Tierrasanta, San Diego, CA

Tierrasanta has just four ways in, and each road ends somewhere inside the community, so locals in this part of San Diego have long used the nickname Island in the Hills. The mesa sits between Interstate 15, State Route 52 and Mission Trails Regional Park, so there is no through traffic at all. The land has an unusual past. During World War II it was Camp Elliott, where Marines trained, before the city bought it in 1961 and the first homes went up in the early 1970s. The community was built to a single plan and has been essentially finished since the early 1990s. Housing runs from single-family tract homes on the canyon rims to townhomes, condos and apartments, plus a large military housing complex in Murphy Canyon on the southwest side. A maintenance district has kept up the medians and slopes since 1972, and it shows in the landscaping. Open space is woven through every part of Tierrasanta. About 818 acres of canyons cut between the neighborhoods, with walking paths kept up by a volunteer canyon group, and Mission Trails has a trailhead with parking at the east end of Clairemont Mesa Boulevard that leads up to North Fortuna. The recreation center has lighted fields, a big pool, tennis courts and a gym. Admiral Baker Golf Club runs two courses along the southern edge. A few shopping centers carry most of daily life. On Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, Vons anchors a strip that includes The Pizza Standard, which turns out 18-inch Brooklyn-style pies with in-house sauce and a house tiramisu. JP's Pub in the same row has 17 taps, pool tables, karaoke on weeknights and live music on Saturdays. Smart and Final and a cluster of casual spots fill the Tierrasanta Boulevard center. Getting out means one of those four roads. Route 52 and I-15 sit right at the edges, and the drive to Kearny Mesa or Mission Valley is quick outside rush hour. The Tierrasanta Library is on La Cuenta Drive. Being an island keeps the streets calm, yet everyone leaves and returns through the same few intersections at the same times. Most homes, though, sit near a canyon path or one of the Mission Trails entrances.