Bluff Park, Long Beach, CA

Bluff Park is the stretch of Long Beach where the city's grand old houses line Ocean Boulevard on top of the coastal bluff, with a long ribbon of park between the front doors and the drop to the sand. Houses in Bluff Park span the early 1900s through the 1940s and cover a wide catalog of styles. The houses facing the ocean are larger, often two stories with deep setbacks from the boulevard, while the inland blocks toward 2nd Street hold smaller bungalows and some older apartment buildings. The bluff-top park is the neighborhood's shared front yard. Its footpath has ocean views, benches and telescopes, and it draws joggers and dog walkers from early morning on. On breezy afternoons, people fly radio-controlled gliders on the updraft off the bluff. The Long Beach Museum of Art occupies a 1912 Craftsman house on Ocean Boulevard, and Claire's at the Museum serves brunch on its patio above the sea. For coffee, Steelhead Coffee on Broadway is known for its vintage look and its own house blends. Daily errands happen just outside the district. Ralphs on 4th Street and the shops of Belmont Shore to the east cover groceries, and Retro Row is a short walk north. The tradeoff is that almost nothing commercial sits inside Bluff Park itself, and on warm weekends visitors to the park and beach fill the curb spaces along Ocean. The best time on the bluff is the hour after sunset, when the path is still busy, the oil islands light up offshore, and the houses along Ocean switch on their porch lights.