Lake Murray, La Mesa, CA

Lake Murray is the northwest side of La Mesa, a wide stretch of postwar streets that runs from Grossmont Center up to the edge of the reservoir it is named for. The lake itself sits just over the city line in San Diego's Mission Trails Regional Park, but for people living here it works like a backyard, reached in a few minutes from Lake Murray Boulevard. Most homes are single-story houses from the 1950s and early 1960s on lots big enough for a real yard, many of them remodeled over the decades. Condo complexes fill in along parts of Baltimore Drive, and the closer you get to Grossmont Center, the more the housing gives way to shopping and offices. The reservoir is the main event outdoors. A paved path of about three miles runs along the shore, popular with runners and walkers who turn around and come back, since the loop does not close. Cowles Mountain, the tallest peak inside San Diego city limits, has a trailhead a short drive north. Closer to home, Lake Glen Park on Lake Murray Boulevard and Sunset Park on Lake Park Way give the streets their own patches of grass. For food and drink, Antica Trattoria on Lake Murray Boulevard has served Italian dinners since 2001, with lasagna and mussels in a fennel and sausage broth that regulars keep ordering. Helix Brewing sits in a brick warehouse on Commercial Street with a vine-covered courtyard, food trucks most nights and a sour-beer room called Sourworx next door. Brew Coffee Spot, farther up Lake Murray Boulevard, roasts its own beans and hosts markets and live music. Grossmont Center, which opened in 1961, covers the big errands, with Trader Joe's at its edge, and Vons anchors a center on Lake Murray Boulevard. The Orange and Green trolley lines meet at Grossmont Transit Center, and Interstate 8 runs along the south side. Fletcher Parkway and the roads around the mall are wide, busy and lined with parking lots, which makes the commercial side of the neighborhood a place to drive through rather than stroll. Lake Murray rewards anyone who keeps running shoes by the door, since a lap along the water before work is an easy habit to pick up from here.