December 2024

Holiday Wreath Making with the SeaWeeders

There were smiles all around when the SeaWeeders teamed with the La Colonia Community Foundation and Boys and Girls Clubs of Northwest San Diego to co-host a Kids Christmas Workshop Craft Day. View member Mark Meenie’s fun photos here.

New Murals Enliven the Solana Beach Post Office

The Society has commissioned local artist and muralist extraordinaire Kevin Anderson to paint a series of iconic Solana Beach scenes on interior walls of our Solana Beach Post office.

Kevin grew up on Glenmont Drive in Solana Beach and attended San Dieguito Academy. He took art classes there and remembers a couple of teachers, Miss Hanafin and Miss Delise, who started his training in art.

After high school, he attended Palomar College, where artist and instructor Everett Peck encouraged him to transfer to Long Beach State University because they had a good art department. Kevin and fellow artist and friend Mike Cassidy commuted to Long Beach on Mondays and returned on Fridays, sleeping in his camper in campus parking lots. “But I got a four-year degree there and that’s where I started painting,” he recalled in an interview for our “Old Timers” series.

Kevin began to specialize in — sometimes massive — murals and he has painted large interior and exterior walls all over the county. His works include a colossal 72-foot-long, 270-degree mural in a pedestrian tunnel in the Civita community in Mission Valley. In 2020, he painted the four large murals on exterior walls of the Gateway Business Center building at the corner of Lomas Santa Fe and Interstate Highway 5. His work also graces walls in in the Encinitas library, on buildings in his home of Cardiff and further north in Manhattan Beach. A recent commission took him to Hilo on Kona island in Hawaii. Learn more about Kevin and his opus at www.fineartbykevinanderson.com.

Kevin is an avid surfer — he used to stash his board and sleep overnight at Pillbox (the only way local surfers describe Fletcher Cove beach) to catch “dawn patrol” waves before school. So it’s no surprise that his works often feature beach and sea scenes — even mermaids.

After the post office was repainted, and an old 1980s-themed mural painted over, your Society Board of Directors begin thinking about how we might contribute to to bring the fresh blue walls to life. The idea of working with a Solana Beach native artist was enticing: we approached Kevin, and he agreed to take the job.

Thanks to our postal employees and Postmaster Richard Zamora for supporting this project — as they do our SeaWeeders’ work in the Post Office sculpture garden. Watch this page and your upcoming newsletters for updates on the mural project and plans to celebrate its completion!

If you would like to make a donation to help fund the Post Office Murals, please click here.

November 2024

Celebrating the Successes of Annual Holiday Boutiques

This season, we also celebrated the Boutique Leaders who have made the Boutique such a success over so many decades!

The annual tradition showcases the many talents of our crafters and is our biggest fund raiser of the year. The Boutique also is our primary fund-raiser for our scholarship program, which has awarded $45,000 to 27 college-bound students over the past 10 years. So when you purchased that one-of-a-kind, hand-made treasure for someone on your holiday gift list, you also helped a deserving local student achieve his or her educational dreams. Over the decades, the event has raised roughly $250,000 for the Society.

Phyllis Schwartzlose, Pam Dalton, and Lenore Dale have steered the Boutique in recent years — including the Covid-induced eCommerce era when, nevertheless, sales reached records. That’s why we will honor Pam, Lenore and Phyllis at our December 6 Holiday Luncheon, starting at 11:30 a.m. at Lomas Santa Fe Country Club.

October 2024

San Diego Sheriffs Celebrate 52 Graduates of the Solana Beach Academia del Alguicil (Sheriff’s Academy)

The La Colonia community came together on October 29 to honor North County Latinos who completed a six-week evening course designed to inform Spanish-first-speaking residents about San Diego County Sheriff’s Department services and employment opportunities. Our own Museum Curator Lisa Montes was among the graduates.

The Academy was initiated in 2019 by County Sheriff Kelly A. Martinez as an effort of outreach to recognize that as many of 40% of the citizens the department serves are Spanish speaking, said Community Inclusion Director Edith Sanchez Cruz. The Sheriff’s Spanish Academy is a multi-week program in partnership with the San Diego County Office of Education – Migrant Education program. It is designed to help provide equity in educating Spanish-speaking communities about law enforcement procedures and available resources in San Diego County. Academies are offered throughout the County; this was the first to be offered in Solana Beach, although participants came from as far as Fallbrook.
The program is delivered entirely in Spanish, with curriculum based on reoccurring themes and needs that the Sheriff’s Office sees and hears, and based on what deputies experience in the communities. Academy topics include:

• what to expect during a 911 call
• tips on reporting witnessed crime
• immigration laws
• what to expect at a traffic stop
• domestic violence
• drugs
• human trafficking
• hate crimes
• gangs
  

Eighty to 100 participants attended each Solana Beach session, according to Ms. Cruz. To graduate, participants were required to attend all six session held at La Colonia Community Center in September and October.

Each graduate was invited to pose for a photo with Sheriff Martinez and program leaders during the graduation ceremony — many were joined by their proud children.
Following was a group photo for all participants (graduates or not) and a career fair for those who might be interested in joining the Sheriff’s Department’s many divisions. (The crime scene investigation table drew a large crowd.) And to cap the evening, a Sheriffs department helicopter
made a landing in La Colonia Park. (Click here to view the Department’s video about the event on social media.)

And then, as is so often a La Colonia tradition, Academy participants prepared a huge potluck dinner to celebrate.

September 2024

Happy 100th Anniversary to Fletcher Cove!

It was standing-room-only at our September 12 celebration of the Centennial of our dear Fletcher Cove beach and park!

Representatives from four generations of the descendants of Col. Ed and Mary Fletcher joined Society members and visitors to enjoy cake and ice cream. Cathy Tyre, one of the couple’s great granddaughters, led a presentation about Ed Fletcher’s many contributions not only in developing Solana Beach but throughout San Diego County.

Solana Beach Lifeguards shared photos of their fellow lifeguards over the decades since the marine safety unit was founded. A representative from State Assembly Member Tasha Boerner’s office presented the City with a Certificate of Recognition in honor of the anniversary celebration.

Many visitors to Solana Beach are surprised to learn that Fletcher Cove Park and our recently expanded beach were man made in 1924. That year, Col. Ed Fletcher hired a steam shovel to take a scoop out of what had been a sheer bluff. Then he diverted water from the Hodges Dam spillway and hired a guy with a pressure hose to sluice away a 100-foot-tall, 400-foot wide section of sandstone. The process took three months. Fletcher called it “hydraulicking.”

The improved beach access point, including a stairway, was officially opened on July 4, 1924. Hundreds attended that opening party, which famously included horse races on the beach.

Learn more about Col. Ed Fletcher and his namesake Cove in our September newsletter.

