5/18 & 5/20

San Diego History Center

The History of...    

  



Guest Speaker: Barry Goldlust 

From the San Diego History Center

Venue:  The History of the Hillcrest Neighborhood

Date(s): May 18 (Tuesday) & May 20 (Thursday)

Times: 9:30am - 11:00 am

Quick Links

Handout

New Zoom Link:   https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/699207034

Introduction to Our Host Organization, the San Diego History Center

https://sandiegohistory.org/

"The San Diego History Center tells the diverse story of our city – past, present and future – educates our community, preserves our history, and fosters civic pride.  The History Center presents engaging presentations and dynamic exhibitions highlighting what makes San Diego unique. They provide outstanding educational programs for all ages.  Research Archives containing historical content, archived material and online photo gallery are available onsite and online just for the asking.  Since 1955, in cooperation with the University of San Diego, the History Center has published the Journal of San Diego History, one of the only scholarly publications dedicated to a major American metropolitan region. Since 2013, the History Center has been a Smithsonian Affiliate."  Our Rediscovering San Diego classes have been fortunate to be invited to numerous presentations, special events, and unique exclusive exhibitions over the years and are proud to continue our partnership with them in our quest to educate the citizens of San Diego in the wonders of our great city.

Hillcrest: A Proud and Trendy Community

You may think that Hillcrest has become a pretty “trendy” place over the last few years, but the truth is that Hillcrest has always been trendy. Hillcrest has been a magnet for visionaries, forward thinkers, and trend-setters since its development began in the early 1900s.  In many ways, today’s Hillcrest is simply the fulfillment of dreamers’ dreams turned into realities.  It’s no surprise that Hillcrest was recognized as one of APA's (American Planning Association) Top 10 Great Neighborhoods.

Take a look at these two short videos, for a quick overview and introduction to our lesson.

Hillcrest has always been trendy, as you will see in this 3 minute video of the History of Hillcrest as told in 1994.   You will meet Hillcrest's resident historian, Eleanor Meadows, who also has a connection with all of us - she was a Mesa College Instructor for 10 years.  For a look back at Hillcrest, watch this fun video.

This 2019, 3 minute ABC 10 News walking tour, paints a more modern picture of Hillcrest, while pointing out some historic and significant features in the community - that are hidden in plain sight.  

Hillcrest Location


Hillcrest is part of the “Uptown Community Planning Area,” which consists of the neighborhoods of Mission Hills, Hillcrest, Bankers Hill, Park West, and University Heights.

Hillcrest is an older neighborhood which has gone through gentrification over the last 20 years, due to the attraction of more affluent residents and higher-end businesses.  Streets are lined with trees. The community is dotted with beautiful Craftsman-style homes, trendy apartments, and Mid-Century modern condominium buildings.

Hillcrest is just northwest of the Balboa Park neighborhood and south of the Mission Valley neighborhood, between the I-5 and CA 163 highways.  It is known for its tolerance and acceptance, its gender diversity, and locally owned businesses, including restaurants, cafés, bars, clubs, trendy thrift-stores, and other specialty stores. Hillcrest has a high population density compared to many other neighborhoods in San Diego, and it has a large and active lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and polyamorous community.  

In this lesson we will learn about the history, events, and developments that facilitated Hillcrest’s transformation into the vibrant, diverse, and socially progressive community that it is today.  Pay attention to the red text you will find throughout this lesson -  it highlights events, circumstances, demographics, or infrastructure that will provide clues to the natural progression of Hillcrest:  traditional suburban neighborhood to a proud and trendy community.

Hillcrest History and Development (Dillinger, 2000, et al.)

Initially, Hillcrest was a chaparral-covered mesa. Kumeyaay Indians inhabited villages scattered throughout the San Diego region, including what is now Hillcrest.  Spanish colonization brought the first of our twenty-nine California missions - the nearby San Diego Mission.  Other historic and popular San Diego venues like Presidio Park in Mission Hills and Old Town were also close in proximity to the Hillcrest neighborhood, placing it in prime location for residential and business development. 

