Fallbrook, CA Attractions/Novelties/Interesting Items

This page attempts to list all of the many interesting places to go and things to see in the Fallbrook area. This page is definitely incomplete, and needs your contributions to finish it. Please email me to let me know of other items to add to the list, as well as corrections or additional information about the items on the list.

I have organized the places by subject area below, and will someday locate each of them on a map, to make it easier to find all the attractions in a given area. Many references come from The Enterprise (abbreviated Ent below) and the North County Times (NCT), and are cited in those cases, along with a few from the San Diego Union-Tribune (SDUT).

Some of the topics listed in the table above have been moved to separate pages in order to keep the size of this page small. Click on the link in the table of contents above, or on their placeholder below, to reach them.

Also see Nearby Attractions

Animals

• Cows
  Texas long-horned cows on north side of 76 between Via Monserate and Gird Rd.
  

• Emus
  Home of Tony Zabala, near Vallecitos School in Rainbow, has 4 emus. NCT 2/25/97

• Fish
  Takemi Adachi and his father started California Koi Farms at 3360 Gird Road in 1974. One of the oldest and largest among the 10 koi suppliers in the U.S., it has a stock of 60,000 koi in 20 large ponds and 80 cement tanks on their 10 acres.

  All the ponds except two have netting to prevent birds from eating the fish. Unmarketable fish are put in those two ponds, where birds such as king fishers, heron and egrets are allowed to fish. What a wonderful, natural way to deal with the unmarketable fish!

  Koi sold by them have won the Grand Champion award at the San Diego Koi Show 4 times, and at least 10 times in the Los Angeles Koi Show. (They cannot enter the show themselves since they are professionals.)

  Takemi grew up on a koi farm in Japan, relocated to Fallbrook in 1974 and is a graduate of Fallbrook High School.

  Tours are no longer allowed due to, of course, our crazy legal liability system and the resultant high insurance costs. Another fine example of how our far-reaching legal liability system has made our world better.

  Much of his business is done by mail order. Disneyland is one of his customers.

  Sources: NCT 2/25/97; NCT 2/15/98, B1, B8.

See also Rawhide Ranch.

Architecture

Art

Rally for Children is an organization devoted to the healthy growth of children. They want to help not only those who may be abused, neglected or in need, but also to enrich the lives of children by funding special programs. It was founded in 1993 by 53 women, grew to 162 in 2000, and has donated over $65,000 to benefit local children by January 2000.

Rally for Children sponsors two public events annually: a fund-raiser, Art in Bloom and a benefit, Arts in the park. See Calendar of Yearly Events for the times of those events.

Call President B.J. Maus for more information at 760 723-2497.

The Arts in the Park is held in late April or early May, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Live Oak Park, and was created especially for children. Activities include watercolor painting, rug hooking, paper hat making, clay creating, paper bag puppet design and doll making. Demonstrations of the potter's wheel, chair caning, "quickie" portrait painting, silk ribbon embroidery, martial arts and jewelry making will occur. There will also be numerous live performances by bands, dancers, and musicians. Best of all: it's free!

Sources: Ent, 5/1/97, B3; NCT 1/23/00; VN 2/17/00, 3.

Exhibits

• Art & Cultural Center of Fallbrook (760-728-1414) is at 103 S. Main Street at the corner of Alvarado and Main Street. It was established circa 1996 at the location of the former Harrison's Drug Store, whose sign still appears on top of the building.
• There are about 10 art galleries in Fallbrook.
• The Annual Wildlife Art Show is held on a weekend in early May, with typically 60 of North America's most outstanding wildlife artists. It is the largest wildlife art show held in San Diego County, and benefits the Art & Cultural Center of Fallbrook. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. The show is at two locations: the Art & Cultural Center and at the Art Works of Fallbrook, two blocks east of the Art Center at 300 E. Alvarado Street. (Ent, 5/1/97, B1.)

  See Calendar of Yearly Events for this year's dates.

Commercial

• The Collector at 912 S. Live Oak Park Rd contains a wonderful collection of minerals, fossils, etc. Tourmaline creations from their own mine are sold there.

  The store is a delight to visit. Outside the store is a miner's cart filled with rock samples that include crystals. In late 1999, they added a wonderful "mine tunnel" inside the store, which is entered through a massive wall of rock featuring a beautiful pegmatite dike. Lockers inside the tunnel display historic tools, light and scales. A mechanically operated miniature German rock shop shows the mining of gems. Ten drawers contain beautiful labeled minerals. The piece de resistance is a California tourmaline pocket, the gems sparkling from special lighting.