June 2024

Meet our 2024 Scholarship Winners

With 13 applications this year, our scholarship award selection committee, led by Education Chair Pat Coad, really had their work cut out for them. Every applicant was worthy, so it was difficult to pare the field down to our three winners:

• Jasmin Benetiz
• Janidy Vergara
• Kaede Ward

We are thrilled to award each of these students $3,000 to help them pay for their college educations. In addition, your Society donated $1,000 to the Mexican American Educational Assistance Association, totaling $10,000 in scholarship funding to celebrate our 10th year of offering these awards. Learn more about each student below.

Jasmin Benetiz had to fight for the right to take advanced classes at Torrey Pines. “It started in second grade when I was tested for learning disabilities and provided an Individualized Education Plan (IEP),” she shared in her application essay. “I struggled to keep up with my classmates. What they could do in a limited time always took me longer.”
However, by middle school, she was earning mostly As and Bs and never used any of the accommodations provided in her IEP. As a freshman, she signed up for English Honors, but was blocked by her case manager. “I realized that if I wanted to take advanced classes, I had to prove. . . that I could handle them. I wanted the opportunity to challenge myself because I knew I could persevere.” Persevere she did, finally testing out of her IEP in her sophomore year, and going on to earn a 3.67 weighted GPA. “She has challenged herself by taking some of the most rigorous courses we offer,” noted Rosa Velazquez, a Torrey Pines math teacher and coordinator of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, which is designed to assist first-generation, low-income and other under-served students. Jasmin will be the first in her family to attend a four-year university.
“Overcoming the stereotype of a Latino student was one of my greatest accomplishments,” Jasmin told us. “It made me feel capable of achieving anything I set my mind to.” She has applied to four California State universities, UCSD, the University of San Diego and Hawaii Pacific University.

Janidy Vergara carries a 3.42 weighted GPA at San Dieguito Academy and has applied to Cal State University Fullerton and San Marcos, as well as Mount Saint Mary’s University and Mira Costa Community College.
Janidy credits her academic success in large part to Casa de Amistad. Since 2001, Casa has provided tutoring, mentoring and enrichment
support to underserved — often immigrant — families in North County. That’s why she gives back to the organization by volunteering as a mentor
and tutor to kindergarten and third grade students. “My parents immigrated to the United States, this beautiful country, so my brother and I can have opportunities they never had,” she told us. “Because I am bilingual, I am able to see the world from a different perspective . . . I can help families that come from similar backgrounds just like my own family.” Through her involvement with Casa, she was able to participate in Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Camp and the Model United Nations.
Janidy also has participated in The Changers organization since middle school. The teen group helps spread awareness about the negative effects of drugs, alcohol and tobacco — including vaping. She is an altar server at Saint Leo Catholic church, where she also participates in Youth Group Leadership.
Janidy’s dream is to achieve a Masters in Nursing after earning an undergraduate degree in biology. “This scholarship . . . would help me pay for my dreams,” she said. “To change the world one child at a time, one family at a time, and this results in a community being transformed for the better.”

Kaede Ward graduated from Sunset High School in Encinitas with a 3.84 Grade Point Average (GPA) and twice received Sunset Standout awards for academic excellence. He attended Torrey Pines High School in 2020 through 2022. Kaede has been accepted to the honors program at the University of Hawaii, but also has applied to the University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University.
An avid surfer, Kaede has served as Torrey Pines Surf Team Captain and earned two Cal State Games silver medals for surfing, as well as two Sneedside Memorial invitations — a local surfing honor. He has volunteered with Paddle for Peace and Project Moonlight, which provide surfing lessons to children with special needs and who face barriers to entry for the sport.
In addition to currently working nearly full time at Chipotle Del Mar, where he is in training for kitchen and store manager, Kaede volunteers on weekends for Solana Beach Backpacks for Kids, which distributes food to local families in need. He has also been recognized for outstanding participation as a volunteer with Coast Academy’s Best Buddies program, which pairs young adults with peers who have intellectual and/or physical disabilities. “Applying to volunteer felt like a natural transition after . . . working with Project Moonlight,” Kaede told us in answer to our application query:
“What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?”
He worked out a white-board communication strategy with Jake, who has autism and was easily overstimulated by conversation. And Kaede reported his “sheer delight” when Landon, a 22-year-old Buddy who had been confined to a wheelchair by cerebral palsy, stood and used a walker to receive his diploma.
“As I write this essay, I realize that maybe I’m answering a different question: What has your community done to make you a better person.”

May 2024

SeaWeeders Meet their Mulcher

The SeaWeeders achieved a long-sought dream of visiting the EDCO Anaerobic Digester facility in Escondido on May 23! Yes, we are mulch geeks. And that’s what the Digester does: it turns our green and organic — aka food — waste into rich “digestate” that EDCO sells to area farms and makes available to us each Fall on Bulky Waste Day as free mulch for home and public gardens.

We got our hands dirty sampling, fresh-from-the-Digester, still- steamy mulch, which becomes a finer compost as it further breaks down due to –well — digestion by millions of microorganisms that “eat” food waste, green waste, fats, oils and greases. When this happens in landfills the process releases methane gas, which contributes to atmospheric warming and climate change.

“Anaerobic digestion” (AD) happens in huge, closed tanks without oxygen. Microbial breakdown helps heat the green and organic waste to 131 degrees; “stirrers” constantly agitate the matter to speed processing. The methane gas is contained and converted onsite into Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), which EDCO uses to fuel its more than 200-truck fleet. The AD opened in 2021 and operates around the clock, processing 1.5 million pounds of green waste daily. In fact, the digester needs constant “feeding” or the microbes die off and the decomposition process fails! A second AD facility is planned south of downtown San Diego next year. Learn more in this video.

In addition to organics, EDCO processes recycled materials at its Escondido plant — one of five it operates in the county. In the state-of-the-art, 70,000 square foot Escondido Resource Recovery (ERR) facility, your blue bin contents get fed into labyrinth of varied conveyer and magnetic belts — and past a small army of human sorters. Recyclables are separated, processed, cleaned and baled (in the case of aluminum, paper, plastics and tin) or crushed (glass) and then are sold for repurposing. EDCO says that 95% of its recycled plastics are made into new products by U. S. companies; only 5% now is shipped overseas.. Clear milk jugs can be turned into colored plastic containers. Stiffer, colored plastic jugs might become paint cans or plastic pipe. Aluminum cans become cans again. Baled paper is still shipped to Asia for processing into pulp. The company estimates that its ERR facility will keep 250,000 tons of recyclables out of landfills yearly. To learn more, click to watch a video.

Perhaps it was flattery: EDCO told us that Solana Beachans are the best in the county at proper recycling! Still, we can do even better to keep plastics and organic waste out of landfills. How?

