Mission Hills

Around the late 1950s, Nita and Dale Clark (diver) splash around with girlfriends at their Spanish Revival home at 4274 Randolph Street. Dallas Clark was a captain in the US Army. The Clarks were both involved with the San Diego Natural History Museum, the Old Globe, and the San Diego Trust and Savings Bank, which Clark’s grandfather J.W. Sefton established in 1889. (Courtesy of the Dallas Clark family.)

Little Mary Louise Stimson is seen standing atop a concrete cap on a cobblestone pier at a Mission Hills house in 1913. This is an excellent example of the Arts and Crafts movement design feature and practice of using cobblestones found on-site for foundations, chimneys, walls, and pillars. (Courtesy of Erik Hanson.)

Mary Louise Stimson appears busy feeding the chickens in her parent’s backyard. The Stimson family lived in a 1913 bungalow at 4355 Hermosa Way. The Stimson residence lies within the first Mission Hills subdivision, map No. 1115, which was approved on January 20, 1908. Among the apparently ignored deed restrictions was “no male poultry or farm animals of any kind shall be kept on said premises.” (Courtesy of Erik Hanson.)

The above photograph, taken about 1913, shows Mary Louise Stimson (third from left) and unidentified friends at her third birthday party at her house on Hermosa Way. Her family’s bungalow is mostly out of the photograph, on the right side. The two bungalows to the north are still standing, although altered. At right, Mary Louise Stimson (right) plays dress-up with neighborhood friends Gwendolyn and Beth in her backyard playhouse that was set up in the Stimson’s canyon lot. (Courtesy of Erik Hanson.)

The Stimson table is all set for a party, likely for their daughter Mary Louise. The Arts and Crafts interior of the bungalow reveals typical Craftsman details, including Douglas fir woodwork, a dining room sideboard with leaded glass panels, high wainscoting with a plate rail, and a window seat to the left. Unfortunately, the interior features of this particular house were removed during a major remodeling. (Courtesy of Erik Hanson.)

Mary Louise Stimson is seen standing between her parent’s bungalow on Hermosa Way and her neighbors to the left in 1913. Notice the Craftsman houses in behind her across the canyon. (Courtesy of Erik Hanson.)

Mary Louise Stimson stands excitedly next to the Christmas tree around 1915. Notice the candles on the small Christmas tree. Mary Louise received a lot of dolls from Santa Claus this year, as well as a toy telephone and maybe even a toy broom. (Courtesy of Erik Hanson.)

Sarita Jo Mattson is shown on her bike, sometime in the 1950s, in front of 3665 Jackdaw Street. This area is now considered South Mission Hills, the area south of Washington Street. The Jackdaw bungalow court was formed and developed by sisters Mary and Julia Pickett within the original subdivision called Marine View. The bungalows across the street still exist; the bungalow to Sarita’s right has been greatly altered. (Courtesy of Sarita Jo Mattson.)

This is a 1925 photograph of Jane Vinton and her doll in the front yard of the Vinton family home at 4470 Hermosa Way. The background shows a two-story Craftsman home and garage built by Mission Hills resident and builder John S. Graves. (Courtesy of Cindy Williams.)

The cast of a mid-1940s Christmas play at the Mission Hills Methodist Church poses in a nativity scene. Sharon Hicks (second row, second from the right) and her family lived just a few doors down from the Methodist church. (Courtesy of Sharon Hicks Anderson.)

Boy Scouts George Baker (right) and unidentified friends are pictured before a Scout jamboree trip. George and his sister Bette lived on Washington Place. Like many Mission Hills children in the 1950s, they were active with church and Scouting. (Courtesy of Bette Baker Bouchér.)

This is a photograph from December 1951 at Winter Camp in Santa Ysabel for the Mission Hills Boy Scout Troop No. 59. Santa Ysabel is located in east county San Diego, near Julian, with plenty of hiking and campgrounds for the active Boy Scouts. (Courtesy of Bette Baker Bouchér.)

In this 1950s image, George Baker was just back from camping with the Boy Scouts and Bette indicates that he needs a bath. George would later become an auditor, and Bette would go on to a career as a teacher with the San Diego Unified School District. (Courtesy of Bette Baker Bouchér.)

This is an early-1950s photograph of George Baker (holding the child) and unidentified friends in front of the Baker family’s bungalow at 1844 Washington Place. (Courtesy of Bette Baker Bouchér.)

This is a November 1958 photograph of neighborhood children gathered at 4025 Saint James Place. Pictured are, from left to right, Emily Wilkins, Leslie Porter, Anne Porter, Doug Wilkins, and Steve Porter. The Porter family lived in the Prairie School house on St. James Place for many years, and their home was a popular hangout for many kids. (Courtesy of Steve Porter.)

Bette Baker stands in front of the Mellos family residence across the street on Washington Place in 1949. (Courtesy of Bette Baker Bouchér.)

Sharon Hicks (front) and Rose Marie Tait Evans pose in front of 4016 Lark Street in December 1952. (Courtesy of Sharon Hicks Anderson.)

It is all fun and games in the late 1940s in this neighborhood for, from left to right, Margie ?, Maryann ?, and brothers Charles and Richard Norquist. The two-story shiplap-sided Craftsman bungalow was demolished sometime in the 1950s to make way for an apartment complex on the 1200 block of West Lewis Street. The Norquists lived across the alley at 1218 West Lewis Street. (Courtesy of Anne Marie Boykin.)

This is a late-1950s photograph of Nina Barton’s birthday party at her house at Sunset Boulevard and St. James Place. Nina is holding her friend Franya in the middle of the first row. Cristopher Cyra is just to the right of Nina. Others identified are Mary Alice McBride in the Martha Washington costume; Elizabeth Best in the Japanese kimono; Paula Winder dressed up as Pocahontas; and Chere Ferris as a pioneer. (Courtesy of Nina Barton Owens.)

This photograph from October 1949 is of David Hicks’s seventh birthday party, which also happened to be on Halloween. Sharon and David Hicks lived on the 4000 block of Lark Street. Some Halloween costumes include three cowboys, a rabbit, a leopard, and two ghosts. (Courtesy of Sharon Hicks Anderson.)

This is a 1959 photograph of Nina Barton (left) and Mary Alice McBride on a tandem bicycle at the west end of Pine Street and Conde Street. Like the lower ends of many parts of Mission Hills, this street has homes built later in the development of the community, including postwar, custom-designed homes such as the one behind the cyclists. (Courtesy of Nina Barton Owens.)

Pierre Charmasson is seen in front of his parents’ home at 4102 Saint James Place. The house in the background was likely built by and lived in by Morris B. Irvin and his wife, Ida. They arrived in 1912 or 1913 and established the Irvin Security Company on April 13, 1915, as a contracting firm that bought, sold, and built properties. He was responsible for designing 125 homes in Mission Hills, mostly in the Mission and Spanish Revival styles. (Courtesy of Mari Charmasson.)