Day Trip to East Hills & Eastown, Grand Rapids

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East Hills and Eastown are two popular neighborhoods located next to each other within Grand Rapids. Both neighborhoods are on Wealthy Street, which is a bustling street filled with small, independent shops, restaurants, and businesses. Because there is so much to do here, I recently took a day trip to East Hills & Eastown to check it out. This day trip is perfect for a girls day out, day date, or even a parent-child bonding outing.

Today, Eastown is known as the “Greenwich Village” of Grand Rapids. But back when it first developed, it was a commuter suburb to downtown Grand Rapids. Over the years, these neighborhoods evolved. In the early 2010’s, investment and revitalization started leading to new businesses popping up. Many of the dilapidated, old buildings were given a face lift rather than torn down and rebuilt. One interesting thing that remains from the area’s past as a streetcar community is the stretch of brick road from Eureka Avenue in the west to just east of Lake Drive.

Would you like to enjoy Grand Rapids a little longer than a day? Consider turning this day trip into a weekend getaway! The vibrant Hotel District in downtown Grand Rapids is only a couple minutes drive away. There are several new, trendy hotels to stay at downtown such as the Canopy by Hilton or Residence Inn by Marriott. There are also classic favorites like the Amway Grand or JW Marriott. Discover more places to stay downtown here.

~ Day Trip to East Hills and Eastown Map ~

~ Day Trip to East Hills & Eastown Summary ~

When: Sunday in winter

Why: My two best friends and I wanted to enjoy a girls day. After considering our options of where to go, we decided on exploring these neighborhoods.

Time Traveled (one way): 2 hours from Detroit, less than an hour from Kalamazoo, 1 hour from Lansing, 2 hours from Traverse City

Time Spent at Destination: 3 hours 15 minutes

Budget: $$ – brunch, macarons, kombucha tasting, candle making

What we did during our Day Trip to East Hills & Eastown:

But first, coffee! The first thing we did when we arrived in Eastown was head over to Outside Coffee Co to grab a latte. Afterwards, we headed over to Royals for our brunch reservation.

Next, we drove a few blocks over to Cherry Street to pick up some macaron’s from Le Bon Macaron. Since the next activity we planned wasn’t for a little while, we drove back to Wealthy Street and checked out The Plant Parlor and The Plant Shop.

Our fifth stop involved kombucha tasting at Sacred Springs Kombucha. Once we finished there, we went to our final stop, which was Wax Poetic Candle Bar. There we created our own scented candles.

Other Things to Explore in East Hills & Eastown

Restaurants: No matter what type of cuisine you are craving, you’re likely to find it it one of these neighborhoods. There are modern American options such as Winchester, Electric Cheetah, Forty Acres, Hancock, and Matchbox Diner. Otherwise try out some international cuisine at places like Donkey Taqueria (Mexican), Zivio (European), Chez Olga (Haitian), Go Jo’s (Ethiopian), Bombay Cuisine (Indian), or Maru Sushi (Japanese). If you’re looking for something quick, consider Yesterdog, an Eastown classic, or the new Eastown Cereal Cafe.

Coffee Shops: There are also a number of coffee shops. Your options include Wealthy Street Bakery, Sparrows, Squibb, and Rowster Coffee.

Breweries: If you’re into a libation or two, consider visiting a craft brewery! In the area there is Elk Brewing, Brewery Vivant, Speciation Artisan Ales, East West Brewing, and Harmony Brewing. On a nice day, they are all relatively nearby and could make for a fun bar crawl!

Shopping: There are also a ton of stores to check out! Whether you’re looking for women’s clothing, home décor, outdoor hiking attire, furniture, books, and so on, there’s a small business here selling it. Check out the maps above for information and links to all the stores located in Eastown and East Hills.

Art: The Wealthy Theater is a great place to check out budget friendly shows and entertainment (when COVID is not a concern). Once out of this pandemic, check out their website before visiting Grand Rapids to see if there’s anything scheduled you’d like to attend. Otherwise, if you’re interested in public art, there are a number of cool murals to look for! I’ve indicated those on the map above. My favorite is the mural of a fantasy animal land on the Wealthy Street Animal Hospital building.

