Sometimes I think we no\nlonger see older people and this is significant to me as I find myself\ncareening more and more toward that age of invisibility. I always remember the\nold adage \u2018if only we knew then what we know now\u2019.  It could not be anymore true.  And I am sure I was also guilty of young\narrogance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I arrived in San Diego in\n1979 in my 1969 Cutlass 442 that I had bought for $300 from someone who worked\nfor my Dad. I am sure I got a deal but it was kinda beat up, it was drab olive\ngreen with light green vinyl seats and the roof was peeling. It was very loud\nbut hey it got me to SD with my 2 boxes and 1 American Tourister red suitcase\nand matching overnight bag that I got for high school graduation from my\nparents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And no fear of anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Diego in 1979 was a\ndifferent time not only because a person could work A Job, I will repeat that,\nA JOB, any job and still have enough to support themselves.  A SRO (Single room Occupancy) was not high\nflying, in fact it was seedy and low class to most but I had fun. It was called\nthe Gordon and was at 1334 7^{th Ave<\/sup>, near 7th<\/sup> and Ash and\njust down from the Hotel Cortez which had just closed the year before. The Cortez\nhad a Travolator that was a moving flat escalator that carried guests to the\nHoliday Inn across the street. Once the hotel closed bums often slept on the\nTravolator. I thought that hotel, even shuttered was the coolest building I had\never seen and I dreamed about living there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n}

Broadway was full of Sailors\non leave, tattoo parlors and bars and pawn shops and not much else after\ndark.  There was no redeveloped Gas Lamp Quarter\nand no one went much past Broadway after dark, certainly not past Market and we\nnever ventured to Island. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seaport Village opened in\n1980 and it seemed way far out there, in the middle of nothing\u2014no convention\ncenter or towering hotels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I lived at the Gordon,\n(and I would give anything to see a photo, but I remember it had this cool\ngreen subway tile on the outside).  I\nthink it was about 3 floors with maybe 36 rooms, so it was rather small\ncompared to the St. James or Plaza, Hotel San Diego or Churchill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 We had a TV in the lobby and we all knew each\nother from meeting in this tiny area. I don\u2019t really remember actually watching\nmuch TV but I do remember the plane crash at Chicago O\u2019Hare in May of 1979.  It was the most horrific thing most of us had\nknown and we gathered around that old black and white TV set, united in our shock\nand grief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mainly, we sat in this little\nlobby if we were waiting on a phone call or just wanting to meet people.  Just behind the little seating area with the TV\nwas a genuine phone booth where whoever answered yelled out the names if they\nknew you or took a message and tacked it up on the wall if they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gordon has been torn down\nnow and nothing sits on the lot which is pretty sad and also amazing\nconsidering how there are very few vacant places left in downtown San Diego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I worked for Manpower Temp Agency which was\njust across the street, most people did this when first arriving in the city\nwithout a job lined up. Manpower was always a sure thing if you could just type\n40 words per minute and show some basic clerical aptitude. I believe they had\nanother side for assembly line\/factory work but I only did clerical.  I worked at Solar and General Dynamics which\nwere the big employers. I was offered a full time job at both and I am sure it\nwould have been a good blue collar job but I had a newly minted college degree\nand wanted a job in human services which of course takes time to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the people who lived\nat the Gordon were young and newly arrived like me but there were about 10\nolder guys who were Vietnam Vets and even a Korean Vet. They were down on their\nluck, victims mostly of divorce and PTSD but they had a disability check which\nallowed them to live decently, modestly but they were OK. They often seemed to\ngo to family things on weekends and brought us back lots of leftover food,\notherwise I only remember eating peanut butter with jelly from the jar or\npotted meat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I made friends with a woman about my age who\nwas from Canada and in the same boat as me. She got a job at a sandwich shop\ndown the hill and sometimes brought us sandwiches to share. Then there was the\nrich guy, also our age, I am not sure why he lived there and he wasn\u2019t really\nrich, just compared to us, but he drove a laundry truck, like fresh sheets and\ntowels for hotels and diapers and he made $400 a week. This was unheard of in\n1979 and he once took me on a date to the fanciest place, a French Restaurant and\nI thought I had died and gone to heaven. Having grown up in the Midwest I had\nnot been exposed to very many cultural dining experiences outside of Italian\nand German.  