It seems like every year the beginning of April starts a flurry of activity in the community that really makes for a fun few months.  This year really is no exception.  We just had Indiefest for music lovers, and schools, community groups, and businesses seem to have a lot more in store in the coming months.

There are many successful realtors in North Park, but none more visually prominent than my friend and neighbor, Mary McTernan.  You can't miss her distinctive pink cars, pink bus stop bench ads, pink open house signs, and sometimes the occasional pink billboard.  As a result of all this eye-grabbing marketing, my niece & nephew (6 year old Aylish & 8 year old Quinn) have invented the "I SEE MARY" game.  They asked me to share it here so that others can partake in the fun.  This activity has given them countless hours of entertainment around North Park.

Here's how it works:  Any person in the group, at any time, can start the game.  When they see Mary, they call out "I see Mary"...and game is on.  From that point on, each player gets 5 points per "sighting".  A 5 point sighting includes open house signs, bus stops, cars, etc. (Open house signs are fun because they show up in unexpected places.)  Once a player has called a sighting, no other player can get points from it.  The first player to hit 100 points wins the game.  (You'd be surprised how easily one can get to 100 points around here.)  The real prize, though, is seeing a real live Mary...in the flesh.  If you see the real Mary, you automatically win the game.  If you see her partner, Zee, you get 50 points!  (No offense, Zee, but it is the I See Mary game.)  If you see Mary while she's walking her dogs...well, you win the game and you get the satisfaction of seeing her cute little dogs.

If you have questions about more details of the "I See Mary" game, let me know and I'll ask Quinn & Aylish for clarification.  They're sticklers for the rules...when they can agree on them, that is.

Happy hunting.  And by the way...this game is fun for us grown ups, too.

Like many North Parkans, I've been looking forward to the new Fresh & Easy coming to the corner of 32nd & University. According to the banner on University, it will open sometime this summer. Since I don’t know much about the company (except that it’s a subsidiary of a British company; the UK-based retailer Tesco, the worlds 3^rd largest retailer) I wanted to learn a little more.

On February 9, 2006, Tesco announced that it planned to move into the US by opening a chain of small format grocery stores on the West Coast; Arizona, California, and Nevada…named Fresh & Easy.

I went to their website. Here are some of the things I read there which I liked:

We haven't been to the Linkery in a while, but with all the recent sausage-making in the San Diego Union Tribune about their controversial mandatory 18% tipping policy, we have to confess to a sudden hankering for some delicious hometown wieners.

In case you haven't heard the news, a couple of weeks ago the owner Jay Porter was dogged by reports that he might be headed to jail for maintaining such a policy, a ridiculous idea brought about by the assistant city attorney, only to have the case dropped the next day.

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.