Carousel Tract, Carson, CA

Carousel Tract is a small subdivision at the southern edge of Carson, near where Main Street and Avalon Boulevard meet East Lomita Boulevard. It's mostly homes, with one busy strip of shops and restaurants on Lomita that covers a surprising share of daily needs. Homes in the Carousel Tract are single-family houses from the city's postwar tract-building years, most of them single-story with attached garages and small front lawns on flat streets. Owners have remodeled and expanded many of them over the decades, so the original matching look has loosened. The Lomita Boulevard center is the neighborhood's kitchen. Superior Grocers anchors it at 129 E Lomita, and the storefronts beside it hold El Pollo Peruano, Antojitos Salvadoreños, Malee Thai by Sriracha and The Cake Palace bakery. Domenick's Pizza House is up the road on Avalon. There's no park inside the tract. Foisia Park, a short drive north on Catskill Avenue in Avalon Village, is the closest big one, offering a pool, tennis and basketball courts under lights, and a boxing center. Carriage Crest Park on Figueroa is another nearby option with a lighted ball diamond and play area. Daily life is mostly by car, though Superior Grocers is within walking distance of most of the neighborhood. Kaiser Permanente's Main Street Health Pavilion is a short drive away as well. The tradeoff is the lack of green space and the tract's spot at the city's southern edge, where commercial and industrial property surrounds the homes. Within the tract the streets stay quiet, and a grocery run, a Peruvian dinner and a cake from the bakery can all come from one parking lot on Lomita.