Kiko's Seafood in Mission Valley Recognized
Plus: Nature Arts and Craft Day, Swap Meet, Message from Councilmember, Live Well On Wheels Today, Kittens at SD Humane Society, Reflecting on Kearny High Sports Golden Age
In this past Friday’s “Night and Day” section of the San Diego Union Tribune, there was an article titled “Seafood on Wheels.” This article stated that because we are so lucky to be close to the Pacific Ocean and Baja California, we are blessed with a wealth of local Mariscos trucks. They featured six of what they considered to be the county’s best. We, here in Linda Vista, are fortunate to be close to one of those trucks, in fact, the one they listed first in the article.
Kiko’s Place Seafood, parked at Hazard Center Drive at Mission Center Road, is a food truck worth visiting time and time again. The article told of their many daily specials, which give you major savings over the regular prices. Things like $1.50 oysters on Sunday, and a ceviche that normally sells for $26 for $18, so check them out before you buy. They boast over 20 kinds of tacos, great soups, and seafood cocktails.
What caught our attention was the article’s accompanying photo of Kiko’s seafood mixed taco for $5.99 on Wednesdays. It looked scrumptious, but we knew if we waited until Wednesday, we may not be able to have the review ready for today’s LV Update, so we decided to go on Monday.
Unfortunately the price is double on Monday, but we decided to share one and call it even.
There is no seating by the truck, so better to bring the food home, or eat in your car. We brought our’s home. Once there we separated the two taco shells and split the filling into two. There was plenty of everything – scallops, shrimp, fish, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, cheese, and even a mussel, which I ate myself. Yum. It is served with chips. The taco was awesome, the fish had a grilled flavor which lingered in your mouth. It tasted light and healthy. There are so many choices that you may find it hard to decide, but you can see the pictures of the menu items painted on the side of the truck. They will even give you free soup while you wait.
So give it a try and then tell your friends that you ate at one of the top six of the county’s best seafood trucks and you didn’t even have to leave Linda Vista, barely. I know next time I will go on a Wednesday and get a seafood taco that I will eat all by myself.
Upcoming Community Event
Nature Arts and Crafts Day
Upcoming Community Event
Swap Meet
Hope Lutheran Church (6749 Tait Street) is hosting a Swap Meet this Saturday September 30. Please check out the details in the below flyer.
Council District 7 Update
Message from Councilmember Raul Campillo
Hello, Linda Vista Update readers!
Proclamations are a way for the City Council to highlight individuals, groups, organizations, and others who have made an especially noteworthy impact in the community. Earlier this month, I stopped by the Linda Vista Second Baptist Church to declare September 17th, 2023 "80th Anniversary Day" in the City of San Diego. Thank you to the congregation for your incredible hospitality and for all your great work you do in the community. (Ed. note: Check out the proclamation by clicking HERE)
This weekend, I will be doing a cleanup of Linda Vista Community Park together with I Love A Clean San Diego and SDG&E. Many hands make light work. Please sign up today to help keep Linda Vista Park beautiful. We’ll be meeting at 9am and cleaning for about two hours. Looking forward to it and to hopefully seeing many Linda Vistans and community members there.
As always, it’s my honor to represent you on the City Council. If you are not subscribed to my emails and wish to be, you can sign up here. I send out a monthly newsletter called the District 7 Dispatch at the beginning of each month, as well as a weekly shorter newsletter each Friday called the Raul Roundup. I also keep my social media channels, including my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Threads pages, up-to-date regularly with information and relevant updates.
Live Well On Wheels Bus at Farmers Market Today
Live Well San Diego, a county partnership of various organization supported by the County of San Diego, will have its Live Well on Wheels (Live WoW) bus pay a visit to the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market today to assist local residents. The Live WoW bus provides access to a variety of health and community services while on the go!
To take full advantage of the services provided by the Live WoW, local residents with questions about applying for CalFresh, Medi-Cal, and CalWorks should bring the following documentation:
-A copy of your ID; Proof of any income, Proof of immigration status (for non-citizens); Proof of student status (for college students).
These documents are optional but can increase your benefit amount: Proof of housing expenses; Proof of child support that you pay; Proof of child/dependent care that you pay for; If you are 60+ or disabled, proof of medical expenses. If you can’t get proof, the CalFresh office will generally accept a written statement explaining your situation - make sure it is signed and dated. Submitting all of your documents with the application can help you skip the interview (through March 2023) and get approved more quickly.
If you know of any local residents who could benefit from the services provided by the Live Well on Wheels bus, please forward this information to them.
The Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market will operate from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm today at the Linda Vista Plaza Shopping Center.
A Friend Awaits You at SD Humane Society
Many of you have read about the controversy surrounding SD Humane Society’s transfer of some 250 small animals (i.e rabbits and guinea pigs) to facilities in Arizona. The transfer was necessitated due to an overabundance of small animals waiting for adoption here in San Diego.
