EAST VILLAGE SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA

East Village San Diego

The East Village neighborhood in Downtown San Diego California, and is the epitome of the terms “fresh-faced,” “new,” and “vibrant!” There is simply no other neighborhood that compares. Before the opening of Petco Park, which is the home field of the San Diego Padres of the Major League Baseball, East Village was considered the unattractive, forgotten sister of Downtown’s famed Gaslamp Quarter next to the Marina District. It is the largest of the Downtown districts and is bounded on the east by Interstate 5, on the west by the Core and Cortez Hill districts next to Little Italy as well as the Gaslamp Quarter, on the south by Barrio Logan, and on the north by Balboa Park.

This vibrant district is compared to Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, and its now a cutting-edge neighborhood!  There’s a combination of ultra-modern new construction, and elegant repurposed warehouses help add to the beauty.

History of the East Village

Since its beginnings as an industrial district in the 1850s, East Village is now a power house. In the early days of the neighborhood’s development, the majority of the area’s use is business purposes.  This is a somewhat reminiscent of the Old Town development path.  These consist of warehouses, empty lots, public utilities, and at the time, a few residential homes scattered throughout. In the 1980s, its image is of an urban blight, with a population that was decreasing.  Lots of companies were closing and degrading, and a large population of homeless individuals took hold. In the 1990s, the neighborhood experienced a modest recovery in interest as artists made the move into renovated warehouse spaces, and social services moved in to address the need of the neighborhood’s residents.

On the other hand, the construction of the home team’s Padres stadium became the neighborhood’s savior in the year 2004, at the time it was finally finished.