Upper Ocean, Santa Cruz, CA

Upper Ocean is the northern run of Ocean Street in Santa Cruz, an avenue of diners, ice cream counters and motels with older residential blocks sitting just behind it. It reads as a working street first and a quiet one second, which suits the people who like having errands and a meal on the same stretch. Homes on the side streets are mostly small cottages and bungalows on narrow lots. Parked cars line the narrow streets, and the avenue's businesses are never more than a block or two from a front door. The two places people name first are both on Ocean Street. Santa Cruz Diner, at 909 Ocean, opened in 1998, serves breakfast all day alongside Vietnamese dishes, and has appeared on Food Network. Marianne's Ice Cream, at 1020 Ocean, has been hand-making ice cream since 1947 and keeps more than a hundred flavors in rotation, so the line on a warm evening is part of the street. For fresh air, Riverside Gardens Park on San Lorenzo Boulevard and San Lorenzo Park are both close, and the riverside path runs from there toward downtown. The beach and the amusement rides are a short bike ride south, and the Wharf is not much farther. Everyday shopping happens a few minutes away by car, with Safeway and Whole Foods the usual full-size stops in Midtown and on the Eastside. Santa Cruz Metro buses run along the main avenues, and Highway 1 leads toward Capitola in minutes, and Highway 17 is the route over the hill to San Jose. Traffic is the cost of living in Upper Ocean. Ocean Street carries steady cars from the highway to the beach, so the blocks right on it are louder than the ones a street or two over. The diner stays open until nine or ten at night and Marianne's keeps scooping until eleven or midnight, so the avenue stays awake well after dinner.