This week I'm sharing some North Park trivia, historical and current, which came up in conversations with various friends and neighbors this week.



My neighbor is friendly with a woman who grew up in North Park and attended McKinley Elementary.   She remembers when there was an ampitheatre on the grounds; the area at the corner of Felton & Palm which is now a flat, open, grassy space.  Here's what I found on the school's website.  (http://new.sandi.net/schools/mckinley/About/Pages/default.aspx)Sounds like it was called the "Greek Bowl".  No mention of when it was demolished or filled-in.  I'm assuming it happened in the 60's or 70's when other things were demolished.  Wish it was still there.

The school was built in 1924-25 and opened for classes on February 2, 1925.  The original building was two stories and included thirteen classrooms, the administrative areas and one large room occupied by a branch of the public library. Four more classrooms were built in 1928.  During the early years of McKinley School the old cafeteria building and the Greek Bowl were added as part of the school facilities.  In 1945, the cafeteria, kitchen and auditorium complex plus two additional classrooms were built.  In 1955, McKinley received its first bungalow to help take care of the growing enrollment.  The number of bungalows grew to ten by 1972.  In 1966, the old cafeteria building was removed, and in March 1973, the original two-story building was demolished to make room for a new earthquake proof building.



According to one of my history buff friends, Boundary Street was, at one time, the San  Diego City limit; thus the name.  I haven't found much information about this on the internet yet.  Anyone know more about it?

On a more contemporary note, other neighbors told me about the NY Times article where North Park was written up in the New York Times as the place to live; http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/travel/06surfacing.html She also said 
Dwell Magazine's February Issue had a 3 page article on San Diego with photos of University Avenue and The Linkery.

There's more...but I'll save it for another time.

I've been living in North Park for about six years now.  Used to hang out here as a kid, though infrequently and always in the same house/front yard, but even then it was clear that I was in North Park.  My friend always described it as North Park and I never questioned it.  Granted, at 10 or 12 I don't think most kids really know what a neighborhood is all about, so I suppose I didn't know that much.

It has begun to feel a little like Spring now and then, which inspired me to share a few pictures taken this week in my garden.  Most of these plants are common in North Park yards.

We're relandscaping our frontyard; mostly with drought tolerant plants given to us by friends and neighbors.  So...I'm a bit "plant identification" obsessed these days.  Below are some of the things I've learned recently.

I'm sure you recognize the ubiquitous Angel Trumpet Tree below ('Brugmansia'); technically it's a "shrub", not a tree. Native to subtropical regions of South America.  It's part of the nightshade family, like tomato and potato plants.



Here's an Aenium Arborieum bloom; 'Atropurpureum' to be precise, I think.  It's native to the Canary Islands.



This is either Crassula 'Springtime' or Crassula 'Bride's Bouquet' (hard to tell the two apart p they're closely related - both are a C. rupestrus hybrid ).  The sweetish scent attracts flies.



This Flowering Maple ('Abutilon'; also commonly known as a Chinese Bellflower or a Chinese Lantern for the dangling flowers) is actually not a maple at all.  It's named for it's maple-shaped leaves. In Victorian times it was called a "Parlor Maple" because it was often grown indoors as a houseplant. It's a member of the hibiscus family and comes from South America.   This was in a pot and given to me by a neighor; it struggled after being transplanted into the ground, but is coming back now.



Here's one of our "pet" Scrub Jays; we have about 3 of them that come each day for peanuts in our yard.  (They usually forage in pairs, family groups, or small non-kin groups and store food, which explains why they take many peanuts a day; certainly more than they can eat in a day.)  This one is sitting in our peach tree which now loaded with buds.  Soon the branches will be covered in pretty pink flowers.



Below is an Aloe bud  - reminds me of asparagus - and it will bloom with red flowers.  This one isn't Aloe Vera, which has a yellow bloom. I'm not sure which Aloe this is.  There are so many!  Aloe is native to Africa. 


Below is another variety of the Angel Trumpet; white flowers instead of yellow.  (This variety has "double" flowers; a flower inside a flower.)  Here's something interesting I learned about this plant:  All parts of Brugmansia are highly toxic. In Peru and other South American countries, the plants are sometimes ingested for recreational or shamanic intoxication as the plant contains the tropane alkaloids scopolamine and atropine. However, because the potency of the toxic compounds in the plant is variable, the degree of intoxication is unpredictable and can be fatal.



And last but not least, pictured below is a Crown of Thorns.  It's native to Madagascar and a member of the large Euphorbia family (like Poinsettias).  Like most Euphorbias, it exudes a sticky white sap from any cut surface.  Additional trivia; The common names allude to the legend that the Euphorbia Milii worn by Christ at the time of his crucifixion was made from stems of this plant. Interestingly, the stems of this plant are pliable and can be intertwined into a circle. There exists substantial evidence that the species had been brought to the Middle East before the time of Christ.


Happy gardening!

Like any neighborhood worth its salt, North Park has its gritty side that gives it character, keeps it interesting, and reminds you to lock your doors at night. Who hasn’t seen that crazy angry guy walking down the street with the tennis racket, or that one neighbor whose residence is a junkyard maze like something out of Silence of the Lambs?

We missed out on Ray at Night last weekend, much as we might have liked to have been there, admittedly not so much for the art as to bare witness to the inevitable victory party on Ray Street celebrating an apparent triumph over North Park Nights, Ray at Night's former monthly art walk nemesis.

I just came back from a trip abroad and was pleasantly surprised at how clean the very metropolitan Sydney downtown area was.  The transit system was good, though a shot of friendliness would have done some of the drivers and ticket booth operators a world of good.  One thing that struck me, though.  It can be summed up with this photo:

Tonight I met my sister and a few of her friends for dinner at Ritual Tavern on 30th (editor's note:  it is at Polk and Mike and Staci--the owners--are really wonderful and supportive of the community).  Everything was yummy.  After dinner, our group made it's way around the block to the corner of Ohio & Lincoln where one of the women in our party had a flat tire.  We waited around for AAA.  It took awhile. 
While the 5 of us waited, we saw some amusing sights.  With La Boehme looming above us (looking quite pretty) and Our Savior's Church across the street, we watched a guy in an old white sedan go back and forth past us and thru the intersection numerous times...with a VERY flat tire.  He kept hobbling along on his tireless wheel.  It was very LOUD.   We couldn't figure out why he kept on driving...and what he might be trying to find that was so important.  He never did seem to find it. 
A homeless guy in a well equipped wheelchair adeptly wheeled by.  Then two friendly guys who looked like throw backs from "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" came out of the backyard next to us.  They sauntered down the street while other look-alikes repeatedly did the same.  Hmmmm.......

There’s no real point to this story except to say that I love North Park.  Here I was out in the 'hood fairly late at night and I never once felt unsafe.  And I was never bored.  North Park is nothing if not interesting.  What more could one want on a chilly Thursday evening while waiting for a tow truck with 5 women???  Beats the hell out of hanging in the 'burbs.

It's truly the little things in life.

A friend of mine once said to me; “Palm trees are the pinnacles of North Park.”  I loved how he said that.  They are, without question, one of the most integral parts of our landscape.  I can’t imagine North Park without them.  They’re regal and robust and diverse.  Besides being fun to look at, they provide all kinds of wonderful things, like habitat & food for local wildlife and soothing sounds when they blow in the breeze.  And they’re OLD; some are so old that they’ve been here much longer than any of us.  The one in my yard has been here for about 80 years.