Between 1870 and 1920 the land that is now Hillcrest changed hands several times, until George Hill, a railroad tycoon, purchased and developed it into a suburban residential and shopping area for downtown San Diego. Hillcrest was established as a residential area in the early 1900s during a period of improvement in San Diego’s economy and a transportation boom.  In his day, George Marston was one of the great community servants in the history of San Diego, an adept businessman, and founder of the San Diego History Center.  Marston owned a considerable amount of land around the area of Seventh Avenue and petitioned the city for a professional city plan to promote structured and efficient housing throughout the city, including his property in Hillcrest. In 1907, William Whitson, who founded Hillcrest through his Hillcrest Company, bought over 40 acres of land between First and Sixth Avenues and began to subdivide for development. Within a few years, hundreds of houses and Florence Elementary school were established (right).

Florence Elementary School 


In the 1910s, Hillcrest became one of the first San Diego neighborhoods connected by the Class 1 streetcars, and an extensive San Diego public transit system built by John D. Spreckels.  The San Diego Class 1 streetcar was a fleet of twenty-four unique streetcars built to provide transportation for the Panama-California Exposition of 1915 in Balboa Park. The cars were designed by the San Diego Electric Railway Company under Spreckels’ leadership and built by the St. Louis Car Company.  The best elements from preceding models were integrated into these cars to create a new, modern streetcar design, that went on to connect San Diego "trolly suburbs" until 1939.

        Fun Facts about the Hillcrest Sign (at 5th and University Avenues)

Because of its prime location and easy access, during the 1920s and 1930s Hillcrest thrived as a suburban shopping area for downtown San Diego.  An increasingly diverse population began to fill the highly affordable housing for which Hillcrest was known. Hillcrest offered housing aimed at families, but also developed a high percentage of single occupancy bungalow courts, cottages and smaller single unit family homes. This type of housing close to downtown and made for single residents and young couples in the middle-income range, was not available anywhere else in San Diego.  Many young couples and singles who moved into the Hillcrest area before World War II remained there as permanent residents after the war.  Originally intended to provide housing close to downtown San Diego for young couples and up-and-coming business persons in the 1930s and 1940s, Hillcrest appealed to a different generation in the 1950s and 1960s as the low-rent, single-occupancy housing began to attract San Diego County’s elderly population.  And 30 years later in the 1960s, Hillcrest became a community populated mostly by the elderly.  

The LGBT Community and Hillcrest (Dillinger, 2000, et al) 

By this time Hillcrest was becoming known for its eateries, social hot spots, and its proximity to big city life.  Still, with the establishment of the Mission Valley Shopping Center in the early 1960s, Hillcrest experienced a major economic downturn.  During the 1960s “Hillcrest suffered through economic stagnation, social isolation and deteriorating housing conditions.”


In the 1970s Hillcrest began undergoing a transformation from a neighborhood in decline to San Diego’s premiere gay community.  This minority was developing a sense of self-awareness and community. They needed a place of refuge and security.  


Throughout the early 1970s a group of men and women in San Diego developed a cohesive and united front, dedicated to the advancement of pride in themselves, and changing the attitudes of a homophobic society. Hillcrest became an unwitting, yet well-suited, venue for this experiment in social progress for a variety of reasons.

Economic Situation - Before the 1970s, Hillcrest was experiencing a decade of economic deficit due to the opening of the Mission Valley Shopping Center and other San Diego expansion projects. Businesses and property values in Hillcrest dropped as its commercial center declined. The state of disrepair in housing contributed to the community’s neighborhood decay.  By 1970 Hillcrest was widely recognized as a community of elderly and low-income residents living in run-down housing.  It was about to undergo a major demographic change, due to the age of its occupants.  Still, the social and economic status of Hillcrest from the early 1960s through the early 1970s allowed for affordable rent-space, and social opportunities otherwise impossible in a more up-scale neighborhood.  For the same reasons that the elderly community flocked to Hillcrest in the past, the gay community found Hillcrest very affordable and tailor-made for their needs. Hillcrest real estate was the perfect housing solution for the singles and couples in the gay community.

