Lakeside Stories

Lakeside Stories

RSS New story alertsAlerts

Two-fire weekend in Lakeside

Homeless woman burned

At about 1 p.m. on May 12, a fire broke out in the Glenview area in the East County, marking the second fire in as many days. A mobile home burned in the Glen View ...

Lakeside fires a harbinger of a dry summer to come

East County firefighters on alert

East County residents should once again prepare for a long, dry fire season. Over the past week, firefighters responded to at least three fires in Lakeside. Saturday afternoon, April 20, a brush fire near the ...

San Diego police K-9 units train at Lakeside’s El Monte Park

Fake suspect, real bites

Mid-week, you can often find San Diego police utilizing the large open spaces of El Monte Park (five miles east of Lakeside) to train their dogs. The K-9 unit pulls up to the staged scene, ...

Lakeside Rodeo trades sign for big screen

Goodbye, longhorns; hello, pixels

In Lakeside on January 17, the finishing touches were put on the new Lakeside Rodeo marquee. The old sign was put up in the early ’70s and was showing signs of wear. The cost of ...

Lindo Lake refilled with recent rainwater

Until the other day, the upper pond at Lindo Lake Park had been dry since the beginning of last summer. The pond is full of water once again, thanks to the storm runoff from this ...

El Monte Valley Bobcats Caught on Video

Early on the morning of November 15 in El Monte Valley, I was driving slow like always, hoping to see a cat. Thursday was my day. I stopped my car when I spotted a young ...

A Man and His Mules Find Lakeside

A lone drifter, age unknown, rides into Lakeside, California, with his three mules. He says they wander the country, guided only by the love of the Earth and its creatures. The man goes by the ...

Aerial Assault on Larvae in Lakeside

This helicopter, owned by Hummingbirds Helicopters Inc. of Valley Center, was recently conducting an aerial assault on mosquito larvae in ponds along the San Diego River. This particular chopper was spraying larvicide onto the edges ...

Dam, Lakeside! San Vicente Reservoir Capacity to Double?

After it’s completed, the dam at San Vicente Reservoir, near Lakeside, will be the largest roller-compacted concrete dam-raise in the world. From the deep rock basin to the top of the dam, it will stand ...

Drought Drains Lakeside’s Lindo Lake

In Lakeside there’s been recent thunder and lightning, flash-flood warnings, and ominous skies, but not a drop of rain in sight. It’s a sad scene at Lindo Park. The upper lake is almost completely dried ...

Bobcat by the Roadside in Lakeside

Most every day I like to drive down El Monte Rd in Lakeside, It reminds me of how it used to be in the old days: wide open fields, some farmed acreage, and the wildlife ...

Shot in Lakeside: Sunrise Powerlink Chopper at Work

Pictured is one of the sky cranes being used to lift Sunrise Powerlink electrical transmission towers into place along the rim of El Monte Valley in Lakeside.

I'm Coming to Rescue You From Protestant Hell!

On any given Friday, around 5:00 p.m., I could hear Lynyrd Skynyrd or AC/DC blaring at a volume entirely inappropriate — even for Lakeside — from the rusted-out RV that would rumble to a stop ...

Brush Fire Snuffed Near San Vicente Reservoir

As I was flying at 4000 feet from Hemet to Gillespie Field at 11:30 a.m. on May 26, I spotted a column of smoke from the San Vicente Reservoir area. This was not good news, ...

Hugo Otto Marcks Memorial to Remain in Lakeside

In 1938, a monument in front of Lakeside Grammar School on Woodside Avenue was dedicated to the memory of Hugo “Otto” Marcks. Marcks was a longtime resident of Lakeside and operated one of the only ...

The New Flume Trail Out of El Monte County Park

The County of San Diego’s brand-new Flume Trail linking El Monte Park to Blossom Valley is hardly flat, as the name “flume” might imply. On the contrary, it darts relentlessly upward on a zigzagging route, ...

Studs

Yeeee-haw, buckaroos! Time to head for Lakeside.

If you drive north on State Route 67 until it becomes a two-lane road at Mapleview Street, you'll see the Lakeside Rodeo marquee to your right. It’s just past the Rodeo Round-Up truck dealership and ...

Lake Jennings

Your impression of Lake Jennings may be strongly colored by the season in which you choose to visit it — a not-unusual circumstance in many of San Diego County’s inland, low-elevation locales. Summer’s heat and ...

