This guide to the Valley’s best neighborhoods for a variety of personalities can help you navigate today’s crucible of a real estate market and find your ideal home.
Midtown 24th Street Corridor
For first-timers, Gen Zers and foodies.
Along a once-unsavory stretch of 24th Street from McDowell to Osborn roads, destination restaurants now line up like mise en place. Five years ago, skeptical epicureans shook their heads when Kevin Binkley moved his namesake flagship here to uncork an ambitious moveable feast of 20-ish courses. But other surprise hits soon followed, including Claudio Urcioli’s improbably tasty Italian-Peruvian grill, Pa’La, and swoon-worthy Northern Thai hot spot Glai Baan. Sprinkled throughout these big hitters are hip haunts like Rewined Beer and Wine Bar, Reap & Sow Coffee Bar, Wren House Brewing Company and PIP Coffee + Clay.
“We’re building a real foodie community here,” says Valentina Huerta, co-owner of Nomada, a bite-size coffee, wine and gourmet food shop. True to the neighborhood’s friendly vibe, Huerta, who lives nearby, knows all her regulars by name and steers them toward special finds (that Corsican rosé, mwa!).
This culturally diverse corridor lacks the luster of Scottsdale or the name recognition of Arcadia. Heck, it lacks a name. But that means it comes with a more purse-friendly price tag. So even first-time buyers may find a new address in the verdant Green Gables or Loma Linda districts, where homes are a mix of fixer-uppers and charmingly revamped historical abodes, some brightened by colorful murals.
