Tag: el cajon

A look outside Historic El Cajon Hall.

The last time I walked in El Cajon, I passed this two-story clapboard building at 169 E. Main Street. It’s the home of the restaurant Mezzah Mediterranean Tapas and More.

An intriguing plaque is mounted by the front door…

Historic El Cajon Hall

~1894~

This building has also served as – newspaper office, a bank, telephone company, a lodge, Farmers Institute and a meat market.

Purchased by the Weinstock family and served as an appliance and radio store. 1932

Purchased and restored by Ross Nicholson 2002

Perhaps someone out there is knowledgeable about this building’s history.

I did a bit of internet searching and couldn’t find much. This page states: “…some research shows that the town marshal may have worked from the Weinstock Building since it was the only building in El Cajon at the time that had a working telephone. The building still stands at Prescott and Main.“

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Prescott Avenue once ran beside this building, before being converted into downtown El Cajon’s park-like Prescott Promenade.

This page has an incomplete paragraph that begins: “The oldest building still standing is located at 169 E. Main Street. Until the early 1900’s it housed the Home Telephone Company, the Cuyamaca Bank and the El Cajon News …”

Unfortunately, when the “Read More” link is clicked, the corresponding document seems to be no longer available.

Who out there knows more about this historic building? Leave a comment!

UPDATE!

Informative comments have come in! Scroll down to read them!

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

A little more street art in El Cajon!

Here’s a little more street art that I photographed during my last walk in El Cajon.

The red, white and blue flag horses are painted on an electrical box on Lexington Avenue, by Heartland Fire & Rescue Station 6.

The Chief Joseph box can be found a few steps to the east, between the fire station and the El Cajon Branch Library.

Both works of street art are faded, so I suppose they’ve been there for quite a while.

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

More discoveries in El Cajon’s Arts Alley!

During my walk in El Cajon today, I wandered into the Arts Alley to see what I might see. I last checked out the Arts Alley a couple years ago. I posted those photos and a brief description of the alley here.

What I found today were more cats!

I don’t know whether the frame full of kittens mounted up on a building wall was there last time–I don’t recall seeing it. The painted tree blossoms are definitely new. But I think I might’ve missed the thrill-seeking cat on a motorcycle during my last visit.

It seems with every walk, curious eyes discover new things!

UPDATE!

I saw these butterfly wings in late 2022…

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Unarius Academy of Science students reenact past lives!

A fascinating display in one window of the Unarius Academy of Science in El Cajon shows students engaging in psychodrama, reenacting past-life experiences.

I walked past the Unarius Academy of Science today. It’s located in downtown El Cajon. You might have seen their flying saucer car or the space murals by their parking lot.

According to an educational sign in the window, beginning in the late 1970’s, students were filmed during their elaborate psychodramas to help them recognize and overcome past-life shocks and traumas.

A different display filled this particular window the last time I peered through it, a little over a year ago.

I can’t say I know anyone who has studied here, but no doubt the coursework is just a bit unusual!

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Two dummies caught climbing electrical poles!

Two dummies in El Cajon were caught climbing electrical power line poles today.

Caught by my camera, that is!

They were a pair of real dummies, because, well, they were in fact real dummies!

I was walking along West Main Street past the SDG&E Construction and Operations facility when the corner of my eye was taken by surprise. Through a gap in the surrounding fence, this is what I saw…

During today’s walk in El Cajon I captured more surprising and amusing photographs. The next blog post might really make you laugh.

Stay tuned!

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

A walk around El Cajon’s Knox House Museum.

A few weeks ago, during my adventure in El Cajon, I walked around the Knox House Museum, which was closed at the time. I took a number of photographs of the historic structure, and the gazebo in small, grassy Judson Park to the north.

The Knox House Museum is operated by the El Cajon Historical Society. The building is a restoration of Amaziah Lord Knox’s original two-story, seven room El Cajon Hotel, which was built in 1876 near the present day corner of Main Street and Magnolia Avenue. The building also served as the Knox residence. In later years the hotel was altered in various ways and greatly enlarged. In 1972 the City of El Cajon purchased the original building and moved it to its present location, at the corner of Magnolia and Park Avenue.

To learn much, much more about the old hotel, the present day museum, and the history of El Cajon, which began in earnest with the discovery of gold in Julian in 1870, visit the El Cajon Historical Society’s website here! Among other things, you’ll learn why the Knox House Museum is painted in such unusual colors!

