The Avenues, Redondo Beach, CA

The Avenues run in lettered rows from the bluff toward Pacific Coast Highway in South Redondo, and in Redondo Beach that alphabet is how people give directions. Tell someone you live on Avenue D and they know you are a few minutes' walk from the Esplanade and the ocean. Homes in The Avenues span a century of beach building. The streets are wider and the lots roomier than in much of the South Bay, which is why rebuilds here tend to go big. The beach is the backyard. The Esplanade walkway runs along the top of the bluff, stairs drop to the sand at several points, and volleyball nets and lifeguard towers line the beach below. The stairs at Avenue F have a local following as a workout. Massena Parkette gives the inland blocks a small bit of lawn. Phanny's, at 1021 S Pacific Coast Hwy, sells breakfast burritos from a walk-up window and draws a morning line. Riviera Village sits just south, where Coffee Cartel is the neighborhood coffee house and Gabi James turns out Spanish tapas and paella. Daily errands lean south. Trader Joe's and Smart & Final are both in Riviera Village, a quick drive or a longish walk. Pacific Coast Highway is the main road in and out, and most people use a car for anything beyond the beach and the village. The honest downside is the highway. Blocks nearest PCH hear it all day, and the rebuild cycle means a construction fence on some street most of the year. Walk toward the water, though, and the grid ends at the bluff with the Palos Verdes cliffs sitting to the south.