One of the fun aspects of my job as President of the RB Historical Society, comes when I discover historic facts about Westwood. Built beginning in the late 1960’s to house the families moving in to work for the industry on the hill. Hewlett Packard, Sony, NCR are some of the earliest industry in Rancho Bernardo. When asked if they really planned to build an airport up there where the industry landed, Harry Summers of AVCO Builders said, “Not really, it was a sort of place holder. Like the theatre where Casa De Las Campanas, the Retirement Community, now roosts.”
Between those two poles, lies Westwood. There was the one school, Westwood Elementary, but no middle or high school. My son, just entering middle school when we moved in, took the bus at the top of Olmeda to Meadowbrook, in Poway, the closest middle school to serve this area. Until he got his car, he took the bus at the top of Matinal to Mt. Carmel HS, where he graduated in 1991. Meanwhile, in the late 80’s construction began on Bernardo Heights Middle School and RB High. So the kids hike up Olmeda, to catch the bus to their very own middle and high schools.
Visit: www.RBHistoricalSociety.org to learn more about the region where you live.
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Next installment, the houses of worship serving Westwood.
