The awful truth about El Cajon CA.

[capitalist09]

Went there today for the first time...

Here's my perspective....

-Downtown looked nicely redone.. new infastructure (sidewalks, street lamps etc)....

-New buildings which looked like downtown is on a good track

-Biggest mix of people I have ever seen in SD County (I would best describe it as the town where ghetto black people meet cowboys)

-Some parts looked nice some not so nice

-Yuppies don't exist in El Cajon

-I felt safe there

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The surrounding cities are really nice and relatively wealthy: Santee, Rancho San Diego, Alpine, Jamul, Jamacha

[crashingsucks]

I grew up in El Cajon back in the 70's and 80's. It wasnt too bad back then. But I remember as a kid walking home from Anza Elementry and we would see firefighters burning down old homes all the time on and around S. Mollison Ave. Eventually all the houses on that street were gone and apartments were built. Then one day I remember walking down the hall of Anza and I looked into a class and it was full of Hispanic kids that couldnt speak English. And I heard a teacher say"what should we do with them?" Even as a kid I thought let them in our classes thats the best way they will learn, so eventually they did. I had a lot of fun growing up in El Cajon-the cops back then were alot cooler than they are now-But if your not old enough you might not know that El Cajon for a few years was listed as the crystal meth maker not user of the United States. I went to El Cajon High in the mid to late 80's. But when I was working in a restaurant later in the early 90's the young hosts would always ask where I went to high school and when I would answer El Cajon the first thing they would all say was"You dont look like a gangster" or " are you mexican" I would always laugh at that then ask"is it that bad?" and they would say"yes" But again most of them went to Valhalla and drove BMW's. so most schools were probably bad to them.

But I also lived in North Park so I would tell people the difference between North Park crime and El Cajon crime was:
In El Cajon its mostly-in the middle not the hills-white trash(sorry sis) so as long as you were not involved with what they were doing or stayed away from the rif-raf you were usually ok.
In North Park its gangs and minorities and it didnt matter if you stayed away from those people or minded your own business it was dangerous. And night time was way worse. I personally was ok but I had a family-El Cajon's Subways/Banks dont have bars between you and the employees like they do in NorthPark-if you dont know what I mean go to Subway on El Cajon Blvd near around 32nd st. and youll see what I mean. First time I was there(mistake i went at night) three big black guys tried to get my keys away from me while I was waiting in line they saw that I drove up in a 300x and I am 6'4" and weigh 280lbs at the time and I was a bit scared. Luckily I didnt back down and they left me alone.

One time I was at work and next door was a gymnastics place and I witnessed this lady pull up so she could take her daughter into gymnastics practice. The woman gets out of her car with a cigarette in her mouth she walks around the vehicle and opens up the cover that you open to get to your gas cap. She takes her lit cigarette puts it out against her car and then lays it under the edge below the gas cap and closes the door and proceeds to walk into the place-now thats white trash.

I also had bad experinces in El Cajon -no not crime- but a restaurant owner who liked to touch us when we were teens working for him. This happened when he took over Leatherbys/Oh my gosh Sundaes You might have heard of him his name is Bob. This is another story and its not considered slander since I was one of the teens he touched often.

well i fel better that i let this out...the city i live in now has maybe one murder everyother year.

[lmorda]

I don't understand why people choose to act like that. My girlfriend lives in Mt. Helix, and it's sooo beautiful. We walk around the neighborhood and everyone is out watering their lawns and saying hi. But as soon as you drive down the hill into El Cajon, the whole attitude completely changes.

Last saturday night at 2am, we were in search of some greasy food to feed our drunk faces. Now, anywhere you go at 2am is obviously not as nice as it is during the day. But first we tried Vons, and as we're walking back to the car (when we realized it was closed, duh), these three guys called me a "b*tch" and a "m*therf*cker", for absolutely no reason. I'm just walking to my car, and they say "i see you b*tch... yeah you motherf*cker". wha?? and then we get in line at carls jr drive thru, and two guys jump out of this big ass SUV spraying each other with silly string, and again for no reason they start spraying the back of my girlfriends car with silly string, saying "what are you gonna do about it b*tch"??? wtf?

[PharmboyinNC]

Wow. Note to self, don't drive to "The Balls" when I move there.

[iskray917]

Originally Posted by lmorda

I don't understand why people choose to act like that. My girlfriend lives in Mt. Helix, and it's sooo beautiful. We walk around the neighborhood and everyone is out watering their lawns and saying hi. But as soon as you drive down the hill into El Cajon, the whole attitude completely changes.

Last saturday night at 2am, we were in search of some greasy food to feed our drunk faces. Now, anywhere you go at 2am is obviously not as nice as it is during the day. But first we tried Vons, and as we're walking back to the car (when we realized it was closed, duh), these three guys called me a "b*tch" and a "m*therf*cker", for absolutely no reason. I'm just walking to my car, and they say "i see you b*tch... yeah you motherf*cker". wha?? and then we get in line at carls jr drive thru, and two guys jump out of this big ass SUV spraying each other with silly string, and again for no reason they start spraying the back of my girlfriends car with silly string, saying "what are you gonna do about it b*tch"??? wtf?

haha what do you expect from the 2 am crowd?

