KUDE-AM 1320 - Oceanside, CA, USA

The studio and broadcast towers for the "Sunny Thirteen Twenty" Top 40 radio station broadcasting from Oceanside beginning in the mid-1950s still stand, although the building has expanded through the years.  It has been the home of a number of stations, both AM and FM.  Most recently it broadcasts KKSM-AM from Palomar College in San Marcos.

Located at 2952 Oceanside Boulevard, which was called Short Street back in the day.

American Legion Building - Vista, CA, USA

When American Legion Post No. 365 needed room to expand from their previous location on East Vista Way, Alvin M. Dunn offered this South Santa Fe Ave. lot.  The Alvin Myo Dunn Post No. 365 building was completed in 1948 and was named in honor of Dunn's grandson.  In 2010 Post No. 365 again needed to expand and moved into a former restaurant further south on South Santa Fe Ave. 

The American Legion Alvin Myo Dunn Post No. 365 building is located at 321 South Santa Fe Ave.

Pepper Tree Frosty - Vista, CA, USA

Originally a Tastee Freez franchise opened in 1953.  The Villaseñor family changed the name to Pepper Tree Frosty shortly after they purchased the business in 1960.  The name Pepper Tree comes from the Pepper Trees that once lined the creek next to the business.  When Vista deepened and lined the creek as a flood control channel it cut off water to the trees and damaged the roots, killing the trees.

 
One large Pepper Tree stump remains next to a patio seating area.

Located at 270 South Santa Fe Ave. the business is still operated by the Villaseñor family and is the site of the annual Burger Run car show held every January.

Ostrich Creek Bridge - Fallbrook, CA, USA

Built in the 1920s this narrow old bridge over Ostrich Creek was bypassed by a wider bridge in the 1940s to accomodate truck traffic.  Located just west of South Mission Road at Overland Trail.

Maxton Brown Park - Carlsbad, CA, USA

Carlsbad resident and avid birdwatcher Maxton Brown was responsible for organizing opposition to shooting in the Buena Vista Lagoon.  An Army Lt. with the 515th Squadron during WWII, he was killed after completing a B-24 bombing raid on July 8, 1943 at the age of 28.  The Maxton Brown Bird Sanctuary and Maxton Brown Park were named in his honor.  One-acre Maxton Brown Park provides a breathtaking view of the 260-acre Buena Vista Lagoon separating Oceanside and Carlsbad, which remains a bird sanctuary today.



This park with picnic tables, bbq and benches is located at the NE corner of State Street and Laguna Drive.

Ramona Mainstage Theater - Ramona, CA, USA

Opened in 1947 as a movie theater, it now operates as a performing arts venue featuring live entertainment and special events.

The Art Deco style structure is located at 626 Main St.

Mission Theater - Fallbrook, CA, USA

Built in 1946 as a movie theater, it has been used for live performances since the late 1980s.

The Art Deco style structure is located at 231 North Main Avenue.

First Street Post Office - Oceanside, CA, USA

Located at the SW corner of First St. (Seagaze Dr.) and Freeman St.  This 1935 WPA. Project was dedicated in January 1936.  On the U.S.P.S. closure list several years ago, it remains an active post office serving the downtown area and was recently painted and re-landscaped.

Above the main entrance is a carved grille entitled "Eagle," completed in 1936 by artist Stuart Holmes.

An interior mural depicts an airplane flying above Mission San Luis Rey de Francia and the San Luis Rey valley as it once looked.  The 16' x 6' oil on canvas titled "Air Mail" was painted in 1937 by artist Elise Seeds (1902-1963).  It is signed, simply, "Elise."  In addition to being an artist, Elise (Cavanna) Seeds was an actress, comedienne and dancer.  (Her full name was Elise Cavanna Seeds Armitage Welton.)

Both pieces of art were commissioned under the Treasury Department Section of Fine Arts.

