SD Humane Society Opens New Adoption Center
Plus: Cat Success Story, Lunar New Year Celebration, Lunch at La Gran Terraza, Kearny Alumni Car Show, Elections for LVCPG, Bayside Seed Class, LVTC Treasurer Needed, LVTC Meeting, and LV Poetry
Linda Vista proudly plays host to the San Diego Humane Society (SDHS), located at 5500 Gaines Street. In doing so, we hope all San Diegans realize that our community happens to be home to one the most advanced state-of-the-art facilities of its kind in the entire country. This bold claim was clearly evident this past Tuesday morning as the SDHS held a grand opening ceremony for its newly redesigned Animal Adoption Center. The ceremony included a ribbon cutting ceremony in which San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria helped conduct the honors, along with SDHS President and CEO Dr. Gary Weitzman, Danielle Xavier, Senior Campus Director San Diego and SDHS Board Chair Tori Zwisler.
As ceremony attendees, made up of SDHS staff, volunteers, and local residents, entered the new Animal Adoption Center, they were immediately amazed at the overall quality of the facility, and impressed by the bright and spacey atmosphere that is engendered by the reconfigured designs. As they made their way further into the different sections, attendees were equally impressed by the improved animal enclosures, which seemed to offer the animals a pleasant, healthy habitat as they await adoption and their future forever home.
Construction on the remodeled facility began in May of 2022. As explained by the SDHS, this has resulted “in a remarkable transformation of animal habitats, the adoptions lobby and outdoor exercise yards. The vibrant and colorful space will enhance the comfort and wellbeing of the resident pets, while providing a better guest experience.”
The Adoption Center first opened approximately 20 years ago and was at the time considered one of the best such facilities in the country. However, the remodeled Center reflects all the animal welfare and adoption experience lessons that have been learned in that time.
The Adoption Center now has 58 dog rooms, 55 cat kennels, 11 communal cat rooms, and one large cat “aquarium” for multiple felines, as well as 53 spaces for small pets.
Some of the key features of the remodeled Adoption Center include:
Calming enhancements for enclosures
Solar tubes for natural light
Den-like housing for dogs to feel more secure
Angled kennels so no dogs will have direct view of each other
Sound proofed habitats
Improved drainage designs to allow staff to clean easier and spend more time with the animals.
Dedicated space for small animals
Expanded outdoor play areas, to include play yards for dogs and “catios” for cats
As pointed out by Dr Weitzman, “This marks a new era for San Diego’s homeless animals. Our renovated adoptions center represents a significant leap in animal welfare and will provide a better experience for countless animals in need.”
We encourage local residents to pay a visit to the newly designed Animal Adoption Center. Check out all the rooms/sections. You will leave the facility impressed. And who knows, you might even leave with a new family member.
SD Humane Society Success Story
Speaking of the SD Humane Society, we thought it an appropriate time to highlight a Foster Kitten success story that started here on the LV Update. Back in July 2023, the newsletter featured a couple kittens we were fostering for the SD Humane Society’s kitten nursery. We hoped publicizing these two kittens would help find them a forever home. We are happy to report both kittens found homes with LV Update readers, but we are really happy to report that one of the kittens found a home just two doors away from us. Below are Before/After photos of Scooter. (the kitten formerly known by the SDHS as Professor Pudding). In the Before photo (while still a foster kitten) he weighed a mere 850 grams (almost 2 pounds). In the After photo Scooter now weighs in at a solid 11 pounds. His parents report that Scooter is a growing boy who loves to tirelessly fetch balls (as good as any dog) and always finds ways to keep them laughing.
Don’t worry, with the new kitten season fast approaching, we hope to again feature available kittens seeking adoption. There will be plenty of opportunities to adopt. Perhaps awesome LV Update readers will once more step up to provide welcoming homes.
Lunar New Year Celebration Today!
Check out the flyer for COVID-19 and Flu vaccine opportunities at today’s Lunar New Year celebration by clicking HERE.
Enjoying Lunch at USD’s La Gran Terraza
Hope you all had a very nice Valentine’s Day. If you are like most people, you probably went with a loved one to a nice restaurant for a nice meal after buying that loved one a nice bouquet of flowers and a nice card. Well, we are no different. We wondered if we could combine a nice meal with a review for this newsletter and kill two birds with one stone. With the price of restaurant fare nowadays, we are always looking ways to save some money.
We narrowed our choices down to two venues: a new restaurant that opened recently in Friars Mission Center that serves Mediterranean street food, or La Gran Terraza, the wonderful restaurant at the University of San Diego, which we have previously reviewed. We thought since it was Valentine’s Day, we should go with the fancier restaurant and thus decided on La Gran Terraza. Next, we needed to decide if we wanted to go there for lunch or their special Valentine’s Dinner. They have a great website which includes menus as well as prices, so we thought we would check there first.
They had a lunch menu with several things that are non-meat including Seafood Bisque, Seared Salmon, various salads, Squid Ink Pasta and more. Prices were from $8.50 for the bisque to about $20.00 for the Salmon. Chicken and steak entrees are in the $17.00 - $20.00 price range.
We then checked the dinner menu for Valentine’s Day. The menu was very fancy and included several Three Course Dinners. One appetizer, one dessert and one entrée all for one price. So far so good. The appetizers included watermelon gazpacho, lump crab cake and little gem salad. Desserts were burning love and chocolate oat pudding. There were four main courses, only one of which contained meat- Beef Wellington. The others were Roasted Red Cabbage, Lemongrass Coconut Milk Poached Halibut, and Lobster Mac and Cheese. The prices varied from $45.00 for the cabbage, $55.00 for halibut, $75.00 for Beef Wellington, and $85.00 for the Lobster Mac and Cheese.
