South Park

Golden Hill

On the crest of a hill above the city, Golden Hill has a wonderful view northwest to Point Loma and the harbor and southeast to the mountains. These magnificent views are what inspired Daniel Schuyler to compose the poem which in turn gave Golden Hill its name:

As the sun rolls down and is lost to sight,

Tinting the scene with its golden light,

The islands dim and the fading shore,

The ebbing tide through our harbor door,

The drooping sails of an anchoring fleet,

The shadowy city at our feet,

With the mountains’ proud peaks so lofty and still,

‘Tis a picture worth seeing, from Golden Hill.

Daniel Schuyler and his partner Erastus Bartlett suggested the name, “Golden Hill,” when they, along with a group of real estate developers, presented to the Trustees of the City of San Diego in 1887 a petition to christen this new community “Golden Hill.” The oldest land transaction recorded for the area is the purchase, by H. M.Higgins, of the north half of Pueblo Lot 1149 from the City of San Diego in 1872. The H. M. Higgins Addition, as it was called, was bounded by 25th and 28th Streets, from Broadway to A Street. The south half of Pueblo Lot 1149 was sold off to various other developers in the 1870’s and 1890’s, and in 1895 the Golden Hill Addition, as it was called, owned by the Golden Hill Land and Building Company, filed a subdivision map covering the area between 24th and 25th Streets, from A to E Streets. During the 1880’s and 1890’s San Diego’s rich and powerful, and its politically active citizens built their mansions, some of which still survive today.

Brooklyn School

Brooklyn School Building ca. 1925

Brooklyn's Woodworking class ca 1915

Firestation Number 9 - in 1922

South Park got its own fire station in 1912. Located at 2111 30th Street, Fire Station No. 9 supported eight men and one Seagrave-Auto fire truck. This truck had a 40 gallon capacity, with both water and chemical hoses, measuring 1,200 and 200 feet respecitively. Captain G. E. Courser led the crew at No. 9 and continued his career in the Fire Department, holding the position of San Diego City Fire Department Chief from 1947 to 1960. Within South Park there were three fire alarm call boxes, at Cedar and Grove, A and 31st, and Beech and 29th. In addition South Park had twelve hydrants.

Golden Hill Dirigible

An aviation experimenter by the name of C.H. Toliver had floated a bond issue and built in a canyon near Twenty-Eight and B Streets a dirigible, 250 feet long and 40 feet in diameter and with four gasoline engines and six propellers, which he proposed to inflate with hydrogen gas and take off with forty passengers on a flight that would astound the world. He never succeeded in inducing it to rise and the city, fearing the gas might explode, declared it a public nuisance. Later, Toliver and his wife were shot to death by Toliver's secretary. Gold in the Sun - Richard Pourade(San Diego) Evening Tribune, November 10, 1911, 3:2-3. Poor quality of gas prevents flight of big Toliver airship.

Golden Hill Park

Along the western edge of the South Park Addition at the southeastern corner of Balboa Park was Golden Hill Park. First planted and maintained by the residents of the Golden Hill neighborhood in 1888-1890. It was the "greenest, most admired are of City Park". The park was improved again in 1901-1902, when an Italian gardner, hired by Golden Hill resident Mathias Heller, planted and tended eucalyptus, palms and roses. Post cards and newspaper notes about the park can be seen here.

South Park Addition

Rob, Lois, Jean, Mama, Aunt Julia & Carl Garetson

This photo shows Brokaw and Lowell in 1936.

Architects

Irving Gill designed all three Peter M. Price houses on Granada Avenue.

Richard Requa worked in the office of Irving J. Gill from 1907 until 1912 as an on-site Project Supervisor.

Developers

E. Bartlett Webster Oscar W Cotton Ed Fletcher

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