Del Cerro (Spanish for "of the hill") is a wealthy residential neighborhood of approximately 2,300 residents in the eastern part of San Diego, California. Del Cerro borders the communities of San Carlos, Allied Gardens, College Area, Grantville, and the city of La Mesa, and is adjacent to Lake Murray and San Diego State University. For planning purposes the city includes it in the Navajo community planning area.

The Del Cerro area was developed as a residential suburb during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The San Diego State University Master Planhas proposed to build a housing project for faculty and staff on university-owned undeveloped open spacein Del Cerro (at the site of Adobe Falls,a city historic landmark). The plan to expand the university's facilities into Del Cerro was initially proposed in 2005 but was blocked by a judge's ruling.The plan's Environmental Impact Report had been contested since 2005 through litigation brought by the Del Cerro Action Council, the City of San Diego, and others. On February 11, 2010 a judge issued a decision in favor of SDSU, but the city appealed the denial of its writ. The case remains under review at the Court of Appeal. The area is vulnerable to wildfires, but residents have battled with the city over getting permission to clear brush from slopes and around homes.

Hillcrest is a neighborhood in San Diego, California northwest of Balboa Park and south of Mission Valley. Hillcrest is known for its diversity, and numerous locally-owned businesses, including restaurants, cafés, bars, clubs, trendy thrift-stores, and other independent specialty stores. Hillcrest has a high population density compared to many other neighborhoods in San Diego. nitially, Hillcrest was a chaparral-covered mesa. Kumeyaay Indians inhabited numerous villages scattered throughout the San Diego region. Spanish colonization brought the first of twenty-nine California missions with the founding of the nearby San Diego Mission. Presidio Park in Mission Hills and Old Town just down the hill are a part of San Diego history.

In 1870, Mary Kearney obtained a deed from the city for the land that eventually became Hillcrest. In 1871 Arnold and D. Choate, two real estate developers, obtained that property. George Hill, a wealthy railroad tycoon, then purchased the land. Real estate development began in 1910 and the area was built out by 1920. During the 1920s and 1930s Hillcrest was considered a suburban shopping area for downtown San Diego. In the 1910s, Hillcrest became one of the many San Diego neighborhoods connected by the Class 1 streetcars and an extensive San Diego public transit system that was spurred by the Panama-California Exposition of 1915 and built by John D. Spreckels. These streetcars became a fixture of this neighborhood until their retirement in 1939. In 1940 the "HILLCREST" lighted sign at the intersection of University and Fifth Avenue was first erected, donated by the Hillcrest Women's Association, a group of local female shopkeepers. After falling into disrepair, it was taken down and rebuilt in 1984.

Mission Hills is an upscale affluent neighborhood of San Diego, California, USA. It is located on hills just south of the San Diego River valley and north of downtown San Diego, overlooking Old Town, Downtown San Diego, and San Diego Bay. It was subdivided on January 20, 1908 as a smaller portion of what is now referred to as Mission Hills. The City of San Diego describes Mission Hills as being the area north of Horton Avenue, South of Mission Valley, West of Dove Street, and East of the Old Town community area. Mission Hills is part of the 92103 zip code area. It shares this zip code with Hillcrest, a neighborhood of San Diego East of Dove Street. It is part of the Uptown community planning area.

The area is primarily residential, with some boutique shops and restaurants. Pioneer Park and Mission Hills Park serve as two recreational parks within the neighborhood. The San Diego Public Library has a branch located on corner of Washington Street and Hawk Street called the Mission Hills Branch Library. The Mission Hills community is within walking distance to the Hillcrest restaurants and shops to the East and the Old Town restaurants, shops, and museums to the Northwest.

Mission Valley is a wide river valley trending east-west in San Diego, California, through which the San Diego River flows to the Pacific Ocean. For planning purposes the city of San Diego divides it into two neighborhoods: Mission Valley East and Mission Valley West. Mission Valley was the site of the first Spanish settlement in California, established in 1769.Mission Valley nowadays serves as an important shopping and entertainment center for San Diego. Some condominiums and apartments can be found in the area as well.

The San Diego River valley was originally called La Cañada de San Diego. Cañada in Spanish means gully, ravine, or glen. The name was changed to Mission Valley in the 1860s in reference to Mission San Diego de Alcalá. The Mission Valley area was inhabited by Kumeyaay Indians for more than 10,000 years. The first Spanish settlement in present-day California was the Presidio of San Diego and Mission of San Diego de Alcalá, both established in 1769. The Presidio and Mission were located at the western end of Mission Valley, present day Old Town, where the valley opens out into the flood plain of the San Diego River. In 1774 the Mission was moved to its present location at the eastern end of Mission Valley because of better access to fresh water for drinking and farming. Until the 1940s Mission Valley remained largely undeveloped, featuring dairy farms and other agricultural activities; the city of San Diego was largely confined to areas south of the valley. After World War II the city’s expansion began to encroach on the valley. The last of the valley’s dairy farms closed in the early 1960s. Another early activity in Mission Valley was quarrying sand and gravel from its walls. A large quarry on the north side of the valley was in operation for most of the 20th century. The quarry ceased operation around 2000 and is now the site of the proposed Quarry Falls mixed use development. The development of Mission Valley began in 1953, when the first hotel was built in what is now Hotel Circle. In 1958 the city council rezoned 90 acres (36 ha) of the river valley to allow construction of San Diego’s first regional shopping center. The Mission Valley Center (now Westfield Mission Valley) opened in 1961 and was followed by several other large regional shopping malls.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the U.S. 80 freeway (now Interstate 8) was constructed through Mission Valley, further opening the area up for development.Westgate Park, a baseball stadium for the then-minor-league San Diego Padres, was built in Mission Valley in 1957. In 1967 San Diego Stadium (later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium, now Qualcomm Stadium) was opened and the Padres moved there, becoming a major league team the following year. Westgate Park was razed in 1969 and was replaced by the Fashion Valley shopping center.

