Rancho Arbolitos, Poway, CA

Rancho Arbolitos is the west side of Poway that most visitors see first, the stretch between Poway Road and Twin Peaks Road where the city meets Rancho Bernardo and Sabre Springs. Behind the commercial frontage along its two main roads sits a large, settled grid of curving residential streets. Rancho Arbolitos homes are mostly 1980s subdivisions, single-story and two-story houses, some on lots around a quarter acre and many on cul-de-sacs. Some back onto slopes and open space, which gives the upper streets toward Twin Peaks Road a greener edge than the busy southern blocks. Neighborhood parks are spread through the interior. Starridge Neighborhood Park on Carriage Road and Hilleary Park on Community Road are the everyday spots, and Adobe Ridge Neighborhood Park serves the northwest corner. Silverset Park, just across Twin Peaks Road in Green Valley, has ball fields and the start of the Twin Peaks Trail, and the Twin Peaks Road Trail follows the northern edge for runners and dog walkers. Food is the strong suit, since the southern boundary road is one strip center after another. Filippi's Pizza Grotto on Oak Knoll Drive is the local branch of the Filippi's family, which also has a Little Italy location, and it sticks to pizza, spaghetti, lasagna and antipasto salad. Villa Capri Trattoria on Pomerado Road serves a traditional Italian dinner menu with patio seating, and reservations help on weekends. Better Buzz Coffee is one of the newer coffee arrivals along that strip, and Hawaiian Fresh Seafood scoops poke near the Oak Knoll corner. Errands rarely take long in Rancho Arbolitos. The Target center at Pomerado and Twin Peaks covers a lot of ground, and the southern strip has a deep bench of everyday shops. Interstate 15 sits just past the western city line, and MTS buses connect to the Sabre Springs transit center. The flip side of all that convenience is the commercial edge. Poway Road is wide, busy and lined with parking lots, and the homes nearest it hear the traffic. Even on the busiest blocks, the boulder-topped hills around Twin Peaks stay in view, a reminder that the trailheads are closer than the strip malls suggest.