Loma Portal, San Diego, CA

Loma Portal climbs the hill above Rosecrans Street at the north end of San Diego's Point Loma peninsula, and its boundary takes in Liberty Station, the former Naval Training Center that now holds restaurants, an arts and culture district, museums and a park. That gives a quiet residential hillside an unusually lively neighbor at the bottom of the slope. Up the hill, the grade is steep enough that many of the east-west blocks break into separate disconnected pieces. They belong to Point Loma's run of streets named for authors in alphabetical order, and the streetlights hang over the middle of intersections instead of standing at the curb. Homes here look out over San Diego Bay, and the neighborhood is almost entirely residential above Rosecrans. December is when Loma Portal shows off. Several blocks of Garrison Street near Chatsworth Boulevard go all in on holiday decorations, and on Christmas Eve luminarias line the streets around Plumosa Park, a small 1.4-acre passive park. NTC Park at Liberty Station is the main open space for everything else. Liberty Station is also where people eat. Liberty Public Market packs more than 30 small food stalls under one roof with communal tables, so it works for a quick lunch or a group that cannot agree. Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens pours from 40 taps and has a bocce court and a garden out back. Con Pane Rustic Breads and Cafe bakes levain loaves in a French stone hearth starting at 1 a.m. Vons on Truxtun Road at Liberty Station covers groceries, and Point Loma High School and Dana Middle School are both in the area. Rosecrans Street and Nimitz Boulevard are the two main ways out, leading toward Midway and the I-5 and I-8. The neighborhood sits right under the takeoff path from San Diego International Airport. Departing jets pass low enough that conversations halt mid-sentence, and the pause has its own local name, the Point Loma Pause. Between departures, it is a hillside of bay views with Liberty Station waiting at the bottom of the street.