-13th in a Series-
Exit 4: Hotel Circle, San Diego ~ Riverwalk Golf Course
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — The Handlery Hotel, on the northeastern portion of Hotel Circle, adjoins the Riverwalk Golf Course, on land that the Levi and Cushman families have owned for over a century. Currently they and a developer plan to replace the golf course over a ten-year period with a 4,000 unit apartment and condominium complex, if approval can be won from the San Diego City Planning Commission and City Council. That application was pending in 2015.
Back in 1947, when the golf course was created on 200 acres of land, it was as part of the Mission Valley Country Club. It was highly rated enough to host several PGA golf tournaments prior to the San Diego Open’s transfer to the Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla. The list of famous golfers who played the course included Tommy Bolt, Billy Casper, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player. Working as a youngster at the course, Phil Mickelson used to retrieve golf balls on the driving range, and another celebrity, boxer Muhammad Ali, once took a break from training at a nearby hotel to take a few publicity swipes at a golf ball with a borrowed 8-iron.
Originally part of a rancho, the land on which the golf course was constructed had been purchased in the early 1900s by Adolph Levi and his son Edgar, who together also purchased large tracts of land in Kearny Mesa, La Mesa, Lakeside, and Rancho de los Penasquitos. Adolph’s daughter Selma married George Newbauer of San Francisco, and their daughter Helen married Elliot Cushman of San Diego. One of Helen’s and Elliot’s sons, former automobile magnate Steve Cushman, has served as a San Diego Port Commissioner and as a member of the San Diego Convention Center board of directors.
The Mission Valley Country Club was a center for the Levi and Cushman families’ fellow Jews. Among them, Harry and Morris Wax, founders of Waxie Sanitary Supply, used to relax over card games at the club, and Jewish organizations of many types held their luncheons and dinners in the club’s meeting rooms.
A perusal of the editions between mid 1956 and mid 1958 of the fortnightly and now defunct Southwestern Jewish Press provides the flavor of Jewish communal and social life during the period.
One of the groups that met regularly for dinner at the Mission Valley Country Club was “The Guardians,” which helped to raise money for the San Diego Hebrew Home for the Aged, often through golf tournaments at the Mission Valley Country Club. Today, at various golf courses, the Guardians still sponsor tournaments for the Hebrew Homes’ successor institutions, the Seacrest Village Retirement Communities which are located in suburban cities of Encinitas and Poway.
While fundraising was the announced goal of the Guardians, playful fellowship was what kept the men coming back meeting after meeting. Morrie Pomeranz, in a column, faithfully reported some of the anecdotes told during the meetings. For example, in May of 1957, he reported: “The Guardian father whose pride and joy is a first grader tells the following with a bit of understandable pride. His little boy, just starting school, was given the orientation treatment–what school meant–what was expected–what was offered in return, etc., and the teacher concluded her little talk by saying ‘And when you want to go to the washroom, you should raise your hand and display two fingers like this.’ The youngster mulled this over for a few minutes and then perplexed he asked: ‘How will that help?'”
Later that month, Pomeranz had another story: “The scene: a downtown stationer’s store–our two Guardians await for some loose-leaf inserts–said one Guardian to his little companion: ‘I still say I’ll be at the meeting tonight even though it’s my wife’s birthday–I’ll get out somehow.’ The listener could only add: ‘Well, don’t make a big tsimmis out of it–no sense in hurting her feelings’– but the other protested defiantly with his booming voice, ‘Aw, nuts, I say I’ll be at the club before 6:15’ — and who do you think was at the counter directly behind the two? — the wife of course — and to those who might inwardly tend to discredit the actual wording of this little downtown vignette–and if verification be needed–just call Mildred!'”
The annual luncheon of the Women’s Committee of Brandeis University also was held that May, and Mayor Charles Dail installed officers of the San Diego chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women.
The roster of groups meeting at the Mission Valley Country Club over subsequent months also included the Bay City chapter of B’nai B’rith Women, the Henry Weinberger Lodge of the B’nai B’rith, which had a golf tournament there of its own, the Men’s Club of Temple Beth Israel, and the Temple Beth Israel Sisterhood.
These were just the regular meetings. The Mission Valley Country Club also hosted important life cycle events, such as a bridal shower for Jane Cohn, the daughter of Rabbi Morton Cohn of Temple Beth Israel; a brunch for Evelyn Krantz, bride-to-be of Larry Solomon; and a wedding reception for Zena Feurzeig and her groom Donn Harle Kobernick, following their marriage which had been co-officiated under the chuppa by Rabbi Cohn and Rabbi Monroe Levens at Tifereth Israel Synagogue. Although he wasn’t at this particular rite, the third rabbi in the San Diego trio of clergy was Rabbi Baruch Stern of Beth Jacob Congregation. They were all friends.
The pride taken in membership at the Mission Valley Country Club was illustrated by banker Fred Leeds, who upon his election as a vice president of the Cabrillo Savings and Loan Association, inserted an announcement in Southwestern Jewish Press stating that in addition to business, his affiliations included membership at Temple Beth Israel, the B’nai B’rith, and the Mission Valley Country Club.
In 1958, however, a Jewish Community Center, located several miles east of Hotel Circle on 54th Street between El Cajon Boulevard and University Avenue, had its grand opening and thereafter drew from the Mission Valley Country Club much of its Jewish meeting business.
This was a factor in the golf club being sold in 1962 and being renamed as the Stardust Country Club. In addition to local residents, the Stardust and its successor Handlery Hotel sought golfing guests at Hotel Circle hostelries for its revenue.
(Directions: Hotels along the frontage roads on the north and south sides of Interstate 8 give Hotel Circle its name. Westbound traffic accesses and exits the Interstate 8 on the north side of the freeway, whereas eastbound traffic utilizes freeway entrances and exits on the south side. A bridge at Taylor Street on the western end of Hotel Circle connects the north and south sides, as does an underpass at the eastern end. From the Hotel Circle exit from eastbound Interstate 8, turn left and follow the road through the underpass. Beyond the Town & Country Hotel is the intersection with Fashion Valley Road. Turn right and enter the golf course on the left.)
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. You may comment to donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com, or post your comment on this website provided that the rules below are observed.
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