{"id":246405,"date":"2013-08-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-02T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/appreciating-the-past-present-future\/"},"modified":"2013-08-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-02T07:00:00","slug":"appreciating-the-past-present-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/appreciating-the-past-present-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Appreciating the past, present & future"},"content":{"rendered":"

University Heights celebrates 125th anniversary with a variety of planned festivities<\/p>\n

Por Dave Fidlin | Reportero SDUN<\/p>\n

In its earliest days, it was an area known for a 20-acre botanical garden, burgeoning housing stock, a new streetcar line, a teacher training college and, of course, ostriches.<\/p>\n

University Heights has roots going back to 1888, and a celebratory 125th gala is planned Aug. 10 to pay homage to the neighborhood\u2019s rich, vibrant history, as well as the progress that has taken place in the past 125 years.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A historical image of University Heights shows the Normal School in the distance, in a view from Mission Cliff Park. (Courtesy Paul Farris)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Considered one of San Diego\u2019s oldest neighborhoods, University Heights\u2019 beginnings are traced back to a decision by the College Hill Land Association to subdivide land that bordered City Park in an effort to develop the University of Southern California College of Fine Arts, a project that eventually was stalled because of a recession at the time.<\/p>\n

Members of the University Heights Community Association (UHCA) have been vigorously researching the neighborhood\u2019s deep past in recent months as planning for the upcoming celebration picked up steam.<\/p>\n

The UHCA is holding its celebration at the historic Trolley Barn Park. A variety of special events are planned, including lawn games, a scavenger hunt, tours and live music. Visitors will also have an opportunity to view a replica trolley from 1935.<\/p>\n

Several dignitaries, including Council President Todd Gloria, will be on hand to pay tribute to the important chapter in University Heights\u2019 history.<\/p>\n

The milestone 125th celebration might not have happened if Carol Neidenberg, vice-president of the UHCA, had not received historical designation for her home a few years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was looking through some papers when that occurred,\u201d said Neidenberg, who became a resident of University Heights about the time of the neighborhood\u2019s centennial celebration, 25 years ago. \u201cI found a document with information on the subdivision of land in 1888, and as I did the math, I realized we were approaching our 125th anniversary. I thought to myself, \u2018Gee, this is probably important.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Information gleaned by Neidenberg and other UHCA members showed parcels of land within University Heights were sold at modest prices \u2013 in accordance with the times \u2013 and a portion of sales were to have gone toward a college-building fund.<\/p>\n

Although plans for the USC College of Fine Arts campus were put off by the recession, proceeds eventually went toward the construction of the San Diego State Normal School, a teacher-training college, in 1897.<\/p>\n

Located near the intersections of Normal Street and Park and El Cajon boulevards, the 1910 Teachers Training Annex #1 is the sole building left from the Normal School, the \u201cforerunner to present day San Diego State University,\u201d Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) states.<\/p>\n

\"(Click<\/a>
The celebration’s schedule of events.(Click for full view, or download at the link listed below)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now owned by the San Diego Unified School District, the building served as the original Alice Birney Elementary School until 1951. A National Register site, it is currently used as storage for school records. It has been on SOHO\u2019s Most Endangered List of Historic Resources for two years.<\/p>\n

During the neighborhood\u2019s formative time, University Heights grew with the creation of the Mission Cliff botanical garden site and the 1904 relocation of the Harvey Bentley Ostrich Farm.<\/p>\n

With the raging success of the British period drama \u201cDownton Abbey,\u201d Neidenberg said she believes visitors will find the ostrich history particularly interesting since the bird\u2019s feathers were used to highlight fashion worn by women in that era.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people today don\u2019t know that ostrich feathers were made to make those fabulous hats,\u201d Neidenberg said.<\/p>\n

University Heights musician John Ciccolella is among the UHCA members involved in planning the 125th celebration. For more than a year, Ciccolella said he and other organizers have been gathering monthly to determine what festivities would be offered.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s going to be something there for everyone to enjoy,\u201d said Ciccolella, who will be among the musicians performing throughout the day. \u201cMusic and art will be an important part of what will be taking place that day, but history will as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neidenberg said all of the planning has been a labor of love and is designed to give residents, business owners and people who frequently visit the community an opportunity to appreciate University Heights\u2019 past, present and future.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the years, Hillcrest, North Park and Mission Hills had nibbled away at portions of University Heights,\u201d Neidenberg said. \u201cBut there\u2019s always been resilience in this community. It\u2019s still vibrant, and it\u2019s a place worth looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on the celebration, which takes place Aug. 10 from 9 a.m. \u2013 4 p.m. at Trolley Barn Park, visit uhsd.org<\/a>. For the complete event flyer, supplied by the UHCA, download this pdf<\/a> of the above image.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

University Heights celebrates 125th anniversary with a variety of planned festivities By Dave Fidlin | SDUN Reporter In its earliest days, it was an area known for a 20-acre botanical garden, burgeoning housing stock, a new streetcar line, a teacher training college and, of course, ostriches.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":246406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Appreciating the past, present & future","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}