Middletown, San Diego, CA

Middletown fills the slope and flats between Little Italy and Mission Hills in San Diego, with Interstate 5 running through it and San Diego International Airport along its western side. It is one of the city's oldest subdivisions, laid out in 1850 on 687 acres meant to link Old Town with the new town growing beside the bay. The housing tells that long story. Victorian houses from the 1880s, transitional homes with Mission and Craftsman touches, and Craftsman bungalows still turn up on the older streets of the area. Medium-density apartments and condos have filled in closer to the trolley line. Building the I-5 in the early 1960s split the neighborhood, and the freeway is still the dividing line between the hillside blocks and the flats near the water. India Street is the main place to eat. Shakespeare Pub has been pouring cask-conditioned real ale and frying award-winning fish and chips for years, and its screens carry soccer and rugby matches. Gelato Vero Caffe, open on India Street since 1984, is the coffee stop, serving espresso, gelato and pastries into the evening. On Harbor Island, Tom Ham's Lighthouse has been a landmark since 1971, built around a working Coast Guard beacon, and its seafood comes with a bayfront view. The bay edge is the outdoor side of Middletown. Spanish Landing Park and its small beach line North Harbor Drive across the water from Harbor Island, and Harbor Island Park follows the island's own shoreline. The Cancer Survivors Park sits at Spanish Landing too, a quiet place to sit by the water. Getting around is a strength. The Middletown trolley station on Palm Street, close to Kettner Boulevard, serves the Blue and Green lines, and an airport shuttle stop sits a few hundred feet away. The I-5 runs straight through, and both downtown and Old Town are a quick drive. Groceries mean a short trip into Mission Hills or Little Italy, since the neighborhood itself has no big supermarket. Noise is part of the deal. The airport and the freeway are both right here, and few streets escape the sound of one or the other. What you get in return is a central location where the trolley, the airport, the bay and India Street's dining are all within minutes.