La Mesa — “the table”, or “the plateau” — calls itself the Jewel of the Hills. It grew around natural springs, whose spring house is preserved in Collier Park, was incorporated in 1912, and had 61,121 people at the 2020 Census.
Downtown La Mesa Village has a Friday farmers market, the Back to the ’50s car show on summer Thursdays and an Oktoberfest that draws around 200,000 people. Grossmont Center has been its main mall since 1961, and residents of north La Mesa walk and ride the path around Lake Murray.
Four Orange Line trolley stations — two of them also on the Green Line — plus I-8, SR 94 and SR 125 make it one of the easiest places in East County to live without driving everywhere. Inland, it runs warmer in summer than the coast.
Buying in La Mesa: what people ask first.
Can you get around La Mesa without a car?
More easily than most of East County. The Orange Line stops at Spring Street, La Mesa Boulevard, Grossmont Transit Center and Amaya Drive, and the Green Line also serves the last two.
People looking at La Mesa usually look at these too.
- City · East County El Cajon The valley they call the Box — trolley, freeways and every kind of home. Read the guide →
- City · East County Lemon Grove A small city on the Orange Line, next door to Encanto. Read the guide →
- Unincorporated · East County Spring Valley Family homes between La Mesa and Sweetwater Reservoir. Read the guide →
San Diego County looks like one market from a distance and it is not. East of the 805 in Chula Vista the houses are newer, the streets were planned, and the questions are about HOA dues, Mello-Roos and which school the address feeds. Out in El Cajon and Rancho San Diego the lots are bigger, the views run down the canyons, and the questions are about the roof, the solar, the slope and what it costs to insure. Buying the right house means asking the right questions for that side of the county — and selling one means answering them before a buyer has to ask.
Your partner in real estate, in the language you are most comfortable in.
Edgard Espinosa, Premier Properties