By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO, Calif.—A large American flag waves above a much smaller Zion Avenue street sign, symbolic perhaps of  how Jewish influences can be found within the greater, heterogeneous American landscape. Along Zion Avenue's 1.2 mile, west-east course, one will encounter a major hospital,  four churches, four small shopping centers, an elementary school, a public library and numerous single-story residences, many of them built in the 1950s. 

As you head east, about midway up the avenue, you pass from the Grantville community of San Diego into the Allied Gardens community.  Both communities were named by land developers who wanted to appeal to war veterans hungry to purchase their own homes.

Grantville

Grantville, named for Union General Ulysses S. Grant, was developed in the 1880s with the idea of attracting Civil War veterans to one of San Diego's historic areas—Grantville  being in the vicinity of Mission San Diego, which stood as a solitary outpost through the last quarter of the 18th century and the first two-thirds of the 19th century. 

Grant, who became the 18th president of the United States in 1869, was an icon to Civil War  veterans. His son, Ulysses S. Grant Jr., also was a well-known civic figure in San Diego, to which  he relocated in 1890s..  One of the city's best-known hotels downtown is the U.S. Grant Hotel, developed by the son.

If you start at its western end, Zion Avenue begins at the intersection with Riverdale Street—the name being a reference to the nearby San Diego River, which follows an occasionally meandering course from the Cuyamaca Mountains in the eastern portion of San Diego County to the Pacific Ocean. When the Spanish settled San Diego in 1769, they built their first mission above the river, but moved it farther upstream five years later.  Today Mission San Diego with its signature bell tower is one of San Diego's best known landmarks. Numerous streets and places in San Diego have mission-influenced names, among them the San Diego Padres professional baseball team,  Friars Road, Padre Dam and Mission Gorge Regional Park

Less than one-tenth of a mile from the street's western terminus is Zion's commercial intersection with Mission Gorge Road, a major north and south street that connects with San Diego's Interstate Highway 8.  There are businesses on all four corners of this intersection, with a Kentucky Fried Chicken now occupying a former gasoline station lot on the northeast corner, and dozens of other businesses arrayed among three shopping centers covering the other corners.

One of the businesses in the shopping center on the northwest corner is Mr. Chick, whose owner, Amir Benami, was raised in Holon, Israel. He decided to take a traditional "see-the- world" trip after his military service in Israel. Because he had relatives in San Diego, he decided to vacation here, and, he says cheerfully,  "I'm still on vacation the last 15 years!" 

His uncle. Rami Vana, owner of the Chicken Nest restaurants in San Diego,  taught him the family business.  The Mr. Chick on Zion Avenue is Benami's second restaurant.  He continues to operate another Mr. Chick in San Diego's Kearny Mesa neighborhood, where there are a variety of electronics companies.  In fact, says Benami, quite a few of his customers live near the Grantville location but commute to Kearny Mesa, so he had a built-in customer base.

Benami says he also attracts many of the health-conscious medical professionals of the Kaiser-Permanente Hospital and Medical Center which is just a short distance east on Zion Avenue.  He says that whereas the minimum requirement for cooking chicken healthfully is at temperatures above 165 degrees, "we cook them at 500 degrees."

I asked the Israeli about the coincidence of his business being along "Zion Avenue," and he said the location is not far from the home he shares with his American-born wife, September, and 3-year-old son, Dominic Jacob.  When the location became available, after housing a Thai restaurant, he decided to grab it.

Across Zion Avenue at the southwest corner of the intersection is a shopping center anchored by Petco, a store that caters to the needs of dogs and cats and other pets.  Among a number of eating establishments, including a Greek restaurant, a brewery, and a  Rubio's—credited as the chain that pioneered San Diego's famous fish tacos—is an Einstein Brothers Bagels store, where assistant manager Linda Fossen smilingly agrees that you don't have to be Jewish to love bagels.

In my youth, bagel choices were limited to "plain" and "egg," but Fossen told me that more than 20 varieties of bagels are served by Einstein Brothers, which has more than 400 outlets across the country and 17 in San Diego County.  The most popular with her customers, she said, is the "Everything" variety, meaning it has "all the different seeds, sesame, poppy, garlic, onion and salt."  Are you more a traditionalist?  Fossen says another popular item is an old Jewish favorite: bagels with cream cheese and lox, garnished with tomatoes, onions and capers.

The intersection with Mission Gorge is quite busy, with Zion Avenue having dedicated left turn lanes in each direction to help speed the traffic.  The shopping center across Mission Gorge, on the southeast side of the intersection, is anchored by Vons Market, which keeps numerous varieties of  kosher products on its shelves—as does Albertsons Market, a competitor, located one-mile farther east on Zion Avenue in a shopping center at the Waring Road intersection.