George P. McKay Building - Oceanside, CA, USA

The George P. McKay Building has stood at the corner of Second St. (Mission Ave.) and Cleveland St. since it was completed in 1908.  Originally a general merchandise store on the ground floor, it has housed a variety of businesses through the years and is presently the Pier View Coffee Co.

Buena Vista Cemetery - Oceanside, CA, USA

Established in the 1880s on the south side of the former Wall St., now Vista Way, overlooking the Buena Vista Lagoon between Oceanside and Carlsbad.  The location is just west of the present Interstate 5.  It remained an active cemetery until about 1906, eventually containing forty or more interments.  A few bodies were disinterred and relocated to the newer I.O.O.F. Cemetery, later known as Oceanview, but Buena Vista became forgotten and neglected for many years.  Eventually the property was sold and rezoned for commercial use.  Bodies were to be disinterred and relocated.  Seventeen were known to have been relocated to El Camino Memorial Park in San Diego and a handful of others were relocated to other area cemeteries.  After grading for construction began in early 1970 there were several reports of human remains and coffins being found.  There were more reported incidents when the on ramp for southbound Interstate 5 expanded onto the property.  By then construction workers, dissatisfied with the lack of respect shown in the handling of previously found remains, simply reburied any remains found on the site and the slope towards the lagoon.  A restaurant, presently Hunter Steakhouse, was built on the site as well as a gas station, presently Amazon Bikes.  The restaurant has had reports of paranormal activity since its construction and the gas station building has also been the source of reported activity.  John J. Lamb devotes a chapter of his 1999 book, San Diego Specters, to these occurances.

This plaque, placed near the entrance to Hunter Steakhouse by the Oceanside Historical Society, says it all:
"Dedicated to the memories of those who were buried at Buena Vista Cemetery.  While some bodies were moved before and during construction on this site many remain here or nearby."

Hunter Steakhouse and Amazon Bikes, both built on the site of the former Buena Vista Cemetery.

 

View of the site from the south showing the slope down to the lagoon.  Amazon Bikes is the gray building to the right and the peak of the roof of Hunter Steakhouse is just visible over the yellow house.

The Rorick House - Oceanside, CA, USA

Once located at 106 N. Pacific Street next to the Graves "Top Gun" House and built by Oceanside city attorney and developer, David Rorick, in 1907.  The city-owned Dutch Colonial style beachfront house also stood in the path of a planned two-block hotel-resort.  In the Fall of 2007 it was offered for sale for the sum of $1.00 on the condition it be moved by April 1, 2008.  Costs to move the structure were estimated to be in the tens of thousands of dollars, and there were no takers.  The Rorick House was demolished in 2008.

The Graves House, aka “The Top Gun House” - Oceanside, CA, USA

Built as a beachfront vacation home in 1887 by retired physician, Dr. Henry Graves.  Located at 102 N. Pacific Street at the corner of Pacific and Seagaze, the single-story Victorian house is considered the best remaining example of a beachfront cottage in Oceanside and is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

It became known as “The Top Gun House” in 1986 when it was used as a filming location for the Tom Cruise movie, Top Gun.  The house appeared in the movie as the home of “Charlie,” the character played by Kelly McGillis.  Tom Cruise is seen riding his motorcycle up the hill from The Strand to the house and knocking on the door.  Interior scenes were filmed in the kitchen of an addition, since demolished.

The home is presently on property that is to be used for a two-block hotel-resort development, and it is hoped that the developer will follow through on tentative plans to incorporate the cottage into the project as something like a bar, bakery or candy store.  It will likely be moved two blocks north to the northern end of the development.

San Luis Rey Pioneer Cemetery - Oceanside, CA, USA

Located off Rancho Del Oro Road between Mission Avenue and the Highway 76 Expressway, across from Mission San Luis Rey.  Built on land donated in 1875 it was originally a Protestant cemetery, the alternative to the Catholic cemetery at Mission San Luis Rey.
  

Many Oceanside pioneers are buried here including city founder Andrew Jackson Myers.

Several strands of the same type of barbed wire used in an earlier cemetery fence are included in the present fence.

And so it begins...