Save Our Heritage Organisation

06/14/2026

Chula Vista reclaims a piece of its past in acquiring historic Vogue Theater -After nearly two decades of vacancy, Chula Vista moves to revive the 80-year-old theater at the heart of its downtown

By Walker Armstrong for The San Diego Union-Tribune
June 14, 2026

After roughly 20 years of sitting dark on 3rd Avenue, the historic Vogue Theater has a new owner — and this time, it’s the city itself.

Chula Vista Mayor John McCann announced in May that the city acquired the Vogue Theater and its adjacent parking lot for approximately $2.5 million, setting the stage for what officials hope will become a music and entertainment venue, as well as a catalyst for the continued revitalization of downtown’s historic corridor.

The Vogue first opened in 1945 and served for decades as the primary movie theater in Chula Vista before closing in 2006. For many longtime residents, it was more than a place to catch a film.

“Many of us who grew up in Chula Vista remember going there with friends on Dollar Tuesday nights, taking our first dates there, and watching classic films,” McCann said. “The Vogue is more than just a theater. It is a place filled with memories for generations of residents.”

The acquisition came after years of legal disputes under private ownership. McCann said the city needed to “stop the bleeding from escalating outside attorney fees, break through the gridlock, and refocus our attention on what matters most, bringing new life to the Vogue and revitalizing downtown Chula Vista.”

David Graham, the city’s director of economic development, said a structural assessment of the building is currently underway before any redevelopment timeline is set. He cautioned against moving too quickly, pointing to the risks of rushing a project of this complexity.

“The worst thing in the world would be to move too quickly and end up in a situation where the theater remains closed for another 20 years,” Graham said.

He added that the redevelopment process will be public and transparent, and could involve a competitive solicitation of private partners with the right financial backing and vision.

Dominic LiMandri, district manager for the Downtown Chula Vista Association, said the Vogue has long represented something larger than its four walls for 3rd Avenue business owners and residents alike.

“It’s always been very much a staple of the downtown experience,” LiMandri said, noting that many local business owners still reminisce about seeing films there as kids.

LiMandri sees the theater’s revival as both an economic driver and a cultural statement — a chance to honor the city’s identity while attracting a new generation. “Being able to put live music in an older institution like the Vogue, I think it’s a perfect metaphor for Chula Vista where it wants to maintain its identity and it wants to see this new investment.”

McCann said his goal is to transform the Vogue into “a vibrant destination for entertainment, arts, and community events that will help drive economic activity and create new opportunities for local businesses and residents.

After nearly two decades of vacancy, Chula Vista moves to revive the 80-year-old theater at the heart of its downtown

06/14/2026

From time to time, SOHO shares historic homes currently for sale in hopes of connecting them with preservation-minded buyers. Sometimes we are asked to share a property by an owner or realtor seeking the right steward; other times we spotlight an important historic property because we hope it finds a buyer who values its history and character.

We want to be clear about our role. SOHO is not a real estate agent, we are not representing any party, and we do not receive commissions or donations from these posts. We simply share listings as a preservation courtesy to help historic homes find caring owners.

We share listings exactly as they are provided to us. We do not edit listings, verify claims, or research historical associations mentioned by the seller. We also cannot answer questions beyond what is included in the shared information. If a price is not included, we do not have that information. Interested parties should contact the lister directly using the details provided.

We are always happy to showcase historic houses in need of sensitive, preservation-minded buyers. If you have a property you’d like us to consider sharing, please send the information to [email protected].

Thank you for helping support preservation by spreading the word and encouraging thoughtful stewardship of San Diego’s historic places.

06/12/2026

Throwback to a 2020 story-still the same today. A powerful reminder from engineer Dr. Hossein Rezai: demolishing a building is not just a construction decision—it can have major climate impact.

Buildings are designed with a “life span,” but that doesn’t mean they’re disposable when they age or fall out of code compliance. In many cases, structures can be tested, repaired, retrofitted, and given a second life instead of being torn down and rebuilt.

Why does this matter? Because demolition and new construction carry a huge carbon cost. The emissions from building just one large high-rise can equal the carbon absorbed by millions of trees in a year. From that perspective, reuse and preservation aren’t just cultural choices—they’re environmental ones.

The takeaway is simple: before we demolish, we should ask whether we can adapt and retain what already exists. In many cases, the most sustainable building is the one already standing.

Read the full article here:

Dr. Hossein Rezai, Founding Director of Web Structures, presents the scientific argument

06/10/2026

Penning the Past Happening This Saturday!
Balboa Park’s Botanical Building
with Nancy Carol Carter
June 13 · 11am-12 noon

Few structures in San Diego are as beloved or as emblematic of Balboa Park as the Botanical Building. Opened for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and recently restored to its historic grandeur, this iconic structure reflects the city’s deep horticultural and architectural legacy.

