Neighborhoods, City of San Diego
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Codes: 92130, 92014, 92121, 92126
One
of the housing hot spots of the county. Thousands of homes recently built,
thousands coming. Favorite of many young professionals and their families.
Also, in some neighborhoods, the rich. www.mccormacks.com
Scores
high, crime low, commute better than most in the county and recently improved.
A
region whose cultural, monetary and social dynamics are changing, thanks in
large measure to the opening of Highway 56 between Interstate 5 at Del Mar and
Interstate 15 at Rancho Peñasquitos.
Also,
a region that may drive you nuts if you try to make sense out of it through
maps and the sales pitches of the developers and Realtors.
On
its north side, San Diego County developed along two freeway corridors,
Interstate 5, coast, and Interstate 15, inland.
Until
about 1980, thousands of acres between these two freeways, in the vicinity of
Highway 56, escaped development. As Highway 56 was built (slowly and always
begging for funds), the land along side came to market and with the completion
of the highway in 2004, construction accelerated. www.mccormacks.com
Interstate
5 runs close to the Pacific and travels through or borders the ocean towns of La
Jolla, Torrey Pines (which has a famous golf course), Del Mar, Solana Beach and
Encinitas. Just east of Interstate 5 is Rancho Santa Fe, one of the richest
towns in the U.S., and Fairbanks Ranch, gated and at least as wealthy as Rancho
Santa Fe.
Money
and shore — two pillars of cachet. The University of California, San
Diego, supplied another.
Located
at La Jolla, the university is a first-class research institute that is strong
in the sciences and technology and has a faculty that includes Nobel winners.
The brains associated with the university have started several hundred
businesses in and around La Jolla and to the north along Interstate 5,
particularly in an area called Sorrento Valley. These firms, notably Qualcomm,
employ thousands and pay many of them big bucks.
The
university enrolls about 23,000, employs about 22,000 and spends about $1.8
billion a year, more big bucks.
La
Jolla has always supported the arts. The university, which opened in 1959, took
this support and made it deeper, more varied and better funded and established
La Jolla-UC as a major cultural center. www.mccormacks.com
The
Interstate 15 towns include Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho
Peñasquitos, Poway and Escondido, comfortable, in many sections upscale, in a
few opulent.
Although
many residents in these communities work in the Sorrento Valley and at UC, the
I-15 corridor was not considered part of the UC-Sorrento-La Jolla
constellation. The commute between the two regions was too difficult.
With
the opening of Highway 56, the drive between the two regions shortened for many
people to 10 to 20 minutes. And in subtle ways this has moved the I-15 towns
into the UC-Sorrento orbit (and probably increased their value) but it has not
wiped out the I-15 identity.
Developers
along the Highway 56 corridor quickly figured out that they might be able to
charge more if they named their projects after the coastal towns or worked in
some angle to these towns or the ocean.
And
so ... Del Mar Heights and Torrey Hills and Torrey Highlands and Pacific
Highlands Ranch, some of the larger new tracts that have little or no
connection to Torrey Pines and Del Mar or are miles from the ocean. www.mccormacks.com
Many
streets and small tracts in Del Mar Heights and Rancho Peñasquitos are named
Torrey this or Torrey that. One development near Rancho Peñasquitos claims to
be situated in the La Jolla Valley.
Some
of the larger tracts — Torrey Hills and Del Mar Heights — are
clearly establishing identities as separate communities whose residents say, I
live in Torrey Hills, etc. The others ... it's too early to tell.
Little
of this is showing up on the street maps of the region. Many maps identify the
Highway 56 corridor simply as Carmel Valley and Sorrento Hills.
Carmel
Valley still has some currency, that is, you will find people who say, I live
in Carmel Valley. As a name, Sorrento Hills appears to be fading.