Lakeside Christian Church

Membership: 300 Denomination: Independent Christian Church Pastor: Marshall Masser Age: 38 Born: San Antonio, Texas Formation: Lincoln Christian Seminary, Lincoln, Ill. Years Ordained: 15 years. San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your ...

View of Waterfall That Feeds El Capitan Reservoir

Snow covered East County on Saturday night, February 26. At 8:30 on Sunday morning, there was a light dusting of snow beginning at El Cajon Mountain and Ramona and continuing through the Cuyamaca Mountain range ...

Water for El Capitan Reservoir

The pictured waterfall is runoff from recent rains feeding the El Capitan Reservoir. It is located two miles north of the reservoir, between Santa Ysabel and Lakeside. The photo was taken from a private aircraft ...

Loose Dog in Lakeside Gets Shot by Deputy

On September 20 at 7:40 a.m., a Lakeside dog was shot and wounded when he growled and charged at a sheriff’s deputy who was responding to a hazard complaint. According to Sgt. Brent Strahm with ...

San Diego Sheriff’s ASTREA Helicopter Makes Third Rescue in a Month

San Diego Sheriff’s ASTREA helicopter came to the rescue once again on El Cajon Mountain in Lakeside Sunday night. Three hikers were hoisted to safety after becoming lost without warm clothing, food, or water. Their ...

I’m Broke. I Need My Keys.

On August 3, 2009, Colin Kent app-roached the front door of his home in the Lakefront Mobile Home Park in Lakeside that he shared with his middle-aged son to find an eviction notice. Kent, who ...

Till death do us part. It's the only way we will.

When Ginger Bass filed for divorce from her husband Frank in November 2007, she hoped he would not contest the dissolution. She offered to buy out his interest in their Lakeside home so both could ...

Lakeside-Poway Bike Ride

Two of inland San Diego ­County’s most important east-west highways, Scripps-Poway Parkway and the Tierrasanta-to-Santee stretch of the Highway 52 Freeway, have been designed to carry bicycle as well as auto traffic. They can be ...

Silverwood Wildlife Sanctuary

Silverwood. The name comes from the glittering effect of sunlight upon the dark-green leaves of the coast live oak. Scores of these trees, some of them two-century-old giants scarred by wildfire, shade the canyon floor ...

The Lindo Lake Goose

We have a delightful park here in East County San Diego known as Lindo Lake. As lakes go it's small but often visited. The walking path around the lake is approximately 1-1/2 miles and most ...

Lakeside Christian Church

I arrived early for the 10:40 a.m. contemporary service at Lakeside Christian Church; Bible study was just finishing up its session in the dim adobe (!) church. (The two arched alcoves in the sanctuary were ...

The Leak on Water Hill Road

Since February 13 there has been a continuous flow of water coming down Water Hill Road and onto Marilla Drive in Lakeside. The source of the leak is a valve beneath a six-inch-in-diameter manhole-type cover ...

Pinched

I recently drove home to Lakeside on the 67 so I could stop at Sarita’s taco shop for a burrito. While stopped at the 67/Mapleview intersection, a truck caught my eye. A repo truck. You ...

Electroride

“One electric motorcycle, called the ‘Killacycle,’ goes from zero to sixty in one second,” says Paul Thomas, organizer of the Kick Gas Festival, an electric-car-racing and eco-fair event being held at the Barona Drag Strip ...

Indian givers

The long-running dispute between the Barona Indians and their neighbors over pumping water for the tribe’s golf course apparently demanded a recent firsthand inspection by county supervisor Ron Roberts. On February 20, according to recently ...

No Lie

Rose turns her back on me. She picks up the phone. “Hello? No, I don’t see him.” She puts the phone down. “I can’t tell a lie,” she says. “I’m telling the truth! If I ...

Fire recovery is a work-in-progress at Oakoasis Open Space Preserve near Lakeside

Serene Oakoasis Open Space Preserve covers 397 acres of oak woodland, boulder-studded hillsides, and young chaparral vegetation recovering from the 2003 Cedar Fire. Try visiting during winter, when the air is clean and fresh, or ...

The Sarcastic Killer

A boy 3-1/2 months old was the youngest homicide victim in San Diego County during the first half of 2007. The oldest was a 75-year-old woman. Both were killed by family members, allegedly, the infant ...

