King Arthur's Court Motor Lodge

When El Cajon was an Avenue and also Highway 80 and College Avenue was still 60th Street

(Courtesy of Greg May's Vintage San Diego Facebook Page

King Arthur's Court was owned by the Arthur family.  Their youngest son Bob was a '60 graduate of Crawford High.  I used to fly my model airplanes with him on the dirt lot of his property in front of the motel on El Cajon Blvd.  The motel was on the northeast corner of El Cajon Blvd and 60th St., which was never College Avenue, and is still 60th St.  It was directly across from the Owl Drug Store, on the southwest corner of El Cajon Blvd and 60th St.  60th St. took a jog, where north of El Cajon Blvd, 60th St. was west of 60th St. south of El Cajon Blvd.   That's why the motel was directly north of the Owl Drug Store on the southwest corner of 60th and El Cajon Blvd -- Rich Ambler '63  

I grew up on 60th street. I remember the little cottages of King Arthur's Court during the early ‘60s. By that time it wasn't a motor lodge anymore. Someone had bought it and the units were rented out like apartments. Then, in the mid ‘60s, they tore down the cottages and built what is now a Southern California First National Bank of San Diego, then it was California First, and finally the Union Bank of California that is there today. I remember going to their opening night and thinking how big and nice it was. I was probably 11 or 12 years old. Behind the tellers, on the wall was a large painting depicting the college area, with SDSU students putting on their caps and gowns. The painting is still there today. On the east entrance to the bank there was a walk up teller window. You didn't have to go in to the bank if you didn't want to. You could just walk up outside. Now that's where the ATM is located. If you look closely at the masonry around the ATM you can see where the walk up window was. Located on the lot just to the east of the bank was the Aztec Motel. I always wanted to go up into the tower over the office and have a look around. It's gone now as well. Then there was the Aztec Drive-In on the corner of College and El Cajon. I used to like to go there and eat when I was a kid. Across from there on the south side of El Cajon Blvd was the Food Basket. It was originally an older building located right at street side. Then in the mid ‘60s they built a more modern store and tore down the old one. It's now a Big 5 Sporting Goods store. Just to the west of that was Rexall Drug store on the southwest corner of El Cajon Blvd and 60th street. The building is still there, but the Rexall is long gone -- George “Harley Boy “ Glover ’73