The largest urban enclave in downtown San Diego, East Village is bustling and buzzing with trendy cafes and gastropubs, eclectic arts venues and designer boutiques. Once known as an edgy undeveloped enclave for artists and independent entrepreneurs, East Village has come into its own as a thriving urban neighbourhood still defined by features such as hand painted murals, community gardens and innovators of all stripes. Newtech startups in this former warehouse district coexist comfortably with long-time institutions such as Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres baseball team.
Tourists find the heart of the “new San Diego” in East Village, where the constantly evolving Maker’s Quarter highlights the neighbourhood’s inventors, makers and creators, from craft beer at Monkey Paw to pop-up art and performance at SILO. Museums are a big draw during the day, including the New Children’s Museum and Chinese Historical Museum, while semi-secretive hangouts lend an air of mystique at night, with public social clubs and old-time speakeasies such as Noble Experiment. Reflecting the new “eater-tainment” movement, foodie venues create their own personas as well, with “craft” hot dogs, a certified “kikizakeshi” sake master and artisan cheese makers.
Spreading over 120 city blocks and 127 hectares south of Balboa Park, East Village is within walking distance of the Gaslamp Quarter, a major tourist destination in San Diego. Public transportation in East Village makes getting around easy, with options for the San Diego Trolley, numerous bus routes, and the Coast commuter and Amtrak rail lines. The neighbourhood is extremely walkable, and the San Diego bike loop connects to several venues, including Petco Park and the Central Library.
Downtown San Diego once flourished with railroads and shipping piers in the 1800s, and what is now East Village housed a large collection of industrial warehouses and power facilities. After sitting vacant for decades, these same warehouses at the turn of the 21st century became the backbone for repurposed, reclaimed and revived urban architecture and the exploding cultural arts scene.