Rose Park, Long Beach, CA

Rose Park takes its name from a tiny circular green at 8th Street and Orizaba Avenue, one of the oldest parks in Long Beach, and the blocks around it hold one of the city's densest runs of early 1900s bungalows. Craftsman bungalows came first, followed in the 1920s by Prairie and Mission Revival homes, and later by a scattering of Ranch and Neo-Traditional houses from the 1930s and 1940s. Courtyard apartments and duplexes fill in along 7th and 10th Streets, and the famously slim Skinny House is a local landmark within the district. The namesake park is small, under an acre, with a gazebo, shade trees and four paths leading to a planted center, and it was restored around 2009. Rose Park Roasters, the coffee company that borrowed the neighborhood's name, started on a bicycle in 2010 and now pours at its cafe on 4th Street, a few blocks south. Seventh Street carries a handful of casual spots. El Patio Fine Tacos and Beer and Little Vice share an address on East 7th, The Corner 10th's BBQ smokes meat on 10th Street, and Wood Coffee Co. Groceries mostly mean Food 4 Less on Anaheim Street or Ralphs on 4th. Most short errands work fine on a bike. The tradeoff is density. Lots are narrow, many homes lack much off-street parking, and 7th Street traffic can be heavy at rush hour. Evening walks tend to loop past the gazebo at 8th and Orizaba, which is the closest thing Rose Park has to a town square.