Save Our Heritage Organisation

10/30/2026

“Long before this road carried cars, the corridor carried generations of Payómkawichum people between the San Luis Rey River valley and the coast,” Waldron said. “Payómkawichum means ‘people of the west.’ Naming this road in their honor makes that history visible and recognizes that the Luiseño people and culture remain present, strong, and vital today.”

“Highway signs might seem commonplace, but commemorative signs serve a special purpose,” Marquez stated. “They help preserve history, honor cultural heritage, and ensure that the stories of the people that shaped our region remain visible to the communities traveling these roads.”

The renaming serves as a unifying symbol for several sister tribes deeply rooted in the region, including the La Jolla, Pauma, Rincon, Pechanga, and Pala bands. For tribal leadership, the newly unveiled signs are also a powerful educational tool for younger generations.

Local tribal leaders, state lawmakers, and transportation officials gathered Wednesday morning to officially dedicate a significant stretch of State Route 76 as the Payómkawish Highway, honoring the Luiseño people who have inhabited the region for over 10,000 years. Hosted by the Rincon Band of Lu...

10/29/2026

This is a program I think many of our SOHO supporters would be interested in.

"This presentation explores the intertwined Californio and Anglo-American histories of the Aliso District. Despite extensive disturbance from erosion, salvage, recreational use, and other post-abandonment processes, the excavations revealed important details about the adobe’s construction and history, contributing to a deeper understanding of San Diego County’s historic adobe architecture and regional past."

From 2023 to 2025, the Palomar College archaeology excavation class uncovered a long-forgotten nineteenth-century adobe in San Diego County’s Elfin Forest/Harmony Grove area.

This presentation explores the intertwined Californio and Anglo-American histories of the Aliso District. Despite extensive disturbance from erosion, salvage, recreational use, and other post-abandonment processes, the excavations revealed important details about the adobe’s construction and history, contributing to a deeper understanding of San Diego County’s historic adobe architecture and regional past.

Ticketed event: $15 per person / $5 for SDAC members

Betsy Pain is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Palomar College, where she serves as the Archaeology Program Coordinator. She earned her B.A. in Anthropology from UCLA and her M.A. in Anthropology from California State University, Northridge. Above all, Betsy is passionate about working with students and sharing her love of archaeology.

Buy your tickets through the link in our bio! 🔗

10/28/2026

Reminder! Proposition 45: Why SOHO Is Urging a NO Vote

Dear SOHO Members and Supporters,

There is an important proposition on the November 3 ballot that we believe deserves the attention of everyone who cares about historic preservation in San Diego: Proposition 45, which would significantly change California’s environmental review process under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

SOHO recommends a NO vote on Proposition 45.

CEQA is an important tool for protecting historic resources. When a proposed project could affect a historic building, neighborhood, or cultural landscape, CEQA can require the impacts to be identified and considered and can require consideration of alternatives and mitigation measures that could reduce or avoid the damage.

That process matters.

For historic preservation, the difference between demolition and preservation is often found in the alternatives: Could a building be rehabilitated rather than demolished? Could a project be redesigned, reduced in scale, or moved to another location? Could an important historic feature be retained?

Proposition 45 would make those questions harder to ask and harder to fully consider. For projects covered by the measure, including most housing, transportation, water, health, education, wildfire and clean-energy projects the proposition would impose strict deadlines on environmental review, allow an applicant to propose only one project alternative for consideration, and limit what courts can consider when reviewing CEQA challenges.

This is particularly concerning in San Diego, where development pressure continues to put historic buildings and neighborhoods at risk. CEQA's environmental review process can provide one of the opportunities to identify historic resources and find a way to accommodate needed growth without unnecessarily sacrificing the places that tell our community's story.

SOHO supports responsible housing and infrastructure development. But we believe faster should not mean less thoughtful, and new development should not come at the unnecessary expense of historic resources.

For that reason, SOHO urges our members and supporters to vote NO on Proposition 45.

We encourage you to read the official state voter information before voting. The California Secretary of State's guide explains the measure and its proposed changes to CEQA.

Thank you for standing with SOHO and for helping protect San Diego's irreplaceable historic places.

10/28/2026

La Mesa History Center’s 20th Annual Home Tour Saturday November 7th! Attending a fun and educational event like this is a great way to show support for our preservation partners!
Read all about the details and how to get your tickets below on the original post.