We looked at both the lunch and dinner menus, weighing both pros and cons for a grand total of about 1 minute and then decided on the lunch. Somehow $170 for Mac and Cheese (even with lobster) sounded a little out of our comfort zone. So off to lunch we went.
La Gran Terraza is a very lovely place. The views are incredible and the service impeccable Reservations are recommended. We had a great table by a window which enabled us to see for miles on such a clear beautiful day. Fresh baked bread and olive oil dip was immediately brought to our table as well as a full bottle of cold water. I ordered the Seafood Bisque and Steve ordered the Seared Salmon. The salmon came with fingerling potatoes, fried shallots, and purple cabbage with spring pea sauce. There was plenty on Steve’s plate and he shared some with me. I didn’t share my seafood bisque, but it was wonderful and topped with olive oil and micro-greens. Steve’s salmon was seared and cooked to perfection – it melted in your mouth. The accompaniments were very pretty and added just the right touch to a great entrée.
Since we had spent $150 less than we would have spent had we gone to dinner, we splurged and split a Baked Alaska dessert in honor of USD’s 75th Anniversary. An old time dessert for a 75 year old University. It was $8.50 and came with an experience that included two servers with one pouring hot rum over the Baked Alaska and flaming it. It was the first time I ever had Baked Alaska and it was really delicious. It included blue chocolate chip ice cream, vanilla sponge and, of course, the rum. It was quite a bit and we both had enough to satisfy us.
We really enjoyed our lunch at La Gran Terraza and felt proud about not spending close to $200 on a meal, no matter how good it might have been. If you haven’t been to USD’s wonderful restaurant, give it a try. Go to their website and you can sign up for their newsletter that tells you all about their special meals, wine and beer tastings, and other things going on there. They are mostly open for lunch and dinner when school is in session and their bar is open evenings 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
Kearny Alumni Car Show Coming Up
Elections for LV Community Planning Group
The Linda Vista Community Planning Group (LVCPG) is looking for volunteers to serve with this civic organization. Applications to serve on the LVCPG are due at the February meeting and election takes place concurrent with the March meeting. The LVCPG meets the fourth Monday of each month at 6:00 pm at American Legion Post 731 on Linda Vista Road and Genesee Avenue. Planning groups are citizen organizations that advise the City on land use-based community goals and development proposals, general or community plan amendments, rezoning, and public facilities. They provide important feedback to the City about future growth and community needs.
The LVCPG consists of 21 elected member positions.
If you are interested in volunteering to serve on the LVCPG, click HERE for the application.
Gardening education opportunity
Bayside Seed Class Offered this Friday
Volunteer Treasurer Opportunity
The highly popular Linda Vista Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade is looking for a qualified volunteer to serve as a treasurer on its board of directors. The organization uses Quickbooks, and meets monthly at the Linda Vista Library. The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday February 22 at 11:00 am. The Fair/Parade will be held on April 27. If interested, please contact the board president—Mike Beltran—at pacificbeachmike@yahoo.com
LVTC Monthly General Meeting
The Linda Vista Town Council will hold its next monthly general meeting this coming Wednesday February 21 beginning at 6:00 at the Bahai’i Center (6545 Alcala Knolls Drive). Social time is from 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm, and the official meeting agenda begins at 6:30 pm. The public is invited to attend.
LV Poetry Corner
The Shopping Carts of Linda Vista You spot them strewn across the neighborhood. Some a far distance from the store that once employed these versatile containers in dull, retail routines. Please ignore the sense of abandonment they provoke. Rather, imagine them as freelancers, set loose to roam, beyond limitations imposed by strict parking lot boundaries, and monotonous strolls in the produce section, narrow aisles of cans and jars. When viewing them sidelined against a fence, do not shake your head in disappointment or groan about community eyesores. Look on them instead as liberated— by human accomplices who themselves skim the margins of illegality; those cart rustlers adept at transforming corralled-at-night metal frames on wheels into beasts of urban mobility. No longer confined to simple routes in service of car trunks and back seats, these grocery store accessories go unleashed to explore back alleys, mucky river trails, and coastal canyon paths. They clutch grimy treasures— piled high detritus of smashed cans, stale leftovers in plastic bags, and one’s worn out worldly possessions. Loaded down, they roll up Ulric Street; a recycling center looms ahead. Enlisted to scale the mesa, they acquire the elevated status of a sturdy Sherpa guide, lifting their cargo to redemption. Drive around the block, and encounter one of these green Thuan Phat renegades now curiously separated from their original emancipator. Surely, there is a tale to tell of gritty adventures on-the-lam. Such memories would come in handy, for one day the man in the pick-up truck will come and retrieve the store’s property, returning the fugitive to a sterile life of lugging fresh bread and milk, expiration dates far in the future.
Subscribe to the Linda Vista Update
We invite everyone to subscribe to the Linda Vista Update. It’s free! Just click on the “Subscribe now” button located below. Once you do so, you will be on automatic distribution for all future posts.
Join our growing community of readers. Stay informed.
The Linda Vista Update is a weekly digital newsletter that publishes informative, interesting and fun news about Linda Vista and its neighboring communities.
I always forget about La Gran Terraza until I read about it in your column. We’ll have to go for dinner, or lunch, sometime. Thanks for the reminder.