Central portion of San Diego and neighborhood boundaries
South Park is a neighborhood in San Diego, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 located east of Balboa Park, and borne out of its southern neighbor Golden Hill

Golden Hill, San Diego, California

Golden Hill is a neighborhood of San Diego, California. It is located south of Balboa Park, north of Sherman Heights/Highway 94 , and east of Downtown....

. "South Park" is also north of Grant Hill and south of North Park

North Park, San Diego, California

North Park is a neighborhood in San Diego, California, USA. It is situated to the northeast of Balboa Park, bounded on the north by the canyons overlooking Mission Valley, on the south by Switzer Canyon and the South Park neighborhood, on the east by Interstate 805 and City Heights, and on the...

, the boundary being Juniper Street. South Park is a distinct neighborhood that also includes the Burlingame historic district

There has been an ongoing controversy over whether or not South Park has historic significance insofar as its recognition as its own neighborhood independent from Golden Hill. Long time Golden Hill resident and owner/proprietor of the Big Kitchen restaurant, Judy Forman, calls her community Golden Hill. According to her “South Park is a name Republican real-estate people want. They want to be detached from Golden Hill because Golden Hill has an [image problem].” The modern boundaries of South Park include the historic neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights, which is not often discussed, one rare relic of it being the still extant Brooklyn Heights Presbyterian Church.

Serious development in the South Park neighborhood started around 1905 with the extension of streetcar

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

 service by the Bartlett Webster developing company. In the 1910s, Golden Hill and the area now referred to as South Park became one of the many San Diego neighborhoods connected by the Class 1 streetcars

San Diego Class 1 Streetcars

The San Diego Class 1 Streetcars were a fleet of twenty-four unique streetcars that were originally built to provide transportation for the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park. The cars were designed by the San Diego Electric Railway Company under the leadership of John D. Spreckels and...

 and an extensive San Diego public transit system that was spurred by the Panama-California Exposition of 1915 and built by John D. Spreckels

John D. Spreckels

John Diedrich Spreckels , the son of German-American industrialist Claus Spreckels, founded a transportation and real estate empire in San Diego, California in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...

. These streetcars became a fixture of this neighborhood until their retirement in 1939.

South Park is now considered one of the major historic urban communities of San Diego and has long been proposed as a registered historic district

Historic district

A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries, historic districts receive legal protection from development....

. Other historically significant neighborhoods not far from South Park include Golden Hill and Sherman Heights.

Description

South Park stands out in San Diego for its tree-lined streets, compact blocks, and walkable business district. Predominantly a single-family residence area with some small apartment buildings and bungalow

Bungalow

A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-rise , and the use of verandahs...

 courts, it is noteworthy for its fine and varied collection of Craftsman

American Craftsman

The American Craftsman Style, or the American Arts and Crafts Movement, is an American domestic architectural, interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts style and lifestyle philosophy that began in the last years of the 19th century. As a comprehensive design and art...

 and Spanish Colonial Revival style homes built between 1905 and 1930. These include works by Irving Gill

Irving Gill

Irving John Gill , American architect, is considered a pioneer of the modern movement in architecture. He designed several buildings considered examples of San Diego's best architecture.-Biography:...

, William S. Hebbard

William S. Hebbard

William Sterling "Will" Hebbard was an American architect most noted for his work in San Diego County, California.Hebbard briefly worked as a draftsman and assistant for the firm, Burnham and Root in Chicago, and in 1888 for Curlett, Eisen and Cuthbertson in Los Angeles. By 1890 he was in private...

, and Richard Requa. Many of the houses are historically designated and an official historic district has been in the pipeline for a number of years.

South Park has been gaining repute for its small businesses since the 1990s, and has long been home to a group of residents diverse in income, age, sexual orientation, and race. Pedestrianism, like in other urban mesa neighborhoods north of Balboa Park, is high relative to the rest of San Diego. The elevation is about 200 feet above sea level but still reasonably flat within most of the area. 30th Street

30th Street (San Diego)

30th Street is a major north-south road in San Diego, California on the east side of Balboa Park. It connects several of the densest urban communities of Central San Diego and has a high rate of pedestrian activity...

 forms its main business district and has been called the nation's best craft beer boulevard by Men's Journal. Chain and franchise businesses are not common in the area; the 7-11 store at Hawthorn Street being the only one. The area is home to several churches, three bicycle shops, coffee houses, popular restaurants, one medium-sized grocery store, taverns and a wine bar, art galleries, a dog wash, a retail tea store, yoga studio and other business concerns. South Park can be found off 30th Street via car or bicycle and is served by the number 2 line bus.

The southern portion of South Park shares the 92102 zip code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 with Golden Hill and other areas and the northern portion shares the 92104 zip code with North Park. South Park is home to the Albert Einstein Academy Charter School for German language immersion.

South Park has a reputation as a dog-friendly area, supported by one of the few designated dog parks adjacent to a residential area (at Grape Street).

Old House Fair

The Old House Fair is an annual community event in South Park, centered on the intersection of 30th Street

30th Street (San Diego)

30th Street is a major north-south road in San Diego, California on the east side of Balboa Park. It connects several of the densest urban communities of Central San Diego and has a high rate of pedestrian activity...

and Beech Street. It occurs on a Saturday in the middle of June. Vendors are primarily local businesses selling home furnishings and other items of interest for owners of vintage homes. Musical groups also perform on a stage on Beech Street.

Quarterly South Park Walkabouts

The South Park retail and restaurant community hosts quarterly Walkabouts on Saturday evenings in March, July, October and December. Shops are open late, live music and refreshments are provided, and a free trolley carries attendees from Beech Street to Grape Street to Juniper Street.

External links

• http://www.southparkscene.com/whats_happening.html South Park Scene -- businesses website
• http://theoldhousefair.com Old House Fair
• Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee
• Official City of San Diego website map
• Greater Golden Hill Community Development Corporation