City, San Diego County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Codes: 92025, 92026, 92027, 9202, 92030, 92033, 92046
Bedroom
community located inland off of Interstate 15. Escondido translates to
“hidden.” Much of the downtown is
built on flat land but Escondido in many sections rolls over mesa and hills,
creating a variety of views. To the distant east, mountains, a pleasing
backdrop. www.mccormacks.com
Fourth-most
populous city in the county, 143,389 people. Spread over seven freeway
exits. Median age of residents is
32. About three of every 10 residents are under age 18, stats that say many
families.
Rounded
city with housing across the spectrum, including a few hill mansions that
stepped out of Xanadu or some mythical kingdom. To visit its downtown,
Escondido comes across as low-income to middle class but the housing in the
outlying neighborhoods, in many instances, runs upper middle to affluent.
Click for regional or detailed map
In the
north county, Escondido differs in a big way from almost every community along
Interstate 15, the main road.
Rancho
Bernardo, Rancho Peñasquitos, Scripps Ranch, Mira Mesa, etc. came to life after
1970 and when development arrived, it was intense and sudden. One day empty
hills and mesas, a few years later, miles of tracts, almost all built in the
Mediterranean style, creamy stucco and red tiles, with the shopping plazas next
to the freeway.
By
contrast, Escondido started as farm hamlet, incorporated as a city in 1888, and
gradually added people until it had about 6,500 in 1950. www.mccormacks.com
When
suburbia started to boom, the 1950s, the town had its center well established
and, for the most part, the housing moved chronologically out from the center.
That is, cottages and bungalows, then the two and three-bedroom tract housing
of the 1950s and 1960s, then the larger homes, often two story, of the most
recent decades. The downtown laid its streets out on grid, the new tracts
favored the suburban ramble of winding around hills and mesas.
Escondido
clustered its civic buildings, its auto row and many of its stores, including a
Home Depot, a Target and a Mervyns, in its downtown and built a large
performing arts center and, recently, a movie complex surrounded by restaurants
and stores. Down through the years, it has nourished the downtown and tried to
keep it a vibrant business and social center.
By and
large, and with much fretting, it has been successful. Compared to the other
towns in the region, Escondido comes across as more cohesive, more logical and
more traditional, and some people will find this pleasing.
At the
same time, Escondido curtsied to the realities of modern suburbia and its
appetite for giant shopping centers near a freeway. On the south side of town,
a few miles from the downtown, sits the Westfield mall, about 160 shops, 15
restaurants, 5 department stores, including a Nordstrom and a Macys.
For
shopping and amusements, this pulled Escondido in two directions but the downtown
still has enough heft — movies, plays, restaurants, stores — to
carry Friday and Saturday night and to sustain itself. The downtown is located
near the junction of Interstate 5 and Highway 78; this helps with the shopping. www.mccormacks.com
The downtown has older homes and
apartments that show their age and others, on hills near Fifth Street that have
been lovingly maintained.
Divided by
hills and mesas and the freeways, Escondido seems to hide its neighborhoods and
their diversity. Some upscale tracts on the south side are shaded by tall
trees. The north side meanders into valleys and mixes apartments with country
club housing around a golf course. One gated tract on the north side shoots up
into the hills — great views.
Just
outside city limits on the southwest is Lake Hughes, which has a cluster of
small resort homes built decades ago.
The state
in 2008 counted 47,379 housing units, of which 23,547 were single-family
detached, 2,939 single attached, 17,016 multiples and 3,877 mobile homes.
Old cities
often outshine new cities when it comes to parks. They have been at it longer.
Escondido has three giant parks that are especially popular with hikers,
joggers and equestrians and the outdoor set. www.mccormacks.com
As for
other amusements: Five golf courses. Golf learning center. Local lakes stocked
with fish. About a dozen parks in total, including a soccer park and a park for
dogs. Six playgrounds. Library. Arboretum. Historic buildings at Grape Day
Park. Farmers market. Sunflower Fair. Girl Scout center. Typical sports. Summer
Cruise nights draw vintage vehicles and about 8,000 people.
On the
unusual side: an ice rink with two arenas. Hockey, figure skating. Wild Animal
Park a few miles to the east.
Skating park with a roller rink for hockey and for skateboarders some
ramps and bowls.
Palomar
Community College runs a satellite campus in Escondido. California State
University in neighboring San Marcos, a plus for the region.
The Center
for the Arts (1,500 seats) includes a museum, a conference center and a
400-seat theater and presents plays and musicals and singers, comedians and
interesting people on tour, and waves the flag for culture and the arts.