• Don’t put plastic bags into your blue bin. “Plastic bags are the number one contaminant in our recyclables stream,” EDCO General Manager Jim Ambroso told us. No newspaper delivery bags or chip/snack bags, either. If you gather your recyclables into plastic bags, tumble the contents into your blue bin and save the bag for shopping. Better yet, stop using plastic bags all together! Bring a tote to the grocery store.
• Don’t put soiled disposable plates, cups, paper towels, parchment paper or tissue in your blue bin; those can go into the green bins as part of the organics recycling stream. Same goes for pizza boxes.
• Reduce the “ick” factor of saving kitchen scraps and other organics by requesting a free, dishwasher-safe caddie from EDCO. Dump the contents in a paper bag for transport to your green bin.
• Never put batteries in your recycling bin; they can start fires as they move through the sorting facility.
• We learned soooo much from our generous hosts, Jim Ambroso, Bob Hill, Director of Recycling and Marketing, Elmer Heap, Director of Market Development, and Logan Betz, Accounts Representative. More than fits into this newsletter, so watch for tips and tools in future editions and on our Society and SeaWeeder websites, as well. Thank you EDCO!

Member meeting: May 9, 5 p.m., La Colonia Community Center

May Update on our City’s Initiatives

At our May meeting, interim City Manager Dan King provided updates on the City’s many recent projects and ongoing initiatives, including the massive sand replenishment along our popular beaches. As well as:

• Status on planning for improvements to the Lomas Santa Fe Drive corridor and at La Colonia Park
• Community Grant Program guidelines
• The May-long Solana Beach Walking Scavenger Hunt (co-sponsored by the Civic & Historical Society) Smart Cycling Classes for residents of all ages
• Our next Bulky Waste Pick-up Day on May 11

May-long Walking Scavenger Hunt

BikeWalkSolana and the Solana Beach Civic and Historical Society (SBC&HS) want you to go take a hike — through a part of our charming city by the sea.

This self-guided, 2.3 mile Walking Scavenger Hunt can be completed at any time during the month of May. Walkers will enter their answers to questions about interesting Solana Beach sites and history on a cell phone or paper form. Scan the QR codes on historical plaques guiding you to the Historical Places section of our website to find the answers. Return your completed answer form, and your name will be entered in a raffle for prizes.

Register at https://bit.ly/ScavengerHunt_SB_2024_reg to receive your Scavenger Hunt package and route map. The Lundby family took the top participant prize in 2023. Click here to view their scavenger hunt video. 

This event is one of many celebrating Bike Month in Solana Beach.

March 2024

Click here to view the presentation

Learn about the Berry Good Food Foundation

Christina Ng, Chief Cultivator for Berry Good Food, delighted attendees to our March 14 General Meeting. The organization is supporting gardening education at our local schools with cooking classes for students at Solana Vista Elementary School in April.

Berry Good Food (BGF) has been “growing a food movement” in San Diego County and across the border in Baja, Mexico, since 2015. The Foundation’s mission is to advance a healthy, integrated food system by educating, connecting and supporting food producers and consumers. “We envision a region where all people can choose local, sustainably produced food,” states its website.
BGF sponsors an array of programs that bring together farmers, chefs, scientists, students, backyard gardeners and every-night cooks to champion access to healthy food for all. The Foundation recently raised more than $25,000 to assist small-scale area farmers whose spring crops were ruined.
Since 2018, BGF itself has awarded $92,000 in grants to school gardens across the region. Grants are funded through farm-to-table dinners with top San Diego chefs, which have been hosted since 2010 by the Foundation’s founder, Michelle Lerach.
BGF’s many other educational programs, include cooking classes where students of all ages learn to use local, seasonal ingredients and minimize food waste through “old-world” skills like canning and fermentation. In coordination with the annual San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival, BGF has been awarding scholarships to outstanding members of San Diego’s sustainable farming and fishing communities since 2016. Many of the recipients are still in high school with goals of working in agriculture for their careers.
The group also has published a “Seeds for the Future” coloring workbook geared to elementary school ages.

February 2024

Click here to view the presentation

What’s Happening in our San Dieguito Lagoon?

At our February general meeting, Shawna Anderson, Executive Director of the San Dieguito River Park, discussed the history of the Joint Powers Authority and brought our members up to date on Coast-to-Crest trail development, as well as the San Dieguito Lagoon restoration project.

January 2024

Spiritual Lives of the Kumeyaay

Historian Richard Carrico returned on January 11 to continue our education about the earliest residents of our community, the Kumeyaay. He expanded on the cosmology and ethnozoology of the Indians, who believed that various animals, birds, insects and other creatures hold a special place in the cosmos and play a variety of important roles. Some are involved in the Kumeyaay creation story. Others are whimsical. They can avenge; they can heal; some can shift shapes and shimmer in the firelight. Their embodiment is not always easily visualized because some creatures, large and small, exist in worlds not always seen by most humans — and rarely acknowledged by archaeologists.
The Kumeyaay believed that in the mythic, ancient time what we now know as humans, or more correctly as mortals, did not exist. The world was inhabited by animals and by animals who were humans but not mortals—these were the Early People, and some creatures could embody traits of what came to be known as the mortal humans and animals. Only later in time, much later, did the separation grow between animals and humans and at that time the humans became mortal.
Carrico discussed the role and place of non-human creatures within the world and cosmos of the
Kumeyaay. View his almost 90-minute lecture here.

December 2023

Download our 70th Anniversary Celebration Booklet

For seven decades, Civic & Historical Society members have helped to create, beautify and sustain the wonderful community we call Solana Beach.

For our 70th Anniversary Celebration in December 2023, we complied a nearly 50-page booklet of articles about our many accomplishments and contributions over the years. You can click here to read or download the booklet.

October 2023

Tips and Tactics to Outwit Fraud Schemes and Scammers

Attendees at our Oct. 12 General Meeting learned some eye-opening facts and many helpful techniques to keep their identities and savings intact!

Deputy Chris Kombo of the San Diego Sherriffs Department kicked off the meeting with this goal:
“I do not want to be taking a call from any of you reporting a loss! With the information I’m sharing, you can prevent that. Learn to trust your guts.”

“We’re all susceptible,” he added.

Deputy Kombo shared several alarming statistics:

• About one in 10 Americans have lost money in a scam; the average loss of $400
• 33% of victims are age 20 to 29; only 13% are age 70 to 79. Among older adults, however, losses are higher
• Two-thirds of identity thefts involve the use of credit cards.

The most prevalent scams start with a phone call, text message, email or letter from someone pretending to be from a reputable organization that you know. They may use a real name, like the Federal Trade Commission, Social Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service or Medicare. Or they may make up a name that sounds official. Others pretend to be from a utility company, technology company or even a charity asking for donations.

Whatever the pretense, the scammer’s goal will be to instill a sense of urgency. They’ll say you, a family member, or a friend are in trouble with the government. Or you or someone else owes money. Or that someone in your family has had an emergency and needs your help immediately. Another scheme is to say you won money in a lottery or sweepstakes but have to pay a fee to get it — “right away!”

“If somebody is trying to pressure you, it’s a scam,” Deputy Kombo said.

