The Coast News INLAND EDITION
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VISTA, SAN MARCOS, ESCONDIDO
VOL. 4, N0. 15
JULY 27, 2018
Arts, makers village pitched by developer Council hears plan for 9 acres in San Marcos By Aaron Burgin
Spivey’s concept will consist of turning the Ritz — which opened for business in 1937 — into a mixed center for the musical and performing arts, as well as a single-screen movie theater. For the time being calling the proposed project “The Grand,” Spivey said that the church’s name is not
SAN MARCOS — Nearly nine acres of vacant land at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Linda Vista Drive in San Marcos is poised to become a thriving village anchored by arts, makers, craft brewers and distillers, schools and an interactive park at its core. This is the vision Shaheen Sadeghi delivered to the City Council as the plan for the 8.97-acre property adjacent to the 78 Freeway that his group, LAB Holding, LLC, agreed to purchase from the city at the July 10 City Council meeting. “We really want this to become the backyard of this community,” Sadeghi said. Sadeghi’s company has been the driving force behind a number of innovative small-retail and food-centric concepts in Orange County, such as the popular Anaheim Packing House and the Costa Mesa LAB Anti-Mall and The CAMP Eco Retail centers. His group said the inspiration for the San Marcos proposal was a concept they planned in Arizona that fell through based on the 19th Century Roycroft community of craft workers and artists in New York. “We’ve seen this movement across the country where people are back and making things, and it’s very exciting,” Sadeghi said, citing North County’s huge craft beer presence as an example. “We want to gather these folks, create
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GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND
Vista resident Amelia Brodka is a champion skateboarder and a committed humanitarian. Here she catches serious air at the 2017 Supergirl Skate Pro vert contest in Oceanside. At this weekend’s event, Brodka will be the emcee of “Curb Queens,” a street-style skateboarding competition for females only. Story on Page 6. Photo by Steinmetz for ASA Entertainment
Church’s proposal for historic theater spurs debate By Steve Horn
ESCONDIDO — It’s served as a single-screen movie theater and as a mecca for the showing of adult films in the 1970s, back when it was known as the Pussycat Theater. Back in its days as the Pussycat, in fact, the theater manager was arrested for obscenity in 1973 for screening the film “Deep Throat.”
But the historic Ritz Theatre located at 307 E Grand Avenue in Escondido, first and foremost, has sat mostly dormant for nearly two decades. Tim Spivey — lead planter and minister at Escondido’s New Vintage Church, member of the San Pasqual Union School District’s governing board, and adjunct professor at Malibu’s
Pepperdine University — hopes to change that and has brought a proposal for doing so to the Escondido Historic Preservation Commission. That proposal was presented before the Historic Preservation Commission for the first time on July 19 by its lead architect, Tim Cruz, who works at the firm Plain Joe Studios. If all goes according to plan,
Fire chief: Residents must embrace ‘fire environment’ By Christina Macone-Greene
VISTA — Vista fire Chief Jeff Hahn shared important fire safety tips and information during a July 10 Vista Rotary Club meeting at the Shadowridge Golf Club. During his career as a firefighter, Hahn said, there historically used to be
MIT grad first in family to attend college By Bianca Kaplanek
a fire season when vegetation would dry out becoming prone to catching fire. Back in the day, there was more moisture with the rains, he said. Right around July, less moisture was in the environment, and then TURN TO FIRE CHIEF ON 9
Richard Huizar
SAN MARCOS — When Richard Huizar was denied financial aid, he thought the decision would end his dream to become the first in his family to earn a college degree. But fate intervened and the San Marcos native graduated last month from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in
SELL WITHOUT LISTING NO SIGNS, NO OPEN HOUSES, NO HASSLE.
mechanical engineering. “It feels unreal,” he said. “It was absolutely amazing. I still can’t believe all the opportunities.” The financial assistance denial in 2012 meant he had to decline acceptance to San Diego State University. He enrolled at MiraCosta College. During his final semester there, he learned he
had been accepted to MIT, where annual tuition alone is currently approximately $50,000. But according to the school website, about seven out of 10 undergraduates earn their degrees debtfree. Huizar said he took out loans mostly to cover housing and food. TURN TO GRAD ON 14
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