624 W 38th Street A

This first-floor one-bedroom sits behind a white picket gate on the corner of 38th and South Carolina, one of three units in a 1918 building that has been renovated inside and out. Board and batten siding, black-framed windows, a columned front porch, and in this building, each unit has its own private entryway. No one lives below, there's one shared wall, and no interior steps to manage. Inside, the roughly 550 square foot unit uses every inch of space to the fullest. Wide plank oak floors run throughout, and the living room pulls natural light from three sides. The kitchen is a galley done in white shaker cabinets with black pulls, quartz counters, and a window over the sink, fully outfitted with a stainless gas range, a built-in microwave, and a full-size refrigerator. A back door off the kitchen opens straight onto the patio, which makes quick work of groceries and trash night. A stackable washer and dryer stay with the unit, which is the kind of thing that sounds minor until you have lived without it. The bedroom holds a walk-in closet built out with a center shelf tower and two hanging rods, plus a wall-mounted electric fireplace for the evenings. The bathroom is finished in marble-look porcelain from floor to ceiling, with a framed glass shower enclosure, a stone-topped vanity, and a round mirror under a three-light bar. Off the back door, a private concrete patio with turf inlays sits behind a white vinyl fence. Heat is a wall furnace and there is no air conditioning. Street parking only. The gardener is covered by the owner, water is paid by the owner with a fixed monthly charge back to the tenant, and everything else is separately metered. No smoking. What makes this address work beyond the four walls is the neighborhood around it. Fort MacArthur is a short walk from the block, and Point Fermin Park and the bluffs above Cabrillo Beach are close enough to make an ordinary afternoon out of. CRAFTED at the Port and Warehouse 9 Brewery, with food trucks rotating in regularly, is a nearby weekend hang. Down at the water, West Harbor's brand new promenade, its first restaurants and a 6,200-seat amphitheater are open, and the Port has more than $70 million in waterfront revitalization under contract. This end of the coast keeps getting better!