If you appear to take the bait, scammers will tell you to pay in a specific way, such as by wiring money, using a payment app or — quite commonly — asking you to purchase iTunes or Walmart gift cards and either tell them the numbers on the back of the card and/or mail the cards to specific address. Some cheats will send a check (that will later turn out to be fake), then tell you to deposit it and send them money.

What to do? “Don’t answer the phone if you don’t know the caller. Hang up if you are being pressured. And never give out personal information such as your Social Security Number, Drivers License number or date of birth,” Deputy Kombo said. “With any of those three pieces of information, a crook can commit fraud.”

What if the fishy solicitation comes by email or text? Always double check the sender’s phone number or email address. If they don’t appear legitimate (too few digits, for example) or an email address doesn’t jive with the suggested originating organization (an email from a .cox address pretending to be from SDGE, for example), delete the missive immediately. And NEVER, EVER click a suspicious link, like this one.

Among other speakers who shared their encounters with scammers was Society member Lenore Dale, who suggested a meeting on the topic after being recently duped by an elaborate “bail-your-son-out-of-jail-after-an-injury-accident” scheme. The caller claimed that the other driver and a child had been gravely injured. “The story got worse as the day went on,” she said.

“And all I could think was that I’d do anything for my son. Once I found out that he was safe — and I’d been conned — I was so relieved I didn’t care about losing money,” Lenore said. “And I decided that the lesson I’d learned was one I should share.”

Embarrassment stops a lot of victims from reporting scams, Deputy Kombo said. Which only helps crooked schemes perpetuate. Report suspected scams right away to:

• San Diego Sherriff’s Department at 858.565.5200
• Federal Trade Commission at 877.382.4357

Common Fraud Schemes: Don’t Fall Prey!

• Romance scam: Criminals pose as interested romantic partners on social media or dating websites to capitalize on their victims’ desire to find companions.
• Tech support scam: Criminals pose as technology support representatives and offer to fix non-existent computer issues. The scammers gain remote access to victims’ devices and sensitive information.
• Grandparent scam: A confidence scam where criminals pose as a relative — usually a child or grandchild — claiming to be in immediate financial need.
• Government impersonation scam: Criminals pose as government employees and threaten to arrest or prosecute victims unless they agree to provide funds or other payments.
• Sweepstakes/charity/lottery scam: Criminals claim to work for legitimate charitable organizations to gain victims’ trust. Or they claim their targets have won a foreign lottery or sweepstakes, which they can collect for a “fee.”
• Home repair scam: Criminals appear in person and charge homeowners in advance for home improvement services that they never provide.
• TV/radio scam: Criminals target potential victims using illegitimate advertisements about legitimate services, such as reverse mortgages or credit repair.
• Family/caregiver scam: Relatives or acquaintances of the victims take advantage of them or otherwise get their money.

More Tips to Avoid Scams

• Mark your social media accounts as “private” and NEVER send money through a social media platform.
• Be wary of sob-story GoFundMe campaigns.
• Beware of “skimming” — where fraudulent card readers or crooked service personnel capture or copy your credit card number for their own use or to sell on the “dark web.”
• Always check bank account transactions and credit card statements. If you see a transaction that seems suspicious or you know isn’t one you made, contact your bank or card company immediately to report the activity. Typically, fraudulent transactions will be reimbursed.
• If paying by check, write out the full date, such as “October 1, 2023.” That makes it harder for a thief to repurpose your check as payable to themselves.

June 2023

Society Awards Three $2,500 Scholarships for 2023-24

Braulio Deans attended Solana Beach elementary schools and graduated from Canyon Crest Academy. In his application, he said that his teachers at Solana Vista and Skyline “left me with . . . a joy for learning that I have carried . . . through high school and now college.” He also has a passion for the ocean and works summers as a Solana Beach Junior Lifeguards camp instructor. “I love working with the kids of the community and teaching them about marine safety,” he shared.
Braulio currently attends California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, where he is studying mathematics. He was named to the Dean’s List in the University’s College of Science and Mathematics in 2021 and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in the subject.
“My ultimate goal is to return to San Diego and Solana Beach to contribute to the local academic community, sharing knowledge and mentoring future students.”

Max McConville graduated from Canyon Crest Academy in 2022 and plans to pursue a business major, starting at Mira Costa Community College. He also attended local elementary and middle schools and was active in the Junior Lifeguards program at Fletcher Cove. Max became active with the Casas de Luz as a 6th grader and, through that non-profit program, helped build homes in Tijuana and — during Covid shutdowns — sleeping shelters for the homeless in San Diego. He also volunteered as a junior commissioner for the Solana Beach Parks and Recreational Department for more than two years. At Canyon Crest, Max played lacrosse, serving as team captain during both his Junior and Senior years. Over the summer and next fall, he is coaching the high school team.
“In my ideal job,” he says, “I would be a general manager for a professional athletics team.”

Jacquelyn Perez attends Mira Costa Community College, where she serves as a Student Ambassador, mentoring younger students at the Boys & Girls Club as well as through the Torrey Pines High School counseling office. Growing up in Solana Beach, she became involved in La Colonia community activities including Día de los Muertos and the annual Easter Egg hunt. She also helped make tamales for sale at the Solana Vista Halloween Festival.
As a high school student at Torrey Pines, Jacquelyn began participating in the Holiday Basket donation event with the Community Resource Center, which now takes place on the Mira Costa San Elijo campus. On campus, she also works at the Student Life & Leadership office and as Fair Ambassador in public safety.
After completing her studies at Mira Costa, Jacquelyn plans to transfer to San Diego State University and pursue a Bachelors of Science in Criminal Justice.
“I hope to work in Law Enforcement as a probation/parole officer to help those in need and . . . to give back to the community and to those who have helped me all throughout these years.”

April 2023

Backyard Beekeeping with Katie Pelisek

[Click here to view her presentation]

Katie started keeping bees on her property 10 years ago, but only got brave enough to be hands-on during the Covid lockdown. (What else was there to do?)

It started with honey harvesting but quickly progressed to bee colony rescue. Katie brought props and photos to share her sweet and sometimes painful learning-curve to becoming an apiarist at our April 2023 General Meeting. Click above to learn about her experiences.

March 2023

Lagerraum Quartet Debut Recorded for You

[Click here to enjoy]

The quartet is precocious group, averaging 14-and-a-half years of age. They performed works by Bocherinni, Mendelssohn, Elgar, Mozart together, as well as solo pieces. These musicians are Advance Orchestra members of the Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra. The Orchestra was established as the San Diego Young Artists Symphony in February 1995 by the late Maestro Louis Campiglia. In 2013, San Diego young Artists Symphony merged with Mainly Mozart and was renamed the Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra. It has a rich history of talented and devoted Music Directors dating back nearly 30 years.

Why “Lagerraum” Quartet? Look up the translation. They rehearse in a storeroom. Enjoy the results!

