City, San Diego County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Codes: 92023, 92024
Coastal-inland
city that mixes old with new and is moving upscale. Situated between Solana
Beach and Carlsbad. Population 63,864. Another town with flowers, flowers,
flowers. Many homes have ocean views. www.mccormacks.com
Encinitas
incorporated in 1986, drawing together the towns of Cardiff-By-The-Sea,
Leucadia, Olivenhain and Encinitas. To soothe feelings, the old towns were
encouraged to keep their identities and frequently you’ll run across brochures
or news articles that talk about Cardiff-by-the-Sea or Leucadia as if each
stood alone. To be accurate, these are now neighborhoods of Encinitas.
School
rankings generally in 80th and 90th percentiles, indicating strong support for
education. Children attend Cardiff Elementary District, about 800 students and
two schools, and Encinitas Elementary District, about 5,400 students and nine
schools. See Schools.
Click for regional or detailed map
Encinitas
Elementary district passed bond to renovate schools and wire them for
high-tech. Cardiff Elementary District, which serves one of the coastal
neighborhoods, won approval of a $5 million measure. The money was used to
rebuild Harris Intermediate and renovate Cardiff Elementary.
Teens
attend schools in San Dieguito Union High District, which has rankings hitting
the 95th percentile, among tops in state, and serves several towns. La Costa
Canyon High School opened in 1996 in Carlsbad but it draws many Encinitas
students. It includes library, performing arts center, two-story gym.
Lottery
for San Dieguito High School Academy, which has no football team, no
cheerleaders and no valedictorian, but scores generally in the top five percent
in state. In 2006, 805 students applied and 475 were admitted. www.mccormacks.com
Mira Costa Community College runs a
satellite campus in Encinitas. Community colleges offer many classes and
activities.
Three homicides
in 2005, two in 2004, zero in 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, one in 1997.
Patrolled by sheriff’s deputies. Sheriff’s substation. In 2006, a surgeon and
his wife, pulling into their driveway, were shot. He survived; she died. See Crime.
In
California, cities rarely spring out of the blue. Usually they start as hamlets
or villages governed from the county seat by the board of supervisors —
politicians representing the whole county. By and by, the locals start
disagreeing with supervisors over the quality of municipal services or, more
than likely, planning and the pace of development.
The
villages then incorporate as “cities,” a legal entity in California, and take
over their own planning and services or contract with agencies to provide
certain services. Encinitas followed this pattern, with the result that for an
upscale town its housing is quite diverse. Prior to incorporation,
Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Leucadia and Old Encinitas had completed a good deal of
their home building.
Leucadia,
founded in 1885 by English settlers fond of Greece — some streets have
Greek names — is located on the north and tends to narrow streets and
cottages and small to medium homes. Many of the homes have been remodeled; very
few are new. Homes on the beach have ocean views; the rest don't. Curbs and
sidewalks almost nonexistent. Residents shop and dine at stores and restaurants
along Highway 101, which is lined partially with eucalyptus. www.mccormacks.com
Leucadia
is pinched by the rail line, which runs next to the highway. Some upscaling, in
the form of a restaurant and luxury hotel. Residents distrust new, love old and
fight vigorously what they dislike. “Like being nibbled to death by a duck,”
one fellow described residential tactics.
Old
Encinitas, located near Moonlight State Beach, is laid out on a grid with much
wider streets. It has the true feeling of a town: stores, civic buildings, a
post office, a hospital, a library, La Paloma movie house, antique shops,
cafes, restaurants, some with ambitious menus — trattorias instead of pizza
parlors. Curbs and sidewalks.
East meets
West: The Self Realization Fellowship is just up the street from the Church of
Christ. On one block, a homeowner planted two old cabin cruisers into his lawn
and converted into them small houses — the SS Encinitas and the SS
Moonlight.
Old
Encinitas has charm and injects some buzz into the city. Nice place for a
weekend dinner and a stroll to the beach. Small homes on the beach. Historical
Society has renovated an old school for a town meeting hall and an archive
center.
Cardiff-by-the
Sea is removed from the ocean. At this point, the highway and the rail line run
so close to the beach that no housing was built along shore, which was
purchased by the state (San Elijo State Beach). www.mccormacks.com
The
community starts just east of the rail line and rises into hills with views of
the Pacific. Cottages, two-and three-bedroom homes, most of them well over 50
years old. Well maintained.
Stores,
restaurants, cafes clustered at base of hill. Charming neighborhood. One
developer was a music publisher and composer. Streets are named after
Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Verdi, Rossini.
