Whitegate/Hawarden Hills is
Pastoral Peace Tucked within the City

Whitegate/Hawarden Hills is about 10 square miles in Riverside's southeast corner, bounded roughly by the city limits, Washington Street, the Gage Canal and Alessandro Blvd. Much of the area is empty hillsides, protected from dense development by Prop. R, the 1979 growth-control initiative.

The boundaries actually encompass three residential neighborhoods, from the million-dollar estates that grace Ravenswood and Hawarden Drive and its tributary street to homes that dot rural Golden Star Avenue, Bradley Street and Gopher Gulch.

Besides the calming backdrop of the hills, the three areas share a trait that attracted many of the residents - peace and quiet.

The census also shows that Hawarden Hills households make more money than the average Riverside household. Hawarden residents also own their homes at a greater rate---6.2% rentals compared to 39 percent city wide.

Narrow, tree lined Hawarden Drive is divided into two parts as it snakes along and above the Gage Canal. The northern side has two entrances, Arlington Avenue and Horace Street. It is dominated by sprawling older homes at the end of driveways that seem to disappear into the hills. The southern end can be entered from Washington or Mary streets. It offers primarily new, but similarly grand, custom-built homes.

The darkened street, its mature trees swaying in autumn breezes, and winding driveways to looming mansions make the area a particularly realistic trick-or- treating area for neighborhood children. Whitegate/Hawarden and the dead-end streets that spur from it make up one of the city's most exclusive and expensive neighborhoods.

People who live in Hawarden Hills do one thing there - they live. They garden, they take silent walks or early-morning jogs, they ride horses and they sip cocktails pool side, taking in panoramic views of the city and citrus groves below or the hills above. They enjoy their privacy and have united in a series of successful land use debates that have preserved their lifestyle for the next generation. They feel lucky that their children grew up there and had a chance to care for a horse or two and hike the hills.