Ramona Acres, Monterey Park, CA

Ramona Acres was Monterey Park's first subdivision, laid out in 1906 north of Garvey Avenue and east of Garfield, and more than a century later it still sits at the center of the city's daily life. The stretch of Atlantic Boulevard and Garvey Avenue running through it is lined with Chinese, Taiwanese and Vietnamese restaurants, bakeries and markets. Homes reflect that long history. The old grid carries houses from several eras, from early single-family homes to postwar builds and plenty of later rebuilds, with apartments and condos filling in near the busy corners. Lots are flat and walkable, a contrast to the hillside tracts of Monterey Highlands and El Repetto. Sierra Vista Park on Rural Drive, with its community center, is the neighborhood's own park. Barnes Park and the Thursday evening farmers' market are a short drive west in Downtown Monterey Park. The food is the headline. Huge Tree Pastry on North Atlantic serves Taiwanese breakfast, with fan tuan sticky rice rolls and pan-fried omelets, and up the block Atlantic Seafood & Dim Sum still pushes carts through its dining room at Atlantic Times Square. 99 Ranch Market and Kee Wah Bakery sit a few doors apart on West Garvey, and a Ralphs sits on North Atlantic, so groceries in Ramona Acres rarely take more than a few minutes. Atlantic and Garvey carry heavy traffic most of the day, and the blocks closest to them feel busier and louder than the quieter residential streets farther in. A breakfast of soy milk and fan tuan at Huge Tree, then dim sum for lunch and a noodle shop for dinner, can all happen here without ever leaving the neighborhood.