Market Coming to TR Produce

Okay, now I know that we are all excited for the "URBAN MARKET" coming to the East Village in the long vacant TR Produce building, but I am pretty bent on the tennant that the Urban Retail Group landed. Wal*Mart will be rolling out a new retail format in response to UK giant Tesco's "Fresh and Easy" concept that invaded the US last year, and US staple, Trader Joe's. However, rather than going with the inexpensive model that we love about "Fresh and Easy" and "Trader Joe's", the Wal*Mart concept is going to be "upscale". Why does everything have to be "upscale" in the East Village? Pt. Loma got a "Fresh and Easy", why can't we save a little money on dine in so that we can drop $100 on every restaurant in the hood? Where is our Trader Joe's?

Hotel Indigo / Strata Update

Hotel Indigo is moving along quite briskly, as they are setting grade forms, and the column cages are rising above street level. This one is scheduled for a June/July '09 opening, and at the current pace, they should meet or exceed that date. On the other side of the block, Yesterday we saw Strata's crane erected, from deep within the 50' pit for the parking structure. This baby wont be completed until some time in 2010, so we'll be looking at the big blue crane for a while.

While Indigo boasts to having a cafe on their ground floor, there is no word from the folks at Hanover Co (Strata owners), as to what will be filling the nearly 12k SF of retail fronting Market St. Lets keep our fingers crossed that we finally get a Trader Joes in our hood!

Modern Mexican coming to EV!!!

This just in:

Richard Sandoval, Chef/Owner of the worldwide, critically acclaimed Modern Mexican restaurant concepts, will soon be calling the East Village Home! He will be occupying the recently completed, fully restored Schiefer Building, just outside of Petco Park. I don't know about you guys, but this is proof that our little hood is on the map!

Saturday Mornings in the EV

I took Lil Tommy for a long walk this morning. Hey, he deserved it, having a rough week getting "broken" and all (snip, snip), I figured the least I could do was give him some good ol' fashioned outdoor time. Plus, he was staring at me, groaning, at 6:05 AM, so I wasn't getting back to sleep anyway.

The walk started off with a bit of a bummer. It's A Grind is supposed to be open at 6, and here I am, up a 6:20 and uncaffeinated, and the kid is running late. Oh well, I'll let Tommy run around in the Square, and then I'll get my coffee. So we walk into EV Square, and I let him off the leash to run around. I know they are now enforcing the stupid leash law, but hey, it's 6:20 on a Saturday morning. Who cares? No one's out anyways. Still, one of the lamer security guards comes up to me after about 5 minutes and says, "Excuse me sir, but your dog has to be on a leash", to which I respond, "Thanks for the heads up. I'll wait for a cop to write me a ticket". This park was such a great spot to hang with your neighbors, now, you'd be lucky to venture in and another 2 or 3 people are hanging out in the park, not including the transients that are starting to post up, since there is no activity to keep them away.


We're on our way, and finally, It's A Grind has opened it's doors. I get my large black, and start our walk down 10th, toward Park Blvd. and Martin Luther King Prom. I've always liked walking Tommy down this way, since there is very little traffic so I can usually leave him off the leash. And, looking back up 10th, it reminds me how much I love our growing little neighborhood. I've always thought that the triangle landscape section just outside of Petco would make for such a killer plaza, somewhere along the lines of Herald Square on 34th in Manhattan.



We get down to the MLK, and I haven't seen the Lil guy run like that in a long time. Poor dude probably has so much pent up energy, getting snipped and all, he just ran and ran and ran. We walked all the way down to the Brickyard, cut up to G, let him run around Pantoja, and then back down the MLK. I've got to say the New Children's Museum came out fantastic, though it's too bad that it only has "Green" attributes, and they didn't go the extra step to get it LEED certified.

If you find yourself in the EV on a Saturday morning, take in the great spaces, fantastic views, and friendly people. If you run into Lil Tommy, don't worry, he doesn't bite!

