Central Long Beach, Long Beach, CA

Central Long Beach is the broad, flat grid between downtown and the Pacific Coast Highway corridor, and it holds much of the everyday city: taquerias and Cambodian noodle shops, corner markets, small parks, and block after block of older homes. Housing in Central Long Beach is a dense mix. Early 1900s bungalows share blocks with 1920s courtyard apartments and later stucco multiunit buildings, and plenty of lots hold more than one home. Yards are small, and the grid keeps nearly every house within walking distance of a corner store. Parks are spread through the grid instead of concentrated in one place. MacArthur Park on Anaheim Street has basketball courts, a playground and the Homeland Cultural Center, with the Mark Twain Neighborhood Library next door across Gundry Avenue. Rosa Parks Park, Seaside Park, Jenni Rivera Memorial Park and Chittick Field cover other corners, and the Michael K. The food is the draw. Phnom Penh Noodle Shack on Cherry Avenue is known for its house special noodle soup built on pork bone broth, and Hak Heang on Anaheim Street serves Cambodian seafood with live music on weekends. Little La Lune on PCH is the stop for beef lok lak. Neighborhood markets like La Guadalupe Market and Lee Heng Market cover groceries, and larger supermarkets sit on the edges. Street parking is tight on most blocks, and Anaheim and PCH are loud, busy arteries. What stands out living here is how much of Long Beach's food lives within a short drive or bike ride, from Khmer breakfast soups to the Salvadoran and Colombian kitchens clustered on Orange Avenue.