  The tunnel also features geodes, carvings made from minerals, and books. Fossils include petrified pine cones (210 million years old) and a crinoid (345 mya).

  (760) 728-9121. (Personal visit; VN 2/3/00, 7, 15)

• The Grand Tradition at 1602 S. Mission Road is a lovely Victorian-style building set amongst a 15-acre beautiful country setting, with a gazebo by a pond that has a pretty water fountain in the middle of it, and lots of green grass and blooming plants. It can be booked for meals or performances, but you ought to at least drive over and check out this beautiful place.

  In 1999 the Grand Tradition bought an additional 10 acres to their east, and will devote eight acres to botanical gardens and an arboretum, designed by Roger Boddaert. An interpretive trail system with informational kiosks will connect the specialty gardens, which will include separate tropical palms, bamboo, cactus and succulent, rare cycads and protea gardens, as well as Australian and drought-tolerant gardens. Flower fields out front will remind people of the Carlsbad flower fields. A second event facility will also be constructed on the additional property. (VN 8/26/99, 1, 32)

• Herban Garden. Unfortunately, Herban Garden seems to no longer exist as of July 2006. They are no longer at their Ranger Road location, their phone number is disconnected, and their email address no longer works. If anyone knows what happened to them, please let me know.

  Former text on them:

  Herban Garden, newly moved to the southeast corner of Mission and Ranger Roads (enter on Ranger), is listed as one of four "Herb Resources" in the county by the SDUT of 4/20/97, H25. It's open 10-4 Tue-Sat, and is the most complete herb nursery around. For example, they have a dozen varieties each of basil, lavender, mint, sage, scented geraniums and thyme, as well as herbs you have probably never heard of! My wife found their herbs being sold at the very upscale Smith & Hawkins in Fashion Valley in October 1997. 800-407-5268, 760-723-2967, 760-723-6169 (FAX).

• Las Pilitas Nursery is a wonderful nursery specializing in native plants. They have not only a tremendous stock for sale, but they also have a wonderful website that has information about literally 1,000 different species of California native plants.

  Although the address is listed as being in Escondido, it is firmly within the Bonsall area, on Nelson Road, just off Old Highway 395 just north of Camino Del Rey. It is open 9-4 Monday through Saturday. 760-749-5930.

• Los Willows at 530 Stewart Canyon Road is a 35 acre rural estate designed for weddings, corporate parties and retreats. It features a fully-stocked spring-fed lake, a patio pavilion that can hold up to 250 people, an indoor meeting room for 40 and 4 smaller conference rooms. A 7,000 square foot bed and breakfast inn has luxury guest rooms. The center has a helicopter pad, workout room, sauna, jacuzzi, steam and massage rooms.

  A complete wedding package for 150, which includes site rental, flowers, catering, a boat ride, chauffered Rolls-Royce, music and cake, is $7,900. 760-728-8121.

• The 37-acre Rawhide Ranch in Bonsall is a dream children's camp for horselovers.

  Val Ewan, co-director of the Rawhide Ranch, sent the following information:

  Rawhide Ranch, established in 1963, is famous for providing campers from all over the world with a taste of the old west. The ranch is located in Bonsall. Campers learn to ride in our well-known western-style equestrian program. The program features daily riding & vaulting instruction, animal care, animal & horse science classes along with a variety of electives to choose from such as roping, archery, drama, crafts, weekly newspaper, dance, sports/games as well as swimming. Leadership programs are also available for 16 & 17 year olds. Check out our website for spring break and summer camp dates or call the ranch office to receive a brochure.

  As a year-round equestrian teaching facility we also offer programs for groups (schools, Scouts, YMCA, and other youth-type groups). Group programs may be scheduled during September through May on weekends or mid-week sessions.

  For more information, call the ranch office (Mon-Fri, 8:00-4:30) at 760-758-0083 or visit their website.

  The following information was from 1998, when Mary Jane and Clarence Chown owned the Ranch, and hence may not apply to the current programs. In particular, the prices have probably gone up, just like the prices of most everything else.

  Rawhide Ranch has seven-day and weekend overnight camps. The Ranch offers a replica of a town in the "old West", horseback riding, Western crafts, archery, drama, riflery (BB guns for the younger kids), and sleeping accommodations in a western fort or cowboy bunkhouse. Campers are assigned one of the farm animals as their personal responsibility to feed, water and care for. Summer campers also can swim in the pool and sleep in a covered wagon. The Ranch was established in 1963.

