Marina, CA

Marina sits on the southern curve of Monterey Bay, with Highway 1 tying it to Monterey in one direction and Salinas in the other. The Army's Fort Ord filled most of the land around it until the base closed in 1994, and the city has been working that ground into housing, trails and campus space ever since. Cal State Monterey Bay opened that same year on a piece of the old base. Four parts make up the city. Downtown Marina is the small grid along Reservation Road and Del Monte Boulevard, with the groceries, the library and most of the breakfast spots. Central Marina wraps around it and holds the older tract streets, the wetland park and the beach road. The newest part, east of the core, is a planned community with its own park and trailheads into Fort Ord National Monument. The Dunes, at the south end, is the shopping and movie district with newer homes at its edges. Homes are mostly single-story houses on regular lots in the older streets, with duplexes, apartment complexes and mobile home parks mixed in, and new construction fills in on the former base. The planned homes on the old base are the clearest example of what is changing. Outdoors is the main reason people stay. Marina State Beach is the windy front door to the bay, and the dunes behind it are a protected preserve. Locke-Paddon Park's vernal ponds draw birders, and the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail threads along the coast from Castroville toward Monterey. Fort Ord National Monument adds dozens of miles of dirt trails behind town. For food, Salt Wood Kitchen and Oysterette is the dinner spot with oysters and a big bar. Baker's Bacon sells double-smoked bacon and cured meats off Reservation Road, Coffee Mia Brew Bar handles mornings, and Marina's Certified Farmers' Market gathers Sundays at Marina Village Shopping Center. Highway 1 is the spine of daily life, and it is also where the city's one real tradeoff lives. Commuters have few alternatives, so slowdowns on that road reach everyone. Monterey-Salinas Transit buses all converge on one downtown exchange, and a planned busway aims to ease the highway. Spend a Sunday here and the pattern shows. People shop at a farmers' market in the morning, walk the dunes in the afternoon, and finish with dinner on the patio at Salt Wood.