Oak Knoll, Pasadena, CA

Oak Knoll is the ridge at the southern tip of Pasadena, a rise pushed up by the Raymond Fault and still covered in old oaks. Streets bend with the slope, lots run large, and the San Marino line is close enough that the change is hard to spot on foot. It opened as the Wentworth Hotel, and Henry Huntington, one of the partners who laid out these streets in 1905, ran a Pacific Electric line up the hill to serve it. Homes in Oak Knoll date mostly from the 1920s through the 1950s and sit well back from the street on generous grounds. Craftsman, Colonial and Spanish designs share blocks with midcentury houses, and a handful came from name architects, including the Blacker House and the Culbertson House by Greene and Greene. Very little new building happens here, so the streets look much as they have for generations. There is no park inside the boundaries. People walk the hilly loops around the hotel or head a short way into San Marino for Lacy Park, with its rose garden, tennis courts and walking path. The Huntington's library and gardens are a quick drive away. Daily life runs on the car. Metro dropped its bus route through the neighborhood for lack of riders, and the 210 is a couple of miles north. The tradeoff is simple. Outside the hotel grounds, nothing is within an easy walk. Most evenings the Langham's bar ends up doing the job a corner cafe would do in flatter parts of town.