Athens Village, CA

Most drivers on the Harbor Freeway pass Athens Village without knowing it has a name. Compact and unincorporated, this Los Angeles County community lies east of the 110, where Broadway and Figueroa Street run south toward Gardena and El Segundo Boulevard carries the cross traffic. The character changes more by street than by district. Along Figueroa and El Segundo Boulevard, storefronts, auto shops and small apartment buildings face the traffic. A block or two in, the grid goes quiet, with one-story houses behind low fences, short driveways and a front yard on nearly every lot. Athens Park works as the town square. The county park on Broadway packs a swimming pool, an indoor gym, courts and a lit baseball diamond into one site, and its paths make an easy evening walk. Food close to home is simple. The burger run goes to Tom's Jr. Two Coast Brewing, a brewery taproom with a German accent, is a few minutes south on Figueroa in East Gardena, and the Tokyo Central market in Gardena is an easy drive west. A normal week in Athens Village involves the car. Groceries mean Gardena or Vermont Avenue, and the two freeways put downtown, the South Bay and LAX within reach for most commutes. Being this small cuts both ways. There is no supermarket, shopping street or civic center of its own, so errands get spread across three or four neighboring places. What stays constant is the park, where the pool, the courts and the ball field are close enough to reach on foot from almost any house.