Midway, San Diego

The Midway area, also called the North Bay area, is a neighborhood of San Diego, California. It is located at the northern (mainland) end of the Point Loma peninsula, northwest of Downtown San Diego and just west of Old Town. It is often considered to be part of Point Loma, although the city treats it as a separate Planning Area.

The boundaries of the Midway community plan are the San Diego River and Interstate 8 to the north, Interstate 5 to the east, Laurel Street to the south, and Lytton Street and the bluffs above Kenyon Street to the west. In addition to the core Midway area, the community plan includes portions of the historic neighborhoods of Five Points and Middletown. The planning area encompasses approximately 800 acres (320 ha) of mostly . The area is primarily commercial and industrial, plus a few small pockets of multi-family residential development.

Historically the area was part of the San Diego River delta, comprising the flat land between the hill of the San Diego Presidio and the hills of Point Loma. The San Diego river switched back and forth between emptying into Mission Bay (called False Bay by the early settlers) and emptying through the Midway area into the San Diego Bay. Because of fears that San Diego Bay might silt up, the river was confined to its present course north of Point Loma by a levee built by the city in 1877. This exposed the flat, marshy areas of Midway for development.

Rosecrans Street, a main thoroughfare through Midway and Point Loma, follows the route of the historic La Playa Trail, the oldest European trail in the Western United States. It connected the settlements in Old Town and Mission San Diego with La Playa, the beach in Point Loma where ships loaded and unloaded cargo. A plaque near the southeast corner of Rosecrans Street and Midway Drive recognizes the historic importance of the La Playa Trail.

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