So this particular day last week, TC and I had our hair cut..like super early in the morning. We're talking about 7:30 am. It turns out that our stylist had booked MFH for 9:30, which was fine since she's one of my best friends anyways and it was nice to see her when she finally showed up.
So, we chitchatted and left before 10 am and then headed up to North Park...
Now this photo below was taken about a couple of weeks ago. This was the day TC and I went to Industrial Grind Coffee and walked across the Georgia Street Bridge. I was at a light on University near 30th and saw this storefront on my left, so I snapped the shot.
Searches on the internet later at home were fruitless. I was directed to the "Vintage San Diego" facebook page but couldn't find a matching photo or description. Another search led to to a vintage "Hillcrest" facebook page, but same thing. The most useful info I found was that the candy maker was based in Oakland and that their tagline "Awful Fresh" came from the founder's nickname (more on the candy company here) and even a bagpipe band was named "Awful Fresh". Interesting.
Fastforward to less than a week later...
They painted over the old painted signage!!! What? I felt kind of bad seeing that a part of old San Diego's North Park history was "erased". It looks like something else is setting up shop in there already. I wish I knew the history of Awful Fresh MacFarlane candy in San Diego...
[Update on 4/11- Please see the recent comment by reader Mist Reme who recounts his/her (?) memories of this candymaker. It was nice to hear about the history of this place]
We originally wanted to go to Bronx Pizza in Hillcrest, and while it was still quite early (before 11 am), I just didn't want to deal with crappy traffic and parking over there. I parked on Illinois and we walked several blocks to get to one of our favorite pizza joints in SD, Sicilian Thing. Sometimes it's fun to be a pedestrian!
Prices have gone up since we were last here. It used to be two slices and a soda for $6; now it's $6.50.
Since we were early, there were only a few of the pies out...
We started off with one slice each...
TC noticed Lionel Richie on the door. Nice.
Mr. "All night long...", "Hello...it is me you're looking for" and "Endless Love"! Let's not forget his Commodore days!
Our slices - my "Almost Lasagna" and TC's "The Thing" (basically a supreme and the same slice she got last time we were here)...
I love the ricotta clumps!
Later one, the pie display case kept getting filled so we got one more slice to share, the Bacon Pineapple with bbq sauce...
We also got the thick (but pillowy) crusted Meatda to go for Bert. I wished Bert was with us so we could have tried more flavors! Their other thick crusted pizza was the mushroom, but we were already full.
As always, we like the easy going atmosphere here, the fun people watching, and the interesting conversations we hear amongst the workers. That, and the quirky music they play (this time, it was the Talking Heads' "Greatest Hits"!
"Psycho Killer, qu'est-ce que ce!"
Previous visit to Sicilian Thing:
August 2013
Another few blocks up, around the corner from Thrift Trader would be our next stop...a place that I would later dub "hipster central"...
8 comments:
Hello Mist Reme - Thank you for coming out of "lurkdom"! :)
Wow, so you noticed that sign too eh? I can't believe I never noticed the MacFarlane's sign before until I was actually at a stop light. It's funny how once can drive by something so many times and not even notice it 'til it's gone.
I figured this was an old fashioned candymaker but didn't know when they started in SD or stopped.
Thanks so much for sharing your memories about MacFarlane's. I really appreciate know all this!
Long time Lurker here....I love your blog.
I saw the MacFarlane's sign too a couple of weeks ago. Brought back things my mom used to talk about. She was born in SD in the 30s and lived most her life here.
MacFarlane's was kind of the See's Chocolates of their day around here. See's was around, but 'wasn't nearly as good'.
MacFarlane's made fudge and hand dipped chocolates. They closed up in the 50s or 60s. They had a main store downtown near Marston's on C st.
Oops...I deleted and reposted. now we're out of sequence. I'll get used to this thing one day.
Boy you type fast!
Yes, I type fast! I deleted your deleted post and also updated the blog to include a reminder for readers to see your comment. Thanks again.
I was recently at the old Marston's on C at a coffee place that is in the big lobby (Elixir Espresso...that post is forthcoming). I could "feel" the history there.
Wow! I didn't even know they'd opened it up to put businesses in it again! I'll need to visit Elixir Expresso soon. The Marston's building has always made me curious.
From what I was told Marstons was kind of like Herrod's in London or Bloomingdales. It had all the fancy stuff and all the rich folks went their to get their bling on. They also had departments for more ordinary stuff for ordinary folks.
Its neat to see San Diego give up its secrets. Lots of layers in our town...
hi mist - i know there's a Marston House near Balboa Park and they do tours (there's an admission fee) but my daughter doesn't want to go because it is supposedly "haunted". i didn't get a chance to explore the Marston bldg downtown, but it had a dignified presence to it. The Marston's dept. store bldg holds offices now I think.
How awesome to hear a little about the history from another reader! I had never noticed that sign in North Park. I can totally picture it in the 50/60's era, too. North Park kind of has that "old town/old era" feel to me. Also, I love Sicilian Thing. The end :D
HI mary - yeah, i totally didn't expect that but it was quite cool indeed. some parts of north park sti have that "seedy feel" to it, haha.
Post a Comment