Bostonia, CA

Bostonia sits on the floor of the El Cajon Valley in San Diego's East County, a small unincorporated community wedged between El Cajon, Santee and Winter Gardens. Highway 67 runs along its western side on the way north to Lakeside, and Broadway marks most of the line with El Cajon to the south. Its roots are agricultural. The town store opened in 1886, a grower tried planting tobacco in 1896, and a fruit growers' packing association worked here into the 1910s. In 1928 a planned Grape Day became Home Products Day once Escondido complained, and in 1953 voters in the southern part narrowly chose to join El Cajon. That vote is why the Bostonia name now belongs to two places, this census community and a neighborhood inside the city. The community covers under two square miles and holds a lot of housing in that space. Apartment buildings and manufactured-home parks share it with single-family streets, while commercial frontage lines North Magnolia Avenue, North 2nd Street, Bradley Avenue and Greenfield Drive. Shinar's Pizza Market on East Bradley Avenue is a pizza counter and market whose Alfredo chicken pie is the house favorite. Kelly's Pub, a few blocks east, has been a pool hall and sports bar since 1981 and keeps late hours. Recreation means looking to the neighbors. El Cajon's ballparks are a few minutes south, the San Diego River trails in Santee and Lakeside are within easy driving range, and Gillespie Field's aviation museum annex sits across the freeway. Getting around is simple by car, since Highway 67 reaches Interstate 8 quickly and Parkway Plaza handles big shopping trips. Living this close to everything means density with little greenery. Open space is scarce inside the boundary, and the main roads stay busy from morning on. The Bostonia fire station still stands near the old center at North 2nd Street and Broadway, the one piece of that original crossroads that never became El Cajon.