By Debbie L. Sklar / Special to the OB Rag
The Fleetridge section of Point Loma doesn’t look like most postwar neighborhoods.
Its streets curve with the hills instead of following a straight grid. Homes sit on generous lots, tucked among mature trees and landscaping. And the neighborhood’s midcentury character feels remarkably intact.
That was no accident.
When Fleetridge was developed in the 1950s, its planners deliberately worked with the natural contours of Point Loma rather than flattening the hills and laying out a conventional subdivision.
The story begins in December 1949, when the Point Loma Holding Corp. purchased 175 acres. The corporation was headed by aviation pioneer Reuben H. Fleet, with attorney Ruel H. Liggett as secretary and paving contractor Roscoe E. Hazard. In November 1950, the corporation recorded the first Fleetridge subdivision map, containing 72 lots. Unit 2, with another 108 lots, followed in 1953.
The man whose name became part of the neighborhood was David Girton Fleet, Reuben Fleet’s son.
David Fleet had spent much of his early career in aviation, working alongside his father at Consolidated Aircraft and later serving as an executive with the company and its successors. He remained with Convair as assistant to the president until 1949.
After leaving the aircraft industry, Fleet started Fleetridge Realty, which became instrumental in developing Point Loma. The neighborhood was named Fleetridge for him.
But what makes Fleetridge particularly interesting is how the neighborhood was planned.
The Point Loma Holding Corp. hired Aurele Vermeulen, a landscape architect and city planner, to prepare the basic plan for Fleetridge. Historical research by the city of San Diego cites an Oct. 23, 1955, San Diego Union article as a source for Vermeulen’s involvement.
Rather than imposing a rigid street grid on the hillside, the development followed the natural contours of the terrain. Lots were comparatively large, and the neighborhood was designed primarily for single-family homes.
There were rules, too.
Original deed restrictions prohibited two-story houses except where the terrain permitted a split-level design. Apartment buildings were prohibited, and an architectural committee reviewed proposed home designs. The restrictions helped give the neighborhood a more consistent character as it developed during the 1950s.
David Fleet’s philosophy about Point Loma development was documented in his April 25, 1991, San Diego Union obituary. Fleet favored homes adapted to the area’s “topography and characteristic trees and shrubbery” and opposed row houses and tract homes.
That philosophy helps explain why Fleetridge still looks distinctive more than 70 years later.
The city of San Diego identifies Fleetridge as one of the distinct neighborhoods within the Peninsula community. Most of the neighborhood was developed during the 1950s, with larger-than-usual lots and predominantly single-family homes.
The neighborhood was still being built and improved in the late 1950s. City Council records from 1958 show David Fleet appearing on behalf of the Point Loma Holding Corp. concerning improvements in Fleetridge Unit No. 8. A property owner told the council that Fleet’s recommendation was satisfactory and that the improvements were important to property owners.
Today, Fleetridge can look like a neighborhood that has always been part of Point Loma.
But its curving streets, generous lots and homes fitted on the hillside are evidence of something more deliberate: a postwar development shaped around the landscape rather than simply imposed on it.
And its name preserves the story of David Fleet, the former aviation executive who turned his attention from airplanes to Point Loma real estate.
Sources
City of San Diego, Peninsula Community Plan — background on Fleetridge as a distinct Point Loma neighborhood and its postwar development.
City of San Diego Historical Resources Board, 555 San Fernando Street Historical Report — David Fleet’s biography, his role in Fleetridge Realty and material from his April 25, 1991, San Diego Union obituary.
City of San Diego Historical Resources Board, Fleetridge historical reports — development history, Point Loma Holding Corp., subdivision maps, Aurele Vermeulen and the neighborhood’s architectural restrictions.
San Diego Union, Oct. 23, 1955 — cited by city historical research concerning Aurele Vermeulen and Fleetridge.
San Diego Union, April 25, 1991 — obituary of David Girton Fleet.
San Diego City Council records, 1958 — contemporary records concerning David Fleet, the Point Loma Holding Corp. and Fleetridge Unit No. 8.
