Riverside CA Hotels

If you’re like many California people, the most you know about Riverside is that it’s a seeming metropolis that passes underneath the I-215 freeway in that vast extension of back-to-back cities that stretch eastward from Los Angeles. If you try to think about one distinguishing characteristic, you probably can’t.

But get on down off the freeway and you’ll find one of the most unique getaway experiences in the state – an experience that transports you to Early California through architecture and through the efforts of city fathers to preserve Riverside’s past.

Riverside has long been proud of the vast number of trees lining its streets and avenues. The Chamber's Keep Riverside Clean and Beautiful program is continually adding to the city's more than 116,000 street trees.

Riverside's Magnolia and Victoria Avenues were among the earliest tree-lined boulevards in the state. The 91 Freeway parallels and is flanked by these two major arteries, as they run roughly from the northeast to the southwest through the city, echoing the course of the Santa Ana River on the City's northern border.

Residential and commercial neighborhoods are strung like pearls along these arteries. Pockets of industrial development are largely at the northeast end and around the other edges of the city.

Dynamic Neighborhoods -- Riverside evolved through the 20th century from a quiet agricultural colony into a dynamic, active city, a hub of higher education, technology, commerce, law, finance, and culture. Unlike some younger communities, where generic strip malls and cookie-cutter crowded housing have resulted in sameness, Riverside has preserved its rich architectural history.