What's your favorite local town/city? -- Mike

What is your favorite local town/city? Where near you do you most like to be? Why do you like it so much? Why is it special to you? What do you like to do there?

I would have to see my favorite place near me would be Riverside. Its the biggest city in the county, one of the biggest in Southern California, and the seat of my county - Riverside County. It is located twenty miles north of my town. I like it for alot of reasons. I love to be there, its one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to. Many parts of Riverside are made up of old treelined streets that go past victorian homes and mansions. In its heydey in the early twentieth century Riverside was the wealthiest town in America, perhaps the world. It was the seat of the citrus empire and many of the citrus groves are still there, as well as the mansions of the people involved with the citrus empire.

Riverside is a mixed-bag. It is a metropolitan area with 270,000 people, but you could never tell because its so spread out. Riverside covers 76.5 square miles. Parts of it are open land, parts of it have a quaint, small town feel, and parts of it are dense with traffic and skyscrapers, making it reminiscent of LA, Chicago, or New York. Its chock full of historic buildings. One of my favorite is the Mission Inn. It's an old hotel that was constructed from the late 1800s to the 1930s. It's somewhat gothic looking on the outside, several stories, taking up a whole city block. Its reminiscent of the house on The Haunting, but maybe not so foreboding. What's best is you can still stay there. It's quite expensive though. Many famous people, such as royalty, presidents, political figures, and celebrities have stayed there over the years. Parts of Riverside are home to celebrities and other wealthy people. Riverside has won the award for City with the Most Trees many times.

I often drive through Riverside. I like to get off the freeway in the most populated part of the city, but at night. Past the University, the busy college nightlife, all the buildings and lights, and head west. Then I'll head down a major thoroughfare lined with huge, ancient trees and beautiful, equally ancient homes. Eventually, in the outskirts of Riverside, I'll turn on a lonely road that leads past citrus groves, into winding hills and open country, and past the crystal-blue Lake Matthews. Eventually after several miles, I'll reach another road. I'll head east on that road, with the lake to the north for several miles. Then several miles of open country, eventually reaching the freeway again and heading south towards home.

A couple other things I like to do there: They have a nice amusement park, with one of the highest Log Flumes in the country, and they have nice theatres and nice restaurants. There are alot more nice things to do there but I haven't tried them yet. The best way I can explain the atmosphere of Riverside, is it looks and feels like a mixture of California, the subtropics, and New England. Its full of Palms, subtropical plants, emerald lawns, huge old shade trees, and the mixture of new, contemporary architecture as well as old, striking architecture. Its just a great place to be. :)

So what's your favorite local town/city? What are your reasons for liking it and what do you like to do there? You don't have to be as descriptive but you can if you like! :)

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