Seven Trees South, San Jose, CA

Seven Trees South holds the civic core of one of south-central San Jose's older neighborhoods. The community center, the branch library and Solari Park share one site on Cas Drive, which gives these blocks a shared center most tract areas never get. Part of Seven Trees stayed an unincorporated county pocket until San Jose annexed it, and the area still reads as its own place. Homes are compact postwar tract houses on small lots, built close together and plain, between Monterey Road on the west and Senter Road on the east. The Seven Trees Community Center has a renovated gym, a weight room, a dance studio and a youth center, and the library next door adds group study rooms and public computers. Solari Park wraps the green space around them, and many homes are within walking distance of all three, which makes a quick workout or a library stop part of an ordinary evening. Senter Road is the eating street. Oc Lau Nuong is the Vietnamese seafood spot, busy with tables sharing crab and noodles. Banh Cuon Tay Ho is named for its specialty, thin steamed rice rolls, and Lopez Taqueria covers the quick burrito. On Monterey Road, City Diner handles breakfast, opening early with chilaquiles, a California Benedict and chicken and waffles on the menu. Most errands run along Senter Road and Monterey Road. VTA bus 42 stops at the community center, Capitol Caltrain station on Monterey Road sees a few peak-hour trains on weekdays, and US-101 and Highway 87 are both close for longer drives. The tradeoffs come with the territory: busy arterials, older homes, and a streetscape that is practical rather than pretty. What it offers in return is a genuine neighborhood with its parks, school and library close enough to walk to, at a price the leafier parts of the city cannot touch.