Willow St, Martinez

Willow Street is a bit of an unusual street, located as it is just outside of the Downtown Martinez. It is unusual in that it is one of those streets that dead ends and then picks up again a block or two later. The two parts of Willow Street could not be more different, however.

Willow Street on its upper end is a fairly typical residential lane right by Downtown Martinez. It is made up of homes dating from before WWII (Martinez dates back to before California was a state and was once the capital of California). I came here to take a look at a tiny duplex which was very cute but very small.

Cute is actually a pretty good word to describe this upper part of Willow Street, which is just far enough uphill from the courthouse and the downtown area that you might not realize you are within walking distance of that area.

On the lower end, you are much more aware of being right by Downtown. Willow is wider here and is mostly filled with old, slightly rundown looking pre-WWII homes. As you get close to Jones Street, however, you get some apartments, one which is actually very new looking with red-tiled roofs and pastel colored adobe walls.

The drawback of being so close to Downtown Martinez is that you are, of course, close to the homeless types that seem to be constantly hanging around down there. It is not the most hospitable of places and being within walking distance of it wouldn’t make me feel too safe.

The other drawback of being up the hill on this side of Downtown is that you right by the hilltop chemical tanks which are also within walking distance. Many people--me included--might be a little worried about what kind of undetected toxins might affect you and your children over time from living in such close proximity to these.

The positives of living so close, of course, are that you are right by the restaurants and coffee shops and that you are also right by the Amtrak station, so commuting is a lot easier.

Overall, it seems like the negatives somewhat outweigh the positives in terms of living here.