The neighborhood
Old Towne, the hills, and everything in between
Old Towne is roughly a square mile around the Plaza at Chapman Avenue and Glassell Street, with more than 1,200 historic structures and one of the largest National Register districts in California. Most of it went up between the 1880s and 1940: Craftsman bungalows with deep porch steps, hip-roof cottages, Spanish Revival, two-storey Victorians whose staircases turn twice before they reach the landing. A lot of those blocks were platted with rear alleys and detached garages, so the shortest route to your door is frequently not the street. We walk the alley, the porch run and the stair turn before anything comes off the truck, and we pad the original woodwork, because in these houses the woodwork is the whole point.
East of Tustin Street the city changes shape entirely. Orange Park Acres is built on a 20,000 square foot minimum lot, close to half an acre each, with barns, tack rooms, arenas and workshops behind the houses and a horse trail network running past the fence lines. Long private driveways help, soft ground and trail easements do not, so we stay on the hardstand and shuttle the rest. Up in Serrano Heights and Santiago Hills the driveways pitch, the streets narrow at the turnaround, and an HOA may set the hours and the spot where a full-size truck can sit. Then there is the traffic: the 5, the 22 and the 57 all knot together at the Orange Crush on the city's western edge, which is a thing to schedule around rather than drive through at 8am.
30th StreetUniversity AveRay StreetMorley FieldBalboa Park