal use back to the USA from Mexico and other countries.
Sports
| Club | Sport | Founded | League | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club Tijuana Club Tijuana Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente is a Mexican football team from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Tijuana plays in the Primera División de México It was founded in January 2007. The colors that identify the club are red and black.-History:... |
Association Football | 2006 | Primera División Primera División de México The Primera División Profesional , known simply as the Primera División, is the top level of the Mexican football league system and is administered by the Mexican Football Federation. It was established in 1943 and as of 2011 has 18 clubs. Up to June 2011, it was divided into three groups competing... |
Estadio Caliente Estadio Caliente The Estadio Caliente, is a multi-use stadium in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, that is mostly used for football matches.The stadium hosts home matches for the Mexican professional football team Club Tijuana, who play in the Primera División de México, Mexico's First Division. -Stadium:The... |
| Tijuana Galgos | Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules... |
2003 | Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional The Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional is the top professional basketball league in Mexico. The league was founded in 2000 with 11 teams, expanding to 24 as of 2008... |
Auditorio Municipal "Fausto Gutierrez Moreno-CASAS GEO" |
| Tijuana Dragons Tijuana Dragons The Tijuana Dragons was an American Basketball Association team based in Tijuana, Mexico. The team began play in the fall of 2004. They finished the 2005 season with a 10-16 record and a 7th place finish in the Red Division... |
Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules... |
2003 | American Basketball Association American Basketball Association (21st century) The American Basketball Association, often abbreviated as ABA, is a semi-professional men's basketball league that was founded in 1999. The current ABA has no affiliation with the original American Basketball Association that merged with the National Basketball Association in 1976... |
Auditorio Municipal "Fausto Gutierrez Moreno-CASAS GEO" |
| Tijuana Cimarrones | Baseball Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond... |
2005 (Called "Toros" in 2004) | Golden Baseball League Golden Baseball League The Golden Baseball League, based in San Ramon, California, was an independent baseball league. It later merged with the Northern League and the United Baseball League to form the North American League in the western United States, western Canada and Mexico.... |
Estadio de Beisbol Calimax Estadio de Beisbol Calimax Estadio de Béisbol Calimax is a professional baseball stadium located in Tijuana, Baja California, in Mexico with a capacity of 18,500, all seated. It was built in 1976 and is named after a supermarket chain based in Baja California... |
| Tijuana Zonkeys | Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules... |
2010 | Circuito de Baloncesto de La Costa Del Pacifico | Auditorio Municipal "Fausto Gutierrez Moreno-CASAS GEO" |
The city is home to two professional basketball teams. The Tijuana Dragons
Tijuana Dragons
The Tijuana Dragons was an American Basketball Association team based in Tijuana, Mexico. The team began play in the fall of 2004. They finished the 2005 season with a 10-16 record and a 7th place finish in the Red Division...
play in the American Basketball Association
American Basketball Association (21st century)
The American Basketball Association, often abbreviated as ABA, is a semi-professional men's basketball league that was founded in 1999. The current ABA has no affiliation with the original American Basketball Association that merged with the National Basketball Association in 1976...
against teams from the United States. The team is composed mostly of U.S. players. Their season takes place during the winter months. The Galgos de Tijuana (Tijuana Greyhound
Greyhound
The Greyhound is a breed of sighthound that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing, and the breed has also recently seen a resurgence in its popularity as a pedigree show dog and family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed...
s) play in the LNBP (Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional
Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional
The Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional is the top professional basketball league in Mexico. The league was founded in 2000 with 11 teams, expanding to 24 as of 2008...
). The team is composed mostly of players from Mexico. Both teams play in the Municipal Auditorium.
The city has a strong tradition of association football, Club Tijuana will begin playing on the Mexican first division on the 2011/12 season, who play their matches at the Estadio Caliente
Estadio Caliente
The Estadio Caliente, is a multi-use stadium in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, that is mostly used for football matches.The stadium hosts home matches for the Mexican professional football team Club Tijuana, who play in the Primera División de México, Mexico's First Division. -Stadium:The...
, a new 33,000 seat stadium. The team`s mascot is the Xoloitzcuintle, a famous Mexican hairless dog.