Before leaving the businesses surrounding the Zion Avenue-Mission Gorge intersection, you might take notice that some of their advertising is quite eye-catching.   Next to Mr. Chick, for example, is Manhattan Pizza which features a large stand-up sign of  the Statue of Liberty.  But that's no torch in her hand. Obviously in a spirit of cooperation, La Mirage Hair Salon boasts a large American flag in its window.  And, the European and American Car Center across Mission Gorge has a Volkswagen that is a good reminder to drive carefully through the busy intersection.  It is perched on the company's roof!

Looming behind the Vons shopping center at the southeastern corner is the Kaiser-Permanente Hospital and Medical Center.  I have jokingly called my son, David, and grandson Shor "Zionists" because they were born in this hospital, 26 years apart.

The hospital maintains an "apothecary garden" with plants that are healthful for you, and a "sinister garden" with plants that are toxic  All of them grow in the San Diego County area.. If you knew nothing but their common names, where would you assign the following four species— Angels Trumpet, Jerusalem Cherry, Bird of Paradise and Deadly Nightshade?

Notwithstanding its name, the Deadly Nightshade (Atropha Belladonna) is valued both as an anti-spasmodic and as a pupil dilator.  On the other hand, Angels Trumpet, Jerusalem Cherry (a ground cover) and the leaves and berries of a Bird of Paradise are all toxic. 

On the other hand, as beautiful as its name sounds, the Jerusalem cherry plant contains solanine, which can ulcerate one's gastro-intestinal system, and cause seizures, depression, respiratory problems and shock.

Sylvia Wallace, Kaiser-Permanente's manager of media relations, said the garden was planted about 20 years ago as a community service project.  She said It features plants that grow in the San Diego County. 

Across from the Kaiser-Permanente Hospital is the Grace Assembly Church, one of four Christian-oriented institutions you will find as you drive east on Zion Avenue at lawful speeds of 30 miles per hour except in the school zone, where you must slow down to 25 miles per hour.  The street is on San Diego Transit's Bus Route 13, which carries eastbound passengers to San Diego State University and La Mesa, and westbound passengers to the San Diego Trolley station at Euclid Avenue in southeastern San Diego.

Allied Gardens

The Grace Assembly Church is still within the Grantville neighborhood, while the other three Christian  institutions—Zion Avenue Baptist Church;  Ascension Lutheran Church; and Genesis, A New Beginning are in the Allied Gardens area.

Many people knowing that Grantville was named for General Grant think that Allied Gardens was named for the Allied powers, who fought the Axis powers in World War II.  However, that is just a suburban legend.  In actuality, Allied Gardens was named for the company that built it, Allied Contractors.  According to Leland Frazer, author of San Diego County Place Names A to Z, partners Louis L. Kelton and Walter Bollenbacher developed the area in the 1950s after purchasing 1,000 acres of the nearby Waring Estate, owned by the family whose name is given to Waring Road.  Allied Contractors offered 13 different styles of single family homes.  Throughout the area, one mainly sees California bungalows, as these tract ranch houses are called,

Proceeding east on Zion Avenue, one passes a playground on the south side of the street.  This is part of Stephen Foster Elementary School which fronts on 51st Street.  The school was named for America's most popular composer of songs in the 19th century. Even today, most Americans can hum—even if they mangle the lyrics—such songs as "Oh, Susannah"; "Old Folks at Home" (Also known as "Swanee River"); "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair" and "Beautiful Dreamer."

There's plenty more Americana in the Edwin A. Benjamin branch of the San Diego Public Library, which is named for a local Jewish philanthropist who donated $500,000 to assure others could share his love for books. Linda Moskovics, the branch librarian, estimates that there are 60,000 items in the 6,900-square-foot facility.  A member of the Jewish community, Moskovics says the Judaica collection isn't as good as that in the neighboring San Carlos branch library from which she was promoted two years ago.  But she says there are good resources on Jewish holidays, and anything else that someone might need can be quickly obtained from other libraries via an inter-branch loan. She  is building up the Benjamin branch's collections of juvenile literature and DVDs..

A very short distance east of the library  is the intersection of Zion Avenue with Waring Road. Here a traffic triangle was dedicated in 2005 as one of the civic beautification projects of City Councilman Jim Madaffer, who represents the area

Flowers are planted within the triangle. There is a large, old-style, standing clock, and a welcome to Allied Gardens is carved in granite.  

Across the intersection with Waring Road is yet another shopping center, this one anchored by Albertson's and by Blockbuster Video.  

Once one passes that shopping center on the southeastern corner of the intersection, one enters a residential neighborhood which extends another one-tenth of a mile before Zion terminates at Eldridge Street.  Testifying to the American feel of the 1950's era neighborhood is the fact that on the portion of Eldridge Street facing Zion, there is a house with an American flag fittingly displayed for all driving up the street to see.