El Camino Village, CA

Four South Bay cities surround El Camino Village, and none of them owns it. This unincorporated square of Los Angeles County, listed on some maps as Alondra Park, sits between Lawndale, Gardena, Hawthorne and Torrance, and Crenshaw and Manhattan Beach Boulevards cross near its middle. The community reads in three parts. Most blocks are plain residential streets, with level streets of one-story houses, small lawns and a sprinkling of apartments. The middle belongs to the county park and its neighboring golf course. The reason many people know the place is Alondra Community Regional Park. The big county park wraps a lake with resident waterfowl, a pool, a splash pad and courts, and the loop around the water makes an easy daily walk or jog. Golfers have a public course next door, and the Dominguez Creek channel cuts across the area. Crenshaw Boulevard carries the food. Around it, a small run of pho, wings, taco and donut shops covers everyday cravings. Just east in Gardena, the Shin-Sen-Gumi Hakata Ramen shop makes an easy detour for a bowl of noodles, and Far Field Beer Company in Lawndale pours IPAs and sours on a big patio off Rosecrans Avenue. Errands are split among the neighbors. A Vietnamese market and the county library sit on Crenshaw, but full grocery runs head to Gardena, where Tokyo Central and the other Japanese markets are close, or to the big stores in Lawndale and Torrance. The 405 is a straight drive west on Manhattan Beach Boulevard. Dining out beyond the Crenshaw strip almost always means leaving El Camino Village. There is no main street of its own, so evenings out happen in Gardena or the beach cities. Most mornings, though, start with the lake loop in the park, and that routine is the part residents would find hardest to give up.