Historian and landscape scholar Nancy Carol Carter traces the Botanical Building’s design, purpose, and evolution, situating it within Balboa Park’s broader landscape history while offering insight into the philosophy and challenges behind its careful restoration.

Author bio Nancy Carol Carter is a historian, writer, and leading authority on San Diego’s horticultural and landscape history. Associate editor of California Garden, she has published widely on Balboa Park and the legacy of figures such as Kate Sessions and Paul Thiene.

Insights into San Diego's Historic Neighborhoods and Architecture: Step into the stories of San Diego’s built environment with Penning the Past, SOHO’s engaging Zoom lecture series:
PURCHASE ADVANCE TICKETS
Free for SOHO members · $10 for non-members

HERE: https://www.sohosandiego.org/main/penningthepast26.htm

06/10/2026

Looking for a preservation buyer!

From the listing: "Rarely does the opportunity arise to own a residence within the iconic Brick Row Historic District, one of Southern California’s most historically significant architectural treasures. Originally commissioned in 1887 by National City founder Frank Kimball and inspired by the distinguished row homes of Philadelphia, this remarkable Victorian-era residence offers a timeless blend of historic provenance, rich architectural character, and enduring craftsmanship. Designated on the National Register of Historic Places and nestled within National City’s celebrated Heritage Square, the property showcases extraordinary period charm including dramatic brick construction, soaring ceilings, original architectural detailing, and an ambiance reminiscent of a bygone era. The Mills Act tax advantages provide substantial property tax savings while preserving the integrity of this irreplaceable historic residence. Currently configured as two separate residences, the property also offers exceptional flexibility for a live/work lifestyle, presenting a rare opportunity to potentially operate a business while enjoying the comforts of owner occupancy (or just have a business solely or use as full primary or rental property). Complete with a charming front patio, private backyard, and detached two-car garage, this legacy property seamlessly blends historic elegance, modern versatility, and investment potential in one of National City’s most iconic architectural landmarks.:

LISTING AND DETAILS HERE: https://www.coldwellbanker.com/ca/national-city/906-a-ave/lid-P00800000HAtkOzWrfTwjGnMBP24Sn5rPc99ioSp

06/10/2026

Heritage Now! is a global campaign to harness the potential of built heritage for a resilient, climate positive and just future.

"There is no pathway to a livable climate without addressing existing buildings. Heritage-informed approaches to (re)use both avoid embodied emissions of new construction while reducing operational emissions of existing buildings and preserve sense of place."

There are many ways to get involved:

Join the campaign by adding your voice to a list of people around the world interested in bringing built heritage into the heart of climate policy.

Join a series of webinars this summer

Access the Decarbonizing the Built Environment through Heritage Toolkit which includes real world examples through case studies and offer ways you can implement findings in the work that you are doing. Available later in June.

Bring built heritage into the heart of climate policy. Heritage Now! is a global campaign to harness the potential of built heritage for a resilient, climate positive and just future. Join the global campaign Preview the Toolkit Why now? Most attention in policy is going to new buildings, but the ma...

06/10/2026

It's graduation time.! Which made us think about if SOHO were asked to give a Commencement Speech, that this is what we would say, it would go something like this:

Graduates,

You are entering a world that will ask you, constantly, to believe that newer is better. Faster is better. Bigger is better. More profitable is better. More efficient is better.

You will be told that history is sentimental. That memory is impractical. That old neighborhoods are obstacles. That beauty is expendable. That permanence is naïve.

Do not believe it. Because one of the most important lessons we have learned in preservation is that:

A society reveals what it truly values not by what it builds, but by what it refuses to throw away.

The places we save are never just buildings. They are evidence. Evidence that ordinary people mattered. Evidence that craftsmanship mattered. Evidence that communities once believed public spaces should inspire awe, not merely function. Evidence that human beings need beauty as surely as they need roads and roofs and commerce.

Every historic house saved, every old theater restored, every street tree defended, every neighborhood protected from careless destruction says to future generations, you belonged here too. And that matters deeply in a time when so many people feel untethered.

Preservation is not about living in the past. It is about understanding that cities, like people, lose their souls when everything meaningful is replaced the moment it becomes inconvenient.

You are graduating into an age of astonishing technological power, nto an age when almost anything can be created instantly but very few things are built to last.

And yet, despite all of this acceleration, human beings still hunger for authenticity.

We still travel thousands of miles to stand in old plazas, historic parks, quiet neighborhoods, beloved main streets, and buildings made by hands long gone. We still gather beneath old trees planted by people we never knew. We still feel something sacred when we encounter places that have endured.

Because permanence comforts us. Because continuity matters. Because somewhere deep inside, we understand that if every generation erases the last one, eventually no one will remember that we were ever here at all.

That is why preservation matters. Not because old things are automatically good. But because memory is. And because progress without memory becomes amnesia.

