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News 8 covers the history of Golden Hill and how it is today. We visit the Big Kitchen Cafe and historic houses from 1987.
SAN DIEGO – Golden Hill is one of the most historic neighborhoods in San Diego. The community is south of Balboa Park and north of Highway 94. Some call it South Park – but folks who have been here long enough know the area by its original name for its breathtaking sunset views.
The Big Kitchen Café is a staple in the Golden Hill community. “Judy the Beauty”, as she is affectionately known, has been the heart of the diner for over 40 years. She was also featured in News 8’s story about Golden Hill in 1987, and stole the show back then as it did in 2021.
The Big Kitchen is known for its personable staff – where no one is a stranger – and its delicious food. Judy the Beauty said Big Kitchen Café does not sell alcohol, a major economic contributor to most restaurants, and continues to thrive. Judy recalls what catapulted the cozy diner into mainstream San Diego culture.
“We had [CBS 8 reporter] Larry Himmel had breakfast here for years and one day he decided to include us on his TV show, “she said.
“The most talented people lived here because the rent was low. We had the opera, we had the symphony, we all had artists,” added Judy The Beauty, which actress Whoopi Goldberg used to wash at the Big Kitchen Café for years before her big breakthrough.
If, like Judy the Beauty, you are embedded in the heart of the community, you must have a story to tell and Judy is happy to offer the trip back in time.
“Golden Hill was the first suburb of downtown San Diego. The houses were from the turn of the last century and the early 20th century. We have the most beautiful architecture in the whole city, ”she said.
The facade of the Big Kitchen hasn’t changed much in over 30 years
But over the years, the community evolved and eventually faced gentrification, which it sees as a double-edged sword.
“80% of the people who lived in this neighborhood were below the poverty line. Any housing that was affordable for people below the poverty line was no longer affordable,” said Judy. “I’m very proud of what this community is and who lives in this community, but I often wonder where the rest of the people are who used to live here.”
Not long after speaking with Judy, the News 8 crew found a couple who admitted they are now between where to call home because they bought the Golden Hill house they rented , could no longer afford. For the time being, they will stay in the area until they have found a new living situation or can save enough money to move again.
Judy said when the city reinvested in Golden Hill, too many Golden Hill residents who did not own homes were left behind. She said the first Golden Hill Community Development Corporation was started in the Big Kitchen Cafe in hours. She recalls serving on the board, planning trees across the community, and even running an after-school program for a number of years.
This Victorian house on Broadway is much more colorful in 2021 and the tree in the yard is still standing – just fuller and bigger.
Judy said when they originally applied for community support grants to the newly formed CDC, their approval was based on the current residents below the poverty line, and after improvements those residents could no longer afford to live in Golden Hill.
“I really enjoy the people who live here now, but something is very wrong with a process that allows you to get grants that don’t really benefit the people who were the reason you got the grants in the first place could.” She said.
Vince grew up in San Diego and now helps maintain Bark Out Loud Pet Grooming in Golden Hill. The business has been in the neighborhood for four years.
“South Park, Downtown, this whole neighborhood comes to this barber shop,” he said.
Vince said Golden Hill took a turn for the worse in the 1990s, but adds, “Things change over time.”
A little further down 25th Street, Brennan Whitty of Dark Horse Coffee Roasters agrees.
“I keep meeting people from all over the country and they love this place. Bring your dog, bring your kids, you’re welcome,” he said.
The cars outside the Fern Street laundromat look a little different these days – as do gasoline prices.
Donald Riordan has lived in Golden Hill for decades and said he remembered the Golden Hill mass exodus when crime rates skyrocketed in the 1990s. He remembers what a relative said about the area.
“‘I’m not going to stay here unless you’ve put bars and doors on the windows,'” he said. “But when the stadium came the neighborhood changed. Now it’s a very eclectic neighborhood and I just love it. It’s made up of all kinds of people and I just love them.”
Trudi Erickson has worked at the Golden Hill Café at the intersection of 25th and C for 31 years. She said she was a history buff and shares what she knows about where Golden Hill got its name from.
“When the sailing ships arrived, the sailors saw the sun shine on the hill and it looked like gold,” she said.
She remembered the time when she first started working at Golden Hill and the area struggled as a community.
“There used to be a lot of drug addicts and prostitution and the houses were cheap and then it suddenly got really nice,” said Erickson.
Some areas of Golden Hill look largely the same as they did in the mid-1980s.
Now that Golden Hill is seeing a city reinvestment and community revitalization, there is a debate over the name of the community. Some call it South Park – because it’s south of Balboa Park – while others still call it Golden Hill. Donald Riordan welcomes the name change, while Kara, who is also a long-time resident of Golden Hill, said, “I sure have some friends who say, ‘No. It’s Golden Hill ‘. ”
Kara said she saw the transformation of Golden Hill firsthand but never doubted the heart of the community.
“I’ve never felt unwelcome or more insecure than any other neighborhood in San Diego,” she said.
Judy the Beautiful said that the heart of Golden Hill has always been the people of Golden Hill and offers this advice in her signature welcoming manner:
“If you nurture the talents and idiosyncrasies of each ethnic group, the community will be whole and happy,” she said. “If you don’t, you are deep in doo-doo. And you’d better hire a Big Kitchen to come and fix things! “
CELEBRATE THE SAN DIEGO SERIES
Celebrate San Diego was a 1986/1987 series about neighborhoods in San Diego County. CBS 8 anchor reporter Connie Healy and a team of photographers roamed the county providing detailed profiles of several cities and towns in the area. They were history lessons focused on change and progress.
Many of the longtime residents she spoke to thought about what it was like to grow up in their city and what they thought of all the changes they had seen. You really get a feel for what the character and personality of the community was like in each profile – and how diverse the county really is.
Thirty-five years later, we’re sending out a team of reporters to see how things have changed or stayed the same in each of the nearly 20 neighborhoods we studied in the mid-1980s.
Connie shares her memories of working on this fantastic series below:
“I love talking to people. People make the news, not news anchors. They simply tell how we live our lives. In the 1980s, Celebrate San Diego did just that. It painted a picture of everyday life very different from what we live in today and a city many of us would not even recognize.
Talking to people, listening to their stories is what reporters do every day. But these stories about life in San Diego 50 to 100 years ago were amazing. This city has come a long way in the past 30 years, but some of the people in these stories saw change at the speed of light. I encourage you to take some time to peek into our past, indulge in the present, and celebrate the wonderful city we all call home. “
MORE THROWBACKS FROM GOLDEN HILL / SOUTH PARK
RELATED: San Diego Homes 1979: Affordable Housing Series
MORE THEN & NOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries
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