West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

West Los Angeles is anchored by Sawtelle Boulevard, the Japanese-American corridor that has become one of the city's best-known food streets. The neighborhood sits west of the 405 between Santa Monica, Brentwood and Mar Vista, with Olympic and Santa Monica boulevards cutting through it. Housing in West Los Angeles leans toward apartments and condos along the boulevards, with blocks of smaller single-family houses on the side streets between them. Many of those side streets are short, flat blocks within an easy walk of Sawtelle. Sawtelle between Santa Monica Boulevard and Olympic is packed with noodle shops and small restaurants. Coffee Tomo on Mississippi Avenue roasts its own beans and pours a Tomo latte with condensed milk, and Balconi Coffee on Olympic brews siphon coffee. Stoner Park on Stoner Avenue serves as the neighborhood's main green space, with sports courts, water play facilities and the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. It is the one big park in walking distance for much of the neighborhood. Nijiya Market on Sawtelle stocks Japanese staples, Marukai sits on Pico, and Trader Joe's and Ralphs Fresh Fare share Olympic Boulevard. The Olympic Collection building near Sawtelle holds Balconi, Alfred Coffee and Artelice Pâtisserie, and a farmers market operates on Santa Monica Boulevard. Sawtelle's popularity means lines outside the ramen shops and full parking lots on weekend nights, and freeway noise reaches the blocks nearest the 405. Between the ramen shops, the Yamaguchi and Hashimoto nurseries still sell plants on Sawtelle, a quieter side of the street that many visitors walk right past.