You will inherit enormous challenges. Housing affordability. Climate instability. Isolation. Political division. Cultural homogenization. The pressure to monetize every square foot of existence. You will also inherit extraordinary opportunities.

To build wisely. To repair instead of discard. To create beauty instead of blandness. To strengthen communities instead of atomizing them. To protect the fragile things that make life meaningful.

You only have to become people who care. People willing to ask: What deserves to endure? What is worth saving? Who gets erased when places disappear? What kind of world are we handing forward?

Because that is the real work of citizenship. Not simply consuming a place but loving it enough to protect it.

The truth is, every generation inherits a world it did not build. The question is whether it leaves behind one worth inheriting.

For more than half a century, preservationists in San Diego have fought battles many people said were impossible to win. They stood in front of bulldozers. They argued at hearings late into the night. They organized neighbors. They raised funds. They documented histories. They refused to surrender beloved places simply because someone powerful decided they were expendable.

And because they did, countless places still exist today that otherwise would have vanished forever. Never underestimate what committed citizens can save. And never underestimate how quickly beautiful things can disappear when good people decide staying quiet is easier.

So, as you leave this chapter of your life. Be careful what you normalize. Be careful what you permit to vanish. Be careful what you call progress. And whenever possible, be builders of continuity in a culture addicted to replacement.

Protect places whose stories are larger than your own. Fight for beauty even when it is unfashionable. Learn the history of where you live. Plant trees you will never sit beneath. Become someone who notices. Someone who remembers. Someone who cares enough to stay engaged. Because the future is also shaped by those who decide what must not be lost.

Congratulations, graduates.

May you leave behind a world with more meaning, more memory, more beauty, and more humanity than the one you inherited.

Image: “Let no one say and say it to your shame that all was beauty here until you came" - Unknown author. SOHOs Executive Director, Bruce C***s personal motto!

06/08/2026

Op-ED for Times of San Diego By Patrick Range McDonald an award-winning advocacy journalist for Housing Is A Human Right. ..." Lastly, the real estate industry says rent control is the wrong solution for the housing affordability crisis. That’s ridiculous: Housing justice advocates have never said rent control is the only answer to exorbitant rents. In fact, it’s Big Real Estate that’s pushing for a single solution — trickle-down housing.

Based on decades of experience, activists want politicians to implement a multi-pronged approach that’s known as the “3 Ps”: protect, preserve and produce. This is simple and direct.

Elected leaders must protect middle- and working-class tenants against predatory business practices by passing rent control and other renter protections. Politicians must also preserve existing affordable housing, not demolish it to make way for luxury housing. And elected officials must produce new affordable and homeless housing through such methods as the adaptive reuse of existing buildings and pre-fabricated housing. Protect, preserve, produce."

American tenants need rent control now. They also need affordable housing to be preserved and more affordable and homeless housing to be produced.

06/08/2026

Sharing for our friends at the Encinitas Historical Society:

Prompted by the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Encinitas Historical Society (EHS) invites the greater San Diego community to a series of “Independence Saturdays.” Each Saturday will honor another of the many cultures whose work and words have shaped the experience of successive “independences” across Southern California since the 1760s. In its entirety, the series will deepen our regard for declarations of independence as at once aspirational and invitational.

The series begins in June with days dedicated to the history of Black Americans (Friday June 19–Saturday June 20), Japanese Americans (June 27), and the signers of the Declaration (July 4). Subsequent days will be devoted to Native Californians (August 8), U.S. women (August 22), Californians and San Diegans (September 12), and Mexican Americans (September 19), culminating in a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the city of Encinitas (October 3).

At our 1883 one-room Schoolhouse, the EHS Independence Saturdays will invoke history, civic reflection, and personal reminiscence via vivid timelines, collaborative murals, historic recordings, music, film, and video, amid a traditional hands-on curriculum: Reading (old textbooks); Reciting (orations, letters); Spelling/Writing (proclamations, with turkey quill, metal nib, chalk, or pencil stub); Geography (of constant migrations and shifting borders)
-–never forgetting Recess and gardening.

Independence Saturdays take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Schoolhouse, 390 West F St in Encinitas. All events are free and open to the public, ages 6 and up, courtesy of a grant from the Coastal Communities Foundation. We trust that this unique series will encourage visitors to engage with local and regional history while coming to appreciate how declarations of independence at every level are conditioned by time, place, age, and circumstance.

Full details about the Independence Days series can be found here:https://encinitashistoricalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/independence-days-essay-revised-for-spring-2026-newsletter.pdf

06/02/2026

Today's the day—vote! Our historic communities are under increasing pressure, but San Diegans have made one thing clear: preserving the places that give our neighborhoods character, cultural depth, and a strong sense of community matters​.

Historic preservation strengthens communities, supports local economies, inspires creativity, and connects us to the stories and people that shaped our region.

Your voice matters. Vote today.