Behind the Blue Door
Behind the Blue Door 3823 Fifth Avenue has quite a legendary past. Now known for Hillcrest's best-dressed windows, this cozy shop was home to Blue Door Bookstore for almost four decades. Founded in…
The Big Civic Celebration
On March 16 of 1926, the first civic celebration on record for Hillcrest was held to celebrate the installation of decorative lampposts on University Avenue between Third Avenue and Park Boulevard,…
Hillcrest Businesses Fifty Years Ago
Reprinted from a 1957 San Diego Union Tribune article. Hillcrest Business Association, a guiding force in the development of a San Diego community with 15,000 residents, yesterday reported its…
Hillcrest’s Old Yeller
The big yellow house at 3690 Sixth Avenue has been around since Pennsylvania Street was called Thornton, but the roots of the structure are a bit muddled. First mapped out as lots 11 and 12 in the…
The Women Behind the Sign
Sometimes the male species of Genus Homo Sapiens commonly called “man” overlooks the gentler sex who made his world possible. So at this writing it is our pleasure to mention some of the women…
Tainted Love (Part II)
After 27 years of being dark, the Pernicano/Casa di Baffi sign lit the night this past spring. HillQuest received several emails and calls, as the community was abuzz with a spark of life returning…
The Little Store with the Big Selection
For over four decades Al Davis Furniture at the corner of University and Herbert has earned a reputation for offering quality home furnishings at a value price. But who was the man behind this…
Miss McLean’s Scandalous Trousers
Editor’s Note: An early civil suit in San Diego courts affirmed the rights of the transgendered. Sarah McLean, who openly admitted to wearing men’s clothes, sued Martha McKenzie, her former…
Rich Divorcee Kills Herself
Editor’s Note: Mrs. Henrich, burned twice by society marriages, departs the world in melodramatic fashion, leaving her estate to a local contractor. Was it love? What “work” did she want…
Hillcrest’s American Dream
Tung Ling Wong, better known as “Jimmy” and his wife Annie Up Wong, immigrated to the United Sates in the late 1940s and created a new life for themselves on University Avenue near…
Our Beloved Beacon
The Hillcrest sign was first erected in 1940 as a gift to the community from an active association of female shopkeepers wanting to promote the neighborhood business area. 240 feet of pink neon…
San Diego’s Gay Roots — The Brass Rail
The Brass Rail has gone through many changes throughout the years since patrons had to “put all hands on top of the bar” when vice police would come through with flashlights looking for hanky…
The History of Dartlee Hall
An obscure Hillcrest structure has gained historic integrity after it was recently discovered to be an early work of Irving Gill. Because of the sign that lingers many think of 3680 Sixth Avenue as…
A Sweet Treat in Bankers Hill
Just one block west of Spruce Street’s swinging bridge is a grand home designed by Frank Mead and Richard Requa (famed local architects) and once treasured by the A. H. Sweet family. Elaine Sweet,…
Hillcrest’s Design Center
Tree-lined Fifth Avenue at Brookes Street is home to an architectural masterpiece designed by architect Lloyd Ruocco. Born in Maine in 1907, Ruocco moved to San Diego in the early 1920s. A graduate…
University Height’s Normal School
One of Uptown's great architectural monuments once sat between Normal and Washington streets at Park Boulevard (B on 1955 aerial photo below). San Diego State Normal School, the birthplace of SDSU,…
Transportation in San Diego
Early San Diego Transportation in and around…