February 2023

Catch up with the Nature Collective

Kevin Anderson shared his latest painting of the San Elijo Lagoon and Jennifer Bright, Associate Director of the Nature Collective, provided an overview of the organization’s many projects at our February 10 General Meeting. Highlights of the organization’s work include:

• Award-winning restoration work on the Cardiff dunes and in San Elijo Lagoon.
• Habitat restoration and protection of wildlife corridors along the Escondido Creek Watershed and beyond.
• A nursery that grows 3,000 plants indigenous to the area from seed to maturity for planting each year.
• Weekly water quality monitoring, so they can perform emergency tidal circulation projects if there’s insufficient oxygen for the lagoon ecosystem to thrive.

Click here to catch up on the impressive history of the Nature Collective, which often intertwines with our Society’s and our legacy Women’s Civic Club.

December 2022

Holiday Luncheon Honored Marion Dodson

“Friend, colleague, mentor” and “fighter” were among the words used to describe long-time Society member, inaugural City Council member, three-time Mayor, former Solana Beach School Board member and educator Marion Dodson during our December 9 Holiday Luncheon.
“I’ve known her for more than 45 years and I always called her the ‘energizer bunny,’” added fellow former Councilmember and Mayor Joe Kellijian, one of several past and incoming Councilmembers in attendence. “Her accomplishments are numerous.”
Among them are some “firsts” that put Solana Beach on the state and national map after the City was incorporated in 1986. After successfully campaigning for cityhood, Marion was elected to the first City Council, whose members slyly took their oaths of office at 7 a.m. so they could block further development in Solana Beach before County of San Diego offices opened to dole out building permits to drooling developers.
During her 14-year tenure on Council and three rotations as Mayor, according to Kellijian, the City became the first in California to ban smoking in restaurants and first in the contiguous U.S. to ban smoking on our beaches. Solana Beach also was first among area coastal cities to tackle the “big dig” required to lower our rail tracks below street level, a $25 million project that Marion championed while also serving on SANDAG for eight years. Completion of that project not only improved traffic and safety through town, but also provided for sewer and drainage improvements to end previously chronic flooding on Cedros Avenue during the rainy season.
Another huge infrastructure project she championed was the widening of Interstate 5 and creation of the cloverleaf exchange at Lomas Santa Fe Drive. Marion influenced planning of that project to ensure that no properties were encroached on the freeway’s east side. In addition, and among her proudest accomplishments, Marion was instrumental in the campaign to create a permanent home for the Solana Beach Library, which previously had bounced from one leased space to another. “Finally, it has a home,” she commented during the luncheon.
After “retiring” from public service, Marion joined the Board of Directors of North Coast Repertory Theater (NCRT), where she has served for more than 20 years and still chairs the “new venue” committee. “I don’t know where NC Rep would be without you,” said Julie Sarno of the NCRT’s President’s Advisory Council.
Marion’s daughter JoJo Dodson Bogard emceed the event and remembered growing up in the public eye. “Mom always stressed the importance of giving back to your community,” said JoJo, who founded Solana Beach Community Theater and also serves as Nominations Chair for the SBC&HS.
“You continue to inspire me,” said Marion’s grandaughter Amanda, a teacher who also sang for luncheon entertainment.
“I’m grateful to have lived here and raised my family here in Solana Beach,” Marion told attendees. “There are wonderful people who serve our City. . . people who are willing to make things better.” “They all take team efforts,” she continued. “We need things for our community, and sometimes you need to fight for them. So you better be in for the fight!”

June 2022

Society Awards Two $2,000 Scholarships

Torrey Pines baseball team captain Eric Van Valkenburg and Kelly Drummond, an adult returning to San Diego for graduate school, each were awarded $2,000 scholarships during the Society’s June 10 dinner at Tony’s Jacal Restaurant. More than 40 members joined the party to help celebrate the awards and Tony’s 75th anniversary of serving great meals in our great community.

Eric will attend the University of Oklahoma on a baseball scholarship and plans to study physical therapy. Eric graduated from Torrey Pines High School, where he participated all four years in the school baseball program and played a variety of positions, including pitcher. He said he learned and honed his baseball skills with the Solana Beach Little League on teams from “T-Ball to the Majors.”

Eric said his family “emphasized how important it was to appreciate our life and also give back to those less fortunate.”

“My favorite memories of giving are when a group of my Solana Beach Little League buddies and I got to teach newly arrived refugee kids how to play baseball. Even though language was a barrier, we all laughed and played together for hours. I also loved to volunteer at Miracle League in San Dieguito Park as an umpire,” Eric recalled in his scholarship application.

“On the field,” according to his former English teacher Greg Williams, “he has combined ability with the purity of intent that inspires others. I have often marveled at how such a kind, considerate person can be so competitive and relentless while competing athletically.” His scholarship was awarded in honor and memory of Bruce Berend.

Kelly attended San Dieguito High School and then the University of Puget Sound, graduating in 2010 with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Comparative Sociology and Art. 

After college, Kelly moved to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where she learned SCUBA diving, guided kayak tours, and worked as an artist. Returning to San Diego, Kelly earned a Montessori teaching credential and taught in San Diego, and in Oaxaca, Mexico. From there she moved to Alaska and lived and worked at a wilderness retreat and artist residency in Lake Clark National Park. 

After a decade of working as an early-childhood, art and environmental educator, Kelly went back to school through community college programs to study natural resource management and marine science. In February, she was accepted to the Master of Advanced Studies in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation program at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The one-year program started in June.

Kelly is the first to receive a SBC&HS scholarship for adult, returning students since the award criteria was expanded a few years ago. Her award was made possible by a generous donation from Civic & Historical Society member Asli Carome to honor her daughter Selin Everrett’s hard work to succeed in college. 

“The Society is proud of these two young people and happy to be able to help financially as they begin — and continue — their college educations,” said SBC&HS Education Committee Chair Pat Coad. “We wish them will as they pursue their academic endeavors.”

Since the program’s inception in 2014, the Society has awarded $24,000 in scholarships. In addition to these awards, the Society annually contributes $1,000 to the Mexican American Educational Assistance Guidance Association (MAEGA), now in it’s 50th year of awarding college scholarships to students of Latino heritage in the San Dieguito Union High School District. In 2022, the Society’s contribution was increased by MAEGA to $1,300 and awarded in honor of Suellen Lodge.

April 2022

Part of our ‘Zoom at noon’ program

Learn about the amazing diversity and importance of our native bees

[ click here to view the presentation ]

Did you know that there are more than 600 native bee species in San Diego County?  And that most nest underground? Can you guess what might be the biggest threat to their health and existence?

The answer might surprise you! Pollination Ecologist Dillon Travis took a break from his field studies to share his expertise on the diversity and importance of native bees to our ecosystem — and our food! Also learn how you can support healthy habitat for our native bees and a healthy attitude toward “bee-washing” public relations schemes.

