Revolution, revolutionaries claiming loyalty to Ricardo Flores Mag�n took over the city for shortly over a month. Federal troops then arrived. Assisted by local loyal militia known as the "defensores de Tijuana", they routed the rebels, who fled north and were promptly arrested by the United States Army. This event is a source of local controversy, and the "rebels" are almost universally reviled in Tijuana as "filibusteros" (mercenaries).
The Panama-California Exposition of 1915 brought many visitors to the nearby California city of San Diego. Tijuana attracted these tourists with a Feria T�pica Mexicana - Typical Mexican Fair. This included curio shops, regional food, thermal baths, horse racing and boxing.
The first professional race track opened in January 1916, just south of the border gate. It was almost immediately destroyed by the great "Hatfield rainmaker" flood of 1916. Rebuilt in the general area, it ran horse races until the new Agua Caliente track opened in 1929, several miles south and across the river on higher ground.
Legal drinking and gambling attracted U.S nationals in the 1920s during Prohibition. The Avenida Revoluci�n area became the city's tourist center, with casinos and the Hotel Caesar's, birthplace of the Caesar Salad.
In 1928, the Agua Caliente Touristic Complex was opened, including hotel, spa, dog-track, private airport, golf course and gambling casino. A year later, the new Agua Caliente Racetrack joined the complex. During the eight years it operated, the Agua Caliente hotel, casino and spa achieved a near mythical status, with Hollywood stars and gangsters flying in and playing. Rita Hayworth was discovered there. Musical nightclub productions were broadcast over the radio. A singer known as "la Faraona" got shot in a love-triangle and gave birth to the myth of a beautiful lady ghost.
Remnants of the Agua Caliente casino can be seen in the outdoor swimming pool and the "minarete" (actually a former
