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Kensington – the only real neighborhood

Path to Mission Valley, Kensington VIdeo, Kensington Terrace, New City American, Craftsman homes, Glen Havens and the 700 feet of tunnels

Kesington is a small town in a big city. - Image by Frank Colosi Photography
Kesington is a small town in a big city.
  • At last, an easy way to get to Mission Valley

  • Prior to the building of this pathway, there were only two efficient ways to cycle to Mission Valley from mid-city San Diego; via Fairmount Avenue and Texas Street. “… but [automobile] traffic is pretty fast there,” Barrett said, “and from Fairmount, we have to take the Aldine [Drive] curve which is narrow and we have to share the road with the big buses too.”
  • By Mike Madriaga, July 1, 2017
“It’s not that steep. Not as bad as the Texas gradient.”
  • Kensington: the only real neighborhood in San Diego

  • The entire neighborhood is one big cul-de-sac, an engineered refuge that keeps traffic at bay to the benefit of children at play. The eastern end of Adams Avenue, after it crosses I-15, runs through the town’s quaint business district, and it’s the only way in and out (if you don’t count the meandering Marlborough Drive, which eventually leads south to El Cajon Boulevard from its northern terminus on a cliff overlooking Mission Valley).
  • By Barbarella Fokos, Jan. 11, 2017
Peter LaMontia’s Kensington home. LaMontia discovered a message on his driveway, scrawled in chalk. “Your house looks like a taco stand.”
  • Kensington Video will reopen in September

  • You can’t keep a good Winnie down. “Mom was bored to death,” laughs Guy Hanford, soon-to-be sole owner and operator of Kensington Video. “Retirement didn’t meet well with her.”
  • That’s just one of the reasons Guy has decided to reopen the family’s world-class video outlet. “I never wanted to close,” Guy continues. “Why should a successful business shut its doors?”
  • By Scott Marks, June 10, 2015
  • Movie lover's paradise

  • Meanwhile, Blockbuster and Hollywood Video have shuttered their local outlets. Owner and buyer Guy Hanford understands why. “When you went into a Blockbuster or Hollywood to rent a film, you never engaged in personal conversation with the employees. The owners were never there. Here, there’s always an owner, and a staff with a wide-ranging knowledge of movies. We have people who come in here and share their lives with us.”
  • By Scott Marks, Aug. 28, 2013
Brother/sister team Guy and Pam continue to keep Kensington Video all in the family.
  • Locals battle Kensington Terrace

  • "Today I was brought into the fold on the neighborhood uprising regarding the Kensington Terrace project," stated Jim Chatfield in an October 30 e-mail to Anne Jarque, the project's manager for the City. "As a real estate developer, one would certainly surmise that I am pro-development, which is generally true. However, upon [review], I am quite surprised to find that the City and the Kensington-Talmadge Planning Committee approved this project with such little community interaction.
  • By Joe Deegan, Nov. 15, 2007
  • Kensington Business Balks at New City America

  • Eight years ago, the Adams Avenue Business Association received a $600,000 "urban forestry" grant from the State of California to mitigate the pollution that would result from Interstate 15 traffic. Kensington business property owners chose an ornamental pear tree to plant along Adams Avenue. As they grew, the pear trees developed a blight that has provoked several Kensington business owners to draw up a new community-maintenance plan.
  • By Joe Deegan, Dec. 1, 2005
  • San Diego's splendid Craftsmen homes

  • How did the rustic bungalows gain such a strong foothold in San Diego? They first overtook North Park, Hillcrest, Mission Hills, Normal Heights, Kensington, and the Balboa Park environs circa 1907, when reliable aqueducts were built in the area, and the city’s trolley lines were extended.
  • By Susan Vaughn, Nov. 4, 1999
2242 Adams Avenue. Even the architecturally challenged can spot Craftsman bungalows.
  • Kensington ends at Monroe, not El Cajon Bl.

  • On the sidewalks at 49th Street and Monroe Avenue stand two chalky-blue ornate gates that once marked the southern boundary of the Kensington-Talmadge district. When the gates were erected in 1927 — for a lofty cost of $1100 apiece — they greeted passing Model A’s, DeSotos, and dapper families out for midday strolls. Today, however, flanked by nondescript single-story tract homes, the stylish gates seem out of place. They stand like Pomo sentinels, welcoming passersby to a vanished world.
  • By Susan Vaughn, March 11, 1999
“Not too much has changed about Kensington.”
  • Glen Havens and his sons dug more than 700 feet of tunnels in Kensington

  • Joseph Franklin Rutherford, president of the Jehovah’s Witnesses from 1916 to 1940, planned to see Kensington engulfed in flames one day. If his predictions held true, he foresaw himself standing in the third-story watchtower of his 20-room home named Beth Sarin (House of the Princes) on Braeburn Road, surrounded by God’s resurrected faithful, surveying the violence and destruction of Armageddon as played out on the battlefield of Kensington.
  • By Abe Opincar, May 16, 1985
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Kesington is a small town in a big city. - Image by Frank Colosi Photography
Kesington is a small town in a big city.
  • At last, an easy way to get to Mission Valley

