In 1917, the seventy thousand residents of San Diego had a decision to make: “Smokestacks versus Geraniums.” Few cities have the chance to define their future, but the candidates in the 1917 election for mayor made the two possibilities clear. Gilded Age bankertype Louis J. Wilde-for whom no industrial project was too big to finance-marketed himself as “The Smokestack Candidate,” promising good jobs and good wages through the development of the city’s deepwater harbor into a center for shipping and manufacturing. Department store owner “Geranium George” Marston-champion of Balboa Park and organizer of the wildly successful 1915 Panama-California Exposition-saw the city’s welcoming climate and natural beauty as its greatest assets, promising a prosperous future in real estate and tourism through beautification and carefully managed growth.