Northgate / Gardenland

The Northgate and Gardenland neighborhood are much like the rest of the South Natomas area—filled with older homes. The neighborhoods were hit hard by the foreclosure crisis, with a full three quarters of homes for sale due to foreclosure.

This is one of those California neighborhoods, like so many others, that is filled with Ranch style homes. In the case of this neighborhood, the homes are from the two previous building booms in the 1950’s and 1970’s. You can definitely see this in the style of the homes here, with the slightly smaller 1950’s style Ranch homes really beginning to show their wear.

Northgate and Gardenland mostly have the feel of a neighborhood that has seen better days. The homes feel a bit worn down, many of the lawns are un-kept and the trees seem to droop wildly across the lawns. Many of the older homes also have a particularly flimsy look to them.

The schools also show some signs of neglect with test stores indicating slightly below average performance overall.

The restaurant selection in this area is also fairly limited with taquerias ruling the day. If you are not into Mexican food, it will mostly be pizza or Thai food here—though none of them are the kinds of places you would drive here for as far as I can tell.

Nightlife and gyms are pretty much non-existent here, though.