  Novice campers learn how to ride a horse in a week, and can learn horse gymnastics (vaulting) or how to drive a pony-drawn cart. At the end of the week or weekend, everyone participates in a horse show, either riding, performing or showing a farm animal.

  The Ranch employs 15 full-time people, with an additional 10-12 part-time employees for the weekend camps, and 25-30 summer employees. The Ranch also has a vocational college offering two-year degrees in horsemanship, horse science and animal science. Many of the employees are also students. Counselors come from all over the U.S. and some foreign countries.

  The weekend overnight camps run from September through June and are consistently booked up to two years in advance, all without any advertising other than word of mouth. 80% of their business is repeat business. The weeklong camps run during the entire summer plus Easter and Christmas vacation. They are for kids ages 7 to 15 only, cost $325 and accommodate 60 children per week. The weekend camps cost $115 a person and accommodate 100 guests, which are now limited to groups accompanied by an adult.

  The owners, Mary Jane and Clarence Chown, say that surprising few campers come from Fallbrook or Bonsall. This seems to almost always be the case with famous facilities located anywhere; the local residents often don't take advantage of them.

  Source: NCT 12/20/98, B1, B8; emails from Val Ewan, co-director, Rawhide Ranch, 2/5/04, 3/11/04.

• San Luis Rey Downs Thoroughbred Training Center currently has 568 stalls, 475 useable for horses, on 288 acres at 5772 Camino Del Rey in Bonsall. In January 2000 there were 460 horses, 42 trainers, and about 250 people at the facility.

  The Center was purchased by Frank Stronach in May 1999, after the Center lost its Southern California Offtrack Wagering subsidy since the Center wasn't connected with a racetrack. Frank Stronach is also the owner of Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, CA; Gulfstream Park, FL; Remington Downs, OK; Thistle Downs, Ohio; and Golden Gate Fields, San Francisco. Hence he expects to regain the subsidy soon.

  The Center plans on adding new barns for 200 more horses, a turf course to attract European horses and trainers, and an equestrian center with a socder field.

  The restaurant is currently open from 5:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and plans are to renovate the restaurant and open it for dinner.

  The Center was owned by Scoop Vessels for many years, who kept it open despite operating losses and the temptation to turn it into housing.

  Source: VN 1/13/00, 3, 24.

Festivals and Other Yearly Events

Food-related

• Fallbrook is lucky to have many "farmer's stands" just like California used to have in the 1950s, where in most cases the vegetables and fruit have actually come fresh from the field immediately nearby:
  • Fallbrook Farms has a beautiful stand on the north side of Highway 76 just west of I-15, and at the "Bodacious Pumpkin Patch" on E. Mission west of Willow Glen.
  • Stand on south side of Highway 76 just west of Fallbrook Farms.
  • Bonsall Farms stand at southeast corner of Green Canyon Road and Reche Road closed in summer 1998, and is supposed to reopen someplace else.
  • Stand on west side of south Mission Road, at entrance to Fallbrook Airpark.

• Also, there is a Farmer's market in Vista on Saturday morning that is well-vended with food and flowers at great prices.

• One completely unanticipated (by me) food-related attraction of Fallbrook is Major Market, a supermarket in downtown Fallbrook. Major Market has the best produce and meat department of any grocery store that I have known in my lifetime of shopping and eating from perhaps 10 different major chain stores in different parts of the country. It is not too surprising that Major Market can offer vegetables and fruits that are better than the major chains because they have the freedom to buy such items locally, whereas the major chains probably cannot do that. However, it astounds me that a small chain (two stores!) can buy meat that is head-and-shoulders above meat at chains like Safeway, Vons and Ralphs. (I'd love to know the reason if you know!) Finally, I am almost flabbergasted that one can buy good seafood from a market that doesn't specialize in it.

• Organic Planet Farms in Fallbrook is a subscriber-based 7 acre farm that delivers a "large-share" of produce to subscribers for $25 per week, and a "small-share" for $20 per week (1997 prices). Subscribers must join for a quarter year at a time. The Farm was launched in 1997 by Carollyn Reiman (a former FHS teacher when she was Carollyn Peterson) and Michael Cone (a former accountant), and now has 10,000 square feet of raised beds. They delivered their first boxes of produce in July 1997 to their 23 subscribers.

  They specialize in heirloom plant varieties, the non-hybrid seed-propagated plants that have been grown for years. Some of their varieties are tomatoes, beans, squash, peppers, loofah squash, white eggplants, Swiss chard, kale, golden plum tomatoes and burgundy green beans. They also have exotic fruit such as cherimoya, sapote, persimmon and loquat. A bag of fresh herbs such as cilantro, oregano, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, and basil is also included each week.

