By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO, Calif.—A large American flag waves above a much smaller Zion Avenue
street sign, symbolic perhaps of how Jewish influences can be found within
the greater, heterogeneous American landscape. Along Zion Avenue's 1.2 mile, west-east course,
one will encounter a major hospital, four churches, four small shopping
centers, an elementary school, a public library and numerous single-story
residences, many of them built in the 1950s.
As you head east, about midway up the avenue, you pass from the Grantville
community of San Diego into the Allied Gardens community. Both communities
were named by land developers who wanted to appeal to war veterans hungry to
purchase their own homes.
Grantville
Grantville,
named for Union General Ulysses S. Grant, was developed in the 1880s with the idea of attracting
Civil War veterans to one of San Diego's historic areas—Grantville being
in the vicinity of Mission San Diego, which stood as a solitary outpost through
the last quarter of the 18th century and the first two-thirds of the 19th
century.
Grant, who became the 18th president of the United States in 1869, was an icon to Civil War
veterans. His son, Ulysses S. Grant Jr., also was a well-known civic figure in
San Diego, to which he relocated in 1890s.. One of
the city's best-known hotels downtown is the U.S. Grant Hotel, developed by the
son.
If you start at its western end, Zion Avenue begins at the intersection with
Riverdale Street—the name being a reference to the nearby San Diego River,
which follows an occasionally meandering course from the Cuyamaca Mountains in
the eastern portion of San Diego County to the Pacific Ocean. When the Spanish
settled San Diego in 1769, they built their first mission above the river, but moved it
farther upstream five years later. Today Mission San Diego with its
signature bell tower is one of San Diego's best known landmarks. Numerous
streets and places in San Diego have mission-influenced names, among them the
San Diego Padres professional baseball team, Friars Road, Padre Dam and
Mission Gorge Regional Park
Less than one-tenth of a mile from the street's western terminus is Zion's
commercial intersection with Mission Gorge Road, a major north and south street that
connects with San Diego's Interstate Highway 8. There are businesses on
all four corners of this intersection, with a Kentucky Fried Chicken now
occupying a former gasoline station lot on the northeast corner, and dozens of other businesses arrayed among
three shopping centers covering the other corners.
One
of the businesses in the shopping center on the northwest corner is Mr. Chick,
whose owner, Amir Benami, was raised in Holon, Israel. He decided to take a
traditional "see-the- world" trip after his military service in
Israel. Because he had relatives in San Diego, he decided to vacation here, and,
he says cheerfully, "I'm still on vacation the last 15
years!"
His uncle. Rami Vana, owner of the Chicken Nest restaurants in San Diego,
taught him the family business. The Mr. Chick on Zion Avenue is Benami's
second restaurant. He continues to operate another Mr. Chick in San Diego's Kearny
Mesa neighborhood, where there are a variety of electronics companies. In
fact, says Benami, quite a few of his customers live near the Grantville
location but commute to Kearny Mesa, so he had a built-in customer base.
Benami says he also attracts many of the health-conscious
medical professionals of the Kaiser-Permanente Hospital and Medical Center which is just a
short distance east on Zion Avenue. He says that whereas the minimum requirement for
cooking chicken healthfully is at temperatures above 165 degrees,
"we cook them at 500 degrees."
I asked the Israeli about the coincidence of his business being along "Zion
Avenue," and he said the location is not far from the home he shares with
his American-born wife, September, and 3-year-old son, Dominic Jacob. When
the location became available, after housing a Thai restaurant, he decided to
grab it.
Across
Zion Avenue at the southwest corner of the intersection is a shopping center
anchored by Petco, a store that caters to the needs of dogs and cats and other
pets. Among a number of eating establishments, including a Greek
restaurant, a brewery, and a Rubio's—credited as the chain that pioneered
San Diego's famous fish tacos—is an Einstein Brothers Bagels store, where
assistant manager Linda Fossen smilingly agrees that you don't have to be Jewish
to love bagels.
In my youth, bagel choices were limited to "plain" and
"egg," but Fossen told me that more than 20 varieties of bagels are
served by Einstein Brothers, which has more than 400 outlets across the country
and 17 in San Diego County. The most popular with her customers, she said,
is the "Everything" variety, meaning it has "all the different
seeds, sesame, poppy, garlic, onion and salt." Are you more a
traditionalist? Fossen says another popular item is an old Jewish
favorite:
bagels with cream cheese and lox, garnished with tomatoes, onions and capers.
The intersection with Mission Gorge is quite busy, with Zion Avenue having
dedicated left turn lanes in each direction to help speed the traffic. The
shopping center across Mission Gorge, on the southeast side of the intersection, is anchored by Vons
Market, which keeps numerous varieties of kosher products on
its shelves—as does Albertsons Market, a competitor, located one-mile farther
east on Zion Avenue in a shopping center at the Waring Road intersection.
