OLD TOWN · LA MESA · CARLSBAD
Diane Powers
Mother of modern Old Town. The designer who turned a boarded-up motel into San Diego’s most beloved bazaar.
Bazaar del Mundo · Casa de Pico · Casa Guadalajara · Casa de Bandini
A Ghost Town, a Boarded-Up Motel, and a Young Designer
When Diane Powers first looked at Old Town San Diego, it was a very different place. As she later wrote, “Old Town then, however, was nearly a ghost town!” Where others saw empty buildings and a boarded-up motel, Diane saw a courtyard waiting for color, music, fountains and friends. That was the beginning of Bazaar del Mundo, and of the woman who would come to be called the Mother of Modern Old Town.
Diane is a San Diego native who studied design at San Diego State. Former County Supervisor Ron Roberts later called her the best design student at San Diego State College. She has always credited her teachers, Lloyd and Ilse Ruocco, for her growth as an artist, and in 1968 she bought Ilse Ruocco's design firm. Those were busy, happy years of creating, including designing Jack in the Box restaurants for Foodmaker.
Her heart, though, was in Mexico. Near the end of college she began traveling through Mexico and Guatemala, and she “just loved everything about where I was going: the architecture, the landscaping, food, the music, the folk art. It's what inspired me to do the Bazaar del Mundo and showcase that culture and pull out the best of the best.” She stayed in homes there, “becoming closely acquainted with Mexican life and culture”, as she wrote, and she came home full of ideas.
In 1971 the State of California asked for proposals to bring the dormant Casa de Pico motel, a motor court inside Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, back to life. Diane took her vision to Sacramento. “Don't worry — you're the only bidder,” officials told her. Then they asked whether she could open in two months. “Yes, we did,” she said.
November 4, 1971: Bazaar del Mundo Opens
And open she did! On November 4, 1971, hundreds of well-wishers came to see what Diane had made of the old motor court. Bazaar del Mundo began with one courtyard restaurant and four shops, full of color and the spirit of Mexico, inspired by the markets of San Ángel near Mexico City and launched on $25,000 she borrowed.
Looking back at the 50th anniversary, Diane was candid about those first days: “I was kind of young and innocent. I didn't think of business failures or anything like that. I just plowed ahead.”
“Even when it started, I was so wrapped up in creating and trying to figure out how it was going to all come together.”
It all came together, and she and her team kept creating for decades to come.
INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
How Diane Powers Designs a Room
For Diane, every shop and restaurant begins as an environment. She designs in color: Talavera tile, wrought iron, gilt mirrors, Saints, handwoven Zapotec textiles and Saltillo pavers, set among gardens, fountains and patios, with strolling mariachis close by. Each room is meant to feel handmade, authentic and welcoming, a special environment where guests can relax and enjoy themselves.
“The creativity, color and spirit of Mexico captured my attention and inspired me to bring all of it I could to San Diego!”
- The pepper tree. In 1995 Diane bought the corner of Taylor and Juan Streets and saved its over 200-year-old pepper tree from becoming a parking lot. It became the heart of the courtyard at Casa Guadalajara.
- The fountain. On a trip to Guadalajara in the late 1970s, Diane bought a carved cantera stone fountain in Mexico. It stood at Casa de Bandini in Old Town, and today it welcomes guests at Casa de Bandini in Carlsbad.
Diane Powers in the Bazaar del Mundo Shops, Old Town.
A casa dining room dressed for the holidays.
HERITAGE & TRANSFORMATION
The Mother of
Modern Old Town
Three decades at the heart of Old Town San Diego
When Diane Powers first surveyed the sun-parched lot in the early 1970s, many saw only a forgotten relic of forgotten commerce. Where others observed neglected adobe and dusty plazas, Diane recognized an architectural soul awaiting revival. Driven by deep reverence for Mexican artisans and Spanish colonial courtyards, she embarked on an unprecedented cultural restoration.
She personally traversed historic ceramic kilns in Puebla, textile looms in Oaxaca, and brass workshops across Jalisco, curating genuine mastercraft pieces that would soon fill arched loggias and blooming courtyards. Her visionary curation transformed a derelict space into a living celebration of sensory warmth, acoustic vibrancy, and timeless hospitality.
Writing to her team years later, Diane put it this way: “You are an amazing and very special group of individuals whose involvement and various talents have helped us create a piece of San Diego history here in old town, San Diego.”
