On my way back from the theater after dropping off notes for the actors, I finally checked out this tiny complex of apartments/cottages that I pass daily. I usually pass by the rear of the buildings. Today, since I had my camera, I decided to take a peek.
These buildings are just off Balboa Park. I don’t know when they were built, but they are definitely vintage. That makes me happy. San Diego is lovely but sometimes all the buildings look like a sea of new beige stucco. Fortunately, the neighborhood surrounding the park has many wonderful old buildings. From the rear, these apartments look very nondescript, but when you look through the front gate, you see 2 rows of cottages (they are all attached) with beautiful landscaping and such charm! I took some photos.
This is the view as you come in the front gate.
One of the adorable cottages. Each front door has the look of a french door.
Can you see the little bridge? I’m in love.
This is the rear of the complex – where the 2 rows of cottages meet.
Each apartment owner has plants and flowers everywhere.
This is a busy neighborhood, especially on the weekend. Today, cars were backed up trying to get to the Zoo. But when I walked in the gate, it was quiet. There was a fountain gurgling, plants were blooming and each little cottagey apartment was utterly charming.
I chatted with a woman who lived there and was outside pruning her plants. She said the apartments were quirky – as all older apartments are – but that she loved living there. She had been there 8 years.
I’ve always been so drawn to cozy, charming little places like this. When I first moved to San Diego in 1993, I lived in an old building with Spanish influence. My particular unit still had hand stenciled beams in the living room. The kitchen had all the original tile from the 20’s. I loved that apartment. It only had one drawback – the busy corner it was on with a school right next door. I would have stayed there had not Don arrived in my life. Eventually I moved into the home I shared with him for 6 years, an old Craftsman home. Can you tell I go for old?
It struck me today that I would have snapped one of these units up had I known about them when I was new to San Diego. It might have made it harder for Don to woo me away. What a hidden treasure – a quiet little enclave in the middle of the city.
By the way, I got such a laugh when some of you said the heart shaped rock in an previous post looked like a piece of toast when you first saw it. I can see that. Perhaps you were also hungry?
Wonder if these apts. have short term rental for you next adventure in S.D.?? Wouldn’t that be fun!
Di
Ohhhhh myyyyy what an oasis this little community is!!! I want to live there!
Ohhhhhhhhhhh, I’d so love to live in one of those . . . perhaps another lifetime!!!
xxoo
I love them!! I would love to live there.They have so much charm….Kathy
Yes, yes indeed they are eight ways of awesome. Cozy and almost tropical with those plants and terracota pots. I possibly, maybe, almost, could live in a city if it was in a place such as this.
xo,
olive
The apartments are great. They look like some of the older ones that are sadly disappearing from LA. Now about that heart shaped rock….Claudia, are you sure that it isn’t a piece of toast that was left on the beach to petrify? LOL It still looks like, at one time, it was edible….
We used to live in a tiny little house/cottage just like those there but it was off of India St. I think there is a gas station there now, honey, but I loved that little house.
We then moved up to a little house on Georgia St. just off of Balboa Park and loved that. Survived an earthquake in that house. I just love San Diego.
xoxo,
Connie
Oh this was a love walk you shared with us. Could you not just envision gals living in here and maybe sharing plants and a cup of tea of coffee…funny how I don’t place men in the picture. It just looks like a place where girlfriends would live. Love it in a huge way.
xox Rella
Hi Claudia,
Thanks for the tour of those sweet little cottage homes. They are so charming with the loveliest little gardens and walkways.
I can tell you are missing your Don.
Hugs,
Sissie
Hi Claudia!
They sure are charming little apartment cottages. I love old homes too. I moved into a victorian house built in 1894 when I was eleven. This is when my love for old houses started…the crown moulding, the beautiful wallpaper, wood floors, french doors, the hardware and even the flowers in the garden are my favorites today.
Thanks for visiting my blog! I really enjoy reading yours and seeing all your pictures. I was laughing at the end of this post because I had thought the heart rock looked like toast too. I will be sure to be on the look out for a sweet eggcup to send your way.
