The Hillcrest History Guild has gathered a list of Who’s Who in metro San Diego’s hippest urban village. Read about Hillcrest’s founding mothers and fathers, movers and shakers of today and many of the interesting people that make up our neighborhood.
Mo’s Main Man — Chris Shaw
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…
Bridging Communities — Aida Mancillas
I began working as an artist in the late 1980’s having received my education in the visual arts at Humboldt State University (BA, 1985) and UC San Diego (MFA, 1988) In 1991 I received an individual…
A Hillcrest Craftsman Since 1953
At the age of 74 Hillcrest’s oldest businessman has a contagious smile, nine grandchildren and a remarkable set of bushy eyebrows…yet after 54 years he still repairs luggage in the back of his…
Mother Mary Michael Cummings
It was a long road from St. Louis to this frontier town, but founding a hospital in San Diego became a mission for this woman of God who first received a white veil and holy habit from the Order of…
Women
Hillcrest Women Thank you, Joyce Beers “Hillcrest will continue to be an open-minded community. It will include yuppies, it will include gays and senior citizens...” Her name appears on…
Decades of Activism — Leo Wilson
Park West’s Leo Wilson is a third generation Uptown resident — his family moved to Hillcrest 90 years ago. A 1946 article in the Pacific Coast Record referred to his grandfather who was…
San Diego’s First Female Architect
Hazel Wood Waterman (1865-1948) may never have received a license to hang on the wall, but she gets credit for several neighborhood landmarks including the Wednesday Club (Ivy Lane at Sixth). Hazel…
Gwladys and her Group
The 1920 census shows Hillcrest resident and doctor Gwladys Morgan, 39, living at 3768 Eighth Street (now called avenue) with her older sister Mabel Elliott, also a physician, Mabel’s teenage son…
The Father of Hillcrest
Amid a scattering of homes and handful of businesses to the east, our community started being called “Hillcrest” in 1907 thanks to a 40-year-old entrepreneur. Real estate speculators had…
Kate the Great
One of her favorite sayings: “A 50¢ tree should be planted in a $5 hole.” Katherine Olivia Sessions (1857-1940) was known to many as “Kate.” During her long career in San Diego (which…
Joyce Beers
Joyce Beers Her name appears on our community center in the Uptown District, but who was Joyce Beers? She was an active and community-minded woman who was instrumental in shaping the early…