Dillon is a Ph.D. candidate with the Kohn Lab, Section of Ecology, Behavior and Evolution, Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. This spring, Dillon has been studying bees in remote SoCal areas (where MAS*H and Planet of the Apes once were filmed). “I am conducting field research in the Santa Monica Mountains, where honey bees are present, and on Santa Cruz Island, where honey bees were eradicated 20 years ago. This allows us to study how the presence or absence of honey bees impacts native bee diversity and abundance.”

 March 2022

Part of our ‘Zoom at noon’ program

The Pre-history of Our Community, with Historian Richard Carrico

[ click here to view the presentation ]

The Kumeyaay people of San Diego County are often portrayed as relying on acorns, deer, and rabbits as their primary food sources. These foods were important, but the Kumeyaay were also masters of the bays and oceans —they were maritime peoples thousands of years before arrival of the Spaniards.
Click here to learn more about the Kumeyaay and the pre-history of our area from historian, writer and educator Richard L. Carrico. Prof. Carrico peeled back more than 5,000 years of history to give us a picture of the Kumeyaay that has been largely ignored. Did you know, for example, that the Spaniards rarely ventured more than a few miles from our coasts, while the Kumkeyaay had established communities well into what is now East County San Diego and our mountain regions.
Prof. Carrico talked about the techniques used by the Kumeyaay to procure a large variety of fish, shellfish and other maritime food sources, as well as the boats and canoes they used to explore and harvest fish and other resources from the deep ocean, offshore islands, and in our local lagoons. The presentation also also places Kumeyaay fishing and maritime activities within the context of their overall cosmology, including the many native maritime place names and constellations that help guide the Kumeyaay.
Mr. Carrico is a lecturer in the Department of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University and has made significant contributions to our understanding of the local indigenous cultures and early Spanish colonization. He has conducted or supervised more than 200 archaeological excavations and has received several awards for academic excellence, including the Norman Neurburg Award for outstanding research presented by the California Missions Foundation in 2019.

February 2022

Part of our ‘Zoom at noon’ program

Current affairs in Solana Beach, with City Manager Greg Wade

[ click here to view the presentation ]

Thanks to all who attended this informative meeting to learn about the many, many initiatives our City Council and staff are undertaking.

January 2022

Part of our ‘Zoom at noon’ program

A virtual tour of Artist Jim and Anne Hubbell’s Magical Home and Studio

[ click here to view the presentation ]

Marianne Gerdes, Executive Director of the Ilan-Lael Foundation, which sustains the property, took us on a tour through the remarkable history and magical presence of the Hubbell’s home and studio — the Jewel near Julian. The Hubbells established the Ilan-Lael Foundation in 1982 to help sponsor public art projects, lectures, seminars and exhibitions in San Diego and Tijuana. Among the programs the foundation has inspired Some include ArtWalk San Diego, KidzArt and an award-winning newsletter about San Diego’s downtown development called Hidden Leaves.

Ilan-Lael translates from Hebrew to “a tree that unites the physical and the spiritual,” integrating art, nature and community in a dynamic setting. The name was given by the artists to the structures they designed and built, largely by hand, over the past 60 years on 10 acres near Santa Ysabel. The property received historic designation in 2008.

Today Ilan-Lael serves as the home of the Ilan-Lael Foundation: an art education and nature center, a retreat space, and a place for all those seeking inspiration in beauty, art and natural surroundings. During the past year, the foundation sponsored “Healing the Healers,” providing Covid workers a day of rest, reflection and renewal, as well as a Harvest Moon dinner at the home/studio.

December 2021

Hybrid online/outdoor Boutique beat 2020 revenue

Holiday Boutique and Poinsettia Sales Success!

Our incredible Crafts Group and the SeaWeeders have done it again! The 2021 Holiday Boutique and Poinsettia sales netted a record $10,000 for our scholarship, education and beautification programs in November.

Thanks to all of you shoppers! You flocked to the online Boutique shortly after it opened, buying more than $3,500 in handmade goods, plants and books on the first day of business. Online sales continued for four more days and crescendoed at the outdoor shop set up in the patio area of La Colonia Community Center on Saturday, November 13. Poinsettia sales continued through November 24 and during “pick-up day” on November 27.

Thanks to all who sewed, knitted, wove, carved, and cleverly created our handmade craft-sale treasures, including this Americana quilt. Thanks, too, to the many volunteers who made our 2021 Boutique and Poinsettia sales such a success.

2021 Holiday Luncheon and General Meeting

It was a delight to reconnect during our 2021 Holiday Luncheon. More than 50 members attended the event on December 10 at Lomas Santa Fe Country Club. In addition to enjoying hearty meals and music of the season, members passed several changes to our bylaws:

• Addition of a “Paid Lifetime” membership category
• Addition of a calendar/fiscal-year provision
• Authorizing the Board to determine dues payment schedules
• Provision for in-person or electronic meetings and voting

During the event, Society president Michele Stribling and guests paid tribute to long-time members Fran and Richard Moore, noting their many contributions to our community. Fran and Richard were instrumental in preventing widespread development of additional apartment complexes on the southern section of the city.

Rena Monge held the winning ticket for the Americana quilt, pictured above, which was created by several members of our industrious Crafts Group.

September 2021

Centennial Celebration exceeded expectations

[ click here to view photos and coverage ]

Close to 160 guests joined our September 10th celebration of the 100th “birthday” of Solana Beach’s first neighborhood. The outdoor festivities included entertainment by the colorful dancers of Eden Garden’s own Folklorico Jalisience Academy to music provided by the Mariachi Estado de Oro.

Scouts and leaders from troop #782, founded in the 1970s, served a buffet of authentic Mexican enchiladas and turkey tacos provided by Tony’s Jacal Restaurant.

The Scouts, along with volunteers from Teen Volunteers in Action, also assisted in set-up and clean-up for the event. Many thanks to them and our many other hardworking volunteers.  

Completion of Lake Hodges Dam in 1919 allowed — for the first time — for fresh water to be piped to about 10 acres along what is now Ida Avenue.  Some of the earliest residents not only built their own homes there, but also worked on the irrigation that brought water to the neighborhood.

“The roots of the La Colonia settlement lie in some prefab cabins and a small number of rental houses . . . clustered around a shower/laundry facility,” wrote author and historian Jim Nelson in his 2010 book La Colonia & Solana Beach, available for purchase here.

During the evening, local historians and long-time residents of La Colonia shared insights on Eden Gardens’ history and the founding families who shaped and preserve its culture. Read more and view participants’ testimonials, as well as a 20-minute slideshow created from family photos that were shared with our organizers. Proceeds support ongoing historical research and education about our first neighborhood.

July 2021

Meet our 2021 Scholarship winners

Three Torrey Pines High School students from Solana Beach were selected by the Board of Directors of the Solana Beach Civic & Historical Society to receive college scholarships for the 2021-22 school year.

