Cajon Heights, El Cajon, CA

Single-story houses from the late 1940s and 1950s make up much of Cajon Heights, the southwest side of El Cajon that rises from Interstate 8 toward La Mesa and the slopes of Mount Helix. It is a practical, lived-in part of the city, with ball fields, a high school and a trolley hub all within its reach. The homes vary more than the first impression suggests. Many are three and four bedroom single-story houses, some with pools, RV or boat parking, or a generous corner lot, and a few sit on half-acre parcels. Closer to the main roads, condos and attached units cluster on streets like Estes and Chambers. Grossmont High School on Murray Drive anchors the western side. Renette Park on Emerald Avenue has a big grassy field, a playground, a multi-use court and a recreation center, and Karl Tuttle Park on Chase Avenue has lighted ball fields with a path around them. Harry Griffen Park is just over the line in La Mesa, and the road up Mount Helix leads to the park at its summit in the unincorporated hills next door. Eating out runs casual. Funky Fries and Burgers on West Washington Avenue does smash burgers and hand-spun shakes, plus loaded fries piled with pastrami or pulled pork. A few doors down, Chuy's Taqueria y Burritos is the stop for machaca burritos and beer-battered fish tacos. The shopping center on Avocado Avenue holds a Vons plus a handful of Mediterranean and Mexican counters. Getting around without a car is a real option here. The El Cajon Transit Center on South Marshall Avenue is where the Orange, Green and Copper Line trolleys meet, with trains toward downtown San Diego, SDSU and Santee. Interstate 8 runs along the north edge for drivers. Washington Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard carry heavy traffic, and the strip centers along them are useful rather than pretty. The quieter, roomier streets are the ones farther from those corridors. From the upper blocks, Mount Helix fills the southern skyline, and it gives Cajon Heights a clear sense of where it sits in the valley.