The Hemet-San Diego State commute, bulldozing Mexicans out of central Escondido

Richard Meltzer descends upon Lawrence Welk Village, city worker moons Scripps Ranch, San Marcos integrates, the fairy shrimp and Mesa mint near Carroll Canyon

Author

By Thomas Larson, Richard Meltzer, Colin Flaherty (RIP), William Luvaas, Karl Keating

Publish Date

July 12, 2021

Valle Vista is dog country; on summer nights dogs vie with coyotes over the moon. (Sandy Huffaker, Jr.)

Chinaberry Farm: Finding Home

Half our belongings still packed in the barn, paths form a quotidian maze between stacked boxes. The house livable, anyway. A rat takes up residence in Cindy’s paintings stored in the utility room. Bumpy begins hanging out at a neighbor’s. There is the one-and-a-half-hour commute to teach in San Diego. The AC goes out during triple-digit days in July. Our home warranty doesn’t cover it. Insurance companies exist to collect money, not pay it out.

By William Luvaas, Aug. 24, 2000 | Read full article

They had once planned on leaving their descendants the small properties along Second Avenue, but now they fear their land will be taken away from them by the city.

The Last Harvest

Most large trucks used to get through Escondido by using Grand Avenue, the main east-west thoroughfare. But merchants petitioned city council to reroute trucks along Second Avenue, which is one-way eastward, and Valley Parkway, which is one-way westward. An environmental impact report was filed which said there would be no adverse effects from having the trucks go down Second, a residential street, even though these were the same trucks that caused too much noise on Grand.

Fade to Gray

Spicy food aside, this place is bland, daddy. So bland that it’s difficult to see much — “pay attention” — long enough to get a firm, functional read of any depth or import - especially re the particulars of explicit Human etcetera: a journalistic Black Hole. To adequately suss this biz out would require a inclination to gawk and snoop, some interest in all the faces and whatnot — both before the fact and by virtue of their fortuitous proximity.

By Richard Meltzer, July 30, 1992 | Read full article

When Pearce entered Miramar yard facility, a man came from a parked van and mooned him. Pearce snapped away while the city uniform was draped around his ankles.

Moon for the Misbegotten

Pearce snapped away while Arenas’s city uniform was draped around his ankles. Then it got ugly. Arenas and two other public employees allegedly grabbed Pearce, pushed him around, stole the camera, and exposed the film. “Then they said I was trespassing on city property and I should get the hell out.... So as I’m bending down to pick up my cigarette lighter, this little short idiot [Arenas], he came up and tried to stomp my hand.”

By Colin Flaherty, March 28, 1991 | Read full article

Original Twin Oaks Elementary School, on Deer Springs Road. Twin Oaks Elementary opened on time last month, its function as integrationist beachhead nearly complete.

San Marcos Hides the Ugly Truth

I’d say Nordahl Road marks the easternmost boundary of what seems like San Marcos and not Escondido. Rancho Santa Fe Road marks the difference between Vista to the west and San Marcos. For now, Discovery Hills and California State University, San Marcos, define the southern edge, along with the community Lake San Marcos. When the massive San Elijo Ranch development supplants the dump, then the southern boundary will push into the Olivenhain/Harmony Grove area.

By Thomas, Larson, Aug. 27, 1998 | Read full article

Mike Kelly (left): “As climates changed, mesa mint was forced to retreat to vernal pools. And this is where it does best, mainly because the pools keep out the competition from certain other species.”

Fairy Shrimp, the City of San Diego, and the Mayor of Poway

“Why would you buy the property, unless you thought the system was so weak that you could get away with it?” David Hogan concurs. “Right now you can be certain that property owners throughout the county are watching this particular case very closely to see whether they can incorporate the illegal destruction. If the agencies let the mayor of Poway off, without requiring both restoration and penalties, then it will be just the cost of doing business.”

By Thomas Larson, April 20, 2000 | Read full article