Names: Kathleen Hallahan and Rob Quigley
Locations: Lived in Little Italy for 25 years; living in East Village for the last 10 years in a self-designed-and-built, mixed-use building named Torr Kalan,
Personal deets: Both are principal architects of their own firms. Kathleen is a San Diego native. Rob is a refugee from Los Angeles.
Professional acclaim: Architectural resumes list dozens of industry awards. Notable local buildings include the San Diego Central Library, New Children’s Museum, Ocean Discovery Institute, Solana Beach Transit Station, Bayside Fire Station No. 2 and Fire Station No. 5 in Hillcrest, Balboa Park Activity Center and the Sherman Heights Community Center. Rob’s three SROs in the 1980s for the working poor started a nationwide trend. He’s a co-founder of the San Diego Commons project. Kathleen is currently president of the East Village Residents Group.
Why Rob chose San Diego: “After graduating and working in South America, I returned with the intent of practicing architecture and urban design. It was clear that Los Angeles would never be very interesting from an urban standpoint. San Diego, on the other hand, was a blank slate beckoning!
Rob recalls the early days: “We started construction on our first downtown home and office in 1986. It was likely the first new residence in Little Italy since World War II. It was also downtown’s first legal mixed-use building. In those days you weren’t allowed to work and live in the same building.
“Downtown had been abandoned during the 1960s. The possibilities of helping to rethink and rebuild it were seductive. My first office at State and G Street was a wasteland in the late ’70s. There were no residents or tourists. At least parking was a non-issue!
“Grant Grill (which we couldn’t afford), Rancho Chico in the warehouse district (now East Village) and a Chinese restaurant in a creepy bordello were the only three places to eat that were open after 6 p.m.
“There were no resources or culture, but it was a great time to be downtown. Creative types from all over came to our street parties. We would block off State Street with barricades and invite everyone we knew. The police were glad to see some activity and would join in.
“Kathleen and I met at one of those parties.”
The Little Italy Focus Plan: “A small group of local activists were concerned that the coming gentrification of the neighborhood would unintentionally ruin Little Italy,” Rob says. “Led by Betty Slater, we got together in evenings and put together a plan. It overlayed ideas about character preservation in our neighborhood on the existing downtown general plan. It was presented to the Redevelopment Agency and accepted.
“For the most part, it’s been followed. The largest departure from the plan has to do with architectural style. Other than Our Lady of the Rosary Church, the rich and colorful culture of the neighborhood came from the people and their traditions. Not from the architectural style of the buildings.
“The plan emphasizes the importance of perpetuating an honest, working-class aesthetic. Unfortunately, fake Italian styles in many new developments have introduced an element of kitsch that was not there in the beginning.
“Interestingly, the architecture that has really enriched the community is contemporary in nature. San Diego’s best architectural talent (such as Ted Smith, Jonathan Segal, Lloyd Russell, Kathy McCormick, Jim Brown, Robin Brisbois, Sebastian Mariscal, Brett Farrow and others) have done some of their best work in Little Italy.”
City infrastructure: “The roads here are the worst,” Rob says. “Especially at the exit off the freeway at Imperial between Fourteenth and Seventeenth streets. This is a major entrance to downtown and Petco Park. Embarrassing for all San Diegans–and hard on our cars.”
Homelessness: “It’s a national, not just a hometown issue, and unfortunately part of the culture that our country has created for itself,” Kathleen says. “That doesn’t make it any easier to see such poverty, mental illness and addiction. The situation has definitely gotten much worse in the last five years. What would help the most, other than housing, is care for the mentally ill and more working public restrooms.”
Doo-doo and decibels: “Dog owners that don’t clean up after their pets is an issue,” Kathleen says. “Plus, the lack of a system for enforcing the city’s rules regarding noise pollution. We have reached a residential density where noise and music (outside of the Gaslamp entertainment district) need to be monitored and the source shut down when it exceeds allowable decibels. It is not fair to businesses or residents when the enforcement is haphazard.”
Scooters: “They’d be a positive addition to downtown if used as transportation by responsible riders,” Kathleen says. “But they’re used for entertainment by many who do not know how to control them or have been drinking too much. The situation has improved. We thank David Gapp for diligent work.”
Transportation breakdown: The couple walk everywhere downtown. They bike to the bay, Balboa Park, Barrio Logan, Sherman Heights and Golden Hill. They’re fans of the new, dedicated/protected bike lanes.
Funny moment: “It was a warm summer evening and we were sitting on the grass at Fault Line Park, watching Movies in the Park,” Rob says. “The lawn sprinklers suddenly turned on during the movie. Total panic and chaos and lots of laughter.”
Best insider tip: Don’t forget how wonderful the sunset view is from the waterfront.
The future of East Village: Kathleen and Rob are both upbeat. “We moved here because it is the last downtown neighborhood that is still becoming what it wants to be and it is fun to be a part of that,” Kathleen says. “We can’t imagine living anywhere else.” SDSun