Chestnut Avenue, Episode One: Shade, Sidewalks and Small Discoveries

I park at the Riverside Public Library to begin this month's walk. Three hours of free parking is a generous civic gesture and about an hour more than I will need. I head towards Chestnut Avenue, passing Tio's Tacos: part restaurant, part outdoor museum, part assemblage fever dream.

At Mission Inn Blvd and Chestnut Avenue there is a choice: head towards 13th where it ends at the Riverside County Office of Education Building (home to Café Esquina). Or the southern route that ends in a residential neighborhood adjacent to the entrance of Fairmount Park. My stomach makes this choice for me. It's late morning and Café Esquina's breakfast burrito is going to be my reward for all this outdoor exploration. But only if I make it there by 9:45!

Crossing University Ave, I'm standing in a strip mall with a couple restaurants (Yemeni and Peruvian), a coffee spot with no seating, a smoke shop, and a busy donut spot. I walk quickly through the parking lot, noticing a trio of crows grabbing their morning meal. I always love watching crows foraging together. The way they look out for one another while navigating the human world is resilience in action for me.

Just beyond the parking lot I cross Whittier Place, less a "place", actually a one way alley with Riverside Community College District on one side, and White Park on the other. I see students from RCC's Culinary Academy on break, smoking in the alley or getting some steps in at the park.

Chestnut runs along the back of White Park; I pass several adults making their way to the Dales Senior Center. Chestnut is a great place for walkers and strollers because it has curb cuts and paved sidewalks on both sides. Easements between the walkways and the street are planted with grass and trees and miscellaneous greenery at regular intervals. This makes for a shaded walk on either side, the extra green space adding to the quiet vibe of this neighborhood. All these old trees – no chestnuts I can discern - means some stretches of sidewalk buckle and lift a little as mother nature pushes back against civic planning. Even so, the sidewalk is maintained, patched, repaired. Walkable.

The trees are one of several moments of joy I find on this street, a blend of Walnut, Ash, Elm, and a few distinctive Chinese Pistache. Mexican Fan Palms punctuate the blocks, but the broad shade comes from these older, heavier trees with thick trunks and high canopies. Their leaves filter light, affecting the temperature from one stretch of sidewalk to the next.

Originally, this neighborhood was all single-family homes. About half of this block has been converted to small businesses, which tastefully blend into the neighborhood, maintaining the illusion of a quiet residential street. One porch has a loquat tree hanging heavy with yellow fruit. All these trees, and sources of food, attract a variety of birds. Walking in the morning I hear many of them – warblers, bushtits, wrens, finches, and sparrows – and glimpse a few as they move systematically from yard to yard. I watch a Black Phoebe (my favorite) swoop down to nab a worm and quickly consume it sitting on a power line.

These older homes and newer businesses mean most of the street is lined with parked cars. Those cars, and the fact that most intersections only have a two way stop means I am careful crossing streets here. The shifting mix of shade and sunshine makes it hard for drivers to see pedestrians. A couple of people glide by on e-bikes and scooters, using the street the way city streets ought to be used: for small errands, short commutes, ordinary movement. Those frequent stop signs also discourage drivers from using this as an alternative to nearby Market Street on busy days.

There are beautiful old homes still standing, their exteriors little changed from when they were built, including one big white house at Chestnut and 10th that looks as if it has seen every version of this neighborhood and plans to outlast a few more. Most of the neighborhood appeared in early decades of the city's founding.

There is also a vacant lot with wild grasses and small yellow flowers behind chain link, a pause between structures. My biased outsider perspective imagines a sculpture and vegetable garden. A thriving lived place like this needs open spaces where people can imagine a natural, growing future.

Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE) buildings take up both sides of the block between 12th and 13th. Under the trees on the west side are memorial plaques of two former employees. I look up after reading and spot a message "Hi" spelled out using paper or Post-its in a second story office window.

I duck into Café Esquina for my breakfast burrito. This fast casual restaurant provides low cost hot meals weekdays, conveniently located on the first floor of RCOE. Word of mouth marketing makes this a popular place beyond this cozy neighborhood.

I head back on the opposite side of the street. I know that the first two blocks had new sidewalks poured in 1995 because all the interesting graffiti is signed and dated. Jamie, Chris, Adam, Stephanie, Timmy, Jason, and Mike. There's always a Mike. I imagine local high school kids hanging out after ditching school committing this petty vandalism. I wonder where these forty somethings are today…do any of them still live here? I like to picture them walking a kid or grandkid over to White Park and showing them this plein air yearbook.

I complete my loop of the neighborhood a little before ten, which is when the library opens. As usual, there is a line at the elevators. Libraries are the only city buildings where I see a line of customers waiting to come inside. I'm happy to see they have a cooling center notice out to address our unseasonable heat wave.

I cross University before they open and grab a to-go iced coffee from the chairless coffee shop. Back at the library, I take one of the beige accent chairs that line the floor to ceiling windows looking out over Mission Inn Avenue. From this vantage point, Chestnut Ave looks less like a side street and more like a corridor linking our city's past and our future.

Riverside Walks is a monthly column about exploring ordinary neighborhoods on foot. Not Mount Rubidoux. Not Main Street. No bucket list landmarks…just the urban and suburban streets, parks, alleys, and slices of our natural environment many of us experience on a typical day.

The goal is simple: slow down, pay attention, and appreciate the walkability and beauty woven into the dozens of neighborhoods that comprise our ever growing city. They're everyday routes that reveal how Riverside's culture shapes our housing, infrastructure, and open space. Walking helps me notice that balance. Writing helps me share it.