Rosarito Beach
The city of Rosarito Beach belongs to the state of Baja California in the Northern part of Mexico, just 18 miles south of Tijuana. Rosarito is the newest city in Baja California. Born to a municipality in 1995 with the help of wise visionaries like Hugo Torres Chabert, who foresaw and promoted the potential gains as an independent city. Rosarito then became the fastest-growing entity not only in Baja California but in México as well.
Right after the 2010 country census, Rosarito had a population of 90,668. It has a territorial extension of 513.32 km². It is located at 32° 21′ north latitude and 117° 03′ de west latitude. It boundaries north and east with the border city of Tijuana, the Pacific Ocean to the west
Mostly famous as a Mexican tourist destination, Rosarito is also known for its famous Puerto Nuevo Lobster, sporting events, like the Rosarito – Ensenada fun bicycle ride, cultural and artistic events, like the Rosarito Furniture Expo, and several gastronomic expos throughout the year.
HISTORY
At the end of the 18th Century, Spanish Dominican friars and missionaries gave the name El Rosario to one native ranch established there. This ranch was part of La Misión de San Miguel Arcángel de la Frontera, just a few miles South.. The ‘misión’ was established on March 28th of 1787 by the Dominican Friar Luis Sales at the shores of the San Juan Bautista River.
Friar Junípero Serra passed through the place in May of 1769, on his way to the evangelization of the High California.
Friar Junípero Serra wrote about the region in his journal: Gentleness is to be found immense on all of this counter shore (south sea) from where we come, from the Todos Los Santos Ensenada, called like this by the maps and locals, live very worry-free with various seeds and fish they caught in their tule raft shaped like canoes. With these, they sail out deep into the sea and they are very good-natured All men, grown men, and little boys are naked, and the women and little girls are all covered up even nursing infants. They will approach us just like that on the roads; they treat us with peace and trust as if they knew us from all of their lives. And when trying to give them food they will say no, that they wanted clothing. It was with clothing that they traded their seed and fish with the soldiers. The entire place is filled with hares, rabbits, deer, and lots of sheep.
After the ejection of the Jesuit missionaries by decree of King Charles III of Spain in 1767, Dominicans and Franciscans divided in half among the ancient region of California: the Franciscans took High California (the actual California state from the U.S.), and the Dominicans with Low California (the actual Baja California from México).
In 1772 the Dominicans and Franciscans were ordered to establish a border between the two dioceses: in 1773 Friar Francisco Palou marked with a simple wooden cross the border between both Californias. That border, known as ‘mojonera de Palou’, is located precisely in Rosarito, in the place we know today as Calafia.
It was then decided that the El Rosario ranch was to be under the custody of the Northern Mision of San Diego de Alcalá, of the Dominicans because it now lay inside their limits.
After the war between Mexico and the U.S. (1847-1848), a lot of families of Spaniard descent that owned property in High California immigrated to Baja California as they were stripped of their property deeds by the United States government. Some families established themselves in El Rosario to keep to their farming and stock breeding way of life. They kept going to the old San Diego (in the actual California) to satisfy their merchant necessities as well as their religious and cultural ones.
With time the name El Rosario changed to Rosarito. As the result of the Mexico – US war and of the Guadalupe – Hidalgo treaty, the New Mexican border lay no more than 18 miles north of Tijuana, the pole of the development of the Rosarito region. That brought as a consequence de development of the Tia Juana Ranch, which over time will turn into the city of Tijuana.
In 1995 Rosarito, a town dependent on Tijuana in a sociopolitical aspect, reached the level of municipality of the Mexican State of Baja California, with the name of Rosarito Beach.
When Rosarito became a municipality, it reached an unheard-of development, to the point of being one of the fastest-growing cities in Mexico.
MOVIE STUDIOS
The 20th Century Fox Studios created in Rosarito a series of studios for high-budget motion pictures taking advantage of the very low cost of production, ocean scenery, and accommodations that Rosarito provides. The current name of these studios is Xploration and is no longer the property of Fox.
Titanic, one of the most successful movies in the 20th Century was filmed in part in Rosarito. Other important movies include Deep BlueSea, Pearl Harbor & The Far Side of the World
FOOD & LODGING
Rosarito has Hotels of all categories, camping sites, and trailer Parks.
You can find any type of international food, even when is the Puerto Nuevo Lobster the native dish. This is in honor of the fisherman locality by the same name in which you can taste fried lobster served with Mexican-style rice and refried beans. All of this is paired with Mexican flower tortillas made on-site.
REAL ESTATE
In the past years, the Rosarito real estate market has been experiencing a boom along its oceanfront area. With the major names in real estate investing in highly modern community developments. With more than a dozen beachfront developments being built, Rosarito has become a very important issue in the real estate business in Baja California and Mexico.