By Christy Scannell
SDUN Senior Editor
The American economy has been in a downturn the last few years, but there has been little evidence of it on flourishing Adams Avenue. From January 2008 until July 2010, 68 businesses opened in the 600-member business improvement district, which stretches from Park Boulevard in University Heights to the eastern edge of Kensington. Additionally, 25 existing business owners reinvested in their operations, adding or enhancing their space.
Jim Schneider, executive director of the Adams Avenue Business Association, is proud of his members’ accomplishments.
“While big (national) companies were going down, these small business stood tall and made it work,” he said. “These businesses stepped up and paid their own way. That’s proof that small businesses are the backbone of the American economy.”
Even more notable is the Normal Heights (Where? See below.) portion of the district, which has seen an influx of savvy businesses filling sleepy storefronts. Blind Lady Ale House brought craft beer and Neapolitan pizza, while Viva Pops stuck to gourmet popsicles and Visual Art Supply became the area’s first art store. Even a national chain—Subway—staked its claim on a Normal Heights corner. The street’s vacancy rate is “virtually zero,” Schneider said.
“We’re not as ‘sexy’ as the beach area,” he said, “and we don’t cater to visitors but we’re servicing the community. That’s the biggest change I’ve seen—people who live here and work elsewhere who now can’t wait to get back here and bring their friends.”
It wasn’t always that way.
“Normal Heights has been kind of like the red-headed stepchild of Kensington and University Heights,” said Jeff Motch, one of four owners at Blind Lady Ale House, affectionately known as BLAH among patrons. “It was like an armpit in between the two. People hadn’t cared about it for a long time,” he said.
Before opening BLAH, Motch often rode his bike from his Talmadge home to his graphic design office in University Heights. He said it was those journeys traversing Adams Avenue that convinced him of the neighborhood’s potential.
“It (his ride) was like Kensington, then nothing and then University Heights. I just couldn’t understand why there wasn’t more stuff happening,” he said. “So I went home and told my wife (BLAH co-owner Clea Hantman), ‘Wouldn’t it be great to do something there?’”
Motch found a willing partner in Lee Chase, who knew all about beer from years at Stone Brewery, and his wife, Jenniffer, who had restaurant experience. The Chases, who live in Normal Heights, were eager to open a business within biking distance from their home. When bakery/café A La Francaise decided to close up shop at Adams and 34th Street, the four business partners moved in, serving up their first pint just six weeks after signing their lease.
“They just ‘get it’ in terms of marketing and advertising—it’s almost innate to them. They had a following before they opened,” he said. “But even more than that, they brought real camaraderie among the other businesses. Some of the other businesses woke up and said, ‘Let’s do what they’re doing’ in terms of marketing.”
Perhaps no one is more excited about that new perspective than Mike Magers, owner of Smitty’s Service, a third-generation auto repair shop his grandfather opened at Adams and Hawley Boulevard in 1945. Magers was a member of the business association’s board for 18 years and president for six, and while he said the area made a lot of strides over the years, it was always a challenge to enact positive change.
“We always had a bit of a battle between two different consciences,” he said. “You’d have some who wanted to make improvements but then they’d be held back by the three or four who wanted to ride out their remaining years. It was hard on the neighborhood and eventually took a toll.”
Magers, who has lived on Hawley since 1985, said Normal Heights has also been plagued with an identity problem.
“When it’s something good like a festival we’re ‘North Park’ and when it’s something like a bust on a crack house on Orange Avenue (in City Heights) they call it ‘Normal Heights.’ We can’t buy a break,” he said.
An officer-involved shooting in front of Smitty’s in May is a good example of that, Magers said.
“As soon as I saw the news media approaching, I got a feeling of dread,” he said. “I actually started doing damage control, walking from news person to news person to ask them not to mention ‘Normal Heights’ too much. There are too many great things going on here and people finding us attractive for that (bad publicity) to start all over again.”
Michelle Ryan and her husband, Robert, know all about Normal Heights’ ups and downs. Both were born and raised in the neighborhood and have continued to live there as they’ve raised their family. This fall they will open RoMi’s Soft Serve Heaven at 3331 Adams.
“Normal Heights has always gotten a bad rap for some reason,” Michelle Ryan said. “But we’re hoping to change that.”
Explaining she knows “we don’t live in a rich neighborhood,” Ryan said she purposefully avoided the common pay-by-weight pricing for her soft-serve, instead choosing a flat-fee rate for each cup size. She also found a supplier who makes soft-serve from seven natural ingredients with 32 calories per half-cup.
