The other day as I was coming up Waring Road from I-8 I had a sudden rush of recall, the memory of the first time we came to this community.
We were frustrated with apartment living and had been looking for a house for almost two years, but our search had not brought us to or through Allied Gardens. On this day our realtor told us about some possibilities in the area, so here we were.
Our first look was the shopping center. Within walking distance from most residences and only a short drive from the rest, it had a variety of goods and services that made frequent trips out of the area unlikely. The composition of the stores has changed over the past 54 years, but only to adapt to the changing needs and tastes of our neighbors.
With that first look behind us we began working the open houses.
As we drove from block to block and visited house after house we learned how special these residences are.
Built in the late 1950s and early 1960s there were at least five different building styles with varying orientations that, even before all the changes the owners made, avoided the drab sameness of so many subdivisions that preceded and followed. This subdivision was the first to use copper plumbing. It was the last to build the houses on foundations rather than on concrete slabs. It was the last to have interiors walls made with lath and plaster rather than with dry wall. And the last to complete the houses with high quality oak flooring. They are solid buildings made to last, structures ready for the additions and modifications we have made over the years.
The housing development provided for two elementary schools, a middle school, a library, an expansive park that nestled next to the extensive grounds of the middle school, provision for a swimming pool, and open space in the canyons. By the time we moved in the folks in the community had already raised many churches. More than 60 years after the first house was sold we still have those amenities. The really good things in life, and in Allied Gardens, don’t change.
We quickly got to know our neighbors. Most were original buyers and many were working in the aircraft industry, then the pride of San Diego. Warm, caring, and welcoming folks, folks to whom we turned and who turned to us in times of need.
After we were settled in on this cul-de-sac street of 18 houses we counted 42 children, not counting those who had already grown up and left the street. Our daughter made it 43 and our son, born a month after we moved in, was number 44. We used to talk about curb-to-curb children. They were safe to play in the street and to stay out after the street lights came on. When it came to hide and seek or kick the can, every bush and back yard was fair territory. This is how it was throughout Allied Gardens.
Allied Gardens is well over 60 but really hasn’t changed that much from what it was. There are a few first-time buyers still holding on, sometimes as occupants and sometimes as lessors. There are many who grew up here, moved on, and then returned. There are so very many new young families who, like us back then, are getting started.
But for all it is the same, and for all we want it to be the same, there are troubling winds a-blowing.
We are confronted with significant changes in our zoning laws and building codes, changes that will allow increased density by way of ADUs and min-dorms. There is always the possibility of development of the shopping center into affordable housing. Not yet, but if the time comes we hope that all of us will care enough to stand up to be counted, to be heard, and to act.
– Shain Haug is president AGGCC.
