On a map of San Diego, the 92103 zip code is a little jagged block sitting near the center. As a neighborhood, it has a “sense of place” which is hard to capture in any words or photographs. Hillcrest first developed as a “streetcar suburb” — an outlying urban region dependent on the invention of reliable and efficient public transportation to carry residents downtown for jobs and shopping. Houses were built, local businesses established, and eventually buses replaced the streetcar lines.
The neighborhood saw its lowest point in the mid-’60s when Mission Valley was developed and Sears, at the site of the present Uptown District, closed its doors. Revitalization started in the 1970s and got a big boost in ’84 with the formation of the Hillcrest Business Improvement District, now managed by the Hillcrest Business Association. Single family homes and many older buildings have been beautifully restored, while new development is largely built upon a mixed-use medium density growth plan.
The geographic location, on top of a sunny coastal terrace, serves as the foundation for the neighborhood and its peoples. The small mesa on which Hillcrest sits creates a delightful and efficiently compact setting. Streets are mostly laid out in a flat grid system, easy for pedestrians to navigate. Multiple canyons slice through the neighborhood offering bits of undeveloped green space and a sanctuary for native flora and fauna. The central location offers convenient access to and from all areas of central San Diego.
The diversity of the people living and working in Hillcrest forms an important keystone for the community. Hillcrest proudly shows its colors in the rainbow of the Queer community. The San Diego Gay and Lesbian communities first came out of the closet here. And although the region still serves as the center of the San Diego LGBT community, people of all genders and sexual orientations comfortably mix while dining, shopping, working and living in the neighborhood.