Bethany ♥
Oh yeah…very charming and quaint! That would be a really cute little area to live! Thanks for sharing!~Patti
I love this place. How fun that would be for all of us bloggers to hang out! I agree with RElla, it is a woman’s world..LOL..
Thanks for sharing.
debby
I love these apartments, what a great set-up.. I wish architectural planners and builders would design more of this cottage-style living.
Hi Claudia: I just love old buildings and homes too. I always brought a Victorian House, but there was just too much work for me to afford living there. I still wish I had done it. Have a wonderful week. Blessings dear friend, Martha
Hi Claudia:
What a gem you found! I think I might have been coaxed to live there, too!
Have a wonderful weekend.
xoxo
Donna
Aloha Claudia,
I happily strolled through your blog today via Karyn from French Charming. I am missing her so I thought I would browse through her favorites and I can see why she has you on her list , just dreamy,
Aloha wishes from across the sea
Brandi
I would LOVE to live in such a quaint little place. It looks like it must be part of a fairy tale.
Absolutely charming!! Don’t you wish that new apartments were designed in such a cute cottage motif? Who wouldn’t want to live there?? Thanks for sharing your tour with us. I really enjoyed it!!
Love,
Susan and Bentley
xxoo
I love that cottage community– so charming. We have a few of those up here in the Sacramento Midtown/East Sac/Curtis Park area and I’ve always found them to be so enchanting. I’ve always wanted to nest in one– older homes have so many charming structural details, both inside and out!
Hugs,
Jill
O.K. Claudia, now you have got me daydreaming of the holidays. Lovely pictures and words!
Wishing you a sweet Sunday and a great new week. xx
When I lived in the Bay Area, my best friend’s sister lived in a cottage like these in Santa Cruz. It was tiny, but adorable. Everyone had small garden plots and there was a large lawn area in the middle. They must have been beach motel-cottages when they were new, but oh my, how I loved them!
Have a wonderful Sunday, Claudia!
What a lovely visit to cottage heaven today. I’ve been to SAN quite a few time and never ever seen this place. Thanks for taking us all up that charming brick path.
Toodles,
Kate
Oh, I’m drooling. I’m with you… old, quaint, and charming will win me over any day of the week. I will live vicariously through posts like these as I sit in my “split level” cottage. So glad you took us on this tour today!!… Donna
HI CLAUDIA,
HOW QUAINT, I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE ONE OF THOSE APARTMENTS. I BET THEY COST …….
SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE REALLY SETTLED IN, AND LIFE IS A LITTLE MORE EASY-GOING. HAVE A NICE EVENING. RIZZI
Oh what quaint little cottages. A sweet haven to escape to after a busy day. I’m drawn to all the plants and flowers in that hidden oasis. You are such a wonderful photographer too. I love all the pics in the store you took. I to would Love an old dress form.sigh..
Thanks for your sweet words on my blog!
I read the comments. Okay, I say we pool resources and make it a “womens colony for bloggers!” Love it!
Brenda
Oh Claudia
It looks so charming and I’ll bet the neighbors are all great friends with bar-b-ques and such going on all the time.
Just one more month ’til you’re back home right?
Enjoy your week!
Leann
Claudia, those places really do have a great deal of charm! I love Mediterranean Revival architecture. I lived in a house from that era for about eight years and loved it. There are some apartments not terribly far from where we live now, and I used to drive by there and gaze at the interesting vignettes in the window. It looked like a storybook building with storybook people in it. I love old, too. There’s a lot of pluses that older homes have like character.
Enjoyed seeing this, and something tells me that you might have convinced Don to live in those with you, Claudia. They really are cute!
XO,
Sheila
What a sweet charm the cottages are! We had a lot of those in my hometown growing up. It is a California thing? I to thought the heart rock looked like cinnamon toast!
Thinking of you!
Love,
Maryjane
xo
What a wonderful living environment, they look gorgeous, really really charming.
Really great cottages!! I love them all! I too would love to live in a place like this. It would make city life so great! I would love to live where I could walk everywhere but I also want the quiet of living away! Thanks for sharing!
Hugs, Lisa
ps I like Brenda’s idea!!
I love those little vintage apartments. I have seen similiar in Santa Barbara and the little town of Los Gatos near San Jose. Very sweet.