At the time of the founding of San Diego, the area that is now Normal Heights was largely covered with brush and populated only by rabbits.

[2] The community was officially founded in 1906, when a syndicate led by D. C. Collier and George M. Hawley filed a subdivision map with the county.

The blaze damaged or destroyed "expensive bluff-top buildings with views of the valley and Mission Bay" as well as "modest bungalows built when the Normal Heights community was first started in 1906.

[6] Normal Heights is centrally located in the city of San Diego, on a mesa just south of Mission Valley.

[8][better source needed] Like other urban mesa neighborhoods north of Balboa Park, Normal Heights has a high rate of pedestrian activity.

[10] Neighborhood events that take place in Normal Heights inclue the Adams Avenue Street Fair, a free music festival typically held the last weekend in September.

Founded in 1986, featured performers include Floyd Dixon, Fattburger, The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Lisa Haley, Wanda Jackson, No Doubt, the Paladins, Ann Peebles, Mick Taylor and many others.

[17] Normal Heights is a Mid-City Community and is part of City Council District 9, currently represented by Sean Elo-Rivera.