Up on the slopes of the Baldwin Hills, in the middle of the Los Angeles basin, View Park and Windsor Hills look out over the city in every direction: downtown's towers to the north-east, the Hollywood sign and the San Gabriels to the north, the ocean and the airport to the west. It is a leafy, quiet neighbourhood of curving streets and handsome 1920s to 1950s houses, and since the 1960s it has been one of the most affluent Black communities in the United States, sometimes called the Black Beverly Hills. Ray Charles lived here, and the area has been home to generations of doctors, judges, musicians and athletes.
A strange thing to see next door: the Inglewood Oil Field, one of the largest urban oil fields in the country, still has hundreds of pump jacks nodding away on the hills just to the north, between houses and parks. Around and above them, the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area and the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook offer trails and big views, and the overlook's steep staircase, cut into the hillside, is a favourite workout for Angelenos. At sunset, the whole basin turns gold and then glitters with lights.
Big Bear feels a world away from here. The Rim of the World Highway, Route 18, runs along the crest of the San Bernardino Mountains at around two thousand metres, with drop-offs, tight curves and views over the desert and the basin, and Big Bear Lake sits in a pine-forested valley that gets snow in winter. Coming back, you drop down to the valley and then fight your way across the freeways of the Inland Empire and Los Angeles, which can be slow, hot and stressful at rush hour. Lane splitting is legal in California, which helps, but stay alert.
Practically, everything is close: fuel, food and services along La Brea and Crenshaw, and Inglewood, home to SoFi Stadium and the Forum, right next door. Leimert Park, a few minutes away, is a centre of Black arts and culture, with galleries, music and cafés, and it is a good place to end the day with a meal.
If you have energy, ride up to the top of the hill, watch the planes line up for LAX and the sun drop into the Pacific, and know that this neighbourhood has some of the best city views in Los Angeles.