Josselyn Calixto Alavez, Juancarlos (JC) Cigarrero and Maribel Hernandez Condes all demonstrated the determination and resilience to log three-point-plus grade point averages (GPAs) during senior years warped by Covid-19 restrictions.  Each applicant was supported by hearty letters of recommendation from school counselors, teachers and others. “The Historical Society is pleased and proud to support these students as they embark on their college educations,” noted SBC&HS Education Committee Chairperson Pat Coad.  “Our selection committee was particularly impressed by the gratitude each awardee indicated for their parents’ hard work and their teachers’ encouragement during the past, very trying, year.

Josselyn Calixto Alavez plans to attend Mira Costa Community College as the first step toward her plan to become an English teacher. “Learning English as a second language was tough. My English teachers never gave up on me,” she wrote in her application essay.  Josselyn participated in the Study Buddies program, where high school students help elementary school students with assignments. One family, recently arrived from South Korea, sought asker her to help their student adjust to English.  “Although I don’t speak Korean, I tried my best to work with my student and her younger brother up until the pandemic hit and this student will always have a place in my heart,” she said.

Joselyn will be the first in her family to attend college.

Juancarlos (JC) Cigarrero plans to attend San Diego State University to study sociology and business.  He played both club and varsity soccer at Torrey Pines, while also holding down a restaurant job, participating in numerous community volunteer events, and coaching the Earl Warren Middle School soccer team. “The coaching experience is a particular favorite of mine because I was able to give back to a team that I was once part of and guide the next generation of players,” he wrote in his application.  Juancarlos attributed his drive to “make something meaningful out of myself” to the “selflessness and tenacity my parents exude every day” tackling their service-sector jobs —particularly during the pandemic. 

“My life has been impacted by the assistance of many generous individuals and I find a sense of pride in being able to pay it forward as well, especially in the community that raised me,” he said.

Maribel Hernandez Conde plans to study political science at California State University San Marcos, on her way to becoming an immigration lawyer. Born in Santa Ana Chiautempan Tlaxcala, Mexico, she understands first-hand the challenges of leaving one country to embrace another. Her parents made the “life changing” decisions to move to Solana Beach in 2006.  “We have lived here for fifteen years and have made amazing memories together as a family,” she reported in her application essay. While in high school, Maribel stayed involved with the youth group at Saint James/St. Leo’s church, volunteered with the Boys and Girls Club — where she once was tutored, and worked as a restaurant hostess. All while maintaining close to a 4.0 GPA.

“I am glad to have grown up in a community that respects others and values helping each other out in times of need,” she said. She, too, will be the first in her family to attend college.

May 2021

Part of our ‘Zoom at Noon’ program

Local efforts to support our Western Monarch population and other pollinators

[ click here to view the presentation ]

Ann Baldridge, Community Programs Director of the Resource Conservation District of San Diego County* presented at our May 20 Zoom meeting about how local groups are coordinating to support our Western monarch population.  Ann explained the monarch life cycle, the San Diego Pollinator Alliance and its native milkweed project, as well as the overall threats to monarchs and why this effort has become imperative.  Click below and enter the passcode to replay a full recording of this informative session.

*In partnership with the Fire Safe Council of San Diego County and Wild Willow Farm and Education Center

April 2021

Milkweed giveaway exceeded expectations

More than 90 Solana Beach families collected 350 free, native milkweed plants and 1,430 milkweed seeds on April 24, joining a pledge to help make Solana Beach friendly to Western monarchs and other pollinators.

On April 23, the City’s landscapers transformed the parking-area garden at La Colonia Community Center into our first public pollinator park, with more than 100 native milkweed and nectar plants. 

Milkweed is the only plant where female monarchs lay their eggs; it’s the only food monarch caterpillars eat. Nearby nectar plants provide food for the adult butterflies and shelter for the caterpillars and chrysalides after they pupate.

April 2021

Solana Beach took the pledge to support our Western Monarchs

City Council in March agreed to take the “Mayors’ Monarch Pledge,” a challenge sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation to promote the development of pollinator habitats and eliminate practices that are harmful to endangered monarch butterflies.  

Among the steps we all can take to support the Western monarch population, starting by providing the habitat they need to lay eggs, feed caterpillars, and protect chrysalises. Your SeaWeeders, teamed with the City’s Climate Action Commission (CAC), are here to help! Here’s how: 

• Plant NATIVE milkweed*
• Plant lots of native nectar flowers, too, so your butterflies have food to sip. Consider Yarrows, California lilac (Ceanothus), Salvias, and Monkeyflower (Mimulus). 
• Don’t use pesticides or herbicides. They are toxic to caterpillars; the aphids that might flock to your milkweed aren’t. 

* Asclepias Albicans – Whitestem Milkweed, Asclepias Californic – California Milkweed, Asclepias Eriocarpa – Indian/Woollypod Milkweed, Asclepias Erosa – Desert Milkweed, Asclepias Fascicularis – Narrowleaf Milkweed, Asclepias Subulata – Rush Milkweed

March 2021

How about cooking without gas?

[ click here to view the presentation ]

The City of Solana Beach’s Electrification Workshop reviewed several options for replacing aging gas-fueled home appliances with more efficient, all-electric heaters/air conditioners, water heaters, and cooktops.  The goal is to reduce related greenhouse gas emissions and advance the achievement of the City’s Climate Action goals for 2035: 

• Reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from the 2010 baseline
• Ensure 100% of electricity used in city comes from renewable sources.

Society Civic Affairs Chair and Corresponding Secretary Cindi Clemons attended and decided to experiment with an induction cooktop, taking advantage of a free loaner program offered to residents. Here’s her report: 

Induction cooktops and ranges heat cooking vessels — your pots, pans, and other cookware – through electrical induction. How does induction work? Instead of using thermal conduction, such as the open flame from a gas stove or a coiled electric heating element, induction uses an electronically controlled coil of metal inside a glass cooktop.  When you turn an induction stove on, current flows through the coil, creating a magnetic field directly around it, and heat is generated within the cooking vessel itself.  This is why you must use cookware with magnetic, induction-ready materials, such as stainless steel, with an induction cooktop.

I plugged the borrowed unit into a 120v electric outlet near my range and cooked a variety of meals — soups, omelets, scrambled eggs, halibut in a lemon sauce, and pot roast in a red wine sauce. Each of the dishes turned out better than any of the same I have prepared over the years on gas or electric ranges. 

Raising and lowering the temperature was fast and precise. The on-and-off response of the unit was instant according to whether I was placing the pot on or taking it off.  Everything I prepared cooked more evenly and quickly, I think because of the transfer of heat to cookware. There was also a timer that turned the unit off when the cooking time was up. The cooktop is ceramic glass, making it very easy to clean with just a damp cloth and a bit of detergent. The controls are all digital and flush to the unit for added easy clean-up. 

I also learned that induction cooking is healthier and safer than other methods. You may not know it, but gas stoves emit nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide into your house. Not good for you and not good for the environment. Also, because there is no open flame the unit cools very quickly. There is no possibility of a gas leak or line leakage. 

