The Dunes, Marina, CA

This is where Marina keeps its movie theater and most of its national chains, on ground that once belonged to Fort Ord, at the south end of the city near Highway 1 and Imjin Parkway. A Cinemark theater anchors the retail along General Stilwell Drive, and The Dunes is the name locals and maps use for the whole district. Housing is the newest layer at The Dunes, and there is less of it than the retail suggests. Houses, townhome-style attached units and denser buildings are being added beside the shops under a plan the city calls University Village, with Cal State Monterey Bay close by. It reads more as a district with homes at its edges than as a neighborhood with a shopping center in it. For outdoor time, Sea Glass Park is the neighborhood's own green patch. The bigger draw is the paved coastal recreation trail, roughly eight miles that start in Castroville, cross flat farm fields and arrive in Marina at the dunes park. Cyclists report plenty of elbow room and the occasional drift of sand to steer around. That park opened in 2009 on what used to be an Army firing range, and its dunes run down to the water. The food is mostly national chains, and they cluster tightly. Smashburger, Chipotle, Blaze Pizza and a Starbucks share the shopping center, and The Brass Tap is the beer bar. The local pick is MoonScoops Ice Creamery at 110 General Stilwell Drive, which scoops non-dairy fruit ices made from fresh fruit, plus oversized cookies. Salt Wood Kitchen and Oysterette, in Central Marina, is the nearby choice for a seafood dinner. Everything here is a drive away from everything else. Parking lots are large, the retail is concentrated in one spot, and the highway is a minute off, which makes errands quick and walks mostly recreational. On a quiet evening the shopping center empties out fast, and the wide streets feel built for more people than have arrived yet.