Served by
Escondido Union Elementary District and Escondido Union High. In 2002, voters
passed a $46 million bond to build more elementary schools and relieve
crowding. In 1996, they okayed a $43 million bond to renovate high schools and,
to ease crowding, build a new one in Valley Center. In planning, another high
school. www.mccormacks.com
Elementary
schools used to run year-round schedules. Now all schools follow a traditional
calendar with summers off (but the high school calendar starts Aug. 13).
Schools have been making changes in the hope of turning out smarter students.
These include, algebra for all students by the eighth grade, a charter school
that emphasizes western civilization, and clustering of high IQ children in
their own classes.
Scores
bounce all over, reflecting the mixed demographics of the region, but many are
well above the 50th percentile and some in the 90th percentile, the top 10 percent
in state. See Schools.
Crime rate
low-average. Two homicides in 2005, three in 2004, five in 2003, three in 2002,
two in 2001. Counts for previous years: five, three, one, six, seven, eleven,
nine, eight, eight, eleven, four, six. See Crime.
Interstate
15 is the main freeway through town. To move internal traffic, Escondido has
built a north-south parkway and an east-west parkway through the downtown.
Highway
78, improved in recent years, moves traffic to the coast and to Interstate 5. www.mccormacks.com
To arrive
about January 2008 — rail commute trains between Oceanside and Escondido.
The service is called the Sprinter.
A long
commute to downtown San Diego — 32 to 40 miles — but many work in
or near Escondido. Many high-tech and office complexes have opened 10-15 miles
to the south. Commute buses to downtown San Diego. Highway 56, opened in 2004,
has provided some relief for traffic along Interstate 15.
On the
minus side, this freeway occasionally chokes on the many commuters who have
moved to Riverside County, particularly Temecula and Murrieta.
Escondido
catches breezes from the Pacific but it is hotter than the coastal towns. For
garage sales, many homeowners in the summer will lay out their items under
large umbrella tents (which can be easily erected and taken down.)
Just outside Escondido are
unincorporated neighborhoods. They include the Lawrence Welk Village
(retirees). www.mccormacks.com
Chamber of
commerce (760) 745-2125.
•
Escondido recently built a power plant east of the downtown in a light-industry
zone.
• In the
downtown, Kaiser Permanente facilities and Palomar Medical Center, which is to
be gutted and rebuilt as part of an ambitious overhaul of Escondido medicine.
The job includes the construction of a second facility, a large medical center
with 453 beds, and clinic-offices in Valley Center, San Marcos, Rancho
Penañsquitos and Ramona.
• In 2006,
pediatric hospital under construction. Doctors affiliated with Children’s
Hospital in San Diego.
• The Cal
State University at San Marcos is within a few minutes drive of most Escondido
residents. The university, through its extension program, offers a variety of
classes, many of business and government nature, to the public. www.mccormacks.com
• In 2006,
Westfield Mall submitted plans to add restaurants, a movie complex, stores and
parking.
•
Escondido is mixing condos with retail in its downtown. The goal is to bring in
people who will shop locally and support the downtown’s restaurants and
amusements. For the residents, the reward is city amenities and quick access to
trains (Sprinter), freeways and buses. About 1,300 condos-townhouses are
planned.
• In 2006,
the city council, voting 3-2, jumped into the argument about illegal
immigration by passing an ordinance fining landlords who rented to illegals.
Revisions followed and in November 2006 the courts delayed enforcement.
• The city
in 2006 took a budget surplus of $1.2 million and plowed much of it into shrubs
and trees and tougher code enforcement and general efforts to make the town
prettier.
• Free
wi-fi in the downtown. www.mccormacks.com
• Big
development proposed for land outside city limits on north — 2,700
housing units on 2,327 acres. Near Lawrence Welk Village.
• Coming
in 2007 in downtown, Lowe’s home improvement store. Arriving in 2008, if legal
challenge can be resolved, a Marriott Hotel, seven stories, 196 rooms, restaurant,
lounge, two meeting rooms, also located in downtown.
• To be
built before 2010: police and fire headquarters, three fire stations. Voters
approved bond for buildings.
•
High-school district, enrollments rising, wants to build another high school and
is thinking about asking voters to approve a bond in 2007.
• Hunters
and fishers. In 2006, a 25-pound bass was landed at Dixon Lake, about three
miles north of the downtown. Wild turkey and dove in the hills. www.mccormacks.com
• When
Escondido opened a skate park in 1996, it was considered one of the best in the
state. That lasted for about three years, then its reputation rapidly declined
as other cities built bigger and more daring. In 2005, the city closed the
park, pumped in $435,000 of renovations and in 2006, one the best skating parks
in the state was reopened to raves. BMX bikes also welcome.
• Rail
trail. State is putting up money to build a paved trail along the Sprinter rail
line. The trail (connecting to other trails) will run from Escondido to the
Pacific.
City
web site: www.ci.escondido.ca.us
