Benny on the Block

Benny on the Block

Benny Cartwright

The question I posed for this week’s column sure opened up the floodgates! People are passionate about San Diego’s gayborhood Hillcrest, and they had a lot to say in response to this week’s question that I posed on Facebook: “If you had unlimited money/resources, what is one thing you would do to improve our gayborhood, Hillcrest?” 

Being someone who has been hanging out regularly in Hillcrest since at least 1995 as a teenager (fun fact: I like to call myself a “native Hillcrester” as I was born in what is now UC San Diego Medical Center in the neighborhood), I’ve seen a lot of change in the area over the past 25 years. When I first starting hanging in the gayborhood, Hillcrest was at its peak following the “gay gentrification” that had taken Hillcrest from a run-down urban neighborhood, to a fabulous destination with some of the most unique dining opportunities in the city, lots of shopping and boutiques. Hillcrest even had a Gap store at the corner of Fifth and University avenues for many years, and of course, all of the cool coffee shops, bars, and happening nightspots.

The neighborhood is still pretty awesome, but things have changed. People are flocking back to urban living, and many other center city neighborhoods that were once run down, too, have come back. Most notably North Park and Little Italy, which are now known to be some of the hottest spots to live and play in the entire region. Hillcrest got a little left behind when the other nearby neighborhoods started to come up and has its own issues. Many noticed high turnover and vacancies in business storefronts, run down infrastructure, and of course, the challenges that being a neighborhood with a high population of unhoused neighbors brings. Don’t get me wrong. I still believe that Hillcrest is San Diego’s most fabulous neighborhood, but we’ve got work to do. Here’s what people had to say about what they would do to improve the neighborhood if their resources were unlimited:

First, there were those who want to see more social and support services for people in need.

Jesse Fantoni would “house all the homeless.” Tryce Czyczynksa said she would “open a meeting/event space geared for women, trans and youth.” LaToya Langford would like to see affordable housing for those who are independently disabled noting that “it’s really hard to find a condo or a house under Section 8 these days for those who are independently disabled.” Jae Red Rose is interested in seeing a “trans homeless shelter and drop-in center.” Andy Anderson would love to see more mental health resources including those for veterans available in the area. Michael Carr suggested “a shelter and rehabilitation center to help get some of the homeless off the street and into homes and jobs.” Joseph Santapaola suggested “building a large LGBT Center that offered evening programs like a cinema with cinema seating, board rooms for rent by local businesses for meetings, lots of office spaces but with an open concept to encourage collaboration between departments. On the opposite side or on top of create housing for youth not supported by other means as well as a stepping place for sober living and homeless.”

Parking is a frequent complaint by many who live in or visit the neighborhood:

Zach Hayes was the very first to comment on the post and suggested building a parking structure in the neighborhood, while Thomas Michael retorted, “there’s plenty of parking. You just need to be willing to park a few blocks away from your destination.”

Brian Jaeger agreed with Hayes that there needs to be some sort of solution to the parking issue saying, “driving is a convenience and privacy and comfort issue. You’re in control of your schedule and safety. If a friend wants to come from Poway to have a drink with friends at Baja Betty’s, a car trip (evening) will take 15 minutes. Park and walk in. Bus? Train? How long does that take with how much effort, and with what reliability and safety? That’s the problem that needs to be solved.”

Patrick Santana reminded people that the number of parking spaces in Hillcrest has only increased in recent years, contrary to what many believe based on the recent installation of bike lanes. “There have been over 300 parking spaces added by the Uptown Community Parking District to the Hillcrest area since the eastern University Avenue bike lanes were striped. Hillcrest today has more on-street parking spaces then it did two years ago. And at minimum another 40-70 spaces will be coming online in the next few years with the Normal Street Promenade,” said Santana.

And on a related note, Andrew Caldejon said, “I’d build streetcar lines not beholden to car traffic from Hillcrest to downtown, the airport, the airport, North Park, and University Heights.”

Others wanted to see infrastructure, landscaping, and arts and culture improvements.

Noel Villagrana would like “more uniform landscaping throughout the neighborhood so you know it’s all Hillcrest.” Derek Soderholm wants “concrete decorative intersections and paver sidewalks.” Kathleen Connell would like to see “lots of trees [planted] everywhere.” Sue Heim agreed saying, “bring back some trees and greenery! All the trees cut down in recent years have ruined the skyline and raised the heat levels (no shade on asphalt streets).”

Taj Al-Taji said, “I would invest in a large dog park with astroturf. The GLBTQ communities are avid dog lovers and we treat our pups like our babies.”

Dan Soderberg had a few ideas related to these ideas, including, “Restore the village character. Try scraping off all the ugly plaster, tack-ons, plastic, and trendy weathered wood. Then restore the original beautiful facades many buildings once had. Get AT&T to move. Maybe utilize that space for centralized parking, put a city park on top of it. Make one section in Hillcrest closed to autos and make it a pedestrian mall — a la the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.”

And the “new” Hillcrest sign is a point of contention for some (quick history: the Hillcrest sign, which had gone dark for several decades in the late 20th century, was re-lit in 1984. It was a neon sign, but the Hillcrest Business Association had to replace it in 2011 with the LED sign that now hangs. The 1984 neon sign proudly hangs in the front room of Rich’s Nightclub now).

Eric Hufford said, “Bring back the neon [Hillcrest] sign and get rid of the LED one!” Jeff Fleming agreed saying, “Absolutely! I love our pink, neon sign.”

Taj Al-Taji reminded folks that they can always see the old neon sign inside of Rich’s but Hufford and Fleming stood strong on their opinions that they want to return a neon sign to the street. Sue Heim jumped in to say she agrees with Hufford and loves the neon but reminded folks that “[the neon sign] is just not environmentally friendly or cost effective.”

On politics

Jon Philips said, “I’ve lived in Hillcrest over 30 years, it has changed a lot. I wish we had better representation in the city, there are too many politicians with their own agendas, not caring about the citizens that voted for them.”

On street crossings

Fleming, quoted above regarding the Hillcrest sign, also had a fun suggestion about pedestrian crossings. “Change all the crosswalk recordings to RuPaul’s voice saying ‘Sashay across Fifth [Avenue], honey!’” said Fleming. Noah Cohen added that the don’t walk signal should say “Shantay you stay.”

Other fun ideas include

“A roller disco,” suggested by Clarione Guttierez. “A 50-ft. bronze sculpture of Nicole Murray Ramirez [this paper’s associated publisher] holding Kylie Minogue on a unicorn,” suggested by Eric Hufford. “A decent size resort style hotel,” said Justin Parker, And the ever fun Chris Andino suggested “more bathhouses.”

And one person just wants peace

Luke Terpstra, one of Hillcrest’s friendliest residents, who served as the chair of the Hillcrest Town Council for nearly seven years, had a wonderful suggestion. “Getting everyone a place to live in peace and harmony.” I definitely support that!

As you can see, people love our gayborhood and want to see the best for it! I look forward to working together with all sorts of groups like the Hillcrest Business Association, the Hillcrest Town Council, the newly forming Friends of Hillcrest (I’ll share more on that soon), our City Council office, and all of our community members to see the neighborhood we want to see!

If you want to see all of the comments that were made, and the vibrant discussions that were had, feel free to check out the public Facebook post on my page at this link: bit.ly/30doASR.