Town Center, Santee, CA

Town Center in Santee is a narrow strip along Mission Gorge Road, the commercial spine where the city shops for groceries and stops for breakfast. It runs from around Cuyamaca Street east past Magnolia Avenue, and for most people it is the road they drive every week rather than the street they live on. Homes in Town Center are few and modest compared with the rest of the city. Most of the housing is in mobile home parks set back behind the storefronts, such as Santee Mobile Estates on Mission Gorge Road and Camerons Mobile Estates on North Magnolia Avenue, along with a scattering of older houses and units on the side streets. Single-family tracts start just off the strip. Jimmy's of Santee, at 9635 Mission Gorge Road, has been the sit-down standby since 1977, open from 7 in the morning to 8 at night with waffles, meatloaf dinners and chicken pot pie. Fifty-Two East Neighborhood Eatery, a few doors down at 9621, pours from two dozen rotating taps and serves bacon-wrapped meatloaf, Korean pork tacos and a weekend brunch. Early risers head to the Omelette Factory on North Magnolia Avenue, which opens at 6 for omelettes, chilaquiles and hotcakes. Parks sit just outside the strip. Deputy Ken Collier Park is a short way south on Via de Cristina, and Town Center Community Park, with Sportsplex USA, and the river trails of Mast Park are north of Mission Gorge Road in Carlton Hills. Daily errands are the strength of the place. Sprouts and Vons both sit on this stretch of Mission Gorge Road, with coffee counters and fast food filling the gaps between them. The trolley station at the Cuyamaca Street end is the last stop on the Copper Line, and State Route 52 is close by. Living on an arterial means living with it. Mission Gorge Road carries a steady stream of cars, and the setting is parking lots and signage more than shade trees. In Town Center, groceries, a diner and the train all sit within the same few blocks of the front door.