About our bit of San Carlos,
a neighborhood in San Diego, California
www.kuraoka.org


All photos and text (c) John Kuraoka except as noted

We live in a community called San Carlos, in California, 490 miles south of the other San Carlos, California, near San Francisco; 360 miles west of San Carlos, Arizona, near Mesa; and 725 freeway miles from San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico, near Guaymas. Oh, and 10 miles east of downtown San Diego.

Our San Carlos differs from those other San Carloses, in that ours was not named for a saint named Carlos or even Charles. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune (October 9, 2005, Section I, page 17), our San Carlos was named for the guy who developed the subdivision, one Carlos Tavares. The article further noted that Carlos’ wife, Claire, lent her name to Clairemont.

San Carlos is bounded by Del Cerro and Navajo to the west, Fletcher Hills and the city of El Cajon to the east, and the cities of Santee and La Mesa to the north and south. Many San Diego residents consider our area to be “East County.” Then again, many San Diego residents consider any area without a beach to be “East County.” Most of East County was ranch land a century ago, and the area retains a rural, ranchero feel even in the new developments. But, we are in fact within the City of San Diego.

Our neighborhood is largely a rather ordinary, American middle-class tract-home suburban subdivision. Most of the houses on our street were built in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in the popular Ranch Style: single-story houses of 900 to 1,225 square feet with two, three, or four bedrooms and two-car garages. In the 30-plus years since, owners have added patios, room additions, and second stories, giving each house its own look. None of the original two-bedroom houses seem to have remained unmodified. Ours is a four-bedroom house, and we’ve added a den/office area in back (see our room addition journal for more information). In 2004, the median price of a home in San Carlos went from $407,250 to $515,000, an increase of nearly 26.5% and above the county-wide median at that time of $500,000. As you’d expect, prices have dropped a bit since then.

Our suburban San Diego neighborhood might be quiet, but this sign offers a hint at the roiling, unquenchable passion that surges relentlessly just beneath the surface. Either that, or it’s for our local water system, the pressure of which could use a little, um, boost from time to time.

You can tell we have East County leanings by the ugly 4-wheel-drive FO’D pickup we used to have parked on the street in front of our house. It was, of course, a FORD, but the “R” fell off the tailgate. We sold it in late 2002 because we couldn’t get two child safety seats into it. In our open garage you can just make out our two sensible, compact family sedans, Ondine’s Mazda Protegé ES and John’s older Infiniti G20 (that’s a Nissan Primera to our visitors from Europe).

Public transportation: The closest bus stops are along Navajo Road: the 115 (runs between El Cajon and Downtown), 40 (runs between Fletcher Hills and Downtown, weekday rush hours only), and 854 (runs between La Mesa and Lakeside). From our house, it’s about a half-mile walk to the bus stop at Navajo and Boulder Lake (40), and about a mile to the stop at Navajo and Lake Murray Boulevard (115, 854). At their most-frequent, the buses run about twice an hour.

The nearest trolley stops are either at Amaya Drive and Severin in La Mesa, or Grossmont Transit Center on Fletcher Parkway. Both serve the Orange Line and the newly opened Green Line, both have free parking lots, and both are about three miles away. The Orange Line runs between El Cajon and downtown; the Green Line runs between Santee and Mission Valley. To get downtown costs between $2.25 and $3.00 each way, and takes about an hour. Tip: carry small bills, as the trolley stations won’t give more than $5 in change and the vending machines require exact change. By way of contrast, we can drive downtown in 20-30 minutes if we don’t hit heavy traffic and not counting parking. Parking downtown can easily cost the amount of two round-trip trolley tickets.

Schools: From our house, Gage Elementary School is a pleasant half-mile walk away, as is Pershing Middle School. The high school, Patrick Henry, is 2.6 miles away. Grossmont College is about 1-1/2 to 2 miles away, depending on your route. 

Groceries: The nearest supermarket is just under a mile away, on the South side of Navajo Road, near Lake Murray Boulevard: an Albertsons. It shares its parking lot with a RiteAid. On the opposite corner is a brand-new Fresh&Easy, the express grocery chain operated by UK-based Tesco; it shares its parking lot with a Walgreen’s. (Four key tips for Fresh&Easy: (1) you scan your own purchases; (2) if you’re buying a lot, use one of the check-out stations with a conveyor belt; (3) if your total is more than $20, ask an employee for a $5-off coupon; (4) to pay for bananas touch the on-screen button that says “bananas”and then enter the number of bananas you’re buying.) Go a third of a mile further down Navajo (on the right just past the 125 freeway overpass), and there’s a Vons, with a good selection of organic fruits and vegetables and an enviable selection of cheeses. The drugstore adjacent to Vons is CVS. The nearest healthy-type market is Windmill Farms in Del Cerro, about 4.3 miles away in the other direction (just off College Avenue near the I-8), but its selection of organic fruit and veg is oddly lacking. The nearest warehouse-type store is a Costco or a Smart & Final, both on Fletcher Parkway but at opposite directions. The nearest farmer’s market is held once a week in La Mesa.

