BACKSTORY: Lemon Grove is a city in San Diego County settled in 1869 by its first known permanent resident, sheep rancher Robert Allison. From the 1860s to 1900 the area was known for sheep and poultry ranching and vegetable crops. In the early 1900s, the community acquired its name when large citrus groves were planted, and lemon and orange growing and shipping became the area's major industry. By World War II, most of the citrus groves had disappeared and suburbanization had begun. By 1960, most of the easily developable land was gone. Lemon Grove was incorporated as a general-law city in 1977; however, it continues to receive law enforcement services, via contract, from the San Diego County sheriff's office. There is a ten-foot-wide statue of a lemon located at 3361 Main Street. It lies before a small lemon grove beside the Orange Line Trolley tracks near the local Trolley station and downtown bus stop. Written across the base of this monument are the words "Best Climate On Earth," a phrase coined by my Great Uncle Tony Sonka.