March 2021

Part of our ‘Zoom at Noon’ program

“Lunch and Learn”:
Organics Recycling

[ click here to view the presentation ]

• Is it really OK to toss a half-eaten hamburger and fries in my green waste bin? I would never add meat or oil to my compost pile! Yes, EDCO’s Anaerobic Digestion Facility is designed to break down food waste, including even bacon grease.
• Why can’t I put unbagged pet poop in my green bin? Mostly out of respect for EDCO waste handlers  who sort out inappropriate green bin contents
• Should all newspaper and paper bags now go into the green bin?  No, clean newsprint and paper bags should still go into the blue recycling bin. Soiled newspapers or paper bags used to collect kitchen scraps, as well as parchment paper, paper towels, and unwaxed fast-food take-out wrappers should go into the green bin. Please do NOT put plastic bags, wax paper, or coated cardboard into the green bin.
• What’s wrong with ‘biodegradable’ plastic bags?  They don’t really degrade in a timely manner
• What is EDCO going to do with all of that biogas and digestate it will generate in it’s fancy new Anaerobic Digestion Facility? Can customers get free fertilizer?  Biogas will be refined into fuel for EDCO’s fleet.  Digestate will be distributed for agricultural purposes. Some of this output may, in the future, be available for residential gardening.

We got answers to these and many more questions about the City of Solana Beach and EDCO’s adoption of organics recycling in a virtual meeting on March 18.  EDCO General Manager Jim Ambroso and Chris Spielmaker, Director of Market Development, joined veteran composters Irina Grongborg and Kristine Schindler of the SeaWeeders to explain new green waste-bin expectations and offer some practical tips for sorting kitchen scraps. 

February 2021

Part of our ‘Zoom at Noon’ program

Latino Historian Maria E. Garcia, author of “We Made San Diego”

[ click here to view the presentation ]

Maria Garcia is a retired school principal and has been an activist in the Chicano movement since 1968. She is the recipient of the 2015 SOHO Cultural Heritage Award for her “Neighborhood House” series about life in Logan Heights. She was inducted in the San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame in 2016 and has been honored by the San Diego Union-Tribune as a Latino Champion.

Maria’s current book tells various stories about Latinos who contributed to the history of San Diego, including community activists who have worked to affect social issues.  It also chronicles the experiences of several Latino veterans of the war in Vietnam.

Maria said her interest in La Colonia, Solana Beach’s original neighborhood, started with the street names.  “So many were in Spanish,” she noted. Local resident Gina Gonzales set up a meeting where she and eight other women shared stories about growing up in La Colonia.  Maria also met with Ray and Theresa Rincon of  Tony’s Jacal restaurant and its long presence, as well as Simona Gonzales, who started the first Girl Scout troop in Eden Garden and who, with her husband Frank, coached a 1959 Little League World Series playoff team.     

The book took five years to write, after compiling dozens of oral histories. “We Made San Diego” also includes a contribution by Society Historian and Heritage Museum Curator Lisa Montes. 

“The men and women in this community worked as house keepers, gardeners and raised their children. They united to save a church. They sent their sons to fight in WWII, Korea, Vietnam and every war since then.  In the 1980s, when the whole country faces a drug problem, La Colonia faced the same problem. The [San Diego County] Fair and the race track contributed to the financial growth  of business in La Colonia. People such as Lucy and Desi Arnaz, J. Edgar Hoover and sports figures and jockeys were all part of the community,” she notes.

Maria was born in Yuma, Arizona and moved to San Diego at age 3, growing up in Encanto. Following are insights to her background and activism excerpted from a 2017 interview with the San Diego Union- Tribune:  

“My biggest challenges have been the racism I faced as a young child. It affects the way you see yourself for years. . . My first year of school I learned that eating tortillas was wrong since my poor mother received a call asking that she not pack tortillas in my lunch so that the other students would not make fun of me.”

“That negative self-image I experienced as a child stayed with me for the next 12 years of my life. I guess that’s why I experienced such interest in the Chicano movement. It gave me a place to belong. The Chicano movement gave me pride in who I am.”

After attending San Diego State University and and joining the Chicano Movement, “I believed that we would change the world. I honestly thought by being educated and teaching future generations not to be racist, we would have a different world by the year 2000. I was so naïve. I thought by fighting for equality and teaching the history of our accomplishments in this country we would be respected. The movement taught me so much about working together. I loved the unity experienced in a picket line. I loved learning about people and historical events which came via the Chicano Studies classes I took at SDSU.”

While going to college as a business major,  Maria worked as a teacher’s aide, which convinced her to change her major and become an educator — based in Southeast San Diego, rising through the ranks to become a vice principal and principal.  After retiring, she worked as a teacher at the Ronald MacDonald House.  “I worked with the children whose siblings were at Children’s Hospital. My goal was to give these kids attention and some form of  ‘fun.’ In some cases, they were watching their sibling dying and needed that special attention.”

“Lately my motivations have been to make sure that others know about our contributions to this country and especially to San Diego . . . I think we have so much untapped power in our community we just have to move it forward to gain the respect and recognition we deserve.”

“We Made San Diego” is available for purchase through Amazon Books.

December 2020

Year-end food drive surpassed our goals

The Solana Beach Civic and Historical Society and the La Colonia Community Foundation would like to thank everyone in Solana Beach who made donations and volunteered to help with our food giveaway at La Colonia Community Center on December 19-20. It was extremely successful.   

We were able to provide food for  193 Solana Beach families, impacting 955 individuals — more than double the goal for the event.

The Wounded Warrior Homes organization provided us with 2,000 pounds of non-perishables and 450 pounds of fresh vegetables picked up and delivered to us by several volunteers. The Community Resource Center in Encinitas and the ProduceGood organization donated additional food. On Saturday,  Dec. 19, generous community members lined up for two hours giving us food, toiletries and more than $2,000 in gift cards to local grocery stores.  In all, an estimated three tons of food was collected, along with toys and clothes.

Volunteers from Teen Volunteers in Action and their parents helped sort food and move it to the distribution site. Thank you to CVS in Solana Beach who let use their shopping carts to help with the transfer of food. Thank you to Danny Hernandez for delivering the shopping carts.

Jewel Edson and Dave Zito helped us from The Solana Beach City Council. Dan King from the City came on the weekend to lock and unlock the Community Center for us. Tina and Joe Zucker represented the Women’s March, Solana Beach and were generous with their time.

Thank you, too, to all of the others who helped us in some way; if you saw the continuous line of cars picking up food you would have been proud of your efforts. In addition to families who walked to get their food, cars were parked on the side of the road from Genevieve down Valley to the park entrance beginning at 3:30 for our event, which didn’t begin until 4:00.

Thank you Solana Beach for all of your care and love for members of our community.
Solana Beach has heart!
Solana Beach tiene CORAZON!

Pat Coad, Communications Chair