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Bonsall – suburbia's edge

San Luis Rey Downs track and golf course, fossilized bison, Highway 76 widened, Vessels Ranch, the Hank Show

Joe Herrick had second degree burns over 23 percent of his body.
Joe Herrick had second degree burns over 23 percent of his body.
  • Lilac fire survivor comes to the races

  • On December 7, 2017, horse trainer Joe Herrick said, “Hell came to town.” Herrick was was involved in trying to rescue 450 thoroughbred horses caught in the raging Lilac fire through Bonsall’s San Luis Rey Training Center. He lost six of his eight horses. The final death toll was 46 horses perished in the tragedy.
  • By Ken Harrison, July 27, 2018
  • San Diego Natural History Museum shows off a new fossil

  • During construction of a highway ramp in San Diego’s North County last month, a paleontologist working for a local museum spotted some ancient bones in the dirt. Brad Riney, who is described as a “paleontological monitor,” found buried treasure for the San Diego Natural History Museum during construction of a new ramp from Highway 76 onto northbound 15, near Bonsall, California.
  • By Eva Knott, May 13, 2013
San Diego Natural History Museum shows off its new fossil.
  • San Luis Rey Downs turns hotel over to renters

  • In 2014, the San Luis Rey Downs golf resort in Bonsall closed. Some 118 acres was purchased by the County to augment a public riverpark, and another 71 acres is in the process of being turned into a mitigation bank by the Conservation Land Group of Mill Valley. But there are about three acres of the old San Luis Rey Downs Golf complex that has neighbors in bucolic Bonsall concerned.
  • By Ken Harrison, June 6, 2017
San Luis Rey Downs. Crain says each room has a bathroom but no kitchen.
  • A wider road from Bonsall to I-15

  • Caltrans has quietly opened up the four finished lanes of the long awaited, and final leg, of the Highway 76 widening project. The last 4.3-mile stretch from Mission Road in Bonsall, to I-15, completes the project that started in 2014.
  • By Ken Harrison, May 4, 2017
  • Golf Course headed for the rough?

  • Retired Fallbrook elementary school teacher Joan McConnell had just returned on Sunday (January 24) from the site of the former San Luis Rey Downs Golf Club. Two years ago, the 50-year-old Bonsall golf course was transformed into a “mitigation bank,” a process that promises to return it to wetlands to compensate for development elsewhere. But McConnell says it appears as if nothing has been done to advance it to its natural state. “It’s a trash heap."
  • By Ken Leighton, January 26, 2016
Former San Luis Rey Downs Golf Club land — now reverted to its natural state?
  • No gold star for Bonsall school district

  • A taxpayer advocacy group is suing the Bonsall Unified School District for skirting state environmental laws in its pursuit to build a new high school. The group, California Taxpayers Action Network, filed the lawsuit on February 6. The document alleges that staff and trustees in the district failed to evaluate environmental impacts before proceeding with a proposal to build a new high school on an undeveloped 50-acre site on Gird Road,
  • By Dorian Hargrove, February 16, 2017
  • The highest-priced estate in San Diego

  • Vessels Ranch, tucked away in the rural North County community of Bonsall, could set a new record for the highest-priced estate in San Diego if it fetches its asking price of $55 million. The main home, fully custom and built atop a hill in classic Mediterranean style, has three bedrooms, five baths, and over 7800 square feet of living space
  • By Dave Rice, May 7, 2014
View of the shanty from the pool
  • The Hank Show

  • 'I've been the Singing Cowboy of Rawhide Ranch for eight years now," says Cowboy Jack Johnson. "That's a dude ranch in Bonsall -- it's been there since the '60s, with Old West facades and stages...kids learn how to take care of and ride horses and stuff. Then, at the big campfire, I sing a bunch of cowboy standards and tell stories about the Old West. I do that most every Saturday night, whenever I'm not booked with one of my band projects."
  • By Jay Allen Sanford, Dec. 9, 2004
Sponsored
Sponsored
Jack Johnson, second from left