Yes,
confusing but nothing fatal. The map shows the major tracts and neighborhoods. Before getting
into the neighborhood descriptions, some points worth noting. www.mccormacks.com
•
Diversity. These developments, in several locations, plop the middle class
right next to the wealthy. On one road, tract housing, three to five bedrooms;
down the street, custom homes costing millions; a little further, usually near
an access point to the freeways, apartment complexes.
Some
of the wealthy sections are gated, which might suggest they pretty much lead
their own lives and associate only with their immediate neighbors. But the
schools mix the kids. No matter what the neighborhood, residents will often
find themselves shopping at the same stores, dining at the same restaurants and
watching movies at the same theaters.
To
bring in local jobs, some parcels close to residential neighborhoods are zoned
for office or research. If curious, ask the Realtor or developer for master
plans for the area.
•
Schools. On the west side near Interstate 5, the Highway 56 neighborhoods are
educated by two elementary districts, Del Mar (generally south of Del Mar
Heights Road) and Solana, (generally north of Del Mar Heights Road). Their
students move up to the schools of the San Dieguito district (middle and high).
On
the east side, near Interstate 15 but extending miles toward Interstate 5, the
kids attend the schools of the Poway Unified School District, kindergarten through
12. www.mccormacks.com
These
districts are among the highest scoring in the state. If you have kids,
Realtors will sing the virtues and the scores of the local schools. See Schools.
All
districts are building schools and changing attendance zones as the schools
open.
Each district has its own funding and
its own enrollment procedures. Sometimes home construction outpaces school
construction and the neighborhood school stops accepting students and sends
them to another school. San Dieguito uses a lottery for one of its most popular
high schools. Neighborhood boundaries may not follow school district
boundaries.
Sometimes
small differences cause problems. One example: a new high school starts with
one class, freshmen, and adds a level each year. If your son or daughter wants
to play varsity sports, the school might not be able to oblige. Always call the
district to find out which school your child will attend.
The
region also has private schools and more are opening. Among recent additions, a
large Catholic high school in Del Mar Heights. www.mccormacks.com
•
Traffic. Highway 56 has taken a lot of traffic off of Interstate 15 and shifted
a lot onto Interstate 5. Delays may not be as frequent but you will have
delays. The construction of some of housing is being paced to improvements to
local roads. Both I-5 and I-15 are being widened, bit by bit.
•
City of San Diego. With the
exception of 4-S Ranch to the north (see separate profile), all of the Highway
56 developments are located within the City of San Diego. Their streets (except
in gated tracts) will be patrolled by San Diego cops, their parks will be
installed and maintained by the city, the planning will be done by San Diego
(often with advice from the locals.) Some “municipal” expenses will be picked
up by the residents themselves through their homeowner associations.
•
Crime low. In its annual reports, the City of San Diego shows zero homicides in
2001, 2002 2003, 2004 and 2005 for all these neighborhoods. Police station at
Rancho Peñasquitos. Another to open near Interstate 5.
•
Terrain. A region of deep arroyos and high mesas. On a map these neighborhoods
look close together. In reality, many of them come across as separate and
distinct.
Here
the major neighborhoods, old and new, in and near Highway 56 and Sorrento Mesa. www.mccormacks.com
•
Sorrento Mesa. This neighborhood is located along Interstate 5, south of
Highway 56. It's not in the Highway 56 corridor but we are including it because
it is good orienting point and overlooks the Carmel Valley.
In
San Diego County, Sorrento is just about synonymous with high tech. Many of
these firms are located in and at the edge of Sorrento Mesa. As Sorrento Valley
Boulevard moves east, it picks up housing: three and four-bedroom homes, a
little up market, new, overlooking a deep canyon (Los Peñasquitos Preserve).
Great views.
New
or fairly new housing also can be found along Mira Mesa Boulevard as it moves
east.
Sorrento
Mesa is within the San Diego School District. The local scores are respectable,
well above the 50th percentile, but not as high as scores in other nearby
districts.
