At 2 p.m. this Saturday, people in costume will start checking in at Négociant Winery, 1263 University Avenue. They'll pick up a souvenir glass and walk west and east along University to two more wine bars. The event is the Hillcrest Hallo-WINE crawl, and the organizers call it the neighborhood's first-ever wine crawl. It's also the best guide to where Halloween happens in Hillcrest this year. The main stage is University Avenue's storefronts. Normal Street isn't part of it.
The block party is resting, so the businesses are hosting firsts
The Hillcrest Business Association's Halloween page says Nightmare on Normal Street is "taking a pause this year due to locational changes." The block party plans to come back to Normal Street in 2027. In its place, the same page points people to events at local businesses. It promises costume contests, nightlife events and spooky specials.
Two of Saturday's biggest events are first-time events. The wine crawl is billed as Hillcrest's first. A few blocks off University, Rocko's Modern Taphouse at 3940 Fourth Avenue lists its October 31 party as "our first Halloween Party." It will run dog and human costume contests and a special drink menu. In years with a block party, much of the night centered on one street. This year it's spread across a set of venues, and several of them are trying a Halloween event for the first time.
The crawl route covers University Avenue's wine bars
The crawl's three stops stretch from the 1000 block to the 1400 block of University Avenue. All three businesses came to Hillcrest at different times and in different ways. Tickets are $39. Each one buys a featured glass of wine and a small snack at every stop, plus a souvenir wine glass. Guests check in at Négociant and walk the rest at their own pace. The event is 21+ with a valid government-issued photo ID, and ticket numbers are limited.
- Négociant Winery, 1263 University Avenue. This is the check-in stop. Négociant calls itself an urban winery. It started in North Park in 2015 and moved to Hillcrest on December 1, 2021.
- Cork & Stem, 1035 University Avenue. The westernmost stop combines a wine bar and a flower shop.
- Pali Wine Co., 1440 University Avenue. This is the newest of the three. Pali moved into the former Cellar Hand space this summer. It soft-opened August 12 and held its grand opening August 22. San Diego Magazine reported that Cellar Hand closed July 19 to make way for the move.
Pali came to Hillcrest from Little Italy. Times of San Diego reported that Tim and Judy Perr started the winery in their Lompoc garage in 2005. They planted an estate vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills in 2012 and opened a Little Italy tasting room in 2016. The Hillcrest space has a full kitchen, an outdoor patio and an updated interior. The same report said the team planned live music on weekends, a weekday happy hour, guided communal tastings, wine club events, and music and trivia nights.
Taken together, the route spans about four blocks of University Avenue numbers. It links an urban winery that has been here nearly five years, a wine bar and flower shop, and a tasting room that opened about ten weeks before Halloween. Without the block party, these three now fill the Halloween slot the block party used to hold.
Halloween weekend, hour by hour
This post goes up on Thursday, October 29, so here's what's left of the weekend's calendar. These events come from the Business Association's Halloween listings.
| When | What | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri., Oct. 30, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. | Halloween movie night | Rocko's Modern Taphouse | Two screenings every Friday in spooky season |
| Sat., Oct. 31, noon | Bubbles for Brunch | Urban Mo's | Weekly brunch hosted by Kickxy Vixen, with a spooky theme this month |
| Sat., Oct. 31, 2 to 7 p.m. | Hallo-WINE crawl | Starts at Négociant, 1263 University Ave. | $39 ticket, 21+, limited tickets |
| Sat., Oct. 31, 4 p.m. to midnight | Halloween costume party | Good News, 3821 Park Blvd. | Costumes, prizes, tarot readings, games, zero-proof drinks, 18+ |
| Sat., Oct. 31, 6 to 11:30 p.m. | Halloween party and costume contest | Rocko's Modern Taphouse, 3940 Fourth Ave. | Dog and human contests start at 7 p.m. |
| Sun., Nov. 1, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Hillcrest Farmers Market | University Ave. between Herbert and Park | Regular Sunday market at its temporary location |
The lineup offers more than one kind of night. Good News is a non-alcoholic pub on Park Boulevard that opened in summer 2025, and its party is open to anyone 18 and over. The wine crawl ends at 7 p.m., the same time Rocko's costume contest begins. That means anyone can go from the last glass at Pali to the contests on Fourth Avenue without a long wait.
Why Normal Street is still off the calendar
The space the block party is waiting for is the Pride Promenade on Normal Street. The Business Association's project page still says it is under construction. Its planned uses, like weekly markets, weddings and civic events, are described as future plans, not a current schedule.
The latest dated reports give a timeline. In July, KPBS reported that work under the promenade was done, while work on the nearby storm drain system under University Avenue was still going. Officials expected the promenade itself to be finished by the end of 2026. The nearby pipe replacement isn't scheduled to wrap up until the end of 2027. The same KPBS report listed what's being built. It includes a bike lane painted in Pride rainbow colors that will connect the University Avenue bike lanes to Howard Street, about 100 trees, shade structures, new lighting, sound systems and a children's playground.
Times of San Diego reported that the full infrastructure project's official finish date is 2027, and that the promenade part could open as soon as fall 2026. It said underground finds, including old streetcar lines and pipes, helped stretch the schedule.
The Sunday market shows how long University Avenue has been filling in. The Hillcrest Farmers Market moved to University between Herbert and Park on January 26, 2025, and its website still calls that spot temporary while Normal Street is under construction. It hasn't announced a date to move back. The Halloween shift follows the same pattern as the market. For almost two years, University Avenue has hosted events that used to happen on Normal Street.
The holiday season runs through the storefronts too
The handoff continues past Halloween. Most of the remaining 2026 calendar is built around shopping and sipping at local businesses or a single venue, not a street closure.
- Shop Hillcrest for the Holidays, Saturday, November 28, through Thursday, December 24. Every purchase at a participating Hillcrest business counts as an entry in a raffle for local gift certificates to use in 2027. Entries count double on Small Business Saturday, November 28, and at Taste 'N' Tinis on December 10. Details are on the Shop Hillcrest page.
- The 35th Tree of Life ceremony, December 1 at 6 p.m. Mama's Kitchen and Village Hillcrest host it at 3955 Fifth Avenue. The program includes a candlelight vigil, a tree lighting and music by the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus.
- Hillcrest Taste 'N' Tinis, Thursday, December 10, 5:30 to 9 p.m. The Business Association calls it a 21+ holiday sip-and-stroll through local restaurants and shops. Information is on the Taste 'N' Tinis page.
Taste 'N' Tinis works much like Saturday's crawl, on a bigger scale. You walk between businesses and stop at each one, and the businesses host the night. The crawl may end up as a first try at what Hillcrest's events look like until the promenade opens.
For now, the dates to save are the 2 p.m. check-in at Négociant this Saturday, the 9 a.m. market on University on Sunday, and the start of Shop Hillcrest on November 28.
At Folio Real Estate, we follow storefront corridors like University Avenue closely. A tasting room moving in, a market staying put, and a holiday calendar run by small businesses all show how a commercial strip holds up while the street next to it is rebuilt. If you own Uptown property or are thinking about it, we're glad to talk through what this corridor's year means for your plans. Build Your Folio With Us.
