Sun Village, CA

Drive east on Palmdale Boulevard past the last of the city's tracts and the land flattens into the long, open grid of Sun Village, an unincorporated Los Angeles County community wedged between Palmdale and Littlerock. The avenues are wide, the lots are wider, and the San Gabriels frame the whole southern edge. The community has a clear civic center, and it's a park. Jackie Robinson Park on Avenue R carries a history that goes back to its dedication in the 1960s, when Robinson himself came out for it, and its Juneteenth festival is one of the oldest in Southern California. Houses in Sun Village vary lot to lot more than street to street. A homestead-era cottage can sit beside a manufactured home and a stucco house built in the last decade, each on enough land for a garden, a trailer or a few animals. For food, the boulevard's own standby is Taqueria y Birrieria Jamay, which people seek out for birria. Most other meals are a short hop east. Bigger shopping runs west. Vallarta Supermarkets on 47th Street East is the nearest full grocery, and the stores and medical offices of Palmdale sit beyond it. AVTA buses cover the main roads, though most trips happen by car along Palmdale Boulevard and Avenue R. The honest gap is a sit-down dinner close to home. The restaurants here are counters and taco windows, so a night out means driving into Palmdale. The payoff shows up every June, when the lawns on Avenue R are packed for the Juneteenth celebration.