I took to all the new food\nintroductions like a duck to water. I honestly can\u2019t think of a food I did not\nlove. But during that timeframe, I especially loved FREE FOOD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We walked everywhere, up and\ndown all the hills, I rarely remember driving and in fact my car was a problem\nwith regards to parking. That is one downtown SD situation that is pretty much\nthe same from 1979 to 2019. No free parking and if you find some you must move\nit every three days so as not to get chalked then towed. It often would not\nstart because I drove it so little and one day I was at Ocean Beach with a\nfriend and I had on some Daisy Dukes. I don\u2019t think they called them that yet\nbut they were cut off jeans with pockets hanging down. I had my keys in the\npocket and who knew a wave could be strong enough to turn me upside down and\nsteal my keys!?! I had to pay $10 for my room key and that was the day I\ndecided I had had it with that nuisance of a car so I sold it for $350 to a\nNavy guy who was dating my sandwich shop friend. In my 22 year old mind I did\nwell because I made $50.  What I would\nnot give today to have that car!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Gordon, I lived\nwith a few different friends in forgettable apartments for a few months at a\ntime. The coolest was on Brant Street just off of I-5 in Banker\u2019s Hill and only\na handful of apartments in a U-shape owned by Angie, one of the first female\ncops in San Diego. It had been her and her husband\u2019s home and when he died she said\nher therapy was tearing it apart and having it made into several apartments. We\ncould see the Rueben E. Lee, an iconic steamboat restaurant, from our deck and inbound\nplanes came over so close that sometimes jet fuel dripped off. From our deck we\ncould also see the boats floating in the harbor and and it was then that I\ndecided I must own one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Free anchorage was where poor\npeople had boats and they rowed in to shore. I think it is still here or\nsomething similar but I believe they have cleared out all the really\ncircumspect boats (bizarre old beloved klunkers to me) and it now seems\nregulated. But I have not been able to find out much information yet on the\ncurrent free anchorage situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1982, thru a friend of a\nfriend I found an old late 60\u2019s TollyCraft, 32 ft. that was pretty torn up on\nthe inside and had one engine maybe missing and one maybe fixable. I paid $350\ndown and $100 a month for $850 total.  I\ndecided to live on it and save money and so I spent 3 crazy fun months. By this\ntime, I worked as an Eligibility Technician for the San Diego County Social\nServices. I could row in and go to the County Administration building, take a\nshower and hop on the bus to work. Pretty simple and easy at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was this guy who had a\nhuge boat, like an old steel hulled, maybe retired tuna fishing boat, probably\n50 ft and it was black and scary looking, his name was Shooter and it was\npainted on his boat. Another guy had a trimaran and they both helped me scrape\nbarnacles and work on my boat. Mostly we blew off the work and went sailing on\nthe trimaran down to Baja. We took Marlboro and M and M\u2019s candy and traded for\nlobster at Puerto Nuevo before it became overrun with tourists.  Good times!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then my sister graduated\ncollege back at University of Arkansas. \nShe had her newly minted Architecture Degree and wanted to come live\nwith me and make it in San Diego. Well, she was my baby sister and I always\nfelt like I had to take care of her even when she didn\u2019t need it, so I gave up\nthe boat life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sister, Laurie, did\nbecome a very successful architect here in San Diego and in the way that I find\nlife strange by things twisting and turning and yet always coming back around,\nI now go by the same Country Administration building that I showered in and see\nthe outside, Waterfront Park, a 17 acre Civic Park, that was my sister\u2019s\nproject. I see kids playing in the beautiful fountains and find myself really\nmoved to know that my sister created this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same sister who I am sure\nbecame an architect because back in our little hometown in the 1960\u2019s, where\nhorses and the woods and Indian lore were our life, I had been in love with\nLittle Kiddle dolls and my favorite was Sissy Sailboat. Laurie and I would\nbuild a dam in the creek then blow it up so that Sissy could go faster in her\nlittle boat. As all kids do, we kept trying to make the dam better and the\nexplosion bigger, Laurie would lie in bed and design them to blow up the next\nday. A star is born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later I moved to Golden Hill\nand it was considered truly seedy even then but I loved it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved the Turf Club\nbeginning in 1985. I found out since moving back that it is now considered a\ntrue Hipster joint and so I visited. The grill in the middle of room was the\nsame and the steaks were the same and they still have black and white TV but\nthat is all part of the act now. The lights are brighter, the drinks are fancy\nand at $10 a pop there are no shots in the dark and cheap bills. No dirty\ncurtain to part as you enter, now they have a real bouncer, probably for the\npeople who complain about the price of watered down drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the best surprises I\ngot was to see my corner mom-and-pop store still there– Jaroco\u2019s but then I\nwent in and now it is mostly a liquor store with high priced convenience store\nitems. Sigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 My old place there, a Victorian on A street\nthat was converted into a duplex, cost me $600 a month that I split with a\nroommate in order to afford.  I found out\nit now rents for $3000 a month. But it looks mostly the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first real job (I mean\nobtained with a college degree) was down at the San Diego County Welfare Office\nin Logan Heights, at 25^{th<\/sup> and Imperial in an old Safeway building. I\ndrove by there and it is now a new fire station. I would say quite an\nimprovement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n}

