Please Describe These Areas (San Diego, August: spring break, apartments, month to)

[SiddharthaGautama]

Can a local please describe these areas and neighborhoods for me:

Pacific Beach

Mission Beach

Clairemont

Hillcrest

Normal Heights

University Heights

North Park

South Park


For example......I know PB is a young beach area. From what I understand Clairemont is more suburban? If I could just get a description of each neighborhood that would be great. I'm trying to narrow down the area that would fit me the best in terms of living.

[tande1n5]

PB: You guessed it, Beers, Bros and Babes, where it's spring break all year round. Some of the inner streets are quieter, with prewar housing stock, but overall the party beach lifestyle dominates.

MB: More touristy, seedy sometimes, crowded, and the strip along the beach itself is wall to wall beach houses. A few are the small shack style, but most have been replaced with the "glass box and concrete" look.

Clairemont: Early postwar suburb with the vestiges of early car-oriented develpment and small, early tract ranch style houses in a great natural setting and convenient location. Some parts have weathered better than others and different parts of Clairemont range from nice, pleasant middle class to slightly in need of some TLC.

Hillcrest: The true "downtown" for nightlife for locals - leave the gaslamp for tourists or when relatives come. Great nightlife, walkability, crowds, restaurants, and known as San Diego's Castro... very desirable from an inner-city standpoint.

Normal Heights - Also known as "abnormal heights," this is the mesa neighborhood that has probably been the last to regentrify - and it tends to like it that way. It has a nice, walkable feel, shops/cafes, not overly gentrified (yet), and still sort of run down in spots so it feels the most "down to earth" of the mesa neighborhoods.

University Heights - One of the older neighborhoods and one of my favorite. Great parks along the canyon rims, some great housing stock and a nice main drag under the sign on Park blvd. Crowded though, and has elements of the typical inner-city drawbacks. Probably slightly more desirable in terms of the popular sentiment than Normal Heights, but many places here have been converted to apartments.

North Park - Again, old and inner city. Many main boulevards run through the area, making the main drags a little seedy, but overall a pretty hip place to be. It's got some great craftman homes by the park, but suffers from some frankly fugly apartment-plexes that have gone in over the years, so the neighborhood kinda looks like this throughout much of it: 4-plex apartment, nice craftsman, nice craftsman, needs restoring craftsman, 4-plex apartment, craftsman, etc. As you get further from the main drags, you trade walkability for some really neat alcoves: the Switzer canyon area, 28th street along the park, Morley Field, the area around Saint Augustine High.

South Park - My most favorite of the neighborhoods you mentioned. The best stock of craftsman homes in the city, originally built for the early 1900's upper middle class, and is "secluded" by the park and the canyon that the 805 runs on to either side. Great main drag on 30th/Fern streets, and literally changes from month to month as more homes get restored. A granola syle vibe, and expensive due to its trendiness, but has some plane noise that bugs some people.

[ranzchic]

Pacific Beach - College age kids, young pretty people, beer, parties, commercialized. Walkable.

Mission Beach - laid back version of pacific beach. Walkable.

Clairemont - where you live if you can't afford the beach areas of Pacific and Mission but still wanna be close. Suburban, strip malls, car centric. Not walkable umless you live close to the strip malls. The housing stock is from bad to good, although i am not very familiar with the area.

Hillcrest - the most gentrified of the urban mesas. Gays, DINKs, "funky", expensive are what I would describe it. San Diego's The Castro is a nice name for it. This is where the most boutiques, bars, (fine dining)restaurants are located outside of downtown. Nightlife here is alive and well. The housing stock ranges from okay to really nice. Walkable.

Normal Heights - I would say this is better than North Park in terms of desirability. More laid back than the other urban mesa neighborhood, but less nice than University Heights(but also more action). The housing stock ranges from bad to really nice, depending on your location. Walkable.

University Heights - More expensive cousin of Normal Heights and more laid back. Closer to Hillcrest so there is some sort of spillover effect here going on. The housing stock is okay to really nice. Walkable.

North Park - The seediest of the urban mesa neighborhood, but also the fastest gentrifying area. Alot of the usual mature gentrified stuff have moved in the last 2 years. Probably the cheapest too, but prices are going up, up and up although the current economic downturn has somewhat slowed everything down. The housing stock is bad to really nice. Walkable.

South Park - the nicer, quieter cousin of North Park. Very laid back compared to North Park but there is less things to do here. Basically, you eitherhang out in the select few establishments or you go to North park/Hillcrest. The housing stock is okay to really nice. Walkable.