Before
leaving the businesses surrounding the Zion Avenue-Mission Gorge intersection, you
might take notice that some of their advertising is quite
eye-catching. Next to Mr. Chick, for example, is Manhattan Pizza
which features a large stand-up sign of the Statue of Liberty. But
that's no torch in her hand. Obviously in a spirit of cooperation, La Mirage Hair
Salon boasts a large American flag in its window. And, the European and
American Car Center across Mission Gorge has a Volkswagen that is a good reminder to drive carefully
through the busy intersection. It is perched on the company's roof!
Looming behind the Vons shopping center at the southeastern corner is the
Kaiser-Permanente Hospital and Medical Center. I have jokingly called my
son, David,
and grandson Shor "Zionists" because they were born in this hospital,
26 years apart.
The
hospital maintains an "apothecary garden" with plants that are
healthful for you, and a "sinister garden" with plants that are
toxic All of them grow in the San Diego County area.. If you knew nothing
but their common names, where would you assign the following four species—
Angels Trumpet, Jerusalem Cherry, Bird of Paradise and Deadly Nightshade?
Notwithstanding its name, the Deadly Nightshade (Atropha Belladonna) is
valued both as an anti-spasmodic and as a pupil dilator. On the other hand,
Angels Trumpet, Jerusalem Cherry (a ground cover) and the leaves and berries of
a Bird of Paradise are all toxic.
On the other hand, as beautiful as its name sounds, the Jerusalem cherry plant
contains solanine, which can ulcerate one's gastro-intestinal system, and cause
seizures, depression, respiratory problems and shock.
Sylvia Wallace, Kaiser-Permanente's manager of media relations, said the garden
was planted about 20 years ago as a community service project. She said It
features plants that grow in the San Diego County.
Across
from the Kaiser-Permanente Hospital is the Grace Assembly Church, one of four
Christian-oriented institutions you will find as you drive east on Zion Avenue
at lawful speeds of 30 miles per hour except in the school zone, where you must
slow down to 25 miles per hour. The street is on San Diego Transit's Bus
Route 13, which carries eastbound passengers to San Diego State University and
La Mesa, and westbound passengers to the San Diego Trolley station at Euclid
Avenue in southeastern San Diego.
Allied Gardens
The Grace Assembly Church is still within the Grantville neighborhood, while
the other three Christian institutions—Zion Avenue Baptist Church;
Ascension Lutheran Church; and Genesis, A New Beginning are in the Allied
Gardens area.
Many people knowing that Grantville was named for General
Grant think that Allied Gardens was named for the Allied powers, who fought the
Axis powers in World War II. However, that is just a suburban legend.
In actuality, Allied Gardens was named for the company that built it, Allied
Contractors. According to Leland Frazer, author of San Diego County
Place Names A to Z, partners Louis L. Kelton and Walter Bollenbacher
developed the area in the 1950s after purchasing 1,000 acres of the nearby
Waring Estate, owned by the family whose name is given to Waring Road.
Allied Contractors offered 13 different styles of single family homes.
Throughout the area, one mainly sees California bungalows, as these tract ranch
houses are called,
Proceeding east on Zion Avenue, one passes a playground on the south side of the
street. This is part of Stephen Foster Elementary School which fronts on
51st Street. The school was named for America's most popular composer of
songs in the 19th century. Even today, most Americans can hum—even if they
mangle the lyrics—such songs as "Oh, Susannah"; "Old Folks at
Home" (Also known as "Swanee River"); "Jeanie With the Light
Brown Hair" and "Beautiful Dreamer."
There's
plenty more Americana in the Edwin A. Benjamin branch of the San Diego Public
Library, which is named for a local Jewish philanthropist who donated $500,000
to assure others could share his love for books. Linda Moskovics, the branch
librarian, estimates that there are 60,000 items in the 6,900-square-foot
facility. A member of the Jewish community, Moskovics says the Judaica
collection isn't as good as that in the neighboring San Carlos branch library
from which she was promoted two years ago. But she says there are good
resources on Jewish holidays, and anything else that someone might need can be
quickly obtained from other libraries via an inter-branch loan. She is
building up the Benjamin branch's collections of juvenile literature and DVDs..
A
very short distance east of the library is the intersection of Zion Avenue
with Waring Road. Here a traffic triangle was dedicated in 2005 as one of the
civic beautification projects of City Councilman Jim Madaffer, who represents
the area
Flowers are planted within the triangle. There is a large, old-style, standing
clock, and a welcome to Allied Gardens is carved in granite.
Across
the intersection with Waring Road is yet another shopping center, this one
anchored by Albertson's and by Blockbuster Video.
Once one passes that shopping center on the southeastern corner of the
intersection, one enters a residential neighborhood which extends another
one-tenth of a mile before Zion terminates at Eldridge Street. Testifying
to the American feel of the 1950's era neighborhood is the fact that on the
portion of Eldridge Street facing Zion, there is a house with an American flag
fittingly displayed for all driving up the street to see.
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