5. Eastown

Eastown is the best neighborhood in Grand Rapids. Everything you'd ever want (restaurants, bars, stores, parks, schools, etc.) all within walking distance. The area is a great mix of families and students, and is a particularly community-minded area. (It's also worth noting that the reviewer from Kalamazoo is not in fact reviewing Eastown at all, but East Grand Rapids, which is a different city entirely...a much more, er, obscenely affluent city, though it may border my beloved Eastown.)

Great, quaint little downtown with a giant dirt lot across the street that USED to be a big department store. Something to solve the dirt lot problem would greatly increase the desireability of the shops here. The restaurants were better than the shopping, we'll be back for a meal.