Other community places: The field at Pershing Middle School is open for public use during non-school hours; it has excellent artificial turf soccer fields surrounded by a running track, a large dirt lot, basketball courts, and tennis courts, none of which are lighted so they’re really daytime use only. The San Carlos post office is a mile away, as is the San Carlos Community Park and Rec Center. The Fletcher Hills Community Center, which has a pool, is about two miles away. Within a mile, there’s a wide choice of fast food, including pizza and sandwich franchises, plus a long-standing Chinese restaurant and a brand-new Thai restaurant. The Fletcher Hills branch library and San Carlos branch library are each about two miles away, but in opposite directions. The nearest booksellers are at the shopping malls, along with the department stores and movie theaters: Parkway Plaza to the east, and Grossmont Center to the south, each about three miles away. Parkway Plaza is unique in San Diego because it is an indoor mall, which makes it a popular air conditioned retreat in the summer. The recreation areas of Lake Murray are about 3-5 miles away, depending on your route. Note that the walking and biking path around the lake does not go all the way around; you go maybe two-thirds of the way around and then you have to turn around and return the way you came. You can rent various small watercraft for fishing or just poking around on the water. The lake is stocked with fish; you need a valid fishing license, though.

Cowles Mountain: San Carlos has the City of San Diego’s biggest natural feature besides the beach. If you turn away from the ocean, on a clear day, you can see it; we are lucky enough to live right at its base. It’s Cowles Mountain, and at 1,591 feet it’s the highest point within San Diego city limits. From the summit, on a clear day, you can see the ocean. You also can see into Mexico and the rest of San Diego County, both of which have peaks that dwarf Cowles Mountain. But, for a city peak, Cowles Mountain is terrific. It has miles of hiking, mountain biking, and equestrian trails on it.

By the way, if you pronounced it “Coals,” then you are correct. However, most of the locals mispronounce it “Cowls.” Let’s take a moment to pity George Cowles. He was a great San Diego pioneer, a man of vision and industry and wealth and success; a mover and shaker in everything from farming and ranching to banking and railroads. But, he died childless, and his widow married a fellow named Milton Santee, who systematically renamed much of Cowles’ holdings after, well, himself. Today, pretty much the only namesake old George has left is Cowles Mountain.

Cowles Mountain anchors one corner of the Mission Trails Regional Park, which includes the Old Mission Dam and Lake Murray. Mission Trails Regional Park is the largest urban park in the U.S., encompassing some 6,000 acres. It is seven times larger than Central Park in New York City. Recently, the bobcat population has started a tentative rebound, and even a mountain lion has been spotted.

The main trailhead is a mile and a half away, at Navajo and Golfcrest, which has a parking lot and restrooms. From there, the trail goes up the western slope of Cowles Mountain. However, we walk to this trailhead just down Barker Way, and go up the eastern slope, choosing from a trail with views to the south or a closed-off dirt road with views to the north. Some large groups choose our street as a staging area, too, perversely to get away from the crowds at the main trailhead. From either trailhead, it’s a three-mile round trip to the summit and back, with about 1,000 feet of elevation gain and loss. The trails cut through brushy, rocky chaparral; on a clear day you can expect no shade but exceptional vistas. Take lots of water and sunscreen. It was a major achievement when our son, who had just turned four, hiked all the way to the peak and back.

Every few summers, one group of teenagers or another gets the bright idea to lug a keg of beer deep into the brush, and party long into the night. They think no one would bother looking for them, and they’re right. The police officers just park around the corner and nail the revelers as they drive away, one, two, three.

The Fires: We had some excitement in late 2003, when the San Diego fires caused our street to be evacuated for the second time in its history. At the time, it was thought that the fire might cross Mission Gorge Road and blast over Cowles Mountain, where there was lots of brush and no significant firebreaks. We were lucky; the Cedar Fire never got closer than a couple miles from our block. If you want to read more about that week, look at our 2003 fire journal, which was written as events happened. A brush fire broke out in early 2006, again thankfully on the other side of the mountain from us. And, in 2007, fires again raged throughout the county, but didn’t come anywhere near us so we weren’t evacuated. You can read about that week in our 2007 fire journal.

It’s a quiet neighborhood otherwise, even more so because we live on a cul-de-sac. It’s a stable neighborhood too. About half our neighbors are original owners; they’ve lived in these houses since they were built in 1972. And, two are second-generation residents, including Ondine, who grew up next door. There is a new generation being raised in the neighborhood, ten kids (eight boys, two girls), including our two boys. We love it here, and will never move.

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