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Grew up at the point where two streetcar lines met, halfway between downtown and the amusement park at Reeds Lake.

Size

0.61 sq mi

city boundary

Built

1900–1930

two streetcar lines

Residents

4,900

approximately · 2020 census

Eastown is outlined by Fulton Street to the north, Woodward Lane to the east, Martin Luther King Jr. Street to the south, and Fuller Avenue to the west. Two miles east of downtown, gathered around the corner where Wealthy meets Lake Drive, with East Grand Rapids and Reeds Lake just beyond it.

What it’s like

Eastown is a business district with a neighborhood wrapped around it. Everything converges at Wealthy and Lake Drive — independent shops, bars, restaurants, a theatre — and the housing runs right up to the back of it, so most of the neighborhood is a short walk from the whole thing. It is the closest Grand Rapids gets to a place you can live in without starting the car on a Saturday. Reeds Lake is a mile east, downtown is two miles west.

Eat & drink

• Chez Olga

  Looking for something new and unique, try Chez Olga — one of the most underrated restaurants in town. Black and female-owned, it specializes in Caribbean and Creole dishes and was made famous by a 2019 episode of the Food Network show Restaurant Impossible. It's a restaurant that stands out among the crowd.

• Harmony Brewing Company

  If you're looking for a classic night of pizza and beer, stop looking. You've found it. Live music, trivia nights, euchre nights. Always a hit.

• Terra Bagels

  Looking for the best bagels in town? You've found them.

• Yesterdog

  A Grand Rapids classic. Stop there on your way out of Eastown Sports Bar or after live music and dancing at Billy's Lounge. Take your pick of glizzies, but don't forget your cash — they're cash-only (they do have an ATM).

Also here

• The Local Epicurean

  A local market with artisan goods. Check. Wine and cocktails. Check. Cooking classes. Check.

• Rebel

  A great little shop with unique gifts for everyone. The kind of place you can kill an hour even though it's not very big.

• Wilcox Park

  Established in 1911, an approximately 13-acre park plunked inside the bigger park that is the Eastown neighborhood residential area.

• Grand Rapids Pride Center · Community centre
• Sigsbee Park · Park
• The McKendrick Building · Gallery

Getting around

Downtown

Two miles west. Wealthy Street runs straight there from the corner without a turn.

Reeds Lake

A little over a mile east on Lake Drive, through East Grand Rapids to Gaslight Village and the water.

Aquinas College

Immediately across Fulton at the northeast corner — the campus and Wilcox Park share a property line.

The highway

Fuller Avenue runs up the western edge to the I-196 interchange, about a mile north of Fulton.

On foot

The business district sits in the middle of the residential grid rather than along one edge of it, so most of the neighborhood is within a few blocks of the whole thing.

The homes

• Streetcar-era housing · turn of the century into the 1920s

Built out through the decades the streetcars ran, from the turn of the century into the 1920s. The business district is unusually intact for one of that age, and it is worth knowing what you are looking at: the building at 1514 Wealthy started life as a streetcar garage.

Grew up where two streetcar lines met, halfway between downtown and the amusement park at Reeds Lake. The longer story.

Lately from the neighborhood

• ECA Annual Report, 2025June 10, 2026
• Eastown History ToursApril 7, 2026

Posted by Eastown Community Association, not by me — I just point at it.