Seascape, Rio del Mar, CA

Seascape sits on the bluffs at the southeast edge of Rio del Mar, with Monterey Bay out front and a golf course and a beach resort anchoring the layout. Streets curve around Seascape Golf Club, and the whole area reads as one planned piece rather than the older beach grid up the coast. Homes come as single-family houses along the fairways and as clusters of condos and townhomes near Seascape Resort Drive, some with bay or course views. Seascape Uplands, the bluff-top section, holds the larger ocean-view houses. For outdoors, Seascape Park, a small county park, sits on the bluff above the water. Beer Can Beach is the stretch of sand close by, and Hidden Beach Park is close, a ravine park with a playground that spills out onto the sand. The golf club has a driving range for anyone who wants to hit a bucket instead of play a round. Seascape Village is the neighborhood's own small commercial center. Sanderlings, the seafood restaurant at Seascape Beach Resort, looks out over the bay. Dos Pescados serves a coastal California menu with Latin influence and has ocean views of its own. Seascape Foods Market and Deli is a family-run neighborhood market, so a quick sandwich or a bag of groceries doesn't require going back to the highway. Peet's Coffee, up the road, covers the coffee run. Larger shopping trips head up the road to Deluxe Foods of Aptos. Santa Cruz is north on Highway 1 and Watsonville is south, and La Selva Beach, with its own library branch, sits just down the coast. Beyond the village, most errands are a drive, and the same bluff that gives the neighborhood its views leaves it a little apart from the rest of the coast. What stands out about living here is how self-contained it feels, with a resort, a course, a market and a park all inside a few curving streets.