Central San Diego history

Kensington Ends at Monroe

The town’s demographics are altering. As older lifelong residents die, houses change hands — sometimes to younger kin; other times to younger strangers. Kensington homes, which according to a recent Multiple Listing Service ranged in price from $174,900 for a 965-square-foot two-bedroom house to $890,000 for a 4000-square-foot four-bedroom residence, are being occupied by well-heeled young families who oftentimes do not remain in Kensington — not because of wanderlust or dissatisfaction with the neighborhood, but because of Kensington’s public schools.

By Susan Vaughn, March 11, 1999 | Read full article

A Farewell to Farms

"Oh, this used to be beautiful grazing land. Real good for cows. When I sold my cows I got more for the shipping rights for the milk than for the cows. See there where the trees are (close to the stadium)? That used to be a beautiful lake. I leased that land for grazing land from the city. But now all that land fill from the construction has filled it up."

By Jacquelynne Garner, Feb. 5, 1976 | Read full article

Lemon Grove

One Japanese woman rode the bus with her little girl and she would walk with me part way, as she lives on Canton. Since I had been in Japan for three years, it was interesting to try a little Japanese on her and to hear her talk. She was the typical polite, sweet, lovely Japanese that I met so many of at one time. Her little girl was very American, but young as she was she could carry on an intelligent conversation.

By Candy Walker, Dec. 16, 1976 | Read full article

A Room by the Boulevard

"There was this one guy, when he checked in. he asked me to help carry his luggage. He stood there and talked to me about Albert Einstein for about two hours. Two hours! And we were still out in .the parking lot. He wasn’t here very long, though. He had asthma and couldn’t handle all the dust. He told me he was just staying here long enough to find an apartment somewhere else — one with hardwood floors."

By David Zielinski, May 10, 1990 | Read full article

Everybody I Need to Know I Met in Kindergarten

“My dad told me that blacks were moving in because they couldn’t go anywhere else,” Kenny recalls. “But he told me they were just like us.”

Kenny would often help out at the family market, which local Spanish-speakers had dubbed “Chino’s.” Encanto was okay. His dad told him they didn’t get a lot of trouble in Encanto because Chinese were looked upon as just another minority group. Whites would have had a much harder time.

By Steve J. Thomas, Jan. 21, 1999 | Read full article

A Freeway Breaks Lemon Grove’s Heart

“Rosemary has been to hell and back” with Caltrans, says Ofield, who has been a witness for her innumerable times at Caltrans meetings. “She lost her husband in ’93. Before that, he had been dealing with them, and suddenly it’s all on her. First they’re buying her house, then they’re rot. Then they are, then they’re not again, because they have moved the footprint of the freeway to save the topless bar.

By Jeanne Schinto, March 29, 2001 | Read full article

Too Many Mansions

"I don't want Allied Gardens to get into the situation that North Park got into, where you've got big places next door to little cottages." And Boyer points to a section of the San Diego municipal code that seems designed to prevent mansionization. The section deals with "Floor Area Ratio." "So," Boyer explains, "if you have a 2000-square-foot home sitting on an 8000-foot lot, then you would have a floor-area ratio of .25."

By Ernie Grimm, Nov. 21, 2001 | Read full article