“We just wanted to give back something cool to our neighbors and friends,” she said about launching the shop.
Offering products and services geared toward the particular interests and needs of Normal Heights residents—rather than San Diego at large—has been a focus of many of the neighborhood’s new businesses. Marvin Attiq, owner of Barber Side, moved a few doors down to larger quarters at 3506 Adams in March. Previously a private club, Barber Side opened to the public shortly before moving.
“There was no place to get a good, authentic barber shop experience around here. They needed this,” said Attiq, who also owns Classics Malt Shop in the Midway District and property in Kensington. “I’d always loved this neighborhood—people who walk by, the diversity.”
When several businesses around Barber Side closed last year, it looked as though that area between 35th Street and Wilson Avenue might become blighted (“I was afraid it was going to be a cancer on Adams,” Schneider said) but within 60 days all the spaces were filled. Beauty Side took over Attiq’s former space, joining Visual Art Supply, Stuff Furniture Consignment Shop, the Andrea Rushing Academy of Art and Furry Friends Pet Grooming.
“It is kind of a synergy,” said Jason Gould, owner of Visual Art Supply, about the businesses around his. “People can come to one store and recognize others are open. One of the challenges is getting people down here so the more reasons they have to meander down the avenue, the better.”
Kimberly Rockefeller, who opened The Rockefeller Center for Anti-Aging at 3938 Adams in June, has a similar attitude toward competition. Although Adams Avenue has no shortage of salons, she wasn’t hesitant to add her day spa to the mix.
“I think it makes the area even more attractive; it gives it that ‘this is where you come to have your services done’ vibe,” she said.
A skincare and massage specialist, Rockefeller formerly worked from a chiropractor’s office in a Kearny Mesa industrial park. But visits to her fiancé Gary John’s bar, Air Conditioned Lounge on 30th Street just south of Adams, convinced her she wanted to open her own shop in the area.
“I love the quaintness of the neighborhood and I really liked the business association,” she said. “It’s exciting when you see real things happening in a community and you can be part of it and affect what goes on there.”
The Adams Avenue calendar includes two major music festivals per year—the Roots Fest on Adams in April and the Adams Avenue Street Fair in September (Sept. 25 and 26 this year)—plus the annual Taste of Adams Avenue and Art Around Adams, both in June. A weekly Wednesday farmers market behind Adams Elementary began in May, and a charter school will open this fall.
“Adams Avenue is really starting to evolve to be something different,” said Scott Harring, owner of Stuff, an antique and furniture consignment store.
The former Bay Area resident said he placed his business in Normal Heights because it reminds him of Berkeley.
“People are really hungry for unusual things to buy, see and do,” he said about neighborhood residents.
And that’s what makes Normal Heights an ideal place to open up shop, Schneider said.
“When you are able to see there is a need and bring your business to fill what you think that need is, you are going to be successful,” he said. “This is a close-knit community where the businesses and residents all know each other. That makes all the difference.”
Where is Normal Heights?
The location of Normal Heights is often a source of confusion due to changing boundaries over the years and a 92116 ZIP code that extends west out of the neighborhood. However, the City of San Diego’s definition of Normal Heights—which public safety organizations and the media also use—is I-805 on the west, the canyon over I-8 on the north, I-15 on the east and El Cajon Boulevard on the south.
How did Normal Heights get its name?
Although it is sometimes known as “Abnormal Heights” for the quirky characters who are attracted to the neighborhood, the “Normal” in Normal Heights has nothing do it with conformity. Normal Heights was so-named because of its proximity to the former State Normal School, now the San Diego Unified School District administrative offices at 4100 Normal St. The State Normal School eventually moved and became San Diego State University.
Jeff Motch of Blind Lady Ale House provided his top businesses before and after his restaurant opened.
Best Things on Adams Pre-BLAH:
1. Mariposa Homemade Ice Cream
2. Adams Avenue Bicycles
3. The Rare Hare Studio
4. Blue Boheme (for steak)/Kensington Grill (for a burger)
5. The Ould Sod
6. The Ken Cinema (would have been No. 1 in the early ’90s)
Best New Places on Adams Post-BLAH opening:
1. Viva Pops
2. Visual Art Supply
3. Barber Side
4. Kensington Pediatric Dentistry (opening soon)
5. Pinto Thai
6. Anyplace that doesn’t sell weed