Key
streets: Sorrento Valley Road and Camino Santa Fe. www.mccormacks.com
•
Torrey Pines. West of Interstate 5. Just north of the university is the famous
Torrey Pines golf course, and north of the course is a large park-preserve, and
north of the park is the neighborhood of Torrey Pines, 7,060 residents.
Single
homes number 1,985, multiple units, 1,057. Most of the homes were built decades
ago and aimed at professionals, well-to-do but not rolling in bucks. Homes run
to one and two stories; many have four or more bedrooms.
Close
to the ocean but the land being flat, few homes have Pacific views. Some maps
will show the north side as Del Mar Highlands. Homes here are smaller.
Torrey
Pines is sometimes used as the address for research-medical facilities near golf
course.
Coastal park, which has rare pines, is a great favorite of county residents. Golf course hosts PGA tournaments and is reputed to be one of the finest in U.S. Public course; many arguments about T-times and fees. In 2006, the mayor of San Diego, annoyed by the disputes, intervened and rewrote the policies. Some people happy; some unhappy. The mayor incidentally doesn't play golf.
•
Del Mar Heights, also known as Carmel Valley. Used to be a stagecoach stop on
the Butterfield line, then came farming (lima beans, sheep and cattle), then
housing, the boom starting in the 1980s. SANDAG in 2006 counted 32,213
residents. Orienting street: Del
Mar Heights Road, east of Interstate 5. www.mccormacks.com
Del
Mar Heights started building about the 1980s and from its beginning was aimed
up-market. Torrey Pines High School, one of the top schools of the state, is
located in the area and it (and other characteristics) gave the location
immediate prestige.
The
development came in as master planned and this probably appealed to many. Many
of the apartments and most of the shopping are located near the interesection
of Highway 56 and Interstate 5.
Also
in this area are a fair number of large and sleek office and research
buildings, lawyers and stock brokers. Among biggies: Peregrine, Oracle, Cisco,
JNI, Magis and Stellcom.
Local
jobs translate into short commutes.
Del
Mar Heights started mildly upscale: many four-bedroom homes, neat and ample but
not ornate, lawns easily maintained. Shrubs and trees that have filled out and
softened the suburban lines. www.mccormacks.com
About
1995, with the high-tech boom and later because interest rates fell, home sizes
and appearances elevated. Turrets, entrances that made a statement (with
vaulted ceilings and staircases), professional landscaping, tubs out, spas in,
three-car garages, and so on.
Nice
but not universal because even in good times, the rich are few, the affluent
and middle class many. Developers now build mixed housing. The upscale might be
gated or somewhat secluded but it rarely is far from everyday tract homes and
even apartments, which, it should be noted, are coming with different looks,
pocket parks, porches, courtyard clustering.
About
12,600 housing units, evenly split between single homes and multiples.
For
a look how upscale suburbia has evolved since 1980 drive Del Mar Heights Road
(which turns into the Carmel Valley Road) between Interstate 5 and Interstate
15.
Del
Mar Heights is built over gentle hills and mesas. Some homes have views. www.mccormacks.com
Another
school, Ocean Air Elementary, is scheduled to open in 2007 on Carmen Heights
Drive, north of Carmel Mountain Road. The city owns 15 acres next to the
school. This land will be used for school playing fields and for facilities
open to the community — gym, basketball courts, kid playground.
•
Torrey Hills. Just east of Interstate 5 and south of Highway 56. Orienting
streets: El Camino Real at Carmel Mountain Road. Will show up on some maps as
“Sorrento Hills.”
Population
4,663 and rising. Most of the homes are less than seven years old. Large
apartment complex near Interstate 5 on Carmel Mountain Road and a second
apartment close to Highway 56, adjoining horse stables.
For
the most part, Torrey Hills runs to single homes, three to five bedrooms, with
a variety of prices and designs, some with small porches. Offices and high-tech
near freeway.