Always looking ahead, in 1995 she bought the corner of Juan and Taylor Streets, just outside the park, and opened Casa Guadalajara there.
"Color is not merely an ornament—it is the heartbeat and joy of every gathered courtyard."
VISUAL INTERLUDE
Sensory Textures
Cobalt Talavera, handwoven textiles and sun-warmed blossoms: the colors of every environment Diane creates.
ARCHITECTURAL CREATIONS
The Casa's
A celebrated portfolio of immersive dining landmarks and marketplace enclaves, where Talavera craftsmanship, courtyard fountains, and luminous amber lighting converge.
OLD TOWN SAN DIEGO
Bazaar del Mundo
A world-renowned bazaar of Latin American folk art, radiant textiles, and handcrafted treasures set inside sunlit colonnades.
GROSSMONT CENTER
Casa de Pico
Iconic patio dining framed by hand-carved arches, cascading bougainvillea, and custom wrought iron glass fixtures.
OLD TOWN GATEWAY
Casa Guadalajara
A festive hacienda masterpiece showcasing hand-painted Puebla tiles, bubbling courtyard water features, and folk art.
THE FORUM CARLSBAD
Casa de Bandini
Historic Spanish grandeur reimagined with sprawling veranda dining, hand-carved woodwork, and handcrafted ceramic details.
CURATION & CRAFT
A Philosophy of Color
Every environment Diane creates is composed like a canvas, layering folk art, handwoven textiles, gardens and fountains to bring out “the best of the best” of Mexico.
01 : FOLK ART & TEXTILES
Treasures From Her Travels
Diane has traveled through Mexico since her college years, and every trip brought home something to share. On her early buying trips she found pieces like the Huichol yarn painting she bought for Casa de Pico in the early 1970s. Talavera, Saints, gilt mirrors and handwoven Zapotec textiles are her signatures.
02 : MADE BY HAND
Authentic, Down to the Details
Diane wants things handmade and imported from Mexico, and in her restaurants, made fresh daily, with tortillas made on site.
03 : GARDENS & FOUNTAINS
Courtyards Made for Gathering
Gardens, fountains and patios run through everything Diane designs. Her courtyards are where the color, the music, the food and the people all come together under the California sun.
The Houses She Built
Bazaar del Mundo Shops, Old Town: Where it all began. Today the Shops fill Diane's own two-story building next to Casa Guadalajara on Taylor Street, at the north door of Old Town: a labyrinth of boutiques, folk art and textiles, and home of the Latin American Festival.
Artes de Mexico at the Bazaar del Mundo Shops.
Día de los Muertos ofrenda at the Shops.
Casa de Bandini, Carlsbad: Diane opened Casa de Bandini in 1980 in Juan Bandini's adobe in Old Town, built in the 1820s, and she created the name herself. When it was time to leave Old Town in 2005, she had one day to save her cantera fountain. A crane lifted it out, and it waited patiently in storage for about five years. In 2009 Casa de Bandini reopened at The Forum in Carlsbad with the original fountain, chandeliers and leaded-glass panels, a happy homecoming for a beloved piece of Mexico.
Casa de Bandini, Carlsbad.
The cantera fountain and chandeliers.
Casa de Pico, La Mesa: Part of the original Bazaar in 1971, reopened at Grossmont Center in June 2005. Birdbath margaritas, the Cheese Crisp since day one, and strolling mariachis. Named Best Mexican Restaurant in San Diego County, 2026–27 Union-Tribune Readers Poll.
Birdbath margarita and Cheese Crisp.
Casa de Pico, La Mesa.
Casa Guadalajara, Old Town: On the corner of Juan and Taylor Streets, opened in 1995 around the over 200-year-old pepper tree Diane saved. Courtyard dining, mariachis and giant margaritas.
Casa Guadalajara, corner of Juan and Taylor Streets, Old Town San Diego.
The courtyard at Casa Guadalajara.
2005: A New Chapter, and the Guests Followed
In 2005, after more than three decades in the park, Diane's Old Town concession came to an end, and a new chapter began. It was an emotional time for everyone who had built the Bazaar together, and Diane met it the way she meets everything: with gratitude, and with her eyes on what comes next. In her farewell letter to her team, she wrote: “My personal energy and goals are aimed at creating something even more wonderful.”
