For weeks, I have seen a sign outside one of the long-time, local University Heights businesses: Relocation moving sale. Today, I walked by and could see men working inside around fixtures, so I stopped by to ask where is the new location. There is none. Yet. Maybe never.
Commercial rents rise like insane homeless people shouting and swearing as they pull along their belongings in shopping carts. The store’s proprietor told me that his rent nearly doubled, leaving him little option other than to close up after first opening—in nearby Hillcrest—in 1974. What worse way to celebrate 50 years, eh?
Looks like other tenants on the same block of Park Blvd, between El Cajon and Howard, are in similar straights with respect to that doubling. I have to wonder if the property owner seeks to clear out the block and sell the land for redevelopment.
Across El Cajon, 379-apartment building Winslow started taking tenants during late summer 2023; a community church sold the land to a developer and closed its doors there in May 2019. Rents range from $2,510 for a 509-square-foot studio to $5,945 for a 1,301-sq-ft 2-bedroom. Tell me who pays $71, 340 a year to rent an apartment and explain why they aren’t nuttier than the homeless dude yelling obscenities on the sidewalk outside their window.
A block south on Park Blvd, adjacent to Sprouts Market, another residential complex nears construction completion. That one replaced a block of charming homes and quaint businesses. So I have to wonder if Time Traveller Clockworks is but one of many closures before the wrecking balls swing.
San Diego will be unrecognizable in five years, if the current pace of bulldozing homes and small shops continues and (ugly, out-of-character) towering multi-residential buildings rise from the remains.
I used Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra to capture the Featured Image. Vitals: f/1.7, ISO 10, 1/1050 sec, 23mm (film equivalent); 2:21 p.m. PST.