Alhambra, CA

Alhambra is where the San Gabriel Valley begins, the first Los Angeles County city you reach heading east from El Sereno on Valley Boulevard. Emery Park on the west side is a 1920s set piece of stucco, tile roofs and Storybook cottages, and Mayfair in the south holds a pocket of 1930s Tudors. Around Airport Tract, laid out where a small airfield once ran, the houses turn plain and postwar. Downtown adds apartments and condos above shops. The town has two spines. Main Street around Garfield Avenue is the one you walk, with Lunasia for jumbo siu mai and Yang's Kitchen for mochi pancakes at brunch. Fosselman's on West Main has churned ice cream on site for over a century, and LAMILL Coffee roasts its beans on the west side. Parks are spread thin, so the ones that exist work hard. Almansor Park circles a little lake beside the city golf course. Alhambra Park has open lawn and a splash area, and Granada Park covers the south side. Plenty of people simply loop their own quiet blocks after dinner. The 99 Ranch on East Main, Sprouts downtown, Aldi on the west side and the big Asian markets along Valley cover almost any list. The Civic Center Library sits a block off Main, with a weekly farmers market beside it. The 10 and the 710 both run through town, so downtown Los Angeles is a short drive. Valley and Main back up at dinner, restaurant lots fill by weekend noon, and homes facing the arterials hear it all day. Turn one block off, though, and Alhambra goes residential fast, so an evening can start over noodles on the boulevard and end on a street of 1930s rooflines where the loudest sound is a sprinkler.