North and East, Richmond, CA

North & East is a historic central-Richmond neighborhood with clearly drawn edges: 23rd Street to the west, San Pablo Avenue to the east, Macdonald Avenue to the south, and Bush and Moran Avenues to the north. Its blocks went up largely during World War II, and it shows in the housing, rows of Mediterranean and Spanish-influenced bungalows from the early 1940s sitting close together on a tight grid, most of them two or three bedrooms with a one-car garage or parking pad. The neighborhood carries some real civic weight. The Richmond Civic Center sits within its bounds, and the Macdonald 80 Shopping Center on the southern end handles groceries, banking, and everyday shopping for the surrounding area. Bus service runs the main corridors, and downtown Richmond is close. The honest picture is of a modest, dense, central neighborhood where upkeep varies and the busy boundary streets bring traffic and noise. Its strengths are vintage bungalow character, a genuinely central location, and prices that stay accessible, which keeps steady interest from buyers who want into the East Bay without hill-neighborhood pricing.