Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

In Praise of Golden Hill

Hipsters, homeys, artists and bums, you roam the streets of Lomas de Oro, each with your own step or gait. I observe you all in all of your uniqueness and beauty and I am completely happy. Oh, but wait, I have not forgot the yuppies and the soccer moms, or the business men either. I watch you and am just as happy. You all also have you own stumble and jaunt. This community is a cluster of people that rarely exist together and because of that Golden Hill is my home.

Said the bum waiting outside of Los Reyes taco shop on 25th and Broadway, “can I get a quarter”?

Answered the hipster with the brown bag holding his bean and cheese burrito, “I don’t have any cash but you want a beer”?

“Yeah!” answers the bum.

The hipster goes to his 1984 Buick Skylark and grabs the unopened 12 pack of Keystone Light that sits in the passenger seat and gives the bum a beer. The bum goes to the bus stop on the corner and sips.

I observe it all and smile a smile that erupts from the tips of my toes: pure beauty.

A recent day in Golden Hill Park was spent watching the Mexican guys play pick-up soccer games and then gather around their cars and drink beer and listen to the trumped up trumpets of Banda music. Speaking of the park, have you ever noticed the amazing trees that erupt in crazy geometries from the ground?

Now onto the homeys, the chollos, the gangsters or whatever names people attribute to them. I watch them go in and out of certain houses and apartments in Golden Hill speaking their slang, half English, half Spanish, have Mozart half Tupac to my ears. I watch a couple youngsters tag a fire hydrant with a Sharpie in broad daylight on the corner of 31st and A Street. All I can do is nod. Not in agreement or judgment but simply in recognition that people do what they do and must keep doing what they do.

I love drinking tequila in the early afternoon with my 65 year old landlord and his 82 year old buddy. We sip it slowly out of small glasses and they talk of how different the neighborhood was even 5 years ago. The limes we suck on with the tequila are from a tree in front of my apartment and they are sour and bitter at first but give way to brightness and sweetness very similar to the way Golden Hill changes from first bite to last.

The Starbucks on 28th and B Street is a centerpiece of the neighborhood and an excellent cross section of the people. I watch guys and ladies in their sharp suits spill coffee on their ties or blouses from the crappy lids. I see a thuggish looking black guy order a big creamy, whip cream with syrup on top, type of thing and love how it immediately makes him seem less thuggish and imposing. A lady rolls up, decked out in expense exercise gear pushing 2 babies and walking a big dog. She says hi to another lady who gets out of a Mercedes SUV. Meanwhile the local fireman show up and order coffees and wait in the same line as four Mexican landscapers.

The more thought I put into the scene the more overwhelmed I become with the neighborhood. It is beautiful and thriving. Its people are the same. Perhaps San Diego is a grand alchemist and its only successful attempt at alchemy resulted in the philosophical, substantial, unusual substance of a neighborhood called Golden Hill. Let the attempt at alchemy stop because something wonderful has ensued.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Tiny Home Central isn’t solving the San Diego housing crisis

But it does hope to help fill in the gaps

Hipsters, homeys, artists and bums, you roam the streets of Lomas de Oro, each with your own step or gait. I observe you all in all of your uniqueness and beauty and I am completely happy. Oh, but wait, I have not forgot the yuppies and the soccer moms, or the business men either. I watch you and am just as happy. You all also have you own stumble and jaunt. This community is a cluster of people that rarely exist together and because of that Golden Hill is my home.

Said the bum waiting outside of Los Reyes taco shop on 25th and Broadway, “can I get a quarter”?

Answered the hipster with the brown bag holding his bean and cheese burrito, “I don’t have any cash but you want a beer”?

“Yeah!” answers the bum.

The hipster goes to his 1984 Buick Skylark and grabs the unopened 12 pack of Keystone Light that sits in the passenger seat and gives the bum a beer. The bum goes to the bus stop on the corner and sips.

I observe it all and smile a smile that erupts from the tips of my toes: pure beauty.

A recent day in Golden Hill Park was spent watching the Mexican guys play pick-up soccer games and then gather around their cars and drink beer and listen to the trumped up trumpets of Banda music. Speaking of the park, have you ever noticed the amazing trees that erupt in crazy geometries from the ground?

Now onto the homeys, the chollos, the gangsters or whatever names people attribute to them. I watch them go in and out of certain houses and apartments in Golden Hill speaking their slang, half English, half Spanish, have Mozart half Tupac to my ears. I watch a couple youngsters tag a fire hydrant with a Sharpie in broad daylight on the corner of 31st and A Street. All I can do is nod. Not in agreement or judgment but simply in recognition that people do what they do and must keep doing what they do.

I love drinking tequila in the early afternoon with my 65 year old landlord and his 82 year old buddy. We sip it slowly out of small glasses and they talk of how different the neighborhood was even 5 years ago. The limes we suck on with the tequila are from a tree in front of my apartment and they are sour and bitter at first but give way to brightness and sweetness very similar to the way Golden Hill changes from first bite to last.

The Starbucks on 28th and B Street is a centerpiece of the neighborhood and an excellent cross section of the people. I watch guys and ladies in their sharp suits spill coffee on their ties or blouses from the crappy lids. I see a thuggish looking black guy order a big creamy, whip cream with syrup on top, type of thing and love how it immediately makes him seem less thuggish and imposing. A lady rolls up, decked out in expense exercise gear pushing 2 babies and walking a big dog. She says hi to another lady who gets out of a Mercedes SUV. Meanwhile the local fireman show up and order coffees and wait in the same line as four Mexican landscapers.

The more thought I put into the scene the more overwhelmed I become with the neighborhood. It is beautiful and thriving. Its people are the same. Perhaps San Diego is a grand alchemist and its only successful attempt at alchemy resulted in the philosophical, substantial, unusual substance of a neighborhood called Golden Hill. Let the attempt at alchemy stop because something wonderful has ensued.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.