Lakewood, CA

Lakewood is southeast Los Angeles County's planned postwar suburb, a flat city of ranch houses wedged between Long Beach, Bellflower and Cerritos. Most of it was built in a rush after 1950, with model-home tours drawing lines around the block and whole tracts rising within a couple of years. Look closer and the parts differ. Mayfair, at the north end, predates the boom and has jacarandas over its 1940s streets. Lakewood Park holds the classic small ranch houses of the first wave. Near the golf course, Lakewood Country Club Estates runs to bigger lots, and Eastern Lakewood, across the San Gabriel River, mixes 1960s tracts with condos. Nearly every house began as a one-story ranch with a lawn and a driveway. Parks carry the outdoors. Mayfair Park, the city's first, fills up for the Pan American Fiesta each May. On the east side, Rynerson Park is the trailhead for the river path, and the Lakewood Equestrian Center still boards horses and gives lessons. Food is spread across strip centers, and the good places take knowing. Foggia on Del Amo is the Italian deli people mention first, George's Greek Cafe on Faculty Avenue cooks gyros and moussaka from scratch, and Brothers Korean BBQ anchors a run of Korean, Thai and Pakistani spots on Centralia Street. Lakewood Center is the errand hub, a big single-level mall with Costco and Target, and its new owners plan to add housing and green space. Each Saturday the farmers market fills the corner of Del Amo and Clark beside the library, the nearest thing to a town square. The 605, 91 and 405 are all close. Almost nothing is walkable beyond the nearest park, so errands, dinners and commutes start in the driveway. In return Lakewood has a rare evenness, and a summer night at the ballfields looks about the same on either side of town.