By 1989 we had the SD Trolley,\nbut it only went to Popular Market on 12^{th<\/sup> Street. The Gas Lamp was humming\nalong and Horton Plaza had opened in 1985. By this time, I was working on Beech\nStreet and we walked down there often at lunchtime. It was such a radical departure\nfor mall architecture and people loved  it,\nthe crazy levels and outdoor concept.  Before\nHorton Plaza there was a small park fronting Broadway called Horton Plaza Park and\nthat is where almost all the homeless of San Diego hung out, it was about the\nsize of a football field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n}

I left San Diego in 1989 but\nbecause my sister and family still lived here, I visited and still kept up with\nthe development although nothing like being immersed in it as I am now.  The homeless population has exploded, my\nconservative guess would be 10 times. \nGaslamp was 1^{st<\/sup> to 6th<\/sup> south of Broadway and\ndowntown ended the east to west part at 12th<\/sup> (also called Park\nBlvd.)  Now the streets 7th<\/sup>\n-12th<\/sup> are called East Village which really is just like Gas Lamp\nonly less touristy and as of very recently they have added the next 4 blocks to\n16th<\/sup> and call it Maker\u2019s Quarter.  All very trendy with the restaurants, brew\npubs and the like and the reverse migration is something to behold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n}

The further east you go the\nmore homeless you must walk thru in order to get anywhere at night. Gone are\nthe days that a person could have A JOB and support themselves. I mean an\nAverage Jane or Joe, I won\u2019t even go into homeless Vets who return having\nserved their country and are unable to work and become homeless, that is a\nseparate blog post or book would be more fitting and decent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At any rate, now I live in\nEast Village with all my trendy little fellow Idea 1 dwellers and I look out at\nmy spectacular view and see the sign for the Hotel Cortez or Hotel St. James or\nChurchill, all swanky and redone and I remember who lived there back in 1979 that\nI knew and I remember that they paid even less than my $35 a week because they\nwere on the wrong side of Broadway afterall.  Always a caste system! I once had a sociology professor\nwho loved to pontificate on this, he called it Social Stratification and being\nfrom the Midwest we all knew rodeos, he spent one entire class lecturing us\nabout how even a rodeo had a caste system. It somehow revolved around people\nwho paid simple entry fees to ride a bull vs. people who owned and trailered\ntheir animals and lots more, pretty silly it seemed at the time but cool beans\nto this hipster now and 40 years later I see it everywhere and in everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I look back at my younger\nlife in San Diego, I was a Social Worker and I guess I would be called lower\nmiddle class or working class, I know that I was 1-2 paychecks away from dire\nstraights and we all talked about this even then. It seems to be a popular\ntalking point now but it was then too. Nevertheless, we could afford what we\nneeded and going out to eat or drinks sometimes (if we didn\u2019t have kids, then\nyou probably needed two incomes for sure). But in 1989 B street was kind of a\ncool street with lots of great restaurants and just like Hillcrest the sidewalk\ncafes were always full of people with disposable income and fun on their minds\ninstead of bills. Now I see so much money in new buildings here in East Village,\nbut I do not see the restaurants as crowded as I think they should be by correlation.\nI hear a lot of talk about people barely making it and on the local news,\nChannel 10 they even have a daily segment called \u201cMaking it in SD\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, San Diego is\ntruly the finest city in the US but the cost of living here is prohibitive to\nso many. I see the stress and toll it takes in restaurants that fail, in the\nroad rage, in our numbness to the homeless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet people seem to be\nwilling to do almost anything to call San Diego home and that brings me a smile\nbecause in that respect nothing has changed from 1979.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I think we no longer see older people and this is significant to me as I find myself careening more and more toward that age of invisibility. I always remember the old adage \u2018if only we knew then what we know now\u2019.  It could not be anymore true.  And I am sure I was … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.globalgrl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.globalgrl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.globalgrl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.globalgrl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.globalgrl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.globalgrl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145,"href":"http:\/\/www.globalgrl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions\/145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.globalgrl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.globalgrl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.globalgrl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}