Julian Then & Now: Revisiting 1980s series on San Diego neighborhoods
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News 8 covers the story of Julian and how it is today. We visit places from 1987 – and of course we check out the famous Julian Apple Pie.
JULIAN, California – The Golden Chariot Mine is part of Julian’s rich history. It is still there, but is no longer in operation. The precious metal veins played out decades ago. On a remote hill in the Laguna Mountains, only traces of gold remain in the ground.
Ron LaBorde is a retired biomedical engineer and inventor; as well as a partner in the Golden Chariot Mine. He took CBS 8 on a four-wheel drive, e-ticket ride over extremely bumpy roads and past locked gates to give a tour of his current hobby, mining and geoscience.
“This is the powder house where we would store dynamite and the like,” said LaBorde.
Other buildings house giant machines that now stand still and rust, have become virtual antiques.
LaBorde pointed to a couple of them. “How do you get this in here without a road?
He went through the mining process: “They took the ore away, they crushed it, and then they ground it.”
At a short distance, the shaft was precisely staged and excavated next to colored, mineralized quartz. There was pride in LaBorde’s voice as he looked down at the shaft.
“Right at the top of that; that’s reddish quartz and that’s what they researched, that’s where they looked, and it’s called Golden Chariot Vein. There’s gold … ore.”
The vein had to be profitable to be successful; Miners took out tons of ore to find their treasure. By 1875, 15 to 30 men worked in the Golden Chariot Mine; the reported yield was 40,000 ounces of gold. The current value would be over $ 70 million.
However, this vein was exhausted and abandoned.
The gold rush began in 1870, but the area had been inhabited a few years earlier. Among the prospectors were five Confederate soldiers, veterans of the Civil War. The city of Julian was named after one of them.
Back then it was the Wild West. It’s a goal now. Julian thrives; with a constant parade of visitors and new home buyers.
Kamisha Green is the owner of FHL Realty.
“You come here to get out of town to create a backyard lifestyle,” she said.
It’s affordable for many, especially on the outskirts of the city.
“You can get a house from about $ 300,000 to about $ 600,000 in these neighborhoods,” Green said.
Denise Kilgore said the atmosphere in the community was one reason she bought a house in Julian.
“Not much has changed; don’t allow much change and I appreciate that,” she said. “That’s why I moved here from San Diego.”
A New York tourist liked the warmth she found. Barbara Kitay volunteered, “It’s a great, quaint little place that takes you back in time.”
Robin Boland works for the Julian Chamber of Commerce.
“Not much is changing in downtown Julian; still family business; not corporations,” she said.
And of course there is the apple pie.
Noah Davidson-Mendiola and a few friends drove up from South Bay. “We came from National City to get some cake from Julian,” he said. When asked if it was good, he replied, “It’s delicious.”
Jim Famulare was on vacation from Massachusetts. “In my opinion the charm lies in the town itself, and if you’ve ever had their apple pie it’s awesome,” he said. “And the people, the story.”
Boland thinks that’s a plus.
“You can look at the city and it looks the same; it feels the same; there are just a few new places and new things to discover,” she said.
The resident of Wynola, Bud Segni, is not that enthusiastic about it.
“Everything is more commercial now than it used to be,” he said.
His time here goes back to 1941.
Now there are craft beer, wineries, and tasting rooms.
“Not just apple pie – there’s a lot on it,” said Green.
So take a stroll on the Julian sidewalks; enjoy the ambience. And be sure to try the cake.
Looking to Julian’s future, Boland showed us where the Heritage Foundation has a vision for a prime downtown corner; an inviting little park.
“Some trees and benches and a small seating area for musical entertainment.”
They hope to be able to complete Julian Town Square Park in the next few years.
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 were 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 to talk 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 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 JULIAN
RELATED: Yellow Pickup Truck in Julian Parked in the Same Spot 25 Years Later
MORE THEN & NOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries
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