Torrey
Hills is in fact built on hills. Many homes have views. Some maps may show Carmel
Mountain Road moving east and coming to a dead-end. But the road either has
been extended to tie into the other portion of Carmel Mountain Road, which
connects to Carmel Country Road, and loops down to a ramp to Highway 56. www.mccormacks.com
Torrey
Hills Elementary crowded. Relief to come in 2007 with opening of Ocean Air
Elementary in Pacific Highlands.
Torrey
Hills, divided by arroyos (deep gulches) seems to meander all over the hills,
up and down; it's a big development with many mini neighborhoods, which may not
consider themselves part of Torrey Hills. And this brings us to:
•
Del Mar Mesa or Carmel Country Road, South. Key streets: Camito Exquisito and
Camito Vista, just south of Highway 56 and next to Meadows Del Mar Golf Club.
What Louis XIV would have built had he owned a chunk of Qualcomm. Knockout
homes. Custom giants on mesas. Horses. Professional landscaping.
Away
from the estate homes, the others are well-to-do, a cut above typical suburban
modern but drive a little and you're in typical suburban modern.
This
will give you some idea of the mix in this region, a land of tycoons and
everyday bosses and professionals, professors, doctors, researchers, computer
techs and young singles renting apartments. www.mccormacks.com
•
Pacific Highlands Ranch, under construction, about 1,000 units completed in
2006, mostly single homes. Plans call for 5,500 units on 2,652 acres, just east
of the merging of Carmel Valley Road and Del Mar Heights Road into Black
Mountain Road, and north of Highway 56.
Site
of the new high school, Canyon Crest Academy. Located in the Solana and San
Dieguito school districts. Elementary school to be built.
•
Torrey Highlands. Not to be confused with Torrey Pines and Torrey Hills. Torrey
Highlands is master-planned community north and south of Highway 56 between
Pacific Highlands Ranch and Rancho Peñasquitos.
Under
construction, Torrey Highlands covers 1,134 acres and will have about 2,600
units, of which about 2,000 were up in 2006. Key streets: Camino Del Sur at
Carmel Mountain Road. See also, housing off of Torrey Santa Fe Road, south of
the Highway.
Westview
High School, recently opened, serves Torrey Highlands. Poway Unified School
District. www.mccormacks.com
•
Black Mountain Ranch and Santaluz.
5,400 acres divided into two sections: the first, Santaluz, covering
3,690 acres, average one home per four acres; the second, 1,410 acres, more
intensive development. Two golf courses, tennis, lots of open space.
Santaluz,
gated, was initially presented as part of Black Mountain Ranch but appears to
have its own identity. Santaluz, luxury homes around a golf course, is well
under construction and can be seen looking north from Carmel Valley Road from
Camino Del Sur.
The
second section will probably be called Black Mountain or Del Sur. It will have
about 2,600 single and detached homes and 469 apartments and homes priced as
“affordable,” below median income. Construction underway.
•
4 S Ranch. Another new development, which we broke out as a separate profile
because unlike the others, it is situated outside San Diego city limits. But
4-S is part of the large scale development along or near Highway 56 and
benefits from this highway.
•
Comments. Almost all the new housing is coming in under “master” plans that
reflect many arguments and tradeoffs between developers, environmentalists, planners
and local residents. Before anything gets built, school, park and shopping
sites are identified, the housing types (single, clustered, apartment) defined,
the roads laid out, and so on, even in some cases down to the materials used,
for example, solar roofing. www.mccormacks.com
The
plans are easily accessed through the web — search under development's
name - or you can get information from Realtors and city officials.
Master-planned
communities usually do a good job moving traffic to highways and shunting it
away from residential streets.
Housing
styles, even in everyday tracts, will sometimes vary and bring in such touches
as porches (often small), clustered parking, single homes that seem to have
their own lots but are really grouped and tiny parks equipped with jungle gyms.
