Unincorporated Town, San Diego County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Code: 92036
Julian, a
former gold mining center, shows the diversity of San Diego County. There’s the
desert, the ocean, the bays and lagoons and there’s Julian, in the mountains,
4,220 feet high, in the middle of the county. Oaks and pines and forests and
streams that feed into reservoirs. www.mccormacks.com
Outside
the town, the mountains rise even higher. Now and then in the winter, snow
mantles the hills.
In the
2003 wildfires, firefighters saved the old town but many homes in the
countryside around Julian were destroyed.
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The 2000
census counted 1,621 people in and near Julian, about 26 percent of them under
age 18. In 2006, SANDAG, drawing a wider line, guessed the tally at 2,671.
Julian
Union High School District in 1995 passed a $2.5 million bond to renovate high
school. The work was completed in 2000.
Housing in
the town is old and small but well kept. In recent years, many custom homes
have been built around Julian. In 2006, Sunset Magazine said Julian was one of
the 10 best spots in the West to buy a second home. www.mccormacks.com
In the fall,
the apple harvest is brought in and San Diegans flock to the town to sample the
MacIntosh, Delicious and Jonagold apples, and dine on apple pie.
Quaint
downtown. Old West motif. Antique stores. Tours. Delis, restaurants, saloons,
shops. Two small wineries in the region. Pioneer Museum.
The
residents may gripe about the tourists but the visitors sustain shops and
restaurants that otherwise could not thrive in Julian.
Town Hall
with stage. Every year, local group presents a melodrama spinning off the region’s
history. In 2006, “The Stalworth Surveyor or The Man Who Sank the Cuyamaca
Float.”
Community
services board oversees the town’s water supply. www.mccormacks.com
Chamber of
commerce (760) 765-1857.
Outside of
Julian can be found several small communities, really no more than collections
of country houses, many of them hidden among the pines. These include Julian
Estates, Harrison Park and Kentfield-in-the Pines/Whispering Pines.
The
largest community, Kentfield-Whispering, is built over hills and valleys. Many
homes have views of the countryside.
Roads
alternate between paved and dirt. A good place to own a 4-wheel drive. The
snows raise havoc on local roads and cause traffic jams.
•
Conservationists are trying to place a lot of the east county in parks and
preserves. In 2006, one preserve, 2,800 acres north of Julian, was opened for
weekend hiking. www.mccormacks.com
• When
residents depart Julian, in the local parlance, “they go down the hill.”
