Granite Hills, CA

Granite Hills is a small unincorporated community at the eastern edge of the El Cajon Valley in San Diego County, where the city grid of El Cajon gives way to acre lots and rock-capped ridges on the way toward the Dehesa Valley. Its mail carries an El Cajon address, and Interstate 8 passes just to the north. The community has been counted on its own since the 1980 census, and it has held on to that status. In 2006 El Cajon approved annexing a small piece of it so a Home Depot could be built, residents objected, and the county's Local Agency Formation Commission rejected the move. The northern half sits inside the city's sphere of influence but has shown little appetite for joining. The setting is what defines it. Gently rolling land rises eastward into a ridge of chaparral and granite, homes are spread out at roughly one per acre, and horse ownership is common. Granite Hills High School, despite the name, sits outside the community in El Cajon. The big regional draw lies south along Dehesa Road. Singing Hills Golf Club at Sycuan has 45 holes across three Ted Robinson courses, Willow Glen, Oak Glen and the nine-hole executive Pine Glen, and its Red Tail Bar & Grill serves indoors and out. Sycuan's casino resort is about three miles from the club. For everyday eating, Jamacha Road in El Cajon is the closest busy strip. Crafted Greens there bills itself as a fresh and organic eatery, and the surrounding centers fill in with tacos, sushi and pizza. Groceries and most other errands sit a short drive west in El Cajon, and Interstate 8 links everything to the rest of the county. The cost of that semi-rural quiet is distance. There are no stores or parks within the community itself, so every outing starts with the car. Granite Hills came through an annexation fight still separate, and the boulders along its ridgeline make that boundary easy to feel.