Fox Hills, Culver City, CA

Fox Hills fills the southwest corner of Culver City, a triangle of condo and apartment complexes wrapped around the shopping center many locals still call the Fox Hills Mall. Homes here are mostly condos and townhomes built from the 1970s into the 1990s, often with two or three bedrooms and generous balconies. Buying in Fox Hills almost always means joining an HOA, and the dues pay for shared pools, gyms and rec rooms that detached-house neighborhoods don't have. Fox Hills Park is the shared backyard. Its ten acres sit where Green Valley Circle meets Buckingham Parkway, with a jogging trail, tennis and basketball courts, a soccer field, picnic areas and a playground. The Heather Village playground sits on Green Valley Circle as well, and most morning walks loop between the two. Eating out mostly happens at Westfield Culver City on Sepulveda Boulevard, where Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que, Shake Shack and a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf share the mall with a big food court. For a bigger grocery run, the Trader Joe's on Slauson Avenue is just outside the neighborhood in Sunkist Park. Daily life runs on the car. The 405 and the 90 meet at the edge of the neighborhood, LAX is a short drive south, and the Howard Hughes Center's restaurants and gyms are close by. A lot of life in the complexes happens around the pool and the clubhouse, with the park serving as the common ground everyone shares.