Rowland Heights, CA

Rowland Heights climbs the north face of the Puente Hills, and this unincorporated Los Angeles County community runs without a city hall. Hacienda Heights sits to the west, Diamond Bar to the east, and the ridge above the last houses is where Orange County begins. Down near the Pomona Freeway the ground is flat and commercial, with shopping plazas along Colima Road and Gale Avenue and older one-story houses on the side streets behind them. South of Pathfinder Road the streets start to curve and climb, and later subdivisions sit on the slopes looking back over the valley. The largest stretch of open land is Schabarum Regional Park, run by the county with picnic lawns at the bottom and trails that head up into the hills. Its ume trees came from a sister park in Japan and flower in late winter. Food is the reason people drive in on weekends. Bakeries and tea shops fill in the gaps, so dessert rarely means a second stop. Errands in Rowland Heights happen in those same plazas. One of the larger centers is anchored by 99 Ranch Market, and several other Asian supermarkets line Colima. A car handles almost everything, with freeway ramps at the north end leading west toward downtown Los Angeles or south into Orange County on the 57. Without a city government, questions about roads, parks and new projects go to the county, and the commercial strip grew one plaza at a time instead of around a main street. There is no town square to stroll. Living here means the dinner scene people cross Southern California for is simply part of an ordinary weeknight.