Current Time in Chula Vista, United States

Chula Vista lies in the far south-west corner of the United States, in San Diego County, California, on gentle hills between the shore of San Diego Bay and the coastal mountains. It sits roughly midway between downtown San Diego and the Mexican border at Tijuana, and its name, meaning beautiful view in Spanish, refers to the outlook across the bay towards the ocean. The climate is famously mild, with dry warm summers, gentle winters and sunshine for most of the year.

With a population of about two hundred and eighty thousand, Chula Vista is the second largest city in San Diego County and one of the largest in California. Its economy is based on health care, education, retail, tourism and cross-border trade, and its position beside one of the busiest land border crossings in the world ties it closely to the economy of northern Mexico.

The land formed part of a Mexican land grant in the early nineteenth century, and after California became American the area was subdivided and irrigated for agriculture. By the early twentieth century Chula Vista was surrounded by the largest lemon orchards in the world, and citrus shaped its identity for decades. The Second World War transformed it, when an aircraft manufacturer opened a large plant to build components for bombers and thousands of workers arrived, replacing groves with housing. Steady suburban growth followed, and in recent decades master-planned communities have spread eastwards into the hills above the bay.

The bayfront is the focus of the city's public life. Marinas, parks and a long waterfront promenade look out over the water, and the Living Coast Discovery Center on the Sweetwater Marsh national wildlife refuge introduces visitors to the sea turtles, rays, shorebirds and salt marsh ecology of the bay. An amphitheatre hosts major concerts, and a water park draws families in summer. In the eastern hills the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center, one of the official training sites of the United States Olympic movement, prepares athletes in archery, athletics, cycling and other sports on a large open campus. Otay Valley Regional Park and the reservoirs beyond offer hiking and birdwatching.

The city is strongly bilingual and majority Latino, and its culture reflects that, with taquerias and bakeries beside surf shops, festivals such as the lemon festival and Day of the Dead celebrations, and constant movement of families across the border. Third Avenue in the older downtown has been revived with breweries, restaurants and street markets.

Two interstate highways run through the city, and the light rail trolley line links it north to San Diego and south to the border crossing at San Ysidro, with the international airport a short ride away. Southwestern College serves the south bay, and a new university and innovation district is planned, while the campuses of San Diego's major universities are close by.

Chula Vista is significant as a large, sunny and thoroughly binational Californian city where American and Mexican life meet every day.