Huntington Park, CA

Huntington Park fits a lot of city into a small footprint on the southeast side of Los Angeles County. It sits just below the warehouses of Vernon, with Walnut Park and South Gate below it and Bell and Maywood to the east, and it started out in the early 1900s as a streetcar suburb for people who worked in the factories nearer downtown. The street grid hardly changes anywhere in town. What really changes from street to street is which commercial corridor is closest, since Florence, Gage, Slauson and Santa Fe avenues each carry their own run of shops. Salt Lake Park, on the east side, is the big green space and the base for city sports leagues and classes. Smaller parks are scattered through the neighborhoods. Pacific Boulevard is where most people go to eat. Tacos Los Cholos draws a line for its smoky, charred tacos, and La Monarca Bakery, on the same boulevard, is known for conchas and cafe de olla. Pupuserias and panaderias spread out along Gage and Florence, so a lunch run rarely takes more than a few blocks. Weekends bring shoppers from across the region to the boulevard for shoes and quinceañera dresses, while the side corridors handle groceries and everyday errands. Buses run up and down Pacific and along Florence, Metro's A Line stations sit a short ride west, and the 710 is a few minutes east by car. Parks are the thin spot in Huntington Park. For a city this packed, Salt Lake Park carries most of the load, and its courts and fields fill quickly on Saturdays. On most blocks, though, a panaderia is close enough that the morning bread run happens on foot.