Sorrento Valley is a neighborhood of San Diego, California. It is roughly bounded by Interstate 5 and Interstate 805, Camino Santa Fe to the east, the Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve to the north and Miramar Road to the south, as shown on the San Diego Police Department's neighborhood map.[1] It encompasses Sorrento Mesa and is part of San Diego Unified School District.
Western Los Peñasquitos Canyon
While originally envisioned and zoned for industrial use, Sorrento Valley is now home to over 5,000 residents spread across three major single family home and condominium developments. Sorrento Valley is known as a center for high tech, biotech and scientific research, aided by its close proximity to the University of California, San Diego. It is part of the city's Mira Mesa, Torrey Pines, and University community planning areas.[2]
History
Kumeyaay Village of Ystagua
Before European contact, Sorrento Valley was home to a Kumeyaay village then known as Ystagua (pronounced "istawa") meaning 'worm's (larvae) house' in the Kumeyaay language. The village had been continuously occupied from as early as 1800 BCE,[3] and had a peak population of 200 residents around the year 1700.[4][5] The village of Ystagua was a major manufacturing, food processing, and trade center in the region, with ample access to shellfish, fish, game, and wild grasses. The village was arranged with tool manufacturing land use east of what is now Sorrento Valley Road and residential use west of the road around Roselle St.[3]
Gaspar de Portolá's expedition visited the valley in 1769 and found it to have a high capacity of agriculture. The village of Ystagua to be a trade hub. The area would be later be referred as Ranchería de la Nuestra Señora de la Soledad to the Spanish missionaries.[6] The population of Ystagua had dropped to about 100 residents by 1800 after the spread of European diseases plagued the area.[7]
During the 1912 San Diego free speech fight, vigilantes aligned with police brought arrested members of the Industrial Workers of the World from the free speech protest in downtown San Diego to Sorrento valley. Vigilantes subjected these protesters to patriot indoctrination and forced them to kneel in front of the flag and sing the "Star Spangled Banner" in-key, which left an unknown number of IWW members dead or injured. Those that survived the ordeal were forcibly exiled from the City of San Diego under the threat of death.[9]
The construction of the I-5 in the 1960s and 1970s brought industrial and office development into the area,[10] which helped foster a prominent biotech and IT industry.