To a great
extent, the allure of Cardiff and Old Encinitas lies in the terrain. It rises,
falls and rises again higher, creating great vistas of the Pacific and San Elijo
Lagoon. Many of the homes have added balconies or windows pointed toward the
water.
Perversely,
some residents have planted trees, which block views and drag the city into
fights over pruning and cutting-down.
At Crest
Drive, Encinitas descends into a deep valley and at the bottom of this valley,
El Camino Real, the old King's Highway and a major thoroughfare, runs
north-south. Office buildings, supermarket plazas, office complexes and large
modern stores: Office Depot, Barnes and Noble, Home Depot. www.mccormacks.com
Moving
east from El Camino Real, the terrain rises again and here you will find modern
suburbia: miles of upscale tracts, many four- and five-bedroom homes, one and
two stories, planted median strips, four-lane thoroughfares that move traffic
to the freeways, street designs that buffer the homes from the arterial
traffic, and for some, views of the Pacific and the setting sun. Lawns mowed,
trees and shrubs trimmed, lawns decorated with roses and other flowers. Curbs
and sidewalks. Utility lines buried. Handsomely done.
Moving
further east, the terrain drops again into Olivenhain. No views. Some old farm
houses. Some historic buildings (old meeting house) and some of the most
opulent homes of the region.
In this
area, Encinitas borders Rancho Santa Fe, one of the richest towns in the U.S.
When you hugger-mugger up to the wealthy, you rarely build shacks. And this
section hasn't. Large homes, lovely appointments, custom designs, some on
ranchettes (few acres), others on large lots. Horse country. Golf courses
nearby.
The state
in 2008 counted 25,719 housing units — 14,594 single-family detached,
4,589 single attached, 5,767 multiples, 769 mobiles.
Of the
total units, about 60 percent were built between 1970 and 1990 and about 10
percent in 1990s. Encinitas has its old but away from the shore it is very much
a modern city. www.mccormacks.com
Commute to
downtown San Diego is 20 to 25 miles on Interstate 5. When traffic is
congested, those are long miles. About 10-miles to Sorrento Valley and
University of California, major job centers. Commute rail between Oceanside and
downtown San Diego. Stops at Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Sorrento
Valley. At Oceanside, connection can be made to commuter service to Orange and
Los Angeles counties. Called the Coaster.
About 20
parks (including three large sports parks), 10 beaches open to public, trails,
Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, skateboard park, sports for kids, adults, Little
League, soccer, etc. Bicycle stunt park. Bocce. Two dog parks. Museum.
Meditation garden on ocean. Botanical garden. Community-seniors
center-gym. Marine refuge. Six
miles of coastline. Golf courses. Batiquitos Lagoon marks northern boundary,
San Elijo Lagoon (preserve), southern
border. Bird watching. Hotel tax buys sand to replenish shore.
Chamber of
commerce (760) 753-6041.
• In 2002,
Surfer magazine placed Encinitas in top ten surfing cities in US.
• The Self
Realization Fellowship, with its golden domes and white walls, attracts many
visitors. The temple has a garden open to the public. www.mccormacks.com
• Horse
ranchettes on south side, Manchester Avenue. Strawberry fields.
• In
summer, many young people rent along the shore and primed with beer and
whatever have a high old time. Too high, think many residents, who want to
dampen rowdy passions. To that end, the city is pressuring landlords to crack
down on the misbehaving and trying to halt rentals of fewer than 30 days. Many
arguments.
• Noise
from Marine helicopters off coast. See profile of Mira Mesa.
• Spanish-English immersion at some
schools: Kids start with Spanish and a little English and expand English and
reduce Spanish until 50-50.
• Foot
bridges or tunnels being built over or under railroad; kid safety. www.mccormacks.com
• Cardiff
beach noted for its balancing rock sculptures. Done by amateurs, constantly
changing.
• In 2006,
the city council issued $20 million in bonds to rebuild three fire stations and
to build a park in Cardiff.
• TIP
Charter School to open, K to 6, about 100 students. Curriculum aimed at gifted
but school said it would educate non-gifted kids.
• Scripps
is expanding its hospital on Devonshire Drive. The hospital serves the coastal
towns and many people grant that it needs to renovate and add beds, services
and parking. Neighbors not happy with project.
• Annual
flower show features poinsettias. www.mccormacks.com
• New library
to open in 2007 or 2008.
• Day
laborers can be hired on Encinitas Boulevard. Some residents oppose the
practice but city says it legally can not stop the hiring.
City
web site: www.ci.encinitas.ca.us
