Winter Gardens, CA

Winter Gardens is an unincorporated East County community of about four and a half square miles, sitting on higher ground with El Cajon below it and Lakeside's old town center just north. It shares Lakeside's 92040 ZIP code and spent its early census years counted as part of Lakeside, until the 2000 count made it a place of its own. Winter Gardens Boulevard ties it together. The road has interchanges with Highway 67 at one end and Interstate 8 at the other, where it meets Second Street, so the community works as a connector between the San Diego River valley and the El Cajon Valley. The county's community plan concentrates multi-family housing along the boulevard, and quieter streets of houses fan out into the hills on either side. What people drive in for is the outdoor country around it. Lake Jennings has fishing and camping to the east, the Lakeside River Park trail follows the San Diego River toward Santee, and El Cajon Mountain marks the skyline. The Lakeside Rodeo each April is a short drive north. Boll Weevil, on Winter Gardens Boulevard, is an old-school burger joint with a Western feel, known for its Steerburger, fried pickles and milkshakes. Giant Bambino's Pizza, a few blocks south, loads stuffed-crust pies with heavy toppings. Daily life runs on the boulevard and the freeways. Shopping centers with supermarkets sit along it, Santee is a short hop west on Highway 67, and Parkway Plaza and the rest of El Cajon are minutes south. Transit options are thin, and a car is part of the deal. The flip side of all that convenience is that the boulevard carries nearly everyone, and the community has few parks inside its own lines. Winter Gardens is where Lakeside's ranch country and El Cajon's suburbs meet, and the community still carries a bit of both.