Belmont Park, Long Beach, CA

Belmont Park is a small residential pocket of Long Beach wedged between Belmont Heights, Belmont Shore and the long rowing course of Marine Stadium. Its streets follow the angled grid of Belmont Shore but bend into curves near the water, which gives the neighborhood a quieter, tucked-away feel than the blocks around it. Homes are mostly single-family, a mix of older houses, modest ranches and larger rebuilds, many with small front gardens. Some streets back up toward the water. Former Governor George Deukmejian kept his home here for more than five decades. The Long Beach Lifeguard Museum sits along Paoli Way, Will Rogers Mini Park on Appian Way is a small green for a quick stop, and Mother's Beach and Colorado Lagoon are both a short walk. There are no restaurants inside the neighborhood, so dinner is a walk or bike ride. Second Street in Belmont Shore is a few blocks south, with Stereoscope Coffee for mornings and George's Greek Cafe for lamb chops and flaming saganaki. In Naples, Marlena and Carmen's Coffee Company are across the bridge. For groceries, the Local Harvest Farmers Market sets up at Appian Way and Nieto Avenue, and Vons in Belmont Shore and the Whole Foods near Pacific Coast Highway cover the rest. Bikes get as much use as cars here. The main tradeoff is Marine Stadium event days, when trailers, spectators and parked cars fill the edges. The rest of the week, Belmont Park is one of the few places in the city where you can live a short walk from both Second Street and a rowing course, and watch rowing shells slide past at sunrise.