I spotted this old gazebo in Judson Park, across Park Avenue…

The plaque on the gazebo includes: In 1875 the bustling commerce of ore wagons, stage coaches and other traffic of the times passed this spot on route to and from San Diego and the gold mines of Julian. This land was later granted to the City of El Cajon by the C.S. Judson family…The gazebo was constructed by the El Cajon Historical Society…Dedicated July 26, 1992…This rose garden was presented to the people of El Cajon by the East County Rose Society…Dedicated November 2002…

…

This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!

Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts.  If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!

To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

Old photos on AT&T building in El Cajon.

I saw these during my recent walk through El Cajon.

Decorating the AT&T building at the corner of Main Street and Lincoln Avenue are various historical photographs on tiles. The old photos show telephone company personnel at work or out in the community.

One photograph shows Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co. employees or dignitaries on a parade float. That was the name of the Pacific Bell Telephone Company, now owned by AT&T, between the 1910’s and 1984.

I assume these photographs were taken around San Diego, but I don’t know. The one taken of a worker with his truck out in sagebrush covered hills does seem to show a Southern California landscape. The exact same photo can be found on an AT&T building in nearby La Mesa. You can see that here.

Do you know anything about these photos? If you do, please leave a comment!

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Map of the Interplanetary Confederation in El Cajon!

Perhaps you remember a past blog post where I shared photos of a UFO mural outside the Unarius Academy of Science in El Cajon. Or another post that included a photo of a large flying saucer on the roof of an unusual automobile that I spotted in Coronado.

Well, during my weekend walk through El Cajon, I paused outside the Unarius New World Teaching Center to read various displays in their windows.

The first thing that caught my attention was their Map of the Interplanetary Confederation, with its 33 planets that form a spiraling vortex emanating from a spiritual sun. And how in 1973 Uriel contacted the leaders of these planets, learning of their Master Plan.

Another display concerned the lost civilization of Atlantis, and the coming arrival of the Space Brothers, advanced scientists who will teach humankind interdimensional physics.

Fascinating, to say the least!

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Superhero team guards entrance to El Cajon!

For many years, a mighty team of superheroes has stood guard at the entrance to El Cajon. As I walked past the motley, costumed group on Saturday, I noticed they were fending off a variety of dangerous supervillains and otherworldly menaces!

I immediately recognized some of the universe’s most powerful heroes. I saw Thor, Spider-Man, Hellboy, Yoda, Batman, Superman, Hulk and Wolverine. Together they were engaged in an epic battle against evil on the wall of Comics-N-Stuff, on El Cajon Boulevard!

A clerk at the comic book store told me this huge, fun mural was painted about 14 years ago by a local artist. It has really faded in El Cajon’s sunshine over time, so I’ve increased the contrast of various photographs.

Will Doc Ock and Venom get past Spidey and invade the city of El Cajon? I doubt it!

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!

Tributes to Jimmie Johnson in El Cajon.

As many car racing fans know, seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson grew up in El Cajon, in San Diego’s East County.

Born in El Cajon, Jimmie Johnson began to race motorcycles when he was only four years old, and he won his first racing championship four years later. He attended Crest Elementary School, then Granite Hills High School. After he graduated, he competed in off-road motocross racing, with an extraordinary degree of success. To read a good bio of Jimmie, who in his youth also loved dirt biking in the desert during family camping trips and surfing, check out this website.

As one might expect, tributes to the now legendary Jimmie Johnson can be found around the city of El Cajon.

During my walk yesterday, I photographed a sign in the median of 2nd Street, a short distance south of Interstate 8. The sign was placed here in 2014. 2nd Street is playfully renamed Jimmie Johnson Drive – Home of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion.

The above photograph shows the sign’s north side. The following two photos are of the opposite side. The sign on its south side is lighter in color, probably due to fading from years of direct sunlight.

Banners celebrating Jimmie Johnson can also be found near the El Cajon Civic Center. In each banner, a cool graphic shows him standing next to his No. 48 Chevrolet, racing during his NASCAR career with Hendrick Motorsports.

The following photos show a banner on the north side of Main Street near The Magnolia performing arts theater. I noticed an identical banner hangs in the nearby Prescott Promenade park.

Starting this year, Jimmie Johnson is competing in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 48 Honda over road and street courses for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Will the El Cajon native also excel at open-wheel racing? I wouldn’t be surprised!

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!