Mira Mesa, San Diego, CA

In 1971 a San Diego mayoral campaign ran on the slogan No more Mira Mesas, and the mesa has spent the decades since filling in the gaps. Mira Mesa spreads between Interstate 805 and Interstate 15, with MCAS Miramar on its southern flank and Los Peñasquitos Canyon along the north, and for years the base kept it apart from the city's older neighborhoods. The slogan was a reaction to how fast the homes went up. The building boom began in 1969 and spread tract after tract of single-family houses across the mesa before schools and shopping caught up, and a second wave in the 1990s added more as Qualcomm, UC San Diego and the biotech firms nearby grew. Today the residential streets are mostly those 1970s and later houses on curving blocks. Mira Mesa Boulevard is the eating street, lined with strip centers full of Vietnamese, Filipino and Korean restaurants and bakeries. Max's Restaurant is known for made-to-order Filipino fried chicken and crispy pata. In the industrial blocks toward Miramar, AleSmith pours its Speedway Stout and San Diego Pale Ale .394 in a large tasting room on AleSmith Court. Jaunt Coffee Roasters works out of the Miralani Drive makers complex with roasts that score high with Coffee Review, plus empanadas and breakfast burritos. Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve is the outdoor anchor, about 4,000 acres of canyon running along the north edge with a waterfall that spills over volcanic rock and trails where hikers may spot mule deer, bobcats or herons. Mira Mesa Park, home of the Gil Johnson Recreation Center on New Salem Street, hosts the Tet Festival each year, and Hourglass Field Community Park sits on the site of an old Navy airfield. Groceries are a draw of their own, with Seafood City and H Mart on Mira Mesa Boulevard and a Vons and Sprouts for the basics. The library is on New Salem Street beside the park. Most errands mean a car, though MTS buses such as the 210 and 921 serve the center, and I-15 and I-805 give quick runs to Sorrento Valley or Kearny Mesa. Mira Mesa Boulevard carries heavy traffic, and the shopping centers sprawl across big parking lots. The canyon rim at the north end is the counterweight, where the preserve below feels far removed from the boulevard.