Alta Heights, Napa, CA

Alta Heights sits on the bluff just east of the Napa River, and the higher you climb the more the city opens up below you. The grid down by Third Street is flat and walkable to the Oxbow Public Market and downtown; the streets that wind up the hill trade that walkability for views of the valley floor. It's one of the few Napa neighborhoods where the trip to dinner can be on foot. The housing tells the story of a place built in pieces. There's a pocket on the north end old-timers still call Little Italy, settled by families who came over after the 1906 San Francisco quake, and the architecture jumps from bungalows to midcentury to newer hillside builds. Alta Heights Elementary anchors the neighborhood and keeps a lot of buyers inside the boundary. The tradeoff is the hill itself. The view lots come with grades, narrower roads, and the usual eastern-edge questions about access during a storm or fire season. Down low you're closer to the river and its flood history. Pick your elevation here and you've mostly picked your lifestyle.