Rossmoyne, Glendale, CA

Rossmoyne holds Glendale's largest historic district, roughly 500 period revival houses laid out on gently curving streets above Glenoaks Boulevard. The Haddock-Nibley Company began building here in 1923 and most of it was finished by 1950, so a walk through the neighborhood reads like a tour of one era of Southern California design. Spanish Colonial Revival is the most common look, with tile roofs, arched windows and stucco walls, but Tudor Revival houses with steep gables and French-inspired homes with multipane windows turn up on almost every block. Royal Boulevard, a separate historic district from the developer's second phase, adds about 30 more houses from the late 1920s through the 1940s. Nibley Park on East Mountain Street was donated by the developer and sits inside the district, with tennis and basketball courts and a playground. Verdugo Park, a quick drive northeast, has ballfields and the skate park, while the Verdugo Mountains rise right behind the upper streets. Deer and plenty of birds come down from the hills. The lower edge of Rossmoyne meets North Brand Boulevard and East Glenoaks Boulevard, which puts restaurants within walking distance of the bottom blocks. Recess serves Italian food on North Brand, Herand's Kitchen a couple of blocks south does Mediterranean and Persian plates, and We're Pouring on Glenoaks is the neighborhood gastropub. The tradeoff is that the neighborhood straddles two different Glendales. The upper streets are hushed and hillside, while Brand and Glenoaks bring traffic, noise and full parking lots at the edges. Downtown Glendale, including the Americana at Brand, is close by car, and bus lines run along the periphery. The developer's name survives in Nibley Park, which after a century is still the place Rossmoyne neighbors run into each other.