Hello East Village, we are new to the neighborhood! For the last 3 years we have lived in Little Italy, which I have to say is my favorite neighborhood in Downtown San Diego. Our need for space for our growing family led us on the search for larger square footage, which we found in a wonderful East Village condo. So, we have moved!

I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t sad about the move; I would have happily lived in Little Italy for many, many years to come. What is so great about Little Italy?? Too much to fit in this blog (see “Living in Little Italy San Diego – 101 Reasons Why to Love it”), but to name a few: it is a wonderful community; delicious food, coffee & desserts; a fantastic farmer’s market; it has so much charm and is kept cleaner than any other downtown neighborhood; great festivals and events; and so much more!

I have often said that if we were to leave Little Italy, I think East Village would be my second choice (despite all the great San Diego downtown condos for sale) – so it is convenient that our new place is in East Village! We have only been here a little over a week and here is what I have observed and appreciated so far…

There are GREAT and fun places to eat, grab coffee and hang out here too! I love BASIC (on the corner of 10th & J) – they have great pizza, salad, beers (full bar) and it is a cool place to hang out! Our son likes the huge ceiling fan, music and the pizza too! Lotus Thai is my favorite moderate-priced Thai place downtown (we used to make the trip over from Little Italy), so I’m very excited to have it a block away! East Village Tavern & Bowl has great food/drinks, a cool sports bar atmosphere, and the bowling is super fun! Java Jones is a very cool coffee hangout with delicious crepes, breakfast sandwiches, baked goods…and pretty good coffee (Little Italy is still my favorite for coffee)! El Vitral has delicious Mexican food, fantastic drinks, a great lunch special and happy hour!

Park at the Park is probably my favorite thing in East Village so far! I think it is so great that Petco Park is open to the public when games are not in session. They have a great little playground, which my son really enjoys and it is a great place to walk our dog! There is also a mini baseball diamond, which will be so much fun when our son gets a little older. What a great way to encourage Padres Spirit and a love of baseball!

East Village also has many of the conveniences I enjoyed in Little Italy. Starbucks, It’s a Grind, 7-eleven, dry cleaners, drug stores, Albertson’s, etc. are all in close proximity. I also love that I can walk my dog over to City Dog for his bath!

The close proximity to the Historic Gaslamp Quarter is also a bonus! I used to shy away from Gaslamp a bit because of the walk through the Core to get there (passing the jail and a sizeable homeless camp). Now we have hundreds of restaurants, cafes, happy hours, bars, etc. only a couple of blocks away. Plus Horton Plaza is a short walk, which will be very convenient for those last-minute shopping necessities.

I have also found that I feel safe walking our dog at night, something I was concerned about. East Village has a nice feel to it, much like that of Little Italy. I am very excited to explore more and become more involved with the East Village community. Who knows…maybe it will even steal Little Italy’s place in my heart as the #1 Downtown San Diego neighborhood – time will tell on that one!