Get Your Tickets Now for the La Mesa History Center’s 20th Annual Home Tour Saturday November 7th from 9am to 3pm. This year the History Center presents for our Platinum event: “Artists and Officers” featuring classic homes, landscapes and artisanship in the Grossmont Colony and Mt. Helix communities.
Once again ticket holders will experience some of Greater La Mesa’s most historic, beautiful, and preserved homes and properties including this amazing 1912 Mission Revival gem property.
This year’s ticket holders will experience the works of noted architects such as Emmor Brooke Weaver and Lillian Rice along with the homes of notable Grossmont Colony pioneering “artist” residents such as poet John Vance Chaney, concert violinist Beulah Lewis, painter Valencia Rafferty McCleave and community namesake actor/theater agent William B. Gross. The homes also feature beautiful gardens and landscapes as well as the works of local artist/craftspersons such as James Hubbell, Wayne Chapman, Anne Meek, Lynn Reeves and Mic Mead. Several homes also feature our area’s connection to regional military heritage including homes of Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II veteran officers who made their homes here locally.
All Tickets holders will be transported to the homes via air-conditioned buses that run continuously through the tour route.
This year our Home Tour Shuttle Center will be at the Grossmont High School Parking Lot at 1100 Murray Drive.
Last Year’s Tour Sold Out!
So Don’t Miss Your Chance to Join Us for this Annual Gem event that brings to light La Mesa’s amazing architectural heritage.
For tickets go to lamesahistory.com

Pre-Event Ticket Prices: History Center Members $40 Non-Members $50
Patron & Benefactor Members Receive 2 Home Tour Tickets with annual membership

FRIDAY NIGHT PREMIUM HOME TOUR TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE
La Mesa History Center is also offering a limited number of tickets for the Friday Night Pre-Tour and Reception — November 6th, 5:30-9:00PM
Get a chance to get a guided tour of the tour properties with historian Jim Newland.
Friday Night Premium ticket price $125 and includes ticket to Saturday’s tour.

10/25/2026

Do you know the story behind the Old San Diego Police Headquarters? Tucked behind its distinctive tower at Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway is one of San Diego’s most unusual historic complexes and one that SOHO and the San Diego Police Historical Association fought for years to save.

Designed in 1938–39 by San Diego master architects Alberto Treganza and the Quayle Brothers, the complex was built during the New Deal era for a rapidly growing San Diego. Its five interconnected buildings—administration, courts, jail, garage, and assembly/gymnasium surround an interior courtyard and combine an extraordinary range of architectural influences.

The San Diego Police Department called the building “Central” for nearly half a century. Then, in 1987, the police left.

The building sat largely vacant and underused. By 2000, the San Diego Unified Port District was considering demolition of portions of the complex for a parking structure serving Seaport Village, a proposal that would have destroyed about 40 percent of the historic site.

SOHO placed the building on its Most Endangered List in 2001 and joined forces with the San Diego Police Historical Association to fight for its preservation.

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but that alone wasn't enough.

Von Marie May, the consultant the Police Association had hired to write the nomination, recalled that when National Trust for Historic Preservation president Richard Moe visited San Diego in 1999, he was brought to the abandoned headquarters, walking into the courtyard, he looked around and asked, “Don’t they get this?”

The answer was, unfortunately, no. But the public did.

Steve Willard, then director of the San Diego Police Historical Association and historian who spearheaded the fight to save the building, recalled a pivotal moment at a Port of San Diego meeting. SOHO Executive Director Bruce C***s asked those in attendance to raise their hands if they wanted to see the station preserved. In a room of more than 100 people, all but four raised their hands. The message was unmistakable: the community wanted the building saved.

After years of advocacy, public workshops, coalition building, and community pressure, demolition was ultimately avoided. Instead, the complex found a new life through adaptive reuse as a destination for shops, galleries, and restaurants, while the historic eight-cell jail was retained and restored to showcase police photographs and memorabilia.

Sometimes preservation takes time, it takes persistence and it takes a lot of people saying, NO to demolition.

SOHO | This Place Has a Story
SUPPORT SOHO: https://www.sohosandiego.org/giving/index.htm

10/24/2026

" When someone argues historic preservation is holding up progress make sure you're ready to counter with the facts. It's actually a remarkably effective process, and contributes real jobs and real value to the nation's economy." - Gray & Pape, Inc.

