Antelope Vista, Antelope, CA

Antelope Vista holds down the northwest quarter of the community, its streets climbing toward Elverta Road, the arterial that forms Antelope's northern boundary. Bordering four of its five siblings, it sits in the built-out core of the planned community rather than out on an edge, which keeps everyday distances short. The housing is the familiar late-1980s and 1990s tract product, single-family homes on curving streets and cul-de-sacs. What gives this corner a little extra is the open space to the west and northwest: the Dry Creek corridor and the larger regional open space out past Walerga Road put real countryside within a short drive, even if it is not right at the doorstep. The drawback is the northern arterial. Blocks nearest Elverta Road pick up commuter traffic and the noise that comes with a through-road, and like most of Antelope the tree canopy is patchy rather than filled in. Balanced against that, Vista's position touching most of the community means the park, the schools, and the Antelope Road shopping are all a similar, manageable distance out, with no single long haul.