Avalon Village, Carson, CA

Avalon Village in Carson is built around Foisia Park, a 13-acre city park on Catskill Avenue that went by the name Scott Park until it was renamed. Main Street runs along the neighborhood's west side with a string of small bakeries and one of the area's Samoan grocery stores. Homes in Avalon Village are mostly single-family tract houses from the city's 1950s and 1960s growth, single-story stucco with attached garages and fenced backyards. The streets are flat and regular, with plenty of remodels and added rooms mixed in. A few apartment buildings sit closer to the main roads. Foisia Park does a lot of work for the area. It has a swimming pool, lighted tennis and basketball courts, two handball courts, lighted ball diamonds, a play area and the Fabela Chavez Boxing Center, with a full ring and bags. Main Street is the everyday food strip. Guevara's Bakery and Famous Cafe Burgers share a block at 23415 and 23417 Main, Crystal Donut sits just off Main on 234th Street, and Poasa Imports Samoan Market stocks island groceries at 23744 Main. Daily errands mostly happen by car. Albertsons sits beside the Sepulveda center in neighboring Scottsdale, Target is a short drive west, and Kaiser Permanente's Main Street Health Pavilion is on Main as well. The 405 and 110 are both close, and Carriage Crest sits just to the west. The tradeoff is that the neighborhood's shopping is spread along wide boulevards rather than gathered into a walkable center, so most trips start in the driveway. Inside, the blocks stay quiet, and for a lot of houses here the nearest public pool is a walk down the street instead of a drive across town.