Montgomery Residence / Emerald Hills
Hood Century recently posted photos of this San Diego home of Alpha and Catherine Montgomery from a 1960 issue of Ebony Magazine.
I worked for an organization that had offices across the street from the house. Since it sits on the hilltop, the house is nearly impossible to see from street. Last week I was speaking to a friend who I found out grew up in the area. I asked him if he knew anything about the house and he said him and some friends rode their bikes up the long driveway and were scared off when they saw the lady in front of the house. The flat roof, year built and stories from long-time residents of the neighborhood led me to believe that it had a modern lean to it and it certainly does. 
Image: Ebony Magazine
Image: Ebony Magazine
Catherine Lewis Montgomery (1923-1918) was born in Washington D.C. She attended Howard University from 1944 to 1946. She studied Commercial Law at the University of California Extension in San Francisco, CA from 1948 to 1949. she worked as an Administrative Assistant at the Naval Electronics Lab (NEL) from 1950 to 1962. As an aside, Barney Reid was a graphic designer at NEL and hooked Harry Bertoia up with a job there as well. More on NEL from Dave Hampton, here.
Catherine married Alpha in 1947. They had one son, Alpha LeVon Montgomery Jr. The couple divorced in 1964. Catherine kept the house in the divorce and lived the rest her life there.
In 1968, Catherine received an Associate Degree in Public Affairs from the National Institute of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C. She also completed additional training in Personal Management; Civic Rights Law Enforcement in Employment and Housing, affirmative Action, and Executive Development. Catherine was as an Equal Employment Specialist Examiner Investigator for Discrimination Complaints at the Naval Command Center and retired in 1989.
She was a lifelong member in NAACP; National Council of Negro Women, Inc.; Soroptimist International, San Diego; the Links, Inc. and Friends of the Library. She initiated and coordinated Drive for a new Valencia Park Library Facility opened in 1996 and administered the Tech Fund to provide technical equipment and technology for Malcolm X Library (which located at the bottom of the hill from the house). Source: Obituary
One of my friends and former collogues went to the house several times and said Catherine was a wonderful lady, donor and continued to host fundraisers at her home into the later years of her life.
Image: Ebony Magazine
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The Montgomery's were a power couple and used their house for "lavish" entertaining. As one writer put it, the luxurious home in Emerald Hills was part of a "highflying lifestyle."
Source: California Eagle, 1961
If you look beyond the Montgomerys and their Jaguar you can see a mostly undeveloped Southeastern San Diego community. The house sits above Market St and Euclid Ave and this photo is looking towards the east. Image: Ebony
Source: California Eagle, 1961
In 1979 Alpha became a San Diego County Superior Court Judge, only the second black superior court judge in the state. He retired from the bench in 1995 and died from complications from Alzheimer’s disease nine years later.Source: LA Times, November 1979
