Earle St. & South A St., Santa Rosa, CA

This pocket south of downtown, anchored along South A Street and Earle Street, is one of the quieter, more under-the-radar corners of central Santa Rosa. It sits next to the South A arts energy and Juilliard Park to the north, with the older southwest-side grid running off toward Roseland, so it lives in the transition zone between the historic core and the working southwest. What you get here is location over polish. You are within walking or biking distance of the SOFA studios and galleries, the downtown restaurants, and the train, and the housing tends to be older and more affordable than the named historic districts a few blocks north. For buyers priced out of Cherry Street or Burbank Gardens, this is the value-minded way to stay close to the center. The honest read is that the look is mixed block to block, and a couple of the bordering streets carry steady traffic and the noise that comes with being this close to the city's spine. This is a practical, central, in-between neighborhood rather than a manicured one, and the people who buy here are usually buying the location first.