Infrastructure
Utilities
The State Commission of Public Services Tijuana (CESPT) supplies the city with its water, while the city receives its electricity from the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).The International Boundary Wastewater Treatment Plant
International Boundary Wastewater Treatment Plant
The International Wastewater Treatment Plant is a plant developed by the International Boundary and Water Commission in the South Bay area of San Diego, California. Construction began on a 75-acre site, west of San Ysidro in the Tijuana River Valley...
(IWTP) developed, as a joint project of the USA and Mexico in the mid 1980s following substantial environmental studies, treats 25 million gallons of water per day (mgd) from the Tijuana River; directly pumped across the border from the central collection point in Mexico. When the river is flowing, the diversion system of the plant begins operating and diverts up to about 12-13mgd to the IWTP. The total amount of water being diverted must not exceed 25 mgd, based on a monthly average decided upon by permit conditions, although the IWTP can treat sustained flows up to 45mgd daily and peaks of 70mgd for a short period. The diversion system regular sends approximately six to eight million gallons of water daily to the IWTP. The plant is currently being upgraded to include a secondary treatment facility.
The city also four to five decentralize units that are part of the Tijuana/Rosarito Potable Water and Wastewater Master Plan. This plan was required as part of Public Law 106-457, put into order November 7, 2000, which was written to allow the Bajagua project to move forward. The master plan was a binational collaborative effort by EPA and CESPT and addressed San Diego-Tijuana's needs for the next 20 years. The plants are intended to treat approximately 5mgd each, to tertiary levels and provide the reclaimed water to the surrounding areas for agriculture, industry etc. There are several issues that they are facing: no infrastructure to convey the reclaimed water to customers and inadequate groundwater recharge infrastructure.
Tijuana's telephonic system operates under area code 664
Area code 664
Area code 664 is telephone area code of Montserrat within the North American Numbering Plan . The 664 area code, standing for "MOI," was created during a split from the original 809 area code, which was done around July 1996....
. Telephonic land lines in Tijuana are provided by the company Telnor
Telnor
Telnor, or Teléfonos del Noroeste is a company providing telephone and internet services since 1981...
; other companies include Axtel and Alestra. Popular cell phone carriers in the city-region include Movistar
Movistar
Movistar is a major Spanish mobile phone operator owned by Telefónica Móviles. It operates in Spain and in many Latin American countries. It is the largest carrier in Spain with 22 million customers and 41.58% of market share. Its principal competitor in Latin America is America Movil...
, Telcel
Telcel
Telcel is Mexico's largest mobile phone carrier, owned by América Móvil. Founded in 1989 and based in Mexico City, Telcel is the leading provider of wireless communications services in Mexico. As of December 31, 2006, Telcel's cellular network covered more than 63% of the geographical area of...
, Iusacell
Iusacell
Grupo Iusacell is Mexico's #3 mobile operator.-Services:The company provides cellular services reaching about 90% of Mexico's population, including Mexico City and received more licenses to cover the remaining regions in early 2005. It has more than 3.5 million subscribers...
, Unefon
Unefón
Unefón is a Mexican mobile phone operator owned by Iusacell. The company was partially owned by Grupo Salinas and Mexican industrial Grupo Saba, reached more than 2.5 million subscribers in 2006 and its network is CDMA only, using no analog base stations. After a capacity exchange agreement with...
, Nextel, in conjunction with Nextel USA, provides coverage in the city and all of Baja California for American Nextel users. Nextel is popular among businessmen, students, and professionals. Cell phones also have historic usage in Tijuana as the first cellular call in Mexico was made in Tijuana in 1989.
Transportation
The city maintains a variety of transportation methods to assist in dealing with its every increasing population. These include predominantly air, car, and rail transportation methods as the city lacks a port. All means of transportation within the city accept both Mexican Peso and U.S. dollar as payment currencies, but no other foreign currencies. Local public transportation in Tijuana is run by semiprivate companies, and has one of the most complex, or perhaps unorganized networks. Two important Mexican federal highways end in Tijuana, one of them is Federal Highway 1Mexican Federal Highway 1
Mexican Federal Highway No. 1 follows the length of the Baja California Peninsula from Cabo San Lucas , at the southern end to Tijuana in the north...
