Golden Hill, San Diego, CA

Victorian mansions, Craftsman bungalows and 1920s apartment houses share the slopes of Golden Hill, the San Diego neighborhood that climbs from the edge of downtown toward the southeastern flank of Balboa Park. South Park lies just to the north, and 28th Street ties the two together. The architecture is the draw. Golden Hill has Swiss chalet, Tudor, prairie, art deco and Spanish colonial houses within a few streets of one another, plus showpieces like the 1887 Hayward-Patterson House at 22nd and Broadway and the 1896 Queen Anne on 24th Street tied to former mayor Louis J. Wilde, topped by a four-story turret. Streetcars ran here from 1905 to 1939, and newer infill now joins the old stock, with rowhouses on C Street and lofts on B Street. Golden Hill Park, the section of Balboa Park just north of the neighborhood, hosts taco and burger festivals and holds the remains of a 1907 fountain grotto, the oldest designed feature in Balboa Park. Nearby, Tobey's 19th Hole at the Balboa Park golf clubhouse serves tots and beer with a view of downtown, and the Florida Canyon trails are close for mountain biking. Kingfisher on Broadway holds a Michelin Guide listing for Vietnamese cooking such as raw scallops dressed with the sour tamarind and pineapple flavors of canh chua. Pizzeria Luigi on 25th Street sells New York-style slices on a leafy patio, and Panchita's Bakery on C Street is the stop for donuts. Over on 28th Street, Sepulveda Meats & Provisions made Food & Wine's 2020 list of the country's top butchers. Influx Cafe on Broadway opens at 6 a.m. on weekdays. Getting around is simple. MTS Route 2 cuts through the center of the neighborhood on its way downtown, and the 5 and 94 freeways are both close. Errands are another story, because the neighborhood has no bank and no pharmacy, so those trips head down to East Village, where Smart & Final and Albertsons handle groceries. Jets overhead are a fact of life, and proposals for taller apartment buildings near Broadway split the neighborhood. Walk any block and the porches, gardens and mismatched rooflines show more than a century of building side by side.