In 1902, Samuel Parsons, president of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the superintendent of Central Park in New York City, accepted a commission to design San Diego’s city park. When taken for a tour of the vast, undeveloped area that had been set aside, Parsons became lyrical about the view from the northeast corner of the park that became the corner of 28th and Upas streets.

Standing there, he compared the view of the Coronado Islands to the “stately pleasure dome of Xana Du decreed by Kubla Khan.” The corner was, for years thereafter, called “Parsons’ Gate.”

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) recently released statistics on the housing, economic, and social characteristics of the entire region.

The report, titled the 2010 American Community Survey, contains a number of facts and figures that were taken from 2006-2010 U.S. census data.

Highlights of the report include:

SAN DIEGO – Comic-Con International, the world’s largest comic book and popular arts convention, returns to America’s Finest City this week. Downtown will be crammed with thousands of people wearing costumes and headdress of their favorite characters.

Restaurants and bars are stocked up, prepared for the revelry. Hotels are overbooked, and on the Internet there are visitors begging to rent your spare bedroom because they cannot find an empty room from here to Orange County.

Living in San Diego doesn’t automatically make anyone a beach expert.

It takes weeks, even years, of fine-tuning — figuring out which spot has the cleanest sand, the closest parking, the best people-watching. It takes even longer to find some of the more obscure, surfer-beloved spots like Windansea or Tourmaline or Pipes.

But summer officially starts this week, along with prime beach season. So if you’re still searching for your perfect spot, here’s a beginner’s guide to San Diego beaches:

Mission Beach