North Park is a neighborhood in San Diego, California, USA. It is situated to the northeast of Balboa Park, and according to the City of San Diego Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk parcel maps bounded on the north by University Heights University Heights along Lincoln Avenue, on the west by Florida Canyon, University Heights and Hillcrest, and on the south by Switzer Canyon and the South Park neighborhood, on the east by Interstate 805 and City Heights. The pre-Interstate 805 boundary of North Park was widely considered to be 35th Street, which is now part of City Heights.

The North Park sign can be seen at 30th Street and University Avenue, and this intersection is often considered to be the heart of the neighborhood. North Park includes the subneighborhoods of Burlingame, Altadena, and the Morley Field area (site of the Dryden Historic District). North Park is part of the 53rd congressional district, and San Diego City Council District 3.

In the summer of 1893, San Diego merchant Joseph Nash sold 40 acres (16 ha) of land northeast of Balboa Park to James Monroe Hartley, who wished to develop a lemon grove. The Hartley family began the arduous process of clearing the land to prepare the earth for the grove, but providing the fledgling trees with proper irrigation was always a problem. Barrels of water had to be hauled from downtown San Diego up a wagon trail that would eventually be called Pershing Drive.

As the growth of San Diego eventually caught up with the original Hartley lemon grove, it eventually became roughly bordered by Ray Street to the west, 32nd Street to the east, University Avenue to the north and Dwight Street to the south. Hartley deemed his area "Hartley's North Park" - and years later, the name evidently stuck as the City of San Diego referred to the new suburb as "North Park."

In 1911, Hartley's eldest son, Jack, and a relative (brother-in-law William Jay Stevens) developed the plot into one of San Diego's first residential and commercial districts. After first establishing "Stevens & Hartley", North Park's first real estate firm, in 1905, Jack and William built North Park's first "high rise" commercial building, the Stevens building, on the northwest corner of 30th Street and University Avenue (today's "Western Dental" building) in 1912. "Thirtieth & University" became North Park's symbolic place name - and within 10 years, this became the heart of the community.

Later in the 1910s, North Park became one of the many San Diego neighborhoods connected by the Class 1 streetcars and an extensive San Diego public transit system that was spurred by the Panama-California Exposition of 1915 and built by John D. Spreckels. These streetcars became a fixture of this neighborhood until their retirement in 1939. North Park was the site of the crash of PSA Flight 182, California's deadliest aviation accident to date.

Tierrasanta, Spanish for "holy land," is a community within the city of San Diego, California. The symbol of Tierrasanta is an encircled Conquistador cross, similar to the Montserrat Cross of Barcelona, Spain, though it holds no religious meaning. The community is referred to as "The Island in the Hills" by locals and on welcome signs.

Tierrasanta was originally part of the Mission San Diego de Alcalá ranch, which was active during the late 18th and 19th centuries. The U.S. military purchased the land in 1941 as Camp Elliott, a Marine Corps training facility. The Marines moved out in 1944 and the land was transferred to the Navy. It was deactivated in 1946. In 1961, the U.S. Government sold the area that is now Tierrasanta and a portion of neighboring Mission Trails Regional Park to the City of San Diego. In the following year, the Elliott Community Plan was issued to serve as a roadmap for development going forward, and in 1971 Tierrasanta was founded. The current Tierrasanta community plan was first issued in 1982, and included both the currently developed area and much of what is now Mission Trails Regional Park. By 1982 approximately one-half of the private residential area had been developed, with the area called Tierrasanta Norte, in the northeastern part of town, being one of the locations still to be developed. Tierrasanta has been almost fully built out since the early 1990s, and in 2010 had a population of 30,443 (ZIP code 92124). Some 2,300 homes grouped in the southwest portion of town are part of the Murphy Canyon military housing complex. Tierrasanta was one of the first master planned communities in San Diego.

Because of the area's history as a military training base, some military debris including unexploded ordnance remained in the area when it was developed, in spite of multiple cleanup efforts by different branches of the services. In 1983 two 8-year-old Tierrasanta boys were killed after discovering unexploded ordnance in a canyon near their home. The Navy performed surface clearance operations in 1984 and 1985. Between 1990 and 1995 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers removed several tons of ordnance and debris under its FUDS (Formerly Used Defense Sites) program. The Corps continues to monitor the area.

In October 2003, Tierrasanta, among other communities in San Diego, was affected by what was known as "Firestorm 2003." This was a conglomeration of the Cedar Fire and numerous other wildfires that converged on Southern California. The residents of Tierrasanta were forced to evacuate. Nearly a dozen homes were lost to the blaze. Shortly after, in 2004, the Tierrasanta Community Emergency Response Team (T-CERT) was created for rapid local response to natural disasters. A similar scare swept through Tierrasanta in the fall of 2007, though residents were not required to evacuate.