Aging Community / Safe Haven - The elderly community contributed to the appeal of Hillcrest to the gay community as a safe area. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, downtown San Diego, south of Broadway, was perceived as unsafe by the gay and lesbian community.  In many areas of San Diego, including downtown, the gay community was unwelcome and even ostracized.  It often wasn’t safe to be on the streets.  In addition to being less confrontational, the elderly, in general, were less judgmental and more accepting.  The scarcity of pedestrian and street traffic in Hillcrest as compared to downtown was partly due to the fact that the population of Hillcrest was older.  This reduced street activity meant less opportunity for anti-gay confrontations.  The gay community felt safe and at home within the haven of an elderly Hillcrest.  Hillcrest provided relative anonymity and safety for the gays and lesbians congregating within an elderly and isolated community. It provided a welcome beacon to those who tried to avoid the hatred that so many inflicted on the gay community.

Social Scene –Safety was not the only thing that drew the gay community of San Diego to Hillcrest. This neighborhood also provided a sense of social interaction.  Hillcrest offered a variety of social opportunities with its restaurants, bars, walkability, gathering places, and access to Balboa Park.  It allowed gays and lesbians a forum where ideas and thoughts could be expressed and exchanged to help build a sense of community in San Diego.  As the gay community began to invest in itself, solidarity and gay pride quickly followed. Property values increased and the community began to redevelop from the inside out. The bars, social opportunities, and  growing business community had a synergistic effect on gay life in Hillcrest and helped form a more visible and defined community.

San Diego Pride History (at a glance) 

(San Diego Pride History, 2019)

After World War II, Hillcrest was left with an aging infrastructure and population.

During the 1970s gays and lesbians began to establish residences, businesses, and organizations in Hillcrest.  The LGBT community was instrumental in enacting change: 


1974: Protesting the city's refusal of a parade permit, 200 gays and lesbians marched through the streets of downtown for the first time.

1975: The first city-permitted gay pride parade was held.

1980: The Center for Social Services, founded in Golden Hill in 1973—now called the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center, and generally known as "the Center"—moved to Hillcrest.

1984: The Hillcrest Business Association, a business improvement district, was formed.

1985: The Hillcrest Business Association hosted the first CityFest, an annual street festival which features food, live entertainment, a beer garden and street vendors

1994: A new Vermont Street pedestrian bridge was completed. The span, featuring public art, cost $1.2 million.

2001: Mercy Gardens—formerly the Sisters of Mercy Convent, which housed nuns from 1926-1990—was remodeled for use by the HIV-positive community .

2007: On August 2, yearlong centennial events were held, including a 100th birthday cake served to the public on August 2 and a champagne gala at The Prado's Grand Ballroom in October.

2007: The Hillcrest Town Council was formed to give residents a voice.

2012: The city approved plans for a large, privately funded rainbow “Pride” flag at the corner of University Avenue and Normal Street. The city also approved a change in a street name from Blaine Avenue to Harvey Milk Street.

2020: In January, a rainbow crosswalk was unveiled at the intersection of Normal and University.

Hillcrest Today

Today, Hillcrest is a community shared by all people; old and young, diverse races, singles, families and couples, gay or straight. The neighborhood of Hillcrest is built on inclusiveness, safety, diversity, respect, and communal self-improvement. The gay community has revitalized this area in central San Diego and this vitality has spread to the surrounding areas of University Heights, Mission Hills, Normal Heights, and North Park, all of whom are beginning to take their own community awareness to new levels. Forged from fire, the gay and lesbian community of San Diego has emerged ever-strong. Despite prejudice, persecution, and misunderstanding, the gay and lesbian community has rallied, united, and given back.  To the betterment of all San Diego, a once isolated group of people has established a mutually-beneficial and supportive relationship with a once economically downtrodden neighborhood, to promote pride in the community and pride in oneself.

This 5:34 minute video will give you a more recent depiction of some of the many attractions and activities that the Hillcrest community has to offer today.

Works Cited: