Lakewood, Modesto, CA

Lakewood, on the east side of Modesto, takes its name from a park, a school and an avenue, and the avenue has the best story. Neighbors say Lakewood Avenue began as a dirt road that pooled with water every winter, lined with wood stacked from nearby peach orchards. The area is also called Eastridge. Most homes here are custom builds from the late 1970s into the early 1990s. Instead of rows of one floor plan, each lot has its own design, so a stroll shows a different roofline every few doors. Five parks spread green space around in small pieces. Lakewood Park and Downey Community Park are the best known, with Sonoma, Sipherd and Rose Avenue parks filling in, and the neighborhood association holds its National Night Out gathering in Lakewood Park, which draws more than two hundred people each year. A walk from one park to the next stitches the area together without needing a main street. The Secret Garden on East Orangeburg Avenue is the breakfast pick, serving pancakes, omelets and burgers from seven in the morning, with patio seating in good weather. Ridgway's Restaurant and Lounge shares the shopping center. For an evening out, Wildfire Public House on Oakdale Road is the gastropub, and Ciao Bella Ristorante and Kusina add Italian and Filipino. Coffee mostly means one of the Starbucks locations, while Kung Fu Tea and We Donuts handle boba and a glazed treat. Save Mart and Vallarta Supermarkets cover groceries, and with no central main street you will drive for nearly everything. Chains and fast food gather on the busy roads around the edges, leaving the inner streets residential. That also leaves the parks and schools to do the work a main street does elsewhere. The area still reads as a neighborhood assembled one house at a time.