Richmond Annex, Richmond, CA

Richmond Annex is the long, skinny tail of Richmond that runs down alongside El Cerrito almost to the Albany line, and it lives more like its southern neighbors than like the rest of the city. The housing stock is mostly tidy mid-century bungalows and California ranches on small, well-kept lots, with the occasional Craftsman mixed in. Carlson Boulevard is the spine, connecting the neighborhood up toward downtown Richmond and down into El Cerrito. The location is the real sell. El Cerrito Plaza BART sits just over the line for an easy ride into Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco, and the shops and restaurants of Solano Avenue and El Cerrito Plaza are within reach. Pierce Street Park gives the area some green, and the El Cerrito Farmers Market is the weekend ritual for a lot of households here. Worth knowing: parts of the Annex carry El Cerrito mailing addresses even though they are inside Richmond, which trips up newcomers and sometimes works in a buyer's favor on price. It is one of the more genuinely walkable, transit-friendly pockets in Richmond, and it tends to be priced accordingly.