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Joe Herrick had second degree burns over 23 percent of his body.
Joe Herrick had second degree burns over 23 percent of his body.
  • Lilac fire survivor comes to the races

  • On December 7, 2017, horse trainer Joe Herrick said, “Hell came to town.” Herrick was was involved in trying to rescue 450 thoroughbred horses caught in the raging Lilac fire through Bonsall’s San Luis Rey Training Center. He lost six of his eight horses. The final death toll was 46 horses perished in the tragedy.
  • By Ken Harrison, July 27, 2018
  • San Diego Natural History Museum shows off a new fossil

  • During construction of a highway ramp in San Diego’s North County last month, a paleontologist working for a local museum spotted some ancient bones in the dirt. Brad Riney, who is described as a “paleontological monitor,” found buried treasure for the San Diego Natural History Museum during construction of a new ramp from Highway 76 onto northbound 15, near Bonsall, California.
  • By Eva Knott, May 13, 2013
San Diego Natural History Museum shows off its new fossil.
  • San Luis Rey Downs turns hotel over to renters

  • In 2014, the San Luis Rey Downs golf resort in Bonsall closed. Some 118 acres was purchased by the County to augment a public riverpark, and another 71 acres is in the process of being turned into a mitigation bank by the Conservation Land Group of Mill Valley. But there are about three acres of the old San Luis Rey Downs Golf complex that has neighbors in bucolic Bonsall concerned.
  • By Ken Harrison, June 6, 2017
San Luis Rey Downs. Crain says each room has a bathroom but no kitchen.
  • A wider road from Bonsall to I-15

  • Caltrans has quietly opened up the four finished lanes of the long awaited, and final leg, of the Highway 76 widening project. The last 4.3-mile stretch from Mission Road in Bonsall, to I-15, completes the project that started in 2014.
  • By Ken Harrison, May 4, 2017
  • Golf Course headed for the rough?

  • Retired Fallbrook elementary school teacher Joan McConnell had just returned on Sunday (January 24) from the site of the former San Luis Rey Downs Golf Club. Two years ago, the 50-year-old Bonsall golf course was transformed into a “mitigation bank,” a process that promises to return it to wetlands to compensate for development elsewhere. But McConnell says it appears as if nothing has been done to advance it to its natural state. “It’s a trash heap."
  • By Ken Leighton, January 26, 2016
Former San Luis Rey Downs Golf Club land — now reverted to its natural state?
  • No gold star for Bonsall school district

  • A taxpayer advocacy group is suing the Bonsall Unified School District for skirting state environmental laws in its pursuit to build a new high school. The group, California Taxpayers Action Network, filed the lawsuit on February 6. The document alleges that staff and trustees in the district failed to evaluate environmental impacts before proceeding with a proposal to build a new high school on an undeveloped 50-acre site on Gird Road,
  • By Dorian Hargrove, February 16, 2017
  • The highest-priced estate in San Diego

  • Vessels Ranch, tucked away in the rural North County community of Bonsall, could set a new record for the highest-priced estate in San Diego if it fetches its asking price of $55 million. The main home, fully custom and built atop a hill in classic Mediterranean style, has three bedrooms, five baths, and over 7800 square feet of living space
  • By Dave Rice, May 7, 2014
View of the shanty from the pool
  • The Hank Show

  • 'I've been the Singing Cowboy of Rawhide Ranch for eight years now," says Cowboy Jack Johnson. "That's a dude ranch in Bonsall -- it's been there since the '60s, with Old West facades and stages...kids learn how to take care of and ride horses and stuff. Then, at the big campfire, I sing a bunch of cowboy standards and tell stories about the Old West. I do that most every Saturday night, whenever I'm not booked with one of my band projects."
  • By Jay Allen Sanford, Dec. 9, 2004
Sponsored
Sponsored
Jack Johnson, second from left
Comments
Sponsored

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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
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