San Diego ? With a series of thunderous explosions, a San Diego landmark was brought to the ground Saturday, a victim of advanced age and security concerns in the age of terrorism.

Out of curiosity and sentimentality, several thousand people watched the implosion of the 92-year-old Hotel San Diego, once a showpiece but in recent decades a dowdy remnant.

The downtown site is to be used for a federal courthouse.

Thoughts of incorporating at least the facade of the seven-story hotel into the new structure dissipated amid new requirements that federal buildings be set back from the street to thwart terrorists. Earthquake standards were also problematic.

Built by sugar baron and newspaper publisher John D. Spreckels in 1914, the hotel was initially meant to accommodate visitors drawn by the 1915-16 Panama California Exposition in Balboa Park.