Cam del Monte, Orinda

This street is like many streets in what used to be known as Red Hill when in the 50's many Berkeley professors moved in. This is the sort of place people are always getting lost trying to find. Your GPS is likely to go completely bonkers here.

This little street is a great little hidden away residential street with quiet neighbors that mostly keep to themselves unless they see you need a hand--at which point they quickly come to your aid. Most houses on the street are family owned and the people have been here a long time. So everyone pretty much knows each other by name, and is on a relatively friendly basis.

Although this is more of a suburban than a rural area, neighbors have plenty of dogs, keep chickens, tend their gardens and otherwise enjoy the sunshine. The street is mostly families, though there are at least a pair of couples (one young, one old) and even a small handful of single renters.

The city requires residents to trim back limbs from the street and to keep their yards clear of brush because of fire danger, which means that you have to be willing to work on your house. All the trees means a lot of yardwork as well. But this this is a great quiet place to raise kids and take in the sunshine.