A Side Note on Parking

There are a few options when it comes to parking in these neighborhoods. First, street parking is available. Please note that from Monday to Friday between 8-5pm paid parking is enforced. There are several pay by plate pay stations sprinkled around Wealthy St, Cherry St and Lake Drive. Parking is $1.50 per hour. However, chances are you won’t need to worry about paid parking as I assume you’re more likely to visit Eastown or East Hills on the weekends. When we visited on a Sunday, there were zero issues finding a parking spot on the street.

Next, there are six parking lot options available. These lots are maintained by the City of Grand Rapids. Therefore, if you’re visiting Monday to Friday between 8-5pm, you will need to pay the same $1.50 per hour as those parked on the street. Check out the map above for exact locations.

Finally, a few businesses have their own parking lots. If you’re only planning on visiting one place in Eastown, check out the business’ website or zoom into Google to determine if they have their own lot.

~ Day Trip to East Hills & Eastown Details ~

Outside Coffee Co

Because my friends and I were so eager to reach Eastown in the morning, we totally arrived over a half hour before our brunch reservation at Royals. So to kill time, we stopped at Outside Coffee, the perfect spot to grab some coffee and wake up a bit.

Outside Coffee Co is a fun outdoor space open year round that serves coffee, smoothies, pastries and more from a food truck. It’s located right next to its parent company, a boutique called Woosah that sells clothing geared to the outdoorsy, home decor, and more! Before COVID, Outside Coffee pioneered the use of geo-dome’s in Grand Rapids and they were always first come, first serve. But now, reservations are necessary to use one of them. Check out their website here if interested in reserving one. Beside the dome’s there are several other outdoor places to sit, a few with fireplaces.

Although it is outside, please be advised you need to wear a mask unless in a reserved geo dome or seated at a table.

Royals

Our original first stop, but now second stop, was to Royals, located a block away from Outside Coffee. Royals is a diner with a classic menu but updated with a modern twist. Though we didn’t sit indoors, from what we saw, the decor maintained that classic diner feel.

About a month ago, I set up a reservation for outdoor dining. Each reservation allows you up to an hour and a half in your dome or greenhouse. At this time, indoor dining does not require a reservation. After checking in, we were led to our greenhouse and given menu’s. The menu’s contained a QR code that led us to where we’d place our order. All ordering and paying is done virtually on your phone. When our food was ready, the server left the food and drinks outside the greenhouse on a table for us to grab.

I ordered the eggs benedict, another coffee (hello motherhood! ha), hash browns and a cinnamon roll (to enjoy later). The most unique thing any of us ordered was the chocolate covered bacon Old Fashioned (see photo above). The food was awesome, and my friend let us know the Old Fashioned was strong! Overall we all enjoyed what we ordered. However, my one compliant was that the cinnamon roll I ordered didn’t make it out with the other items. I had to go to where we checked in to let them know I didn’t receive it. Thankfully I didn’t need to *prove* anything, and they delivered the roll a few minutes later.

One thing to note if dining in a greenhouse on a sunny day is that it gets toasty in there. While there were 2 heaters, we turned them both off, popped a window open and still felt comfortably warm.

Le Bon Macaron

Le Bon Macaron began in East Hills in 2008. The eldest daughter of a local entrepreneurial family helped open this French inspired patisserie after spending time in France. Since its inception, it’s become a full family business. Besides macaron’s, the café serves French press coffee and espresso, scones, ice cream sundaes, and Italian soda’s. In addition to East Hills, there’s another Le Bon Macaron location in Ann Arbor and a bakery open for pick up orders in East Lansing.

