Heritage Park, Suisun City, CA

Heritage Park is the part of Suisun City where everyday errands and everyday housing share the same few blocks. Sunset Avenue runs through it at Highway 12, lined with the shopping centers most of the city drives to, and the residential streets sit just behind them. The houses are mostly single-family homes and a few townhomes put up between the late seventies and the mid nineties. Expect one and two stories, attached garages and small yards, the kind of stock that has been lived in for a few decades now. Streets here are laid out around the shopping district, so a house can be a few minutes from a pharmacy, a pizza place and a bank without crossing a highway. The namesake park covers about ten acres with a lighted ball field, a playground, a basketball court, picnic tables, restrooms and a walking trail. Carl E. Hall Park is the second green space, a playground and wide lawn next to Suisun Elementary and the Kroc Center. The Suisun City Library is here as well, and a dog park sits on the neighborhood's edge. For a sit-down meal, Black Bear Diner is the breakfast and diner stop, and Sukhothai Cuisine on Sunset Avenue serves Thai food with a long list of vegan options. Raley's handles the weekly grocery run. Coffee is mostly chain drive-throughs, so anyone after a local cafe heads to the Main Street waterfront in Old Town. Getting around is mostly by car. Sidewalks work for a stroll to the park or the library, but the stores sit behind wide parking lots, and Highway 12 leads to Interstate 80 and Fairfield. Capitol Corridor trains stop at the Main Street depot in Old Town. The commercial strip is both the convenience and the cost. Traffic on Sunset Avenue is steady through the day, and the streets closest to it hear the road. Even so, a Saturday in Heritage Park can cover a ball game, a library run and dinner without leaving the neighborhood.