YOUNG'S CAVE

In 1919, a 70-year-old retired druggist named W.R. Young began to dig a tunnel into the side of a canyon northeast of where Fairmount Avenue meets Montezuma Road.  Young reportedly began to dig the 250-foot tunnel for health reasons, and in a statement to the press said, “I heartily recommend this to men who are feeling the approach of old age.”  To aid him in his endeavor, Young recruited boys from the neighborhood to help him, and by the summer of 1920, his unique form of exercise had achieved remarkable results.  While the initial digging of the tunnel had provided untold hours of fun for the youngsters, the years that followed the tunnel’s completion also proved to be equally exciting. Through the years, it became the playground for packs of runaways and a street gang named the Sons of Satan, and at least one youngster met an untimely demise in an unfortunate cave-in.  In 1941, Young himself was killed in an auto accident near his home on East Mountain View Drive.  Three years later, when new owners moved in to occupy his house, they claimed that they heard him return on a nightly basis to wander about in the attic. The mysterious footsteps persisted for more than a year, then suddenly ceased.  The tunnel itself was finally sealed shut in 1970 when the Alvarado Community Association had 20 feet of concrete poured into its two entrances. — Susan Clarke-Crisafulli writes on behalf of the Alvarado Community Association

As a kid growing up near SDSU, we had occasion to explore parts of Young's Caves in Alvarado Estates -- Dan Burton '66

There was an underground cave down the hill from the landing strip at Alvarado Estates that we would explore. It was hand made, maybe in the ‘30s. It had multiple levels and rooms and different entrances -- Bob Dress '66

I grew up in Talmadge Park near Alvarado Estates. My dad grew up in Kensington in the Silas St John's house on Kensington Dr that my great grandfather bought for my grandparents, Heber and Lucia Kemp, for a wedding present.   When I was in grade school at Euclid Elementary he told us about the "cave" that a man dug when he was younger.  We couldn't wait to find it.  We found it, dug out the east entrance above Montezuma Rd, and actually went in. There was a west entrance but we never dug it out. It was as my father described, even the grab hole you could use to touch someone from above. One of my friends, Rick Harris, who lived across the street helped, but later told his mother.   She was upset that we were crawling around in there and called SDPD.  We were contacted by an officer and led him to the cave. They later blew it up -- Bob Kemp ’66

Click HERE to watch a Ken Kramer video about the
Kensington and Alvarado Estates Caves