She had been planning ahead since 1995, when she began buying property on Taylor Street. “There comes a point when you have to turn and go in a different direction… I had to just say, 'You know what, I've got to move on to more positive things and begin the creative part rather than delve in the negative.'”
So she created. She moved the Bazaar del Mundo Shops into her own building next to Casa Guadalajara, reopened Casa de Pico at Grossmont Center in La Mesa that June, and in 2009 brought Casa de Bandini to Carlsbad. The names stayed hers. The guests followed.
“I don't like to point fingers at people. It's in the past, we've gone on, they've gone on. I look more toward the future than dwell on the past.”
Host, Merchant, Mentor
Ask Diane about her success and she will talk about her people: the team members who have been with her for many years, and the children and families who have joined them in the shops and restaurants. When the California Restaurant Association gave her its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023, she said:
“I am humbled to receive this recognition from the California Restaurant Association… I share this with the entire Bazaar del Mundo team, some of whom have been with me for many years – with their children and expanded families also working for our shops and restaurants – and it is their loyalty and passion that has allowed us to create memorable dining experiences.”
She still designs the rooms, tastes the menus, and reads the comment cards.
Away from the courtyards, she and her husband, Brent Gilman, share a career showing Arabian horses in Western pleasure. In 2002 she rode Link To Fame to the U.S. National Championship in Arabian Western Pleasure for adult amateur owners 40 and over, besting a field of 64.
HONORING HER HERITAGE
Honors and Milestones
Fifty-five years of color, culture and memories, a street in Old Town that carries her name, and a family of guests and team members who made it all possible.
55
55 YEARS
since Bazaar del Mundo opened on November 4, 1971.
$20M+
$20M+ A YEAR
in sales at her Old Town concession, once the most lucrative in the state.
DIANE POWERS WAY
DIANE POWERS WAY
an honorary street name on San Diego Avenue at Twiggs Street, unveiled December 19, 2024.
Timeline
1968 - Buys Ilse Ruocco's design firm
November 4, 1971 - Bazaar del Mundo opens in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
1980 - Opens Casa de Bandini in Old Town
1983 - Creates Old Town's Cinco de Mayo festival
1994 - Entrepreneur of the Year, California Tourism Industry
1995 - Saves the pepper tree and opens Casa Guadalajara
2001 - San Diego ConVis Hall of Fame
2005 - The Shops move to Taylor Street; Casa de Pico reopens in La Mesa
2009 - Casa de Bandini reopens in Carlsbad
November 4, 2021 - 50th anniversary, with a proclamation from Mayor Todd Gloria
2022 - Old Town San Diego Hall of Fame
June 13, 2023 - California Restaurant Association (San Diego) Lifetime Achievement Award
December 19, 2024 - Diane Powers Way, an honorary street name, unveiled in Old Town
November 4, 2026 - 55 years of color, culture and memories
The Shops Are Still Open, and the Story Continues
The Shops are still on Taylor Street. Casa Guadalajara, Casa de Pico and Casa de Bandini still put a margarita in your hand and a mariachi around the corner. The rooms Diane designed are still doing the work she started in 1971, thanks to the wonderful team and loyal guests who keep them full of life.
Did you celebrate a birthday under the pepper tree, buy your first piece of Talavera at the Shops, or hear mariachis at Casa de Pico? For the 55th anniversary on November 4, 2026, we're collecting your photos and stories.
Asked at the 50th anniversary whether she would be around for the 100th, Diane said: “I would hope so… I can't promise. But I'll work for it.”
Diane closes her own history pieces with a simple wish, and it fits here too: “I hope you enjoy our history.”
Frequently Asked Questions About Diane Powers
Who is Diane Powers?
A San Diego designer and restaurateur who founded Bazaar del Mundo in Old Town San Diego in 1971. She owns the Bazaar del Mundo Shops, Casa Guadalajara, Casa de Pico and Casa de Bandini.
Why is she called the “Mother of Modern Old Town”?
For founding Bazaar del Mundo and championing Old Town for more than five decades.
When did Bazaar del Mundo open?
November 4, 1971.
Where is Diane Powers Way?
It is an honorary street name on San Diego Avenue at Twiggs Street in Old Town, unveiled December 19, 2024.
Where are her shops and restaurants today?
The Bazaar del Mundo Shops and Casa Guadalajara are on Taylor Street in Old Town San Diego, Casa de Pico is at Grossmont Center in La Mesa, and Casa de Bandini is at The Forum in Carlsbad.