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North Park is situated to the northeast of Balboa Park, bounded on the north by El Cajon Boulevard, on the south by a canyon extending eastward from the Balboa Park Golf Course, on the east by Interstate 805 and City Heights, and on the west by Florida Canyon and Hillcrest. (As a side note, the pre-Interstate 805 boundary of North Park was widely considered to be 35th Street, which is now part of City Heights)
The North Park sign can be seen above 30th Street and University Avenue, and this intersection is often considered to be the heart of the neighborhood.
North Park is composed of many subneighborhoods, including Burlingame, Altadena, and the Morley Field area (site of the proposed Dryden Historic District).
North Park is served by a business improvement district called North Park Main Street.
In recent years, North Park has faced gentrification and rapidly increasing housing prices.
In the summer of 1893, San Diego merchant Joseph Nash sold 40 acres of land northeast of Balboa Park to James Monroe Hartley, who wished to develop a lemon grove. The Hartley family began the arduous process of clearing the land to prepare the earth for the grove, but providing the fledgling trees with proper irrigation was always a problem. Barrels of water had to be hauled from downtown San Diego up a wagon trail that would eventually be called Pershing Drive.
As the growth of San Diego eventually caught up with the original Hartley lemon grove, it eventually became roughly bordered by Ray Street to the west, 32nd Street to the east, University Avenue to the north and Dwight Street to the south. Hartley deemed his acreage "Hartley's North Park" - and years later, the name evidently stuck as the City of San Diego referred to the new suburb as "North Park."
In 1911, Hartley's eldest son, Jack, and a relative (brother-in-law William Jay Stevens) developed the plot into one of San Diego's first residential and commercial districts. After first establishing "Stevens & Hartley", North Park's first real estate firm, in 1905, Jack and William built North Park's first "high rise" commercial building, the Stevens building, on the northwest corner of 30th Street and University Avenue (today's "Western Dental" building) in 1912. "Thirtieth & University" became North Park's symbolic place name - and within 10 years, this became the heart of the community.
Although North Park is a neighborhood of mixed architectural styles from many eras, one area of note is the Morley Field area of North Park. Named for its proximity to Balboa Park's Morley Field Sports Complex, this area is lined with turn-of-the-century Craftsman Bungalows and California Bungalows. Because many of the homes were designed by renowned designer and builder David Owen Dryden, the area is the site of a proposed "Dryden Historic District." This historical district includes the homes along 28th and Pershing Streets, both bordered on the south by Upas Street and to the north by Landis Street.
As evidenced above, interest in the history of North Park (especially its architecture) appears to be growing. Helping to foster this interest and awareness is the North Park History Committee, a local volunteer civic organization. (The North Park History Committee is part of the North Park Community Association, or NPCA). The North Park History Committee manages a website at NorthParkHistory.org which contains many articles about historic sites, people and events; North Park walking tour guides; and information about committee projects and meeting information. Some of the site's extensive collection of articles on North Park's history were written by Donald Covington - historian, Dryden Expert and North Park enthusiast.
Ray Street, a small street containing a number of art galleries, hosts "Ray Street at Night" on the second Saturday evening of each month. Most of the galleries provide free wine, cheese and music. In addition, Ray Street regularly features dance or music recitals in one of the businesses along this street.
Nearby, the North Park Theatre reopened after major renovations in 2005. It is now the home of Lyric Opera San Diego, which has its own website.
North Park has a farmers market every Thursday evening on North Park Way. (The farmers market is currently closed and will resume on April 2007)
As a tradition every December, North Park holds its annual holiday parade. Formerly known as the North Park Toyland Parade, it is now called the North Park Lions Club Holiday Parade.
An eclectic array of restaurants, as well as independent coffee shops, can be found along the main arteries of 30th Street and University Avenue. The area is also dotted with bars and night clubs that cater to a wide diversity of patrons.
Like other urban mesa neighborhoods north of Balboa Park, North Park has a high rate of pedestrian activity, relative to the rest of San Diego.
North Park is one of the most diverse communities in San Diego. Ethnically, it has sizeable populations of Latinos, Caucasians, African-Americans and Asians. Included in the mix are large numbers of LGBT individuals. Businesses and residential neighborhoods alike reflect this diversity.
North Park is served by California State Route 805, which is accessible from the University Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard exits.
University Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard are the major east-west thoroughfares in North Park. University Avenue leads west to Hillcrest and east to City Heights and La Mesa. El Cajon Boulevard leads west to Washington Avenue and Mission Hills and continues east to the city of El Cajon. Florida Street connects North Park to Downtown San Diego through Florida Canyon in Balboa Park to the south, and to Adams Avenue and University Heights to the north. 30th Street connects North Park to Adams Avenue and Normal Heights to the north, and to South Park and Golden Hill to the south. Texas Street heads north directly into Mission Valley.
There is ample bus service connecting to Downtown as well as to the transportation hub in Old Town, San Diego. North Park has the busiest bus line corridor in the city, known as the University Avenue transit corridor.
North Park was the site of California's worst aviation accident to date when, on September 25, 1978, PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727-214 jetliner, crashed near the intersection of Dwight and Nile streets after colliding in midair with a Cessna 172 aircraft. The disaster killed 144 persons, including all 135 passengers and crew members on board the PSA jet, both occupants of the Cessna, and 7 persons on the ground in North Park. Nine other people on the ground were injured and 22 homes in the neighborhood were destroyed or damaged.
References:
External links
-
North Park History Committee (NPCA subcommittee)
-
San Diego Lyric Opera (North Park Theater's resident Performing Arts group)
- Unofficial neighborhood web site
- 92104.org
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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