Springtown, Livermore, CA

Springtown is the original planned community of north Livermore, laid out in the 1960s around a public golf course of the same name. The earliest homes are modest single-story starters built to ring the fairways, and over the decades the area has filled in with newer construction, so today's Springtown runs from 1960s ranches to far more recent Craftsman-style homes depending on the block. The golf course itself closed in 2015, and the city is converting the land into the Springtown open space, a sizable green amenity that is reshaping the heart of the neighborhood. Community parks and connecting paths already give the area more usable green than its starter-home roots would suggest. North Livermore is a commute-first part of town, so you will drive to most shopping and you are a stretch from downtown and the wineries. But Springtown offers some of the most attainable entry points in the city, a wide span of home eras and sizes, and a growing open space at its center, which is a rare upgrade for an older neighborhood.