Hotel Indigo moving along

In case anyone cares, the second foundation pour for Hotel Indigo's garage was this past Saturday, a week late. It won't be long before we'll have our own fleet of cabs to grab lined up outside of their lobby. Anyone who lives in the Village feels my pain when it comes to hailing cabs! At least all the walking helps keep us slim!

FIT Pool

Well fellow East Villagers, our patience looks to be paying off. The pool at FIT looks like the construction is just about wrapped up. Bring in the cabanas and let the meat market move in! Apparently, rumor has it that they are going for a liquor license to turn it into a scene like the SoHo house in NYC. Who needs Intervention at Moonstone when we have our own, members only pool deck! Get your pump on, then stroll out for the "cheapest" scene in town!

Padres Opening Day

Opening day just keeps getting better and better! This past Monday was a blast! Hope all you friar faithful made it down, even if you didn't have tickets, the atmosphere around Petco was electric. From the XX Sports Radio Block party on 7th & J, to the late night celebrating at East Village Tavern and Bowl, Padres Baseball is back!

Get down here for Dodger Weekend and lets watch the Pads sweep!!!

Tilted Kilt is now OPEN

Well, another sports bar opens its doors with hopes of becoming the next destination of the EV...we'll see. I checked it out last week, and got exactly what I expected. Overly friendly, underly dressed girls, above average eats, and slightly over-priced drinks. It had a cool vibe to it though, and I'm sure that the game day vibe will be stellar (there's two patios that will get plenty of foot traffic pre and post game.

All in all, I'll probably stop in from time to time, but my fave is still the EVT!

Metro Center

It's been a while since I checked in, so let me start off 2008 in eager anticipation of what will soon be our very own Lowe's, Target, and other destination stores: METRO CENTER. As of right now, this plot is down where young ladies probably don't want to be walking alone at night. But over the next few years, we will see a transformation of the area south of Imperial just like we've witnessed throughout the rest of our hood. Check out the website and early rendering!

STOREFRONTING (Neighborhood opening 7/4/07!

Neighborhood, a local burger and beer joint, will try to have their doors open by the 4th! Hopefully, we have another great hangout! The Boys who are opening up the place quit law school to open the place, so lets hope there aren't any objections!

STOREFRONTING

Another great restaurateur coming to the East Village is Carole Janks, owner/operator of the staple coffeehouse Zanzibar in Pacific Beach. It's twin, with the same name, will expand the restaurant as a wine bar and gourmet market, that is, if the police department approves the liquor license.

As previously reported by the UT, the SDPD is "bottling up liquor licenses", citing a lack of personal as the reason. Anyway, once this all gets sorted out, and Zanzibar opens her doors, the East Village will have another fantastic hang out!

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Storefronting

Just when we thought that restauranter's were going to start popping up like weeds in the East Village, the San Diego Police Department has put the entire industry on hold and in the land of uncertainty. The Union Tribune recently published that ALL NEW LIQUOR LICENSE APPLICATIONS will be placed on indefinate hold, citing a lack of officers. If you ask us, this is purely a political statement by the department in an effort to get more money. I mean, do upscale wine bars really need more police officers? The department always cites drunken behavior, but it is usually in PB. Anyways, neighbors, write our Councilperson...Mr. Faulconer and Mayor Sanders.

Chicken With a Trolley

For anyone that was considering playing chicken with our trolley system, better think twice. Last night a bright young kid driving a late model VW Passat tried to speed past the Park & Market intersection after the trolley was already over half way through. Here is what happens to all you thrill seekers if you find yourself in a similar situation. By the way, the light had been red for almost 10 seconds

STOREFRONTING

There is plenty of activity on the Store Front. New to the neighborhood is Mondo Gelato, a true artisan gelato shop just blocks from Petco Park on 10th Ave, in between Island an J St. They usually open by 11:00 daily and stays open pretty late, 11 pm on weekends, I think. The Gelato is made fresh daily, and there is a vary large selection of gelato, sorbet, soy gelato. Check 'em out. The coffee is great too!