The larger or community parks with playing fields will usually be situated near
a school.
Lots
will be small, utility lines buried, the homes often two story, the stucco
creamy with a touch of pink, the roof tiles fire-resistant and usually reddish,
the overall effect, modern Mediterranean vague.
Sidewalks
throughout, usually bordered by grass and shrubs, maintained by the homeowner
associations. Mornings and evenings, you will find residents jogging and
strolling and walking their dogs (and yes, your neighbors will think you
uncivilized if you don't pick up after your canine buddy.) www.mccormacks.com
As
for inside the homes, at least one of the closets will be walk-in, the natural
light will be plentiful, the lights recessed, the kitchens large and open to
the living-family rooms, the living rooms designed around
television-entertainment centers. Among options, many developers will wire each
room for cable and television.
•
Commute trains. Station and parking at Sorrento Mesa and Interstate 5. Quick
way to downtown.
•
Helicopters. San Diego loves the Marines but hates the noise of the helicopters
from Miramar. To reach the Pacific, the helicopters fly over Torrey Pines golf
course. Neighborhood groups are always pressuring the Marines to fly here and
there but not right here (over our neighborhood). Check out the routes. See
Mira Mesa.
•
Jet noise. Our researchers drove these neighborhoods and occasionally heard
noise from jets. Not a lot of noise but check your tolerance. Many homes come
with double-paned windows and this cuts the noise.
•
Among new schools: Sycamore Ridge Elementary and Solana Pacific Middle, both in
Del Mar Heights, Canyon Crest Academy (high school), Pacific Highlands. The new
Catholic high school at Del Mar Heights, designed with Tuscany in mind, will
enroll about 2,000. www.mccormacks.com
•
Waves and breezes. Highway 56 opens to the ocean and lets in breezes that cool
the in-land towns. It also makes fast work of getting to the Pacific and to the
surf.
•
New schools, public and private, are equipped with computer and science
labs.
•
Some of the more established “new” neighborhoods are getting politically
organized and trying belatedly to influence development.
City
planning department (619) 235-5200. Another source, the planning department's
web site: www.sandiego.gov/planning.
•
Shopping. Neighborhood or fairly large plazas scattered throughout, usually
near a freeway access. Short drive to box stores, Costco, etc., many in Rancho
Bernardo and Mira Mesa. Large malls with Nordstrom and Macys in La Jolla and Escondido. www.mccormacks.com
•
Local jobs. We've mentioned Sorrento Mesa and UC but the Interstate 15 corridor
also has thousands of jobs, many in high tech, particularly around Rancho
Bernardo, a short drive from Highway 56.
Also
Mira Mesa. If you don't like long commutes, beat the bushes in these towns.
•
Culture, the arts, dining. Performing arts centers at Poway, Escondido, UC and
La Jolla. Short drives to movie complexes. Neighborhood plazas have fast-food
and family dining, reasonably cheap. Thanks to Starbucks and other cafes, you
need never experience caffeine withdrawal. Fine dining here and there, usually
within a 10-minute drive. This is very comfortable suburbia.
•Mani Ramachandran, in 2006 a junior at Torrey Pines High School, confesses to being a procrastinator. “Don't do today what can be put off until tomorrow,” says he. If the test is at 1 p.m., study at noon. SAT ... two weeks of cramming and that's it. Result: 2,400 in the SAT, perfect score. His father is a professor at UC San Diego, his mother, a researcher at UC. Obviously, the lad's brains have rubbed off on his parents.
•
Chambers of commerce have merged into the San Diego County North Chamber, (858)
487-1767. It serves 4S Ranch, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Miramar, Mira Mesa, Rancho
B. and Rancho P., Sabre Springs, Scripps Ranch, Sorrento Mesa and Torrey
Highlands.
Poway
retains its own chamber of commerce. Chambers will often have flyers and
information about local shopping and amusements. Another good source: the
libraries. www.mccormacks.com
