As with other communities that catered to people more advanced in age, Rancho Bernardo’s early promoters relied heavily on
print advertising from the beginning to persuade people to move in and to promote this new creation. Regular newspaper
readers could find some of the first advertisements touting the then-new Rancho Bernardo not only in the San Diego Union,
but also, interestingly enough, in the Los Angeles Times as well. However, these advertisements consisted primarily of text,
likely because the area was still undergoing the earlier phases of construction. One such advertisement asked “50 or Over?”
before describing the Rancho Bernardo Community Center, which was about to open its doors at the time.[1] Another ad, this
one from the Los Angeles Times, simply asked, “Retiring?” before calling Rancho Bernardo “America’s most beautiful
retirement community,” ostensibly to draw more people southward.[2] One advertisement on page F3 of the December 2, 1962
edition of the San Diego Union touts the olive trees planted along the median strip, which grew in the unincorporated
community of Alpine before they were moved to the “center parkway” (median strip) of Rancho Bernardo Road; these were
most likely put there to give the place more of a “natural” feel, and the lower right corner of the advertisement shows a straight
vertical line connecting Escondido to downtown San Diego, with Rancho Bernardo positioned immediately below
Escondido.[3] An advertisement on page F3 of the July 21, 1963 edition of the San Diego Union proudly proclaims: “Compare
and you’ll agree, your best retirement value is Rancho Bernardo,” further announcing that there is an olive tree in the front
yard of every home.[4] And although Rancho Bernardo advertised all across the United States, the first couple to move into this
new development, Mr. and Mrs. William Lee Burnside, was already local, having previously resided in La Jolla.[5]
Six years later, in 1969, Richard L. Weiser, the second-in-command to Rancho Bernardo Inc. President Harry L. Summers,
articulated that he did not want what started out as “22 miles of undeveloped property and a two lane road … becoming a
stereotype community.”[6] In fact, Rancho Bernardo was much more akin to a prototype for future suburban design in several
respects: it mixed multiple types of housing developments tailored for different demographics (including large custom-built
houses), it included an industrial park with “clean” electronics manufacturing facilities, it offered housing options specifically
geared toward senior citizens, and it helped to bring the common interest development, or CID, into the mainstream of
suburban society.
Later, to help build community, some of the organizers decided to put out a newsletter, which they called Bernardo Brandings,
starting its run in a typical newsletter format with only four pages and using only black ink. Over time, however, the number of
pages grew, and by the end of the 1960s, the Bernardo Brandings had essentially changed into a magazine-type layout, with
each edition featuring over fifty pages, full-color photographs, and prominent advertisements for local businesses. This mode of
organization continued until the Bernardo Brandings ceased publication, at which point most of the land in Rancho Bernardo
had already been either built on or set aside for construction in the near future.
References
[1] “50 or Over?” Advertisement (San Diego Union, Sunday, April 14, 1963), F7.
[2] “Retiring?” Los Angeles Times, Advertisement (March 17, 1963,) I2. Although many people today are rather young to remember this, the Los Angeles area had the unfortunate distinction of being highly polluted due to both automobile traffic and industrial waste, so this may have been an opportunity for some retirees to escape to a less densely packed locale with cleaner air.
[3] “New Approach,” Advertisement (San Diego Union, Sunday, December 2, 1962), F3.
[4] “Compare and you’ll agree, your best retirement value is Rancho Bernardo,” Advertisement (San Diego Union, Sunday, July 21, 1963), F3. Providing some of the landscaping may also have been something AVCO did to help create a more “established” feel to the communities, as opposed to simply having the residents move in and gradually landscape over time.
[5] Bernardo Brandings (Vol. 1, No. 12, June 1963), front cover.
[6] “An Interview with Dick Weiser.” Bernardo Brandings, Vol. 2, No. 10, October 1969, 10-12.
AVCO Involvement: Corporate Entrance into Community Building
Early Housing Developments in Rancho Bernardo
General Historiographical Background of Suburbs and Suburbanization
Homeowners’ Associations and Common-Interest Developments (CIDs)
Other Important Places in the Community
Rancho Bernardo Today and in the Future
Timeline of Major Developments in Rancho Bernardo