[Sassberto]

Originally Posted by iskray917

haha what do you expect from the 2 am crowd?

2AM on halloween night no less!

[crashingsucks]

they just want someone to start a fight with...i used to run up to people that did that to me and say -do what you gotta do-and they never would do anything but maybe push me. then they looked stupid in front of their girlfriends.

[HHollywood]

Well, I've just moved (from the UK, a month ago) to Mount Helix and spent a fair bit of time in El Cajon. I really don't understand what all the fuss is about. I got the impression from reading other threads on this board I'd be wondering into some kind of redneck nightmare of bar brawls and strung out junkies lining the streets.

It's fine. Looks like a place that's trying hard to polish itself up - I like the new road sign on Main street, gives the place a bit of identity. There are a few empty stores but, overall, I like the place. Feels perfectly safe to me. Sure, some people are a little less 'sophisticated' here but - one thing I have noticed already - is that there are a whole lot more community events in El Cajon than in Mount Helix or Rancho San Diego. I've noticed two (extremely polite) homeless people outside Vons on Chase, and that's about it.

Not that I have an axe to grind at all (I like lots of different parts of San Diego from what I've seen, would live in Encinitas if it were closer to where I work and Coronado if I had limitless cash) but this 'East County hate' does seem kind of odd to me - like people have a chip on their shoulders about it. From what I've seen, East County has bigger, cheaper houses, fantastic schools and people who have been extremely welcoming and kind to outsiders like us. What's not to like? I'm still smiling about the view every morning.

[iskray917]

Originally Posted by HHollywood

Well, I've just moved (from the UK, a month ago) to Mount Helix and spent a fair bit of time in El Cajon. I really don't understand what all the fuss is about. I got the impression from reading other threads on this board I'd be wondering into some kind of redneck nightmare of bar brawls and strung out junkies lining the streets.

It's fine. Looks like a place that's trying hard to polish itself up - I like the new road sign on Main street, gives the place a bit of identity. There are a few empty stores but, overall, I like the place. Feels perfectly safe to me. Sure, some people are a little less 'sophisticated' here but - one thing I have noticed already - is that there are a whole lot more community events in El Cajon than in Mount Helix or Rancho San Diego. I've noticed two (extremely polite) homeless people outside Vons on Chase, and that's about it.

Not that I have an axe to grind at all (I like lots of different parts of San Diego from what I've seen, would live in Encinitas if it were closer to where I work and Coronado if I had limitless cash) but this 'East County hate' does seem kind of odd to me - like people have a chip on their shoulders about it. From what I've seen, East County has bigger, cheaper houses, fantastic schools and people who have been extremely welcoming and kind to outsiders like us. What's not to like? I'm still smiling about the view every morning.

This board greatly exaggerates how bad El Cajon is. However, I wouldn't hang out near any of the cheap run down apartments in the valley. You never know what kinds you're going to run into. But on the whole I agree. As you live there for more time you'll soon come to feel a sort of disdain for East County by some of the upper class beach/north county dwellers. I think that's partially a reason for the slant on this board as well.

[crashingsucks]

Growing up in El Cajon in the late seventies early eighties I had 6 bikes stolen i have had my truck broken into twice and someone got into my garage and stole my tools. My sister had her car stolen and a week later they found it near the border. I was shot at when I lived on Sunshine Ave, and I dare you to hang out on Emerald Ave at night time -not towards the Junior High but the other direction. I am not scared of much but I would be careful raising a family there. People that live on any of the hills are in the nice areas and only drive down to Vons then back up the hill. Across the street from Vons on Chase was where the original Vons was located if the buildingis still there you might still see the bullet holes in the ceiling around where the registers were located. Later that day someone else tried to rob them but they had no money left to give him because of the first robbery. When we were kids we would explore the wooded areas around Avocado, about half way up the hill on the right side there was a little trail when we first went up the trail we came across a field full of grown pot plants. When we livee on Naranca someone robbed the bank on 2nd street and decided to hide in our back yard-I could figure out why helicopters were flying over my place. When I was a teen and I would walk at night from Chase Ave over to Naranca I would be asked by at least five people if I wanted to buy drugs..again mid 80's so someone said the city is getting better ???I hope so...Maybe Im now accustomed to where I live now. When my wife would drive down the street at night here she would see kids bikes sitting out on the curb and run up to peoples home and tell them that their bikes were still outside-they would be like so??? My wifes health became so much better not having to stress about crime and traffic. She used to get sick In San Diego all the time but never gets sick here. Like I always say to people who live in my city here in Southern Utah San Diego is a great place if you removed all the people...My parents live in a nice area in Lakeside and I wouldnt mind living there.