El Cajon is so ghetto

[hitman619]

Originally Posted by ver82

Ok, I have lived and worked in El Cajon for a little over a year. Yes, it is unlike many other parts of San Diego, but to call it ghetto? Those who call it ghetto have probably never stepped out of their little bubbles of cookie cutter San Diego. Whoever compared it to Newark is insane. I'm from Southern NJ and El Cajon has got nothin' on the ghettos that I've been to on the east coast. Ever heard of Camden?

This^^^^^
There are no real ghetto's in San Diego.
They're bad neighborhoods in San Diego but no real "ghetto's".
Circa 1985(Crack Cocaine/Meth era) there wasn't many bad neighbors either.

[bradleyyo]

$#*! My Dad Says: El Cajon is the anus of San Diego! - YouTube

[oddstray]

Zombie thread.

[Katzenschnauzer]

Have lived in Granite Hills(west end)for 28 years and one thing it is NOT is trashy. We parked a vehicle on the lawn between houses and received a notice to move it promptly. Years ago my husband thought it cute to grow 2 marijuana plants in the backyard as kind of a science project, if you will and a S.W.A.T. team surrounded our house and arresated both of us! It all turned out ok. Now my husband has passed away and it's been hard to maintain our house like I'd like and received a brochure from the city offering a loan for home repairs with payment due when I sell the house. El Cajon is trying to keep things up but they need to be careful not to get too "gestapo" about it. City ordinances keep things so that El Cajon does not take on an unincorporated look such as Spring Valley; which again has it's nice areas but lots of un-coded dwellings with rusted autos in the yard, mix-matched masonry, chicken coops, etc.

[NewtoSD?]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

City of LA is 4 million. LA County has 10 million. If you include greater LA, OC, Ventura and Inland empire as a megaplex, you have almost 13 million people.

San Diego is the 7th or 8th largest city in the USA but is the 17th largest metropolitan area. It is smaller than Detroit, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Pheonix and Boston.

Like it or not LA is the template for San Diego and really most western cities, it's an important glimpse into our past, present and future. I am a huge James Ellroy fan and love reading about LA, there is something fascinating about it's size, depth, and fractiousness. San Diego, while certainly a lot nicer, is much more one-dimensional.

I couldn't disagree with you more. LA is not pedestrian friendly, does not have good public transportation, and has poor air quality. LA is the polar opposite of other west coast cities (Portland, Seattle, SF) that are compact/dense, have excellent public transportation, and decent air quaility. I don't believe these cities use LA as a template for anything.

However, LA seems like a fascinating place. It has at least 5 international districts that I counted driving through, is the entertainment hub of the world, and from what I've heard, has a rich and historic art culture. So, IMO there are great things to be explored in LA.

I do find it interesting that Angelinos talk down towards Sandiegans, as if San Diego is hickville. Good god, is any city less than 3.5 mil "Mayberry"? LOL.

[Penelopes]

hey are there a lot of homeless people in El Cajon? does anyone know of a homeless man named Bob? I heard he was in the area, wanting to locate him somehow to let him know his brother passed away

[LeisureMan]

Yeah, there's a relatively good dose of homeless people in El Cajon, and some of them migrate up Main St. into La Mesa.

Your post has me kinda sad, thinking about this "Bob", out there homeless, and not even knowing about what happened to his brother and not being in any real position to do, well, anything.

[bradleyyo]

Yes there are a lot of homeless in El Cajon. They mostly seem to be along Main Street in and around the downtown area. El Cajon has a few sketchy areas and streets but overall it's not THAT bad. I prefer La Mesa to be honest.

[DonkeyKong3488]

I grew up off Emerald, and there's a stretch of it between Washington and Lexington that I would qualify as ghetto, which is probably what the OP refers to. A lot of shady apartment complexes and sketchy characters, used to be a gang problem there too, though I haven't noticed it as much in the last few years. In El Cajon though, there are few places that fit this description, most of them small stretches of road similar to this one. Actually, the recent influx of Iraqi chaldeans has helped improve community safety in many of these areas, bringing more families and stable lifestyles into the mix. Lol at someone comparing even this street to places like Watts... I've walked through almost every area of Los Angeles, and Watts terrified me far more than any other place. Walking through EC (which I often do) seems like a cakewalk compared to some of the housing projects I've seen in LA.