, which runs south through the Baja California peninsula
Baja California Peninsula
The Baja California peninsula , is a peninsula in northwestern Mexico. Its land mass separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The Peninsula extends from Mexicali, Baja California in the north to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur in the south.The total area of the Baja California...
through Rosarito Beach, Baja Mar
Baja Mar
Baja Mar, alternatively Bajamar, is a seaside resort community in Ensenada Municipality, Baja California twenty minutes north of Ensenada and forty minutes south of Greater San Diego–Tijuana...
, and Ensenada
Ensenada, Baja California
Ensenada is a coastal city in Mexico and the third-largest city in Baja California. It is located south of San Diego on the Baja California Peninsula. The city is locally referred to as La Cenicienta del Pacífico, or, The Cinderella of the Pacific...
before ending in Cabo San Lucas
Cabo San Lucas
Cabo San Lucas , commonly called Cabo, is a city at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, in the municipality of Los Cabos in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur. As of the 2010 census, the population was 68,463 people...
, Baja California Sur
Baja California Sur
Baja California Sur , is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state on October 8, 1974, the area was known as the South Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises...
. From Tijuana to Ensenada, most travelers take Highway 1-D (scenic road), a four-lane, limited access toll road that runs by the coast starting at Playas de Tijuana. Mexican Federal Highway 2 runs east for 1,000 kilometers near the international border, currently as far as Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande...
, Chihuahua.
The Tijuana International Airport (General Abelardo L. Rodríguez IA) is the city's main airport and serves eleven airlines with destinations across Mexico and a few into Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. Tijuana International is also one of the busiest airports in Mexico. Aeroméxico
Aeroméxico
Airways of Mexico, SA de CV , operating as Aeroméxico, is the flag carrier airline of Mexico based in Colonia Cuauhtémoc, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City. It operates scheduled domestic and international services to North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia...
introduced intercontinental air travel between Tijuana and two major cities in Asia: Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
in 2007 and Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
in 2008. With several private road lines, U.S. and selected Canadian destinations can be reached via the San Diego International Airport
San Diego International Airport
San Diego International Airport , sometimes referred to as Lindbergh Field, is a public airport located northwest of the central business district of San Diego, California and from the Mexico – United States border at Tijuana, Mexico...
, located about 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of the international border.
The city's main bus station
Bus station
A bus station is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. It is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can stop...
is in its eastern borough. There is a small terminal downtown which serves a few Mexican bus lines and U.S.-based Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and...
and Crucero USA. Another bus station is located near the border with frequent services to Ensenada
Ensenada, Baja California
Ensenada is a coastal city in Mexico and the third-largest city in Baja California. It is located south of San Diego on the Baja California Peninsula. The city is locally referred to as La Cenicienta del Pacífico, or, The Cinderella of the Pacific...
, and other major cities including Mazatlán
Mazatlán
Mazatlán is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio for which the city serves as the municipal seat is Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning...
, Culiacán
Culiacán
Culiacán is a city in northwestern Mexico, the largest city in the state of Sinaloa as well as its capital and capital of the municipality of Culiacán. With 675,773 inhabitants in the city , and 858,638 in the municipality, it is the largest city in the state of Sinaloa...
, Hermosillo
Hermosillo
Hermosillo is a city and municipality located centrally in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the capital and main economic center for the state and region. It contains almost all of the state's manufacturing and has thirty percent of its population...
, and Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Jalisco
Guadalajara is the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of Jalisco in the western-pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,564,514 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality...
. Major bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
lines operating in Tijuana include Azul y Blanco de Magallanes (Blue & White) and Transporte Efectivo Express de Tijuana - TEEXTI; modernizing system originally intended to phase out the other lines that partially introduced but ceased and merged with Azul y Blanco.
