As I was reporting last week, I took a few shots with my iPhone.
I spent Tuesday in Allied Gardens and Grantville. I discovered that Allied Gardens was created after World War II as a neighborhood for returning allied forces. It’s a quaint little place, with small, single-family homes arranged in neat rows on wide streets.
Down on Mission Gorge Road, which is the main road dividing Allied Gardens from the neighborhood of Grantville, I found this awesome little pink church tucked away between chicken wire-fenced lots, barking dogs and cement quarries.
One of the fun things about this assignment was getting to try out a bunch of different new food places. I found this spot just off Mission Gorge Road.
At first, I thought it was a corporate chain, but it turns out there are only two locations. The 12-inch Sophia Loren sandwich I had was delicious and kept me filled up for most of the day.
I had a great day exploring Linda Vista on Wednesday.
I especially had fun visiting the Thuan Phat supermarket, the only large grocery store in the community.
I wanted to buy some Sriracha chili sauce, but couldn’t find any on the shelves. I asked one of the workers, but he didn’t speak much English. So, he asked me to draw what I was looking for. I drew (very badly) a picture of a rooster and wrote the word “SRIRACHA” on a piece of cardboard.
He took me to the meat counter and showed me the cut-up chickens. I grinned and drew a bottle of Sriracha sauce and a chili.
“Hot, hot,” I said, waving my hand in front of my mouth.
After taking me to an aisle full of Hispanic goods and hot sauce bottles, my guide remembered something and took me over to another aisle. There he found a bottle of the sauce I was looking for. Success!
The Linda Vista library is a buzzing little place, tucked in behind the Skateworld roller skating rink. When I visited, at about 3 p.m. on Wednesday, the place was packed with teenagers, seniors and younger kids.
I snapped this shot outside the library. It’s, um, interesting.
Not sure if it has the intended impact which, presumably, is to encourage kids to read.
Will Carless is an investigative reporter at Voice of San Diego currently focused on local education. You can reach him at will.carless@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5670.
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