It’s an area of cohesive neighborhoods. The historic Old West Side near the city’s core is filled with sturdy bungalows and small Victorian homes built by the city’s German immigrants. The Lansdowne neighborhood is an area of three- and four-bedroom colonials built south of Scio Church Road in the 1960s. Each has an elementary school at its heart - Eberwhite and Bach for the Old West Side and Lawton for Lansdowne.

The Old West Side is the area’s crown jewel, politically protected and geographically defined by South Main Street and the railroad tracks to the east, Huron Street to the north, Pauline Boulevard on the south and Crest Street on the west. It has its own neighborhood association with an annual garage sale, children’s festival and even a newsletter. Virginia Park also has a neighborhood association of its own.

It makes sense that the Ann Arbor neighborhoods with some of the oldest houses should hold strong to tradition: Washtenaw Dairy, an Ann Arbor institution for 75 years, sees long lines wind around its shop each summer. A group of old-timers gathers every morning for coffee - there’s no espresso here.

A few blocks away, the Jefferson Market and Cakery is the latest incarnation of a store that has survived in its neighborhood spot across from Bach School for decades. Today the cakery offers soups, salads, sandwiches and some of the best tasting wedding cake around.

Ann Arbor West is an area where neighborhoods strongly identify with their parks, from Allmendinger — buzzing with baseball, tennis and pick-up basketball games in the summer — to West Park and its iconic band shell. Secluded Eberwhite Woods has three ponds, oak and hickory trees and wildflowers that bring carpets of color come spring.

And there’s the granddaddy of all West Side parks: the Veterans Park complex at the corner of Dexter Avenue and Maple Road. In the winter, there’s a skating rink and one of the best sledding hills in the city. Come summer, crowds of young people cool off in the swimming pool (water slide anyone?). Under the strong glare of night-lights, the ball diamonds steal a chapter from “A Field of Dreams."

There are other places where nature has survived on the West Side. North of Vets Park, walkers can (almost) escape the sounds of the city with a stroll though Bird Hills Nature Area. Farther east, there’s the chance to walk through the switch grass of Pioneer Prairie behind Pioneer High School.

The West Side isn’t all charm. Some of it is business. Strip malls and fast-foot joints line Stadium Boulevard, from Pauline Boulevard north, ending at Westgate Shopping Center, offering a mix of locally owned retail and national chain stores.