San Diego Pictures (pt.1, National City)

[worldlyman]

Guys like Gary, Montrose 1100, Kimberly and others have put up some great HOUSTON pictures that I felt that I have to share...like a good classmate in kindergarten. So here I am, using my wife's Kodak EasyShare CD33 digital.

Here are pics of our '"hood" in National City, an independent suburb immediately south of the San Diego city limits. National City is known as a working-class area with a lot of Filipinos and Mexicans mixed with working class whites and some blacks. It has lots of Victorian architecture which I have not yet captured but hope to before my wife and I move to Florida to a much better neighborhood. She's a nurse and I'm a lab auditor but San Diego is so damn expensive that we chose to live cheaper but have money for other stuff rather than vise-versa. Besides, we're of Filipino descent and there's tons of great Filipino food around. Anyway...

what I love about our area of National City, is the houses are on the perpendicular streets and we have easy walking access to a Vietnamese grocery store called Chan Do, a Vietnamese beef soup place, four Filipino restaurants, two Filipino bakeries, a barber shop, Mexican grocery store called Big Ben's, an old-fashioned country ice cream parlor, a 24 hour diner called Jimmy's, two auto-service shops and a couple of bars among other stuff.

Normally, the streets have more pedestrians than what's shown but I chose a quiet morning since I didn't want to alarm the denizens. I mean who the hell goes around snapping pics of National City?

Here's a view of 8th Street. There's a bar there called McGinnis, obviously with the yellow/green frontage, popular with some Navy people.

Another section of 8th Street, just a hundred yards from where we are that's full of cool Filipino businesses.

Down that way to the left is Big Ben's Market, a Mexican one, where I can buy some young whole chicken for my soup if I don't feel like driving to the Seafood City Market or Family Loompya. Just beyond is the Emerald Hotel. That intersection is sort of busy.

A northward view of National which crosses 8th Street. Down that way, there are Italian pizza joints, churches, coffee house and Jimmy's 24 hour diner.

And because National City is being redeveloped here's a new facade that houses some education facilities and a deli is supposedly being planned for one of the spaces.

Here's a preview of the Pacific Beach pics that I'll post tonight. And my wife took these so I can't be blamed for some of the subjects within!

Anyway, I'll try and post some more National City stuff, especially the Victorians in the coming month or so before we move to Florida. I used to think National City was a joke but we've come to like the place and we're going to miss it.

[Gary]

I always found it a little run down but it looks as if there making progress.

One things for sure (and yes it's a cliche), San Diego has weather like none other. Gotta get back to So Cal soon.