Webster Community Council

Webster Community Council Background Information:

WEBSTER COMMUNITY COUNCIL

The name of this organization shall be WEBSTER COMMUNITY COUNCIL. The boundaries for membership for WEBSTER COMMUNITY COUNCIL shall be anyone living within the San Diego city boundaries as recorded as of April 3, 1982, located between Euclid Avenue to the east, Home Avenue to the west and Highway 94 to the south and Dalehaven Place to the north.

OBJECTIVES:

The objectives of this Council are to promote the welfare of the community and the citizens within the WEBSTER boundaries. The objective of WEBSTER COMMUNITY COUNCIL is to secure adequate representation before any legislative bodies, San Diego City Departments and the community. The objective of WEBSTER COMMUNITY COUNCIL is to serve as the official channel of communication between legislative bodies, San Diego City Departments and the community.

BASIC POLICIES:

The Council shall be non-commercial, nonsectarian, nonracial and nonpartisan. The name of the Council or the names of any members in their official capacities shall not be used in any connection with a commercial concern or with any partisan interest or for any purpose not appropriately related to promotion of the Objectives of this organization.

MEMBERSHIP/DUES:

Each member of this Council shall pay annual dues as prescribed by the Council. Annual membership dues shall be $10.00 (Ten Dollars) per head of household per year. Any additional legal voting Adult of the same household shall pay $5.00 (Five Dollars) per year.

The Neighborhood We Call Webster

The area now known as Webster used to be called Imig Park, and before that, Arnold Park, back when the subdivision was built in 1948. Webster is bounded by California Highway 94 to the south/ southeast, 47th Street to the west, and Euclid Avenue to the north. 

The homes are typical 1950's style Ranch homes.

The two story homes that align Federal Boulevard were the first to be built. The city line stopped at Home Avenue and Federal Boulevard, but when Arnold Park was built, the city line was extended to Federal Boulevard and Highway 94, where it still is today, separating Lemon Grove from San Diego.

Webster has the distinction of being at two major freeways, California Highway 94 and Interstate 805, and within a 5-minute drive to Downtown San Diego and the Famous Gaslamp District, with its theaters, restaurants and nightclubs, which draw visitors from around the world.

A Diverse Neighborhood

Over the years, the names were lost, except for on property titles, which still state Arnold Park, and the area was renamed when the community council was formed after the local elementary school located here in the neighborhood.

The first residents were Caucasian families, most, were military due to the location of the area not far from the Naval base at 32nd Street. In the late 60's and early 70's, African-American families moved in, and the Caucasian families moved out, as was typical in those racially charged times.

The area has known seen its third renaissance with the influx of Hispanic, Gay, Lesbian, and Asian families, making this a very diverse neighborhood within eyeshot of Downtown San Diego.

Webster History: Shopping, Restaurants, Nightlife, and Fishing

Travel northbound on 54th Street to College Grove Way, a mere 4 miles, and you will come to Chollas Lake, the only inner city stocked lake in San Diego. Right down from the lake is the newly renovated Marketplace at the Grove, formally, College Grove Shopping Center. The Neon Drum Majorette that adorns the north side of the Mervyn's Department store, has a history all its own.

 
That sign came from the now gone Campus Drive-In on El Cajon Boulevard & 61rd Street.

Here's an excerpt from SOHO.com's site (Save Our Heritage organization):

*The history of the Majorette is as colorful as the sign itself, which has survived the demolition of two prior locations and several years of storage. She was originally built in 1947 for the Campus Drive-In Theater, the largest drive-in theater on the West Coast at that time. The sign was affixed against a mural on the back of the movie screen, which depicted the San Diego State University bell tower quadrangle, football goalposts, and background mountains, one with a white "S" on it. The Campus drive-in was located at the corner of El Cajon Boulevard and College Avenue.

Austin Linn Gray and Joe Schmidt, two San Diegans, are credited with the design of the Majorette. It is believed that Gray used as a model for the sign a photograph of Marion Caster Heatherly Baker, a top California drum majorette in the 1940's and head drum majorette at San Diego High School, class of 1943, at San Diego State College, the Naval Training Center, and later the Los Angeles Rams.

The Majorette has achieved national notoriety, and has been featured in Life and Time magazines, as well as various calendars and books.

In 1983, the Campus Drive-In was demolished, for development of a new shopping center. At that time, the Majorette was donated to Save Our Neon Organization, which packed the sign in a crate and stored it in a downtown warehouse. In 1985 the sign was restored and installed at the newly renovated Marketplace at the Grove. It was placed at the Mann Theater at College Grove, where it stayed until 1998, when the shopping center was again renovated as College Grove Center.

Despite several changes in its surroundings, the popularity of the Majorette with San Diegans has not waned. It is reported that over 8,000 people attended the relighting ceremony in 1998, an event aired by several major television stations in San Diego. *

Anyone remember the Rancho Drive-In?

The Rancho Drive-in was the oldest drive-in movie theater in San Diego. It was located at Euclid and Federal Boulevard. It opened in 1948 and closed its *doors* in 1978. For a look at the original newspaper article, click the link below.

Euclid and Federal soon became home to Parsons Chevron Gas Station, which was run by 3 generations of the Parsons family, and closed in 2005. Mc Donald's and Cox Communications is now located next door to where the gas station once stood, and where the Rancho Drive-in stood before that.

Webster is also home to the oldest, continually operated, mortuary in San Diego, and is owned by the Ragsdale Family for over 5 generations. The Ragsdale-Anderson Mortuary is located at 5050 Federal Boulevard, San Diego, California 92102.

There was a Nightclub called Cynd's, but is now closed, located on 54th Street, and before then it was called Tina's, with it's crazy history: named for its original owners, Clarence and Cynthia, it has been a landmark to the Webster area for over 45 years. The parking lot is packed by 8pm with old school aficionados dancing the night away to 60's, 70's, 80's R/B, and reggae on special nights, also, last but not least: The Black Frog. Named for the owner a African-American Naval Diver, *Frogman*. The bar stood at the northwest corner of 47th Street and Federal Boulevard, right across from the old Parsons gas station. It is now the parking lot of Coca Cola. 

Webster has now seen a resurgence in the area: Starbuck's has moved in; Popeye's Chicken; Union Bank's remodeling; San Diego National Bank's new look, and a host of new smaller businesses revamping its commercial shopping area along Euclid Avenue.

Local Neighborhood Web Sites

Rancho Drive-In Newspaper Article 1978
Walker Scott Department Store in College Grove
A Green Thumb
Black Contractor's Association - Abdur Rahim Hameed
San Diego National Bank