One would expect a street named Ocean Avenue to provide a direct passage to the beach or, at the very least, a cruise bordering the coast. Follow this road to the west, however, and your travels will find you abandoned in a foggy neighborhood bordering the San Francisco Zoo.

The uneventful strip of nail fashioning, crew cutting, and auto repairs doesn’t do much for the eye, but Ocean earns its stars with what it offers to the stomach. Delectable ethnic eats and hair-raising coffee make a trip along this southern morsel of San Francisco well worth it. It is by no means one of the roughest areas of the City, but robberies, the occasional shooting and the cannabis club on the street may scare off some.

Ocean runs from the Mission, traverses Ingleside, and dead-ends in the Sunset, making a clean-cut categorization of the area near impossible. Slum neighborhoods and struggling, privately-owned businesses are offset by grass-covered suburbs and the palm-tree-lined stretches absorbed in gentrification. This urban paradox is in its dimmest form near the overpass of the 280 freeway, where City College sits on one side of the street and McDonald's peeks its golden arches from the other.

It’s difficult for smaller businesses to last on the block because of changing times and expanding corporate interests. Creative Music Emporium, one of the first and last true record stores in the City, will close its doors for good in 2010 after twenty-five years of business. “It’s hard for a music specialty store to survive,” says Joe Lambert, who co-owns the store with his wife Elba. Lambert says the impact of mp3s and file sharing only tell half the story. “I don’t think it’s so much the digital age; it’s just that the record companies are putting out so much crappy music,” he says. Peep the places below before the times swallow them up.

THE LOOKOUT:

Ocean Taqueria
This hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint quite possibly has the best burrito outside of the Mission. Grilled chicken and steak are cooked before your eyes and thrown together with your choice of killer peppers, sauces, and other familiar benchmarks. Legit prices make this a no-brainer. 1941 Ocean Ave.

Balboa Park
This spacious and inviting park is the jack of all trades: a massive grass area, large, sprawling trees, a swimming pool, swings, a children’s playground, tennis courts, football and soccer fields, and even a police station hidden behind the park. Pick your poison.
San Jose Ave. and Ocean Ave.

Java On Ocean Cafe
The best lounging coffeehouse atmosphere around; trumps any Starbucks in the City. Coffee is on par, not amazing, but the free two-hour wi-fi and rentable computers near the back makes this a sublime place to hang out, study or grab lunch.
1700 Ocean Ave.

The Ave.
If you’re looking to have a beer and mingle with the locals, your choices are slim. Randy’s Place probably has the cheapest drinks to choose from, but the established crowd might ostracize anyone under thirty. The Ave’s handful of characters and atmosphere make it the spot to grab a drink.
1607 Ocean Ave.

Pho Ha Tien
A wide selection of Vietnamese dishes, including decent pho and boba drinks for a great sit-down or take-out meal. Short on cash? For $3.50, the barbecue chicken sandwich will change your life.
1900 Ocean Ave.

Creative Music Emporium
It’s not often that you can walk into a record store and feel more relaxed than before you came in. Maybe it’s the jazz and blues playing in the background. Maybe it’s the incense often burning on the counter. Or perhaps it’s the warm conversation you’ll have with the store’s owners. You have until April of 2010 to experience this classic record store vibe.
26 Ocean Ave.