Western Drive / Nobel, Santa Cruz, CA

The Western Drive and Nobel area is where the Santa Cruz Westside trades hillside streets for workshops, taprooms and studios. Western Drive / Nobel mixes homes with a working district, and Humble Sea Brewing, known for its foggy IPAs and pastry stouts, is the easiest landmark to point to. Housing here is a patchwork of single-story houses and duplexes on the quieter blocks, with the occasional second unit added behind. Some streets run right up against shop buildings and warehouses, so a front window may look out on a loading door as easily as a neighbor's garden. It reads as a lived-in, practical corner rather than a polished one. University Terrace Park is the green spot closest to home. For bigger outings, Natural Bridges State Beach lies south along the coast. Winter brings crowds for the overwintering monarchs, low tide fills the rock pools with sea stars and crabs, and seals, otters and migrating whales turn up offshore. Coffee starts at Cat & Cloud's Swift Street roastery, a bike ride east, which is the only one of their cafes with a full kitchen. Companion Bakeshop on Mission Street turns out naturally leavened breads and laminated pastries, and the kouign-amann is the order people repeat. Humble Sea's taproom handles the evening side. Mission Street is the spine of the Westside and carries most errands. The Fair Avenue New Leaf is the nearest natural-foods grocery, Metro buses run toward downtown and the university, and Highway 1 is the way out of town toward Davenport and the north coast. Work-day noise is the plain downside. Delivery trucks, early shifts and weekend taproom crowds mean the streets are livelier than a purely residential block, and parking tightens around the breweries. Western Drive / Nobel is one of the few Westside corners where a pint, a bag of beans and a stretch of shoreline all fit into the same afternoon without crossing the city.