Rancho Vista, Palmdale, CA

Rancho Vista holds the two biggest open spaces on Palmdale's west side, a public golf course and a 57-acre city park, with homes filling the streets in between. Summer concerts at the Palmdale Amphitheater and softball tournaments at the Best of the West complex both happen here, so the neighborhood sees the city's weekend plans up close. Housing is mostly single-family homes laid out under the city's specific plan for the area, a mix of one- and two-story tract houses on suburban lots, with the golf course threading through part of it. It filled in as Palmdale grew into a commuter town, and it reads as an established suburb more than a new subdivision. Marie Kerr Park, on 30th Street West, has a long walking path, a community pool, playgrounds, the softball complex and the amphitheater. The golf club on Club Rancho Drive is an 18-hole public course designed by Ted Robinson, set against mountain views, with the Rancho Grill for lunch after a round. Daily errands are close by car. The center has a Vons and a Starbucks, and farther west a Walmart Neighborhood Market anchors another strip with Ameci Pizza and Pasta Kitchen. For dinner, Angkor Restaurant sits on the same boulevard, Los Arcos serves Mexican plates a few doors down, and ZENSHI Handcrafted Sushi shares the Vons center. Big event nights are the tradeoff. A sold-out amphitheater show or a weekend tournament brings thousands of visitors to the park, and the surrounding streets carry that traffic in and out. Getting out of town means heading east to the Antelope Valley Freeway, with the Antelope Valley Mall and the 10th Street West stores on the way. Homes in Rancho Vista near the park have front-row access to a pool, a softball complex and a concert lawn without a single one of them being in the backyard.