In 2006, Tijuana underwent a major overhaul of its existing system of guayines, or shared fixed-route station wagons, forcing the replacement of the guayines with new models of vans, serving as fixed-route taxis. Major transit hubs include Centro (Downtown Tijuana), Otay, Soler, and the Cinco y Diez avenues. Taxi lines operating in the city include Free Taxis, those that do not maintain a specific route; Economic Taxis; Diamond Taxis - black or yellow cabs; and regular taxis maintaining a set route. There are as many bus lines and routes as fixed-route taxi ones or calafias, and new routes for buses, taxis or calafias are frequently created, due to high demand of public transportation. Public transportation service is inexpensive, with bus tickets at maximum, USD $0.75. Fixed-route taxis are somewhat more expensive, depending on the taxi route, reaching USD $2.00. Bus, taxi and calafia lines and routes are distinguished from one another by their vehicles colors.
From the U.S. side, San Ysidro
San Ysidro, San Diego, California
San Ysidro is a community in the southern section of San Diego. It is located in the southernmost part of San Diego County, immediately north of the U.S.-Mexico border. It neighbors Otay Mesa West to the north, Otay Mesa to the east, and Nestor and the Tijuana River Valley to the west...
is the southern terminus of San Diego's municipal bus and light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
(San Diego Trolley
San Diego Trolley
The San Diego Trolley is a light rail system operating in the metropolitan area of San Diego. The operator, San Diego Trolley, Inc. , is a subsidiary of the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System ...
) systems, providing public transportation to and from the Mexican border with Tijuana. The newly-rebuilt San Ysidro trolley station is located directly next to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security charged with regulating and facilitating international trade, collecting import duties, and enforcing U.S. regulations, including trade, customs and immigration. CBP is the...
facility. Tijuana is home to the world's busiest border crossing with about 300,000 people crossing the border between San Diego and Tijuana every day. Queues take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more to cross to the United States, on non-US holidays, with wait of a few hours on US national holidays or some Mexican holidays. Expect street vendors during the wait. However, after clearing customs and immigration formalities, Interstate 5 is a major 8-10 lane freeway from San Ysidro to downtown San Diego, Los Angeles, and north to the Canadian border. Interstate 805 branches off from I-5 just north of the border, and takes a more easterly route which bypasses downtown San Diego, rejoining with I-5 in the northern part of the city. From the Otay Mesa border crossing, Otay Mesa Road takes drivers west to connect with both I-805 and I-5.
Planned light rail and BRT system
In January 2009, the City Council and the Ministry of Communications and Transportation announced a new light railLight rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
system for Tijuana, something which had been envisioned since the 1990s during the time of mayor Osuna Jaime. Despite spending millions of pesos on studies, the project never gained traction until the late 2000s.
Currently the project proposes to build the first light rail line along the Tijuana River (which is actually a canal) - Route 01: San Ysidro-El Refugio.
Route 02 would run from Santa Fe to Downtown Tijuana, a bus rapid transit line running along Blvd. Cuauhtemoc Sur. Up to 6 other routes have been proposed.
Sister cities
Tijuana has multiple sister cities and twin towns. These relations have been formalized by a variety of organizations as well as municipal governments. Currently twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with the City of Tijuana are:
| |City | |Nation | |Since | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Busan Busan Busan , formerly spelled Pusan is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world... |
 South Korea |
1995 | |||
| San Diego |  United States |
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| La Paz La Paz, Baja California Sur La Paz is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur and an important regional commercial center. The city had a 2010 census population of 215,178 persons, but its metropolitan population is somewhat larger because of surrounding towns like el Centenario, el Zacatal and San Pedro... |
 MexicoMexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... |
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| León León, Guanajuato The city of León, formally León de los Aldama is the sixth most populous city in Mexico and the first in the state of Guanajuato. It is also the seat of the municipality of León... |
Mexico Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... |
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| Mazatlán Mazatlán Mazatlán is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio for which the city serves as the municipal seat is Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning... |
Mexico Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... |
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| Panjin Panjin Panjin is a prefecture-level city and a major oil-producing city in Liaoning Province, China. It is between 40°40' -41°27' in north latitude and 121°31' -122 °28' in east longitude. It has four distinct seasons, an annual average temperature of 8.6℃ and receives over 2700 hours of sunshine a year... |
 Peoples Republic of China |
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| Havana Havana Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous... |
 CubaCuba The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city... |
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| Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's... |
United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
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| Zaragoza Zaragoza Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain... |
 SpainSpain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... |
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| Laredo Laredo, Texas Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,... |
United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
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