Old Town, Monterey, CA

Old Town keeps the look Monterey had in its earliest days, and living here means walking past adobes that were standing before statehood. Colton Hall on Pacific Street, where delegates wrote the state's first constitution in 1849, sits inside the neighborhood, with a bear statue and a redwood called the Moon Tree on its grounds. Homes are a mix of Spanish-style houses, older cottages with Carmel stone details, duplexes and a few small multi-unit buildings, set on narrow streets with modest yards. Many keep their original fireplaces and wood floors, and some have added a guest unit out back. The blocks closest to Alvarado Street are the liveliest, since that is where the shops and restaurants line up. The Monterey Bay Recreation Trail runs past the Municipal Wharf on the waterfront side of the district and follows the bay toward Pacific Grove. It is flat and paved, which makes it the default route for morning runs and bike rides. For something slower, the Path of History is a self-guided loop of about two miles past old adobes and their gardens, and the Monterey Museum of Art is also in the district. Coffee runs to Alta Bakery on Munras Avenue, a regular name on local best-coffee lists, with an avocado toast people order by habit, a latte flavor that changes every month and a patio lined with flowers. Paris Bakery Cafe on Bonifacio Place turns out croissants that are worth the line, and East Village Cafe on Washington Street pours coffee in an artsy room and hosts an open mic on Wednesday nights. Trader Joe's is inside the neighborhood, and on Tuesday afternoons the Old Monterey Marketplace fills Alvarado Street with hot food stalls, artisan vendors and live musicians. The Mayo Hayes O'Donnell Library is here too. Most errands in Old Town can be done on foot, and Highway 1 gets you out of town in either direction. Visitors share these same sidewalks, so summer weekends and big event weeks bring crowds and tight parking. Plenty of residents shop at the Tuesday market and then walk home past buildings that are older than California's statehood. That walkable downtown setup is Old Town's real advantage, even when visitor traffic makes parking tight.