Monument to days gone by has moved
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2010 AT 8 A.M.
PATTI ADAMS / LA PLAYA TRAIL ASSOCIATION
A decades-old monument to the centuries-old La Playa Trail endures in the Midway area.
First erected in 1934, a concrete monument marking the oldest European commercial trail in the west weathered time relatively unnoticed in a median on Rosecrans Street until a community group formed to give it some care and attention five years ago.
Now that group, the La Playa Trail Association, has intervened again to make sure the marker endures.
Recent improvements to the busy intersection south of Midway Drive prompted the removal of the monument, and the nonprofit organization found a new home for it in front of a nearby strip mall along a more modern commercial trail, called a sidewalk, which connects stores like Pick Up Stix and Jamba Juice.
"The beautiful plaque and inscription could only be read and appreciated by those awaiting the change of traffic light at Midway," Realtor Patti Adams said. "It has now been replaced in a grassy area on the east side of Rosecrans in a spot much safer to stop and admire the monument."
The marker was one of six historical monuments designed by Old Town sculptor Rose Hanks and erected in the 1930s to memorialize the 1769 La Playa Trail. Two of the six markers have since been lost, and the others have all been refurbished, according to the La Playa Trail Association's website. The route was the main link between the San Diego Mission and La Playa, which served as the area's major port until Alonzo Horton's founding of New San Diego in 1869.
From the association's website: "The La Playa Trail is every bit as relevant to the history of the United States as are the better known Lewis & Clark Trail, U.S. 101, Boston's Freedom Trail, or Tidewater, Virginia's Colonial Parkway. In fact, it predates them by many score years. There is a strong argument that the Trail should be recognized and treated as a National Historic Site with heroic plantings of trees, monuments, public art, and an air of continual celebration."
Well, one step at a time.
matthew.hall@uniontrib.com • (619) 293-1335 • Twitter @SDuncovered
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