Neighborhoods, City of San Diego
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Code: 92116
Diverse
housing with some of the nicest old homes in San Diego. Upscale modest. Many
custom touches. Well maintained but quality varies. www.mccormacks.com
In the
early 1900s, when San Diego outgrew its downtown, it turned its housing energy
to its immediate east, beyond Balboa Park.
The first
neighborhoods came in as streetcar suburbs, cottages, bungalows and homes that
predate World War II. Following the war, housing styles favored the standard
ranch models of the 1950s and 1960s. In later decades, the homes grew bigger
and the lawns smaller.
As a
general rule, the housing becomes newer as you move from west to east. But
developers did a fair amount of jumping ahead and years later coming back to
fill in parcels with more modern housing.
Also,
developers built to the market demands of their eras. Much of the housing in
the northern neighborhoods falls into the category of affluent. With few
exceptions, not big-bucks affluent. Rather educated affluent, managerial,
professional.
These were
the move-up neighborhoods of the pre-and postwar eras. Many guides will
describe them as charming and intimate. And they are within limits. In
many instances if you travel a few blocks to the south, the housing becomes
plainer. www.mccormacks.com
Every
large city celebrates its neighborhoods and ascribes qualities to them that
supposedly exist nowhere else. Much of this stuff is nonsense.
In many
places the housing flows from one street to another with little change in appearance,
the same chain stores show up all over the place, residents pay little if any
attention to neighborhood feelings or allegiances, they think little of
shopping and dining out elsewhere.
San Diego
neighborhoods are different. On a map, they look like they flow into one
another, divided only by freeways. In reality, they are defined by steep and
often impassable ravines. The residential streets dead-end and travel in
circles. To get to the next neighborhood or distant shops, you must first drive
to an arterial street, then another arterial and so on. This encourages
residents to shop locally and get to know their neighbors.
Other
forces subtly bring the locals together. Almost all the neighborhoods will have
a library, one or two parks and a community center. School attendance zones
generally follow neighborhood boundaries. The private or parochial schools also
draw from the immediate surroundings. The same with the churches.
Unlike
many Europeans, Americans don't have a strong sense of place. We move to a
town, build some equity, get a better job and move on. www.mccormacks.com
In these
northern San Diego neighborhoods, people come and go but perhaps much less so
than in other towns. They plow their savings into fixing up or expanding what
they have. Many families go back several generations. Finally, civic leaders
and bureaucrats, with signs, celebrations and policies, encourage the
neighborhoods to think of themselves as special.
As a
result, San Diego neighborhoods, some more than others, do have strong
identities. Here is a rundown of the neighborhoods.
Normal
Hts. Kensington. Small neighborhoods, side by side, reached for the most part
by Adams Avenue. Prewar housing, much of it remodeled and expanded. A few homes
large, many 2-3-4 bedrooms. Manicured lawns, imaginative landscaping.
Kensington
is well known for its charm and well-maintained homes. Kind of neighborhood that epitomizes what San Diego would like its older sections to look like. Worth a visit even if you don't move here. Stable section, kids
about 23 percent of all residents. Many homes remodeled and enlarged.
Normal
Heights, which has more affordable housing, has seen its kiddie count soar, to
about 31 percent of residents. In 2006, a modern elementary school was opened
in the neighborhood. Place includes a library, a soccer field and a climbing
wall. www.mccormacks.com
Some homes
demolished and replaced by custom-designed homes, often larger. Views from many
back yards; the homes overlook the ravines. The maps show three freeways
running through these neighborhoods. The freeways and some of the arterials are
in the ravines, removed from the residential section.
Local
shops, restaurants, cafes. A nightlife.
Talmadge
and the neighborhood immediately west of the San Diego State University. This
is practically the only section where you will find many modern or fairly
modern luxury homes, a mix of upscale tract models and custom jobs. One gated
development. Many trees and shrubs give extra privacy. Views. Drive Montezuma
Road and explore the side streets. Suburban. The stores are removed from the
housing. Talmadge on the south glides into the plainer housing of City Heights.
San
Diego State University. To the immediate east of the university is a
1950s-1960s housing tract, three-bedroom models, nothing fancy, the standard
housing of that era. But level of care fairly high. Comes across as a stable
neighborhood that draws nourishment from the university. Drive Shane Street or
La Dorna Street.
Immediately
south of the university. Hodgepodge of tract homes, 1950s-1960s models, and
apartment complexes, some large and modern. Drive Collinwood for complexes.
Home for many students. Up and down terrain. Stores, restaurants on Montezuma
Road and El Cajon Boulevard. www.mccormacks.com
A word
about the university, which is quite large, 34,500 students. Universities in
many ways elevate housing values and benefit their immediate neighborhoods.
They offer classes and activities that the locals can tap into. The residents
are interested in the arts and good food and will get behind the schools and
theatrical and artistic endeavors. Many of the streets to the southeast of the
university have homes that started off plain but have been lavished with care.
On the
other hand, the students are often slobs. Housing quality they could
not be bothered as long as the roofs, toilets and microwaves work. Maintenance
falls to absentee landlords, some of whom do a good job, some not so good. It
pays get a good map and drive the streets. You can just about tell by the look
of the houses whether you are among the who cares? or the we care.
Over the
past 10 years, because of changes in the law, many students are moving into
single homes that are dubbed mini dorms. The neighbors, irritated by the
noise, parties and trash, are complaining to the politicians. Newspaper says
student housing is in short supply.
Rolando. Close enough to the
university to be part of the cultural community. Another residential
neighborhood, tract homes, built the 1960s and 1970s. Homes a little bigger and
better appointed than other homes near the university. Family neighborhood.
Probably few students. Level of care high. Neighborhood starts on mesa off El
Cajon Boulevard and descends to University Avenue. Community center with ice
rink.
City
Heights. Located two to four miles below Kensington and San Diego State.
Blue-collar housing, many of the homes built in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, the
latter for veterans buying their first homes. www.mccormacks.com
Nothing
fancy. Level of care varies by block and sometimes by house. One of the more
interesting neighborhoods because in recent years the city, developers and
civic groups have pumped money and energy into rejuvenating the heart of City
Heights and testing smart-growth ideas. These favor more housing and amenities
such as schools and libraries around transit and shopping centers. See the
intersection of Fairmount and University Avenues.
Four
parks, one with a golf course. Close to the university and all it offers. Library.
Office buildings. Arroyos and freeways fragment the neighborhood and give it
some charm. Linear parks in some arroyos.
Commute.
Especially for the neighborhoods to the west of the university, very good. Many
people can actually commute without the car. Buses to the downtown and the
university, a major employer. If you have to use the freeways, you will often
get snarled but as the distance will be short the pain will be less what's
suffered by those in the outlying towns. Light-rail line that runs up Mission
Valley, ravine to north, was recently extended to university. See Commute.
Crime.
Generally peaceful neighborhoods. Homicides in 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, Normal
Heights one, zero, three, zero; Kensington zero, zero, one, one; College (San
Diego State), zero, one, one, zero; Rolando, all zeroes; Talmadge, zero, one,
zero, zero. See Crime.
Schools. In 1998, voters approved a giant bond, $1.5
billion, to build schools and renovate many facilities and equip them for high
tech. Fair number of private schools in these neighborhoods. See Schools. www.mccormacks.com
