San Diego's neighborhoods

Looking for a place to eat in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego? Here are some suggestions for dining in this newly revived area of San Diego. Mind you, this isn't a "best" or "top" list, nor is it exclusively focused on fine dining. It's simply a subjective list of places to try while in this part of San Diego. Now, get out and eat!

Ocean Beach is San Diego's funky beach community that best exemplifies the characteristics of San Diego's urban neighborhoods.

One of the benefits of the gentrification of Little Italy is that the neighborhood is attracting a clientele that seeks out unique retail experiences. Mix that in with longtime neighborhood businesses and Little Italy becomes a pleasant excursion for San Diego shoppers.

Hillcrest is San Diego's most vibrant neighborhood, and its bustling business district offers up lots of opportunities for shopping. Boutiques, mom and pops, and retail chains make shopping in Hillcrest an all-day excursion. Here are some suggestions to shopping in Hillcrest.

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South Park is a neighborhood of San Diego, east of Balboa Park and north of Golden Hill.

City Heights is a large neighborhood in the eastern part of city of San Diego with an ethnically diverse population.

Little Italy is San Diego's longtime ethnic neighborhood enclave in the downtown area.

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San Diego neighborhoods

North Park is the most sprawling of San Diego's urban neighborhoods.

Bookended on the west by University Heights and Kensington on the east, Normal Heights completes the Adams Avenue 'hood trifecta along the main drag.

University Heights is a neighborhood in San Diego.

Mission Hills is an older neighborhood in central San Diego.

Kensington is an upscale, quiet neighborhood in mid-city San Diego.

New York has Greenwich Village. San Francisco has the Castro. Vancouver has the West End. And San Diego has Hillcrest, our closest thing to a diverse, lively, hip and colorful neighborhood. This gay-friendly 'hood just north of Balboa Park is a mix of apartments and bungalows mixed with a pedestrian-friendly business district.

San Diego isn't known as a city of neighborhoods, but they do exist in this bastion of suburbia. Here are the top urban neighborhoods in the city of San Diego.

Downtown La Mesa offers a quaint and friendly small town environment, offering a mix of antique shops, restaurants, and business services.

San Diego is a place of suburbs and bedroom communities. Here are some of the best places to live in the county.

San Diego isn't exactly known as a city of neighborhoods, but they do exist in this bastion of suburbia. Here is our guide's Top Picks for urban neighborhoods.

San Diego's most eclectic - and gay - neighborhood, Hillcrest has dining, shopping and entertainment. It's cool, it's hip, and it's fun.

O.B. is the land that time forgot...when beach communities weren't commercialized and gentrified. And when the word "hippy" still meant something!

Affectionately known as "Abnormal Heights," Normal Heights is one of San Diego's "sign" neighborhoods - like Hillcrest, North Park and Kensington, it's busness district is marked by a large, lighted sign spanning the main drag. Just in case you weren't sure where you were.

Another of the "sign" neighborhoods, North Park is a fascinating hodgepodge of businesses, apartments, and wonderful Craftsman homes.

Just east of Normal Heights lies Kensington, a neighborhood of lovely Spanish-tiled homes and the best art house cinema (and one of the few single-screen ones at that) in town, the Ken Cinema.

This charming and affluent neighborhood boasts large, gorgeous homes on perfect yards, a shopping district, wonderful nursery, and some great views.

La Jolla, or "the jewel" in Spanish, is one of the most affluent communities in San Diego County. This prim and proper community has a downtown retail district comprised of fashionable boutiques, and restaurants, and some of the choicest seaside real estate around.

Actually, a city of 59,000, La Mesa is known for it's quaint village center in the old part of the city. Lined with antique shops and eateries, the village offers a Midwestern hometown feel.

Actually, a city in of itself, Coronado lies on an isthmus across San Diego Bay and reachable by the Coronado Bay Bridge. A quaint village, Coronado is home to the venerable Hotel Del Coronado.

City Heights is a large, dense, and ethnically diverse neighborhood of San Diego. Long a victim of neglect and urban blight and crime, the Heights is starting to see a bit of a renaissance, with new businesses and programs moving back into the neighborhood. San Diego photographer Minh Nguyen lends a photographic eye to this vibrant ethnic...