I would say to get off of the main roads through the city and drive around the residential areas. There are some really beautiful old and well cared for homes in some parts of the city, but even in the more poverty stricken areas there are examples of a wide spread of architectural period pieces represented. It makes the city seem "homey" to me. It is more interesting than cities where large tracts of newer houses are the predominant buildings. Riverside itself is probably best thought of as a poverty center as much of the population is on some sort of government aid, but the town itself has maintained a level of financial success in that the business areas are still thriving. You can get a real feel for the history of the city by wandering around in your car rather than going right through the town by the faster routes.

Having bought a car while living in this city I would say don't do it. I bought a car there that I really liked from a dealership, but ended up having a really bad experience. The dealership claimed that they had the wrong sticker price on the car and that because of that I had underpaid and they wanted more money. It was only a difference of about $700, and I had not done anything wrong. The dealership simply said they had made a mistake in the pricing of the car, took me to court, and much to my disbelief, they won the court case. To add insult to injury, the judge said I would receive his decision in so many days, and on the day I received the notification that he had decided against me I also received notification that the funds had been withdrawn from my bank account. I sort of got the impression that the car dealership had the judge in their back pocket, so to speak, and wondered how many other people they had taken advantage of in that way. Anyway, it was a bad, bad experience, but perhaps just peculiar to me.

I remember my brother and I riding through this city during a time when he was living with me. We were driving through a relatively low speed limit area, a main street, but one that went through residential areas as well. I don't remember the reason for this trip, nor do I remember the destination. Because of our low speed, and the fact that my brother was the passenger, he was able to look around at the scenery more than I was. At one point he started laughing and pointed out a street sign that indicated the street name was "Wong Way". It struck us as funny because of the obvious sort of racial overtones of a Chinese person mispronouncing the words "wrong way". This memory is my favorite just because it occurred at a happy time in my life when my brother and I lived together for a brief time. The area we were driving through was one of the older parts of town with beautifully maintained houses and landscaping that Riverside is not that well known for, but exists if you are lucky enough to find it.

University Avenue.. I attended college at the University of California Riverside campus. University Avenue, as it was at that time, sort of ended at the University, dumping you off at the entrance to the college. I recall it being an exciting road because of its connection to the school and all of the businesses that were supported by the student population. There were all the many fast food restaurants represented, and then as you got closer to campus there were the more bookish and culturally cool sort of places, and the many apartment buildings and campus housing intended for the student residences. University Ave itself goes through some rather more depressing areas of the downtown area, poverty and low level crime abounds, so it is not so much the actual road that I liked so much as the excitement of its proximity to an area of higher cultural activities.

I must admit, Riverside and San Bernardino counties have some of the highest drunk driving accident rates in the whole country. Always watch out for the other guy and give everyone the right of way. You really don't know what you are dealing with.

If you want to maximize your dollar drive a little to Los Angeles or Orange Counties, as there is far more to choose from and your chances of snagging a deal are better there.

My favorite memory is when I first moved to Riverside from Valle Vista. Going into Riverside from Valle Vista and taking the back roads there was memorable. I was in the Volvo driving through the back road to Riverside with my two teen-aged daughters. This consists of driving west on Ramona Expressway, through miles of open land. The land at first borders Soboba Indian Reservation and Casino, then it passes through an area of dairy farm land. Roll up your windows, if you aren't used to cows! Then to the left there was a small pasture filled with goats, they were so cute! Now we are about to ascend a range of hills that are really like the Holy Land, just large boulders and rocks with a thin dusting of springtime green keeping it looking less than barren. When we got to the crest of the larges hill, what a sight! The twinkling lights of the greater Riverside metro area lay before us, and our future! Civilization yeah!

The area around the University of Riverside. The road to Redlands. From the area I lived in in Riverside, we were able to take the back roads to Redlands. Redlands is a beautiful city that was founded back in the days of endless orange groves. We would drive out Iowa Street, to Center Street in High Grove, crossing many train tracks on the way. We also passed many fruit packing plants that had stood there from a century ago. Going up Center we come to a T in the road and must turn right to get to Redlands. We are now in Grand Terrace and this is wild burro country! We wind up a hill, and then going down the grade is step and the road is curved. Now we go right along the base of the hill and the land becomes green and lush with lots of oaks and pine, the homes large Victorians. This town exudes the Victorian age and is just wonderful.