Mo’s Main Man – Chris Shaw One of Hillcrest’s most successful entrepreneurs is Chris Shaw, but most folks are more familiar with his popular restaurant/bars, Urban Mo’s (formerly Hamburger Mary’s) and Baja Betty’s, than the gentle man himself. The SD native has been involved in the LGBT business community since 1979 when West Coast Production […]
Early San Diego Transportation in and around Hillcrest
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, was a fine expression of Beaux Arts classicism. While the old school has been demolished to make room for a parking lot, the teacher […]
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 of the University of California at Berkeley, Ruocco is widely credited with pioneering the post-war modern architectural movement in San Diego.
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, daughter of Adelbert “Del” and Amy Sweet bequeathed her 1914 family home (at 435 W. Spruce) to the San Diego Historical […]
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 the burned out Cafe W, although old-timers may recall other eateries, antique stores and religious meeting rooms. But with history dating […]
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 panky. The bar was originally located downtown at the corner of Sixth and B in the Orpheum Theatre building. It was […]
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 tubing Weight: 800 pounds Length: 21 feet Height: 3.5 feet
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 Fourth. Soon after their immigration Jimmy gained employment as a waiter at the Chinese Village restaurant in downtown San Diego. Within a […]
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 carried on? At which “fashionable,” “brilliantly lighted,” “palatial” Park Boulevard apartment house did she reside? Do you know? The home of banker H.E. Anthony still […]
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