Per the ACHP itself:

“The Section 106 process is highly effective in informing project planning and protecting historic properties. About 120,000 projects nationwide are subject to review each year, and of these, only about 2,000 reviews result in a finding that ‘adverse effects,’ or potential harm to a historic property, might result. That means roughly 98 percent of projects are designed in ways that avoid adverse effects to historic properties.”

When someone argues historic preservation is holding up progress make sure you're ready to counter with the facts. It's actually a remarkably effective process, and contributes real jobs and real value to the nation's economy.

Per the ACHP itself:

“The Section 106 process is highly effective in informing project planning and protecting historic properties. About 120,000 projects nationwide are subject to review each year, and of these, only about 2,000 reviews result in a finding that ‘adverse effects,’ or potential harm to a historic property, might result. That means roughly 98 percent of projects are designed in ways that avoid adverse effects to historic properties.”
(https://buff.ly/gszH3vM)

10/24/2026

Young Preservationists Membership
Free Annual Young Preservationists Membership

As a SOHO member you will be among those who care so much about San Diego's heritage that you have made a commitment to protecting it by becoming a member. Strength in numbers allows our advocacy work to thrive.

For more details, read all about our youth initiative program.

Are you aged 13 to 17 and passionate about preserving our past while shaping our future? Join us in celebrating National Preservation Month this May by diving into San Diego's historic preservation scene with a free membership to the Young Preservationists group from Save Our Heritage Organisation (...

10/24/2026

The 2026 award recipients remind us that preservation is ultimately an act of optimism. Every restored window, every carefully repaired architectural detail, every thoughtfully designed addition, every protected landmark, and every lifetime devoted to safeguarding our heritage reflects a belief that the places we inherit are worthy of care. Through their vision and stewardship, this year's honorees ensure that future generations will continue to experience the authentic character, beauty, and stories that make San Diego County unlike anywhere else.

Each year, Save Our Heritage Organisation honors the people, organizations, public agencies, and homeowners whose vision and dedication ensure that San Diego County's historic places continue to enrich our communities. The People In Preservation Awards celebrate those whose work reminds us that whil...

10/18/2026

Do you know the story behind the Amy Strong Castle? Tucked away in Ramona is one of San Diego County’s most eclectic historic homes—a 1921 Arts and Crafts masterpiece that looks like it belongs in a storybook.

Designed by master builders John Vawter and Emmor Brooke Weaver, for Amy Strong, the 27-room, 12,000-square-foot adobe home was created for Amy Strong.

Its extraordinary design blends influences from across the world: French stonework, Dutch windmills, Spanish brick and tile, and Medieval-inspired gargoyles and arches. . Roof tiles are supported on a concrete roof sustained by rock buttresses. The exposed eaves are troughs hewn from unfinished eucalyptus trunks supported by gargoyle figures.

Amy Strong's vision, the talents of her architects and the philosophy of the Arts and Crafts Movement can be seen in this enchanting structure. The ideals emphasized harmony between the individual and the environment, intense involvement of the artists with their materials, and the blending of the primitive with the sophisticated.

But by the late 2000s, this remarkable house was in serious trouble.

Years of deferred maintenance had left the property vulnerable to demolition by neglect. Rotting rafters and wood beams, deteriorating roof tiles, sagging arches, and other failing elements threatened the future of the National Register-listed landmark.

In 2009, SOHO placed the Amy Strong Castle on its Most Endangered List.

Wonderfully this story had a happy ending. After meeting with the owners and sharing what we saw could be an economically advantageous vision for the property’s future, SOHO helped enthuse a new commitment to restoration. Instead of abandoning the deteriorating landmark, the owners were newly inspired and chose to invest in bringing it back to life.

Today, known as Mt. Woodson Castle, the beautifully restored property has a new purpose as a popular wedding and events venue.

The castle’s story is a reminder that preservation sometimes begins by helping someone see what a threatened place could become again. From neglect to renewal, Amy Strong Castle has a new chapter.

SOHO | This Place Has a Story

SUPPORT SOHO:
https://www.sohosandiego.org/giving/index.htm

Enjoy this photo essay blog of award winning documentary filmmaker and photographer specializing in architecture, historic preservation and nature, Dan Soderberg https://dsoderblog.com/the-amy-strong-house/