Last Sunday, during my walk in City Heights, I admired the exteriors of two amazing buildings near the corner of 52nd Street and Rex Avenue, one block south of University Avenue.
As far as I understand it, both beautiful buildings are Buddhist temples, and together they are called Wat Sovannkiry, Cambodian Buddhist Society San Diego. The head monk of Wat Sovannkiry is Reverend Father Khian Prom Attaguto of Cambodia, Abbot of Wat Suwan Khiri, San Diego.
I’ve tried to ascertain more information concerning Wat Sovannkiry, but there is almost nothing online, and not all of what I read, including names and spelling, is consistent. I didn’t venture into either temple building because I didn’t want to intrude. But I did take photographs of the highly ornate exteriors.
Hidden San Diego has an article about Cambodian and Laotian temple Wat Sovannkiri which you can read here.
My first photographs are of the truly amazing building on the east side of 52nd Street…
The following photographs, also taken from the sidewalk, are of the second building, which is located just west of 52nd Street on Rex Avenue…
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These are wonderful. I lived in City Heights for 17 years — 86 – 2003. It was a fascinating neighborhood, one of the neighborhoods to which refugees and immigrants first lived when they arrived in San Diego because of all the social welfare programs and Section 8 housing. The refugees and immigrants came in waves. When we moved in, the group was Vietnamese, then Thai, Cambodian (H’mong, mostly) and then as time passed Eritrian, Somali and on and on and on.
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Because City Heights contains so much diversity, there is hope the community becomes more of a San Diego cultural center.
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I don’t know how people feel about it now, but when I lived there it was one of the high crime areas and lots of people were afraid to spend time there. But for me it was wonderful. It was a real neighborhood.
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It’s about the same today.
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I had friends who were afraid to park their cars in front of my house and have dinner. I kept telling them that the thieves were robbing THEIR neighborhoods not OURS 😉
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