Estudillo St, Martinez

Estudillo Street is a mostly residential street that runs south to north from Soto to the Amtrak Station (with a break at Ward and then picking up again at Main Street). I was drawn here to take a look at a cottage that is up for rent. (It turned out to be too small for my needs.)

Estudillo is on the northern end of Martinez--which means that there are a lot of older homes, many in the Mission Revival style or with wood-paneling. Estudillo is a narrow street and the small homes that line it have only the most minimal of front yards (created more for impression than for a full front lawn). The homes here also seem a bit worn with faded white picket fences and weather aged adobe walls. Don’t get me wrong, many of these little homes--especially the bungalows--are just beautiful examples of a style that was popular before WWII. If you like these kinds of old neighborhoods, you are likely to love the homes here. (Also, despite the limited front yard space, many of the bungalow owners go all out on shrubbery--a little like the Bungalow City area of Pasadena.)

Homes on Estudillo sell for around $225K, which is about as low as it gets without abandoning quality of schools and life.

Estudillo also has a nice shady park (of the kind you might imagine in say Mayberry), a beautiful old church and a Montessori school--all conveniently located within a block of each other. The church is St. Catherine’s of Siena’s.

North of St. Catherine’s (which is on the corner of Mellus), Estudillo becomes progressively less residential and starts feeling more the like the urban downtown area. When Estudillo picks up on Main Street after the break you pretty much have no more residences. The next 3 blocks to the Amtrak Station are pretty much all businesses and warehouses. There is Starbucks right there on Main (a nice leafy park area just outside which is great to sit and have breakfast).

When I was in graduate school at UC Davis I used to get a coffee here while waiting for the train. The town really does have an old timey feel to it. You also get a lot of lawyer and law enforcement types getting coffee here, since the Martinez Court House and holding center is just down the street. If you don’t like a corporate coffee house, you might try Victoria’s Cafe just across the street from Starbucks.

The other stores on Estudillo are a bit of a mixed bag, having stores such as a Peaches (a yarn store?), The Bow Rack (an archery store), and some repair shops and yards.

Overall, this is an okay place on the southern end but perhaps a bit too close to the Main Street area for real comfort.