Visitors walking through Liberty Station pass white stucco barracks, red-tile roofs, and long former drill fields that once formed the core of the Navy’s West Coast boot camp — a campus that also drew Hollywood filmmakers seeking authentic naval settings.
From 1923 until its closure in 1997, the site operated as the Naval Training Center San Diego, where hundreds of thousands of recruits began their military service.
Moving In
The base opened in 1923 in Point Loma and grew into one of the Navy’s primary recruit training facilities. During World War II, large numbers of sailors moved through the campus for instruction in seamanship, physical conditioning, and military discipline before deployment.
The installation functioned as a self-contained training environment, with barracks, classrooms, mess halls, medical facilities, and expansive outdoor drill areas.
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