  • Prior to the building of this pathway, there were only two efficient ways to cycle to Mission Valley from mid-city San Diego; via Fairmount Avenue and Texas Street. “… but [automobile] traffic is pretty fast there,” Barrett said, “and from Fairmount, we have to take the Aldine [Drive] curve which is narrow and we have to share the road with the big buses too.”
  • By Mike Madriaga, July 1, 2017
“It’s not that steep. Not as bad as the Texas gradient.”
  • Kensington: the only real neighborhood in San Diego

  • The entire neighborhood is one big cul-de-sac, an engineered refuge that keeps traffic at bay to the benefit of children at play. The eastern end of Adams Avenue, after it crosses I-15, runs through the town’s quaint business district, and it’s the only way in and out (if you don’t count the meandering Marlborough Drive, which eventually leads south to El Cajon Boulevard from its northern terminus on a cliff overlooking Mission Valley).
  • By Barbarella Fokos, Jan. 11, 2017
Peter LaMontia’s Kensington home. LaMontia discovered a message on his driveway, scrawled in chalk. “Your house looks like a taco stand.”
  • Kensington Video will reopen in September

  • You can’t keep a good Winnie down. “Mom was bored to death,” laughs Guy Hanford, soon-to-be sole owner and operator of Kensington Video. “Retirement didn’t meet well with her.”
  • That’s just one of the reasons Guy has decided to reopen the family’s world-class video outlet. “I never wanted to close,” Guy continues. “Why should a successful business shut its doors?”
  • By Scott Marks, June 10, 2015
  • Movie lover's paradise

  • Meanwhile, Blockbuster and Hollywood Video have shuttered their local outlets. Owner and buyer Guy Hanford understands why. “When you went into a Blockbuster or Hollywood to rent a film, you never engaged in personal conversation with the employees. The owners were never there. Here, there’s always an owner, and a staff with a wide-ranging knowledge of movies. We have people who come in here and share their lives with us.”
  • By Scott Marks, Aug. 28, 2013
Brother/sister team Guy and Pam continue to keep Kensington Video all in the family.
  • Locals battle Kensington Terrace

  • "Today I was brought into the fold on the neighborhood uprising regarding the Kensington Terrace project," stated Jim Chatfield in an October 30 e-mail to Anne Jarque, the project's manager for the City. "As a real estate developer, one would certainly surmise that I am pro-development, which is generally true. However, upon [review], I am quite surprised to find that the City and the Kensington-Talmadge Planning Committee approved this project with such little community interaction.
  • By Joe Deegan, Nov. 15, 2007
  • Kensington Business Balks at New City America

  • Eight years ago, the Adams Avenue Business Association received a $600,000 "urban forestry" grant from the State of California to mitigate the pollution that would result from Interstate 15 traffic. Kensington business property owners chose an ornamental pear tree to plant along Adams Avenue. As they grew, the pear trees developed a blight that has provoked several Kensington business owners to draw up a new community-maintenance plan.
  • By Joe Deegan, Dec. 1, 2005
  • San Diego's splendid Craftsmen homes

  • How did the rustic bungalows gain such a strong foothold in San Diego? They first overtook North Park, Hillcrest, Mission Hills, Normal Heights, Kensington, and the Balboa Park environs circa 1907, when reliable aqueducts were built in the area, and the city’s trolley lines were extended.
  • By Susan Vaughn, Nov. 4, 1999
2242 Adams Avenue. Even the architecturally challenged can spot Craftsman bungalows.
  • Kensington ends at Monroe, not El Cajon Bl.

  • On the sidewalks at 49th Street and Monroe Avenue stand two chalky-blue ornate gates that once marked the southern boundary of the Kensington-Talmadge district. When the gates were erected in 1927 — for a lofty cost of $1100 apiece — they greeted passing Model A’s, DeSotos, and dapper families out for midday strolls. Today, however, flanked by nondescript single-story tract homes, the stylish gates seem out of place. They stand like Pomo sentinels, welcoming passersby to a vanished world.
  • By Susan Vaughn, March 11, 1999
“Not too much has changed about Kensington.”
  • Glen Havens and his sons dug more than 700 feet of tunnels in Kensington

  • Joseph Franklin Rutherford, president of the Jehovah’s Witnesses from 1916 to 1940, planned to see Kensington engulfed in flames one day. If his predictions held true, he foresaw himself standing in the third-story watchtower of his 20-room home named Beth Sarin (House of the Princes) on Braeburn Road, surrounded by God’s resurrected faithful, surveying the violence and destruction of Armageddon as played out on the battlefield of Kensington.
  • By Abe Opincar, May 16, 1985
  • Sponsored
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