Laurel Heights, Salinas, CA

Laurel Heights sits on the east side's commercial spine in Salinas, and its best-known meal is a plate of Hidalgo and Oaxaca home cooking at Culturas Hidalgo & Oaxaca Restaurant, 473 East Market Street. The menu leans on pozole, menudo, barbacoa and homemade tortillas. Margies Diner serves American breakfasts, and Panaderia La Estrella is the bakery. Los Altos Restaurant and El Botanero 33 round out the Mexican choices, and an In-N-Out Burger and a McDonald's are on the same strip for quick meals. For groceries, La Plazita Market and Mercado Mi Rancho handle everyday shopping, Las Palmas Produce focuses on fruit and vegetables, and Salinas Meat is the butcher. Over in Hebbron, Guadalajara Bakery, Taqueria Jalisco and Pupuseria & Antojitos Cabanas widen the choices, and Freedom Bakery and Cafeteria Divina Salud & more add other bread and coffee stops. Laurel Heights Park is the neighborhood's own park, with Hebron Community Park and Cesar Chavez Community Park also inside the boundary, Veterans Memorial Park next to it in Monte Vista Park and the Exposition Grounds in Hebbron beyond it. Most of the area is residential streets behind these commercial blocks. Day to day, the strip is the center, and the neighborhood is built to support short stops, such as a bakery, a market and a taqueria in one trip. Hector's Meat, Chick-fil-A and Mariscos Costa Azul sit just beyond the line in Hebbron for anyone who wants more variety. Cars are the usual way to get around. Regional buses run through the area, and US 101 is the main route out of the city. One tradeoff is that the main roads carry steady traffic, so the quiet blocks are the ones set back from them. Living in Laurel Heights comes down to knowing which three or four places you will go back to every week.