Montebello, CA

Montebello sits on the eastern rim of the Los Angeles basin, where the flats of East Los Angeles give way to the first low hills that lead into the San Gabriel Valley. The land sets the pattern. The Montebello Hills to the north are the old oil ground behind the city's name, and the higher residential streets climb onto their slopes. Toward the Commerce line, the houses give way to warehouses. Parks are spread through the neighborhoods. Grant Rea Park keeps a small barnyard zoo, the main city park has room for skaters, and the public golf course winds through the hills. Just east of town, the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area adds lakes, a nature center and walking paths across hundreds of acres of open basin. Whittier Boulevard is the older dining street. Salvatore Italian Restaurant, open since 1975, is the old-school Italian room just off the boulevard. A few blocks west, Angry Horse Brewing pours its own beer in a taproom with food vendors, live music and comedy nights. Beverly Boulevard fills in with taco counters, bakeries and seafood spots. Daily errands run by car across a spread of big supermarkets and a regional mall off the 60. Buses run by the city itself cover local routes and reach into neighboring towns, and a Metrolink station near the Commerce border gives a rail option into downtown Los Angeles. The tradeoff in Montebello is that the main streets are long car corridors. Up in the hills, though, the streets go quiet, and on a clear afternoon the view runs across the whole basin toward the downtown towers.