Classic San Diego

Most-Filmed Wild West Main Street Don't look yet. Turn off Woodside onto Maine and behold a li'l old Wild West street that'll knock your spurs off. It huddles beneath a perfect movie-set backdrop of towering ...

Flattered and Scared

I attended a party that Jamison, a hairstylist, hosted at the Abbey Cafe in Hillcrest. I asked Jamison about his name, and he joked about his mother being drunk on Jameson Irish Whiskey when he ...

Best of 2003: Best Place To Hunt Mullets

Barona Speedway Wildcat Canyon Road, Lakeside www.baronaspeedway.com Fans of Billy Ray Cyrus may recall the fashion statement also known as the Tennessee Top Hat, the Kentucky Waterfall, the Camaro Cut, and Hockey Hair. Those sporting ...

Best of 2003: Best Dog Trainer

American Canine Training 11724 Johnson Lake Road, Lakeside 619-561-6768 Chris's house calls get pooches to listen and behave. He trains them, then teaches you how to repeat the commands and get the same results. The ...

Neighborhood: Small Towns of San Diego

FALLBROOK I often feel in downtown Fallbrook that I have walked through a door into the past, the door I have been looking for all my life. It happens at Jerry’s Barber Shop most often. ...

Electric Water, Shocked Fish

The gate below the dam at San Vicente Reservoir in Lakeside is closed when I arrive just before 10:00 o'clock on a late-April morning. The lake is closed to recreational fishing today. But I'm here ...

Bring the kids along for a mini-hike at Stelzer County Park, tucked amid the bouldered hills near Lakeside.

Stelzer County Park features 314 acres' worth of trails, campsites, picnic tables, and a small "Nature Studies Interpretive Center" set alongside Wildcat Canyon Road northeast of Lakeside. The park's core area was designed to accommodate ...

Lakeside's Big Man

There are roughly six million boys between the ages of 16 and 18 living in the United States. There are approximately 26,400 high schools and close to that number of starting centers playing on high ...

Tackle severe ups and downs on the old mining track through El Capitan Open Space Reserve near Lakeside.

If you have the fortitude to tackle some killer ups and downs, try the surprisingly challenging hiking route to El Cajon Mountain, a picturesque East County landmark. Your primary destination is the 3675-foot-high point along ...

Best of 2001: Best Place To Sample Local Indian Culture

Barona Cultural Center and Museum 1095 Barona Road, Lakeside 619-443-7003, ext. 219 Opened in January 2000, it's the first tribal museum in the county and admission is free. The most impressive feature is the full-size ...

Best of 2001: Best Concert In A Living Room

Dark Thirty Productions House Concerts Eucalyptus Hills, Lakeside 619-443-9622 www.darkthirty.com When Jimmy Duke throws a concert at his house, it's worth the drive to East County. Eight to ten times a year, the gigs get ...

Best of 2001: Best Downhill Scare On A Bicycle

Slaughterhouse Canyon Highway 67 south through Slaughterhouse Canyon, Lakeside Heading down Highway 67 from Scripps Poway Parkway, the shoulder is wide, the pavement is smooth, and for three miles the road rollercoasters gently. But then ...

In Lakeside, Chickens Make Good Neighbors

There are a few ways to spot Hilliker's Egg Ranch on El Nopal Road in Lakeside near Santee. One is to look for one of several chicken signs -- the animated white chicken will be ...

Take a serene bike ride on Lakeside's El Monte Road, and get a glimpse of San Diego County's rural past.

If you're a bicyclist with an antipathy for steep hills but a love for rural scenery, you'll appreciate El Monte Road. Few rural roads in San Diego County can offer as long a stretch of ...

Best of 2000: Best Frozen-In-Time Main Street

Maine Avenue, Lakeside It's the perfect Wild West street scene. Movie producers have been using it as a location ever since May 25, 1911, when Pauline Bush starred in Allan Dwan's one-reeler, A Daughter of ...

Visit El Monte Park near Lakeside, where massive oaks spread below the stony gaze of "El Capitan" mountain.

Tucked against a rocky, sunburnt hillside in the San Diego River valley outside Lakeside, El Monte Regional Park is a shock to the eye on a bright summer day. The park spreads across 98 flat ...