  They can accommodate about 60 subscribers who live within 30 minutes of their farm. Members are encouraged, but not required, to volunteer time working on the farm at least once during their quarter. 760-731-1238.

• Little Creek Acres in Valley Center is a similar subscriber-based farm that can accommodate only 12 members who must pick up their boxes. The farm has 80 raised beds and a diverse orchard of 1,000 trees such as peaches, almonds, mulberries and loquats. Bouquets of cut flowers are also included.

  A "large share" is $21.25 per week, and a "small share" is 18.75 per week. 760-749-9634.

  Sources for subscriber-based farm info: VN 3/9/00, B10; SDUT 9/3/97, FOOD-2.

Historical Places

• Capra Ranch was owned by the director Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life, and others) and bequeathed to Caltech.

• De Luz Postoffice - the smallest postoffice you'll every see. It has just enough room for a person to get inside and put mail into the post office boxes along the outside wall! Found at De Luz Ecology Center.

• De Luz 1906 One-Room Schoolhouse

• 1890s Historical House at the Fallbrook Historical Society.

• Indian grinding holes in rocks on southeast corner of 76 and Olive Hill Rd, and at east end of Santa Margarita River Trail just west of Willow Glen and Stagecoach Road.

• Reche Schoolhouse, now known as the Reche Club, at the NW corner of Reche Road and Live Oak Road, built in 1896, following an earlier school building on the same property in a slightly different location. The Reche Club maintains the schoolhouse. 64 of the 216 children that are known to have attended the school graduated from that schoolhouse. Source: NCT 4/10/99, B1.

Pleasant Surroundings

Views

• Views directly north of Fallbrook

• Views of distant mountains
  • Mt. Baldy, north of the Los Angeles Basin, can be seen from several places in Fallbrook: from 395 summit south of Lilac and from just east of the Lilac Bridge.
  • San Jacinto and San Gorgonio Mountains can be seen from many places in Fallbrook.

• St mrg river valley view

• de luz basin

• beautiful countryside everywhere

• nurseries everywhere you turn

• ancient oak forest on live oak rd

Other

• The Fallbrook Airpark

• The Fallbrook Boys and Girls Club was opened in 1962 as an independent organization, directed by community members of Fallbrook, Bonsall and Pala and supported by donations. Each year 26% of the schoolage children participate in club programs.

  Source: NCT 9/1/98, B2.

• The Fallbrook Gem and Mineral Society Museum at 260 Rocky Crest Road in the Fallbrook Historical Society Building. Gems, minerals, gifts and artifacts such as dinosaur bones, mammoth teeth and seashells. It opened in 1994. Funding for it comes from items sold at the museum. Hours are 1-4 on Thursdays and on the second Sunday of the month and by special arrangement. 728-1333.

• The Fallbrook Historical Society

• The Fallbrook Music Society began in 1976 when Orville Evans planned a series of symphony concerts at Potter Junior High to raise money for the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce. As with many ideas, it didn't turn out quite the way Orville expected. The first concert didn't raise any money, but it began a rich history of music in Fallbrook.

  For that first concert, the La Jolla Chamber Orchestra was booked for $6,400, but not enough funds were raised to pay for the contract. Fortunately, the Orchestra played for the funds that were raised, and the concert stimulated further interest in music here. Bowers Auditorium at Potter was designed by a top engineer in the U.S. and has excellent acoustics.

  The Fallbrook Music Society was incorporated in September, 1978 to release the Chamber from financial liability for future events. They contracted with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra for the 1979-80 season for $21,000, and raised the money through calling everyone in the Fallbrook Directory over a span of two months. "This was the only village of its size in the U.S. that brought in symphony orchestras," said current president Dr. Brenda Montiel.

  As is customary everywhere, less than 50% of the funding for such programs is raised from ticket sales. Fund raisers such as the Concert on the Green make up the difference, drawing 1,492 people in 1998 and 1,950 in 1999. Frankie Lane is donating his time for the concert in 2000, allowing for the first time funds to go toward an endowment for the Society.

  The Society participated in the design of the new performing arts center at Fallbrook High School, which opens in 2000.

  Source: VN 2/24/00, A13, B4.

• The Fallbrook Naval Weapons Station

Go to Fallbrook Information Overview

Copyright © 1997-2006 by Tom Chester.
Permission is freely granted to reproduce any or all of this page as long as credit is given to me at this source:
http://sd.znet.com/~schester/fallbrook/attractions/index.html
Comments and feedback: Tom Chester
Last update: 7 July 2006.