The Plant Parlor & The Plant Shop

Once we returned to Eastown, we checked out two plant shops before our kombucha tasting. Since it was February when we visited, lush, green plants helped out our sore, winter logged eyes! So we headed into two plant shops. The Plant Parlor and The Plant Shop are located across the road from each other. Both shops offer an assortment of plants and plant accessories. The cute neon PS We Love Plants sign is located in The Plant Shop.

Sacred Springs Kombucha

Next up on this day trip is kombucha tasting at Sacred Springs. Sacred Springs started in 2013 by Geoff Lamden and Joel Andrus. Both guys have backgrounds in brewing and sound. After homebrewing for a couple years, they finally launched full time in 2016. All of their kombucha uses organic ingredients and is infused with sound, specifically the notes “D” and “A” from crystal singing bowls. I encourage you to read more about the history on their website here. Such a unique concept!

Sacred Springs currently accepts reservations online as well as walk in’s. They offer flights to try out their kombucha as well as glasses of kombucha to enjoy inside. Each flight costs $7 and includes 4 4oz pours. If you’re coming in for kombucha to take home, they sell their kombucha in refrigerated cans or by the growler or howler. No food is served here.

About a week prior, my friends and I set up our tasting reservation online. With over 20 options of kombucha to try, I decided on some of the “safe” sounding options with flavors I already knew. I tried Flower of Life, Raz Ninja, Thursday Knight, and Here Comes Sunshine. All are infused with flower, tea or fruit flavors. After sampling all 4, I’m impressed! There isn’t one I didn’t like. After our flight, I took home a can of the Flower of Life (elderberry, elderflower, jasmine, rose hip, hibiscus) and Thursday Knight (chamomile, lavender).

Murals in Eastown

Checking out a couple of the murals is another cool, quick stop to make in East Hills and Eastown. We stopped at two of them. One is on the side of the Wealthy Street Animal Hospital, just next to The Plant Shop. This mural displays a colorful fantasy world with all kinds of animals doing fun activities. It’s a cheerful and welcome sight!

The second mural is located on the North facing wall of Five Star Real Estate on Diamond Ave. Dave Battjes, who also works with Five Star, is the artist of this mural. Completed in the summer of 2018, Battjes also completed a number of other murals in Grand Rapids, such as the “Wallphabet” at 606 Front Ave and “Welcome Wall” at one of the exit ramps from I-96. All are eye catching with bold fonts and colors. Perfect for taking pictures!

Wax Poetic Candle Bar

Our final stop for the day was to create our own scented candles at Wax Poetic Candle Bar. This candle bar has been around since late 2017 in the Eastown neighborhood, but it finally took me until now to create my own candle.

Before visiting, we set up a reservation on their website. After checking in, a candle concierge led us through the first two steps and provided us a clipboard. Step one required us to chose a container, and write the name and color down on our clipboard. Each container is a different size and price. There are a lot of adorable options available! Then, step two involved smelling a number of scents and writing down our favorite ones.

Once we completed those steps, we were given a table to finish the rest of the process. Step 3 involved grabbing up to six different bottles of our favorite fragrances. Then, we squeezed the bottles towards our nose in different combinations in order to narrow down the scents to two or three. Step 4 involved mixing the scents together with a spoon. Often we stopped mixing to smell the spoon to ensure the candle scent was going in the right direction.

Finally, hot wax was poured into our container, and we poured the fragrance in after. To mix everything together, we blended the fragrance into the wax for about a minute or two. And viola, we’re done!

The candles we made took about an hour and half to firm up. To wait, I suggest checking out the Eastown Cereal Cafe. Their milkshakes look amazing!

Stay Longer!

Alternatively, stay longer in the Grand Rapids area! A couple miles away is the vibrant Hotel District of Grand Rapids. There are several new or reputable hotels downtown such as the Canopy by Hilton or Residence Inn by Marriott. There are also classic favorites like the Amway Grand or JW Marriott.

Let me know below, via email or on Instagram what your favorite things to do in Grand Rapids are!

If you are interested in checking out another town nearby Grand Rapids, I recommend spending a day in Rockford.

from Michigan with Love,

Jackie