Hillcrest, Pacific Grove, CA

Hillcrest is a small residential area just south of Pacific Grove's downtown, close enough to the Monterey line that Hilltop Park and Cypress Park across it are among the nearest places to sit outside. Almost no businesses sit inside its boundaries, and that quiet is what separates it from the busier blocks around it. Cottages and bungalows from the town's earlier decades set the tone on these streets. Planning data shows fewer homes per acre than the downtown streets, so the blocks have a bit more space between houses than the shopping streets to the north. Caterpillar Park and the playground at the community center are the nearest places for a picnic or a pickup game, with Higgins Park a little farther on. The monarch sanctuary on Ridge Road is a drive or a good walk away, and from October through the winter its eucalyptus grove fills with overwintering butterflies. The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History on Forest Avenue is open Wednesday through Sunday and runs audio tours of the sanctuary and the shoreline trail. For a night out, Hops and Fog Brewing Company on Lighthouse Avenue is a brewpub that began in 2020 as a nanobrewery and turns out pizza and bar food beside the beer, open into the evening most days. Julia's Vegetarian Restaurant, up on Forest Hill, handles meat-free breakfasts and dinners. Safeway and Trader Joe's both sit roughly half a mile from the edge of the neighborhood, so a car or a brisk walk both work. Downtown's smaller shops and cafes are closer still. Nothing inside Hillcrest is a grocery store or a cafe, so the first coffee or loaf of bread of the day means stepping out and going somewhere. Because the area sits behind the commercial streets, the main sounds are residential ones, with the downtown crowds a couple of streets away.