Los Altos, Long Beach, CA

Los Altos is the east Long Beach neighborhood built around a shopping center and a university, stretching from Clark Avenue to Studebaker Road between the 405 and Cal State Long Beach. It is the part of the city where a Trader Joe's run, a college basketball game and a quiet cul-de-sac can all fit in one afternoon. Homes are mostly single-story postwar ranch houses on flat, regular blocks, with attached garages and backyards big enough for a patio and a lemon tree. Remodels and second-story additions show up here and there, but the low profile of the original tracts still sets the look. Park Estates borders the south side and Traffic Circle the west. Whaley Park on Atherton Street was rebuilt in 2018 with an art and music theme on its playground, and Los Altos Park on Stearns Street has fields and courts. El Dorado Park's trails and lakes are a short drive east, and the Long Beach Pyramid arena marks the campus edge on the south side. Clark Avenue has become the food street people talk about. On Stearns Street, Sushi Kinoya is known for omakase and nigiri, and on Bellflower Boulevard Hof's Hut Restaurant & Bakery is the diner-and-bakery stop. Errands are unusually easy. The Los Altos Center on Bellflower has Target, Trader Joe's and Lazy Acres, and the Los Altos Neighborhood Library sits on Britton Drive. Bellflower Boulevard is the main spine to the campus and the 405, and most trips are by car, though the flat streets make biking to school or the library simple. The 405 runs along the northern edge, and blocks close to it carry freeway hum, while Bellflower backs up when classes start. A few streets in, Los Altos settles into rows of ranch houses where the loudest thing on a weekday is often a leaf blower.