El Monte, CA

Two rivers frame El Monte. Locals still repeat the old claim that the Santa Fe Trail ended here, and a regional bus hub now does the same job for commuters. Most of the housing came after the groves, in the postwar decades, as single-story homes on regular blocks. Park El Monte, south of the 10, bends its streets into gentle curves. Up north in River East, some blocks keep deep lots with no sidewalks, and Norwood Cherrylee mixes houses, apartments and a manufactured home community. Gibson Mariposa Park exists because local fifth-graders wrote letters asking for it, and the free bike park on Mulhall Street has pump tracks and wooden ramps. Food spreads along the big avenues, Peck and Garvey especially. Burritos La Palma wraps its birria in small tortillas it makes itself, and Havana Club serves Cuban oxtail in a wood-paneled room. Daikokuya on Garvey brings its Little Tokyo ramen east. For coffee, people point to the Tierra Mia drive-thru on Peck and its horchata latte. Daily routines revolve around El Monte station, where the J Line busway ends and the Silver Streak stops, which puts a bus to downtown Los Angeles close at hand. The historical museum and main library share Tyler Avenue downtown, and Northgate Gonzalez covers the big weekly shop. Beyond that, most errands mean the car. Traffic is the city's constant. What makes up for it is how much of El Monte lies within easy reach of a river trail, so a bike ride to the lakes at Whittier Narrows can start from a driveway.