There is little we local residents can do now about those small animals besides wait for the SD Humane Society to finish its investigation of their fate. However, there is still something we can do about the animals currently waiting for adoption at the nearby SD Humane Society’sLinda Vista campus on Gaines Street. There are still many awesome kittens at the adoption center seeking their forever homes. We encourage our readers to drive over to Gaines Street to pay a visit and check out the wonderful selection of kittens that are available. They come in all kinds of colors and personalities. What they have in common is that they are all irresistible, and they all have the potential to make great new family members. They are eager to please, and show off their playful antics, and sit on your lap.
Don’t waste any more time. If you can’t make it down there, then spread the word to your friends and neighbors. All kinds of fun and cuteness awaits local residents at the SD Humane Society.
Commentary
Once Upon a Time a Golden Age Existed in LV
As a transplant to Linda Vista who first began living here in 1988, I always find it fascinating when asking just about any Kearny High alum who grew up in Linda Vista during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, the question, “How did you enjoy growing up here in Linda Vista back in the old days?” Chances are good I will be regaled with two kinds of proud, nostalgic stories…. first, of how Linda Vista was the greatest place in the world to grow up, and second, how Kearny High once dominated the county prep sports scene.
I’ve never been sure how to take those stories. I admire the warm, wistful glow that appears in the eyes of these long-time LV residents when talking about the old days. But were those Linda Vista days of yore as incredible as people remember them? Could it truly be the Linda Vista community was at one time a sort of utopia—a real-life Leave It to Beaver type community where the young residents enjoyed an innocent All-American sense of fun and fulfillment? I can sometimes believe the personal account that claim a Linda Vista childhood in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s was all about exploring undeveloped canyons, watching the cows in Mission Valley, riding bikes around the neighborhood, playing sports till the sun went down, and shopping at the original Linda Vista Mall (which any long-time resident will pridefully and frequently tell you was the first shopping mall in the U.S.). After this weekend, I am still willing to give these LV natives the benefit of the doubt regarding the community of Linda Vista as once existing in a golden age, however, I am now totally convinced about the other part of the equation…that Kearny High School was once a bastion of legendary athletic greatness here in the San Diego area.
This past Saturday afternoon I attended Kearny High’s football game against Escondido Charter. It happened to be the annual Homecoming game, which means a number of alumni were in attendance, led by members of the Kearny Alumni Association. Homecoming half-time festivities included the presentation of several members of the school’s 1973 football team. These gentlemen, now in their mid-60’s, stood out at mid-field during half-time and had an announcer honor them by reminding everyone in the stands about their awesome accomplishment. It just so happens the 1973 Kearny High football team was the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) San Diego champion that year. Winning the CIF championship is no ordinary feat—it is still the dream of every football team that starts off the season with high hopes and ambitions, and backed up with many hours of practice. It is the gold standard for local football teams. As was explained during Saturday’s half-time presentation, what made this 1973 Kearny High accomplishment even more remarkable was the fact the Komets also won the CIF San Diego basketball championship that school year! According to the half-time announcer, both teams (football and basketball) went undefeated. That was an unprecedented achievement! A high school has to be an athletic powerhouse to attain those two championships in one school year. After observing the half-time presentation, and then subsequently driven to peruse the pages of past Kearny High yearbooks, I am of the opinion that the 73-74 school year marks the apogee of Kearny High’s sports golden age, which I contend existed from around 1960 to about 1979.
If you have recently moved into the Linda Vista community, as many of our newsletter readers have, you may not be familiar with many aspects of Linda Vista history, much less this golden age of Kearny High athletic history, at least as defined primarily by its football team’s prowess. This age consisted of two CIF San Diego football championships during the 1963 and 1964 seasons, several other CIF football playoff appearances in the late 60’s and early 70’s, a stretch of 10 consecutive Western League championships during the late 60’s and early 70’s, the aforementioned 1973 season CIF San Diego football championship, and CIF San Diego football championship runners-up honors during the 1976 and 1977 seasons.
Football Friday Night Lights is a long established American institution that has been known to help bind a community together. Someone wrote a famous book about it, and Hollywood made a movie and a TV series with that name, so it must be true, right? I am sure Kearny’s own Friday night lights during that golden age played a role in making Linda Vista a stronger community.
Now, I realize other sports teams besides football and basketball accomplished great things at Kearny High during the 60’s and 70’s (and present day boys and girls teams may continue do so as well), but confirmation of any past athletic claims to greatness will require someone else to turn the pages of ancient Kearny High yearbooks. I only seek in this commentary to tell what I found out about the Komets’ stellar football teams from that era to ensure Linda Vista newcomers are made aware of an important part of the community’s history, and to make the point that LV long-time residents/loyal Kearny alumni may have a point when they brag about how they once lived in a golden age, a time that spanned the crew cut 1960’s and the long haired 1970’s.
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