Respite From Chain Shopping

When Cypress incorporated in 1956, it was called Dairy City and had 15 times as many cows as people.

All that milk would come in handy at Gourmet Pie & Cafe, a bakery and diner-style restaurant that looks and feels like a throwback to the ‘50s, even though it opened in 1983.

“We like to call it ‘Cheers’ because everybody knows everybody else here,” said Carolyn Richards, a manager at the restaurant owned by her husband, Michael, who had it passed to him when his parents retired. “We have about 80% repeat customers.”

In a city, a county and a country that often seem overrun with anonymous strip malls and impersonal chain stores, the cafe (in Cypress Center West, 4139 Ball Road, [714] 995-8930) offers fresh food and a family atmosphere for customers and workers alike.

With a menu that carries everything from homemade bread to fresh-baked pies, from Belgian waffles to Kansas City steak, a pair of signature meals keep the regulars coming back. The breakfast Messes feature mixtures of eggs, potatoes and other tasty additions ($5.45 to $6.85), and the boysenberry cream cheese pancakes ($6.45), buttermilk flapjacks made from scratch, would inspire return trips even without the decadent topping.

“People will move away, and if they come back and visit, they’ll make a point to come here,” Richards said.

Vintage photos of the Long Beach Pike, the Spruce Goose taxiing in Long Beach Harbor, the Avalon Casino and other historical scenes line the walls, while the servers--mainly students working their schedules around high school or college classes--duck in and out of the kitchen.

The bread is baked daily, the fresh boysenberries, cherries and other fruit are simmered for the pie fillings, and even the crumbs to bread pork chops are ground from the bakers’ own loaves.

“I love it here,” Richards said. “I love the workers and I love the customers. Everybody is just so friendly. But I love it most because I love the food.”

Hey, Teacher!

If you’ve filled up on pie, better not try to hopscotch the squares painted on the sidewalk a short distance away in front of Sederholm Educational Supply (4175 Ball Road, [714] 761-8777). By all means, though, head inside to peruse the toys and teaching tools, which include tempera paints, glitter by the pound, kid-friendly stickers of everything from toy bugs to Toulouse-Lautrec, plastic fruit and play money.

Owner Carl Sederholm said the 12-year-old business not only sells to teachers stocking supplies and parents preparing to home-school but to grandparents picking up a treat or two for their grandchildren.

Fuzzy puppets from the Big Bad Wolf to Clifford the Big Red Dog hang from a display near the front of the store. And for the first-grader on the fast track, a shelf in the back holds flashcards on classical Greek and inorganic chemistry.

For those more interested in botany, or a place to walk off a slice of lemon sour cream pie, two bucolic parks lie a short stroll away.

Park, Park

To the east of Cypress Center West, just across Via Largo, is the Cypress Nature Park on Ball Road. Though it’s not scheduled to reopen until after the rainy season in April or May, the six-acre park features trails, self-guided and guided tours, crafts and storytelling for children and even star-gazing programs, all free in an urban oasis.

“You go down in the trails, and it’s just like being in a forest. You can’t see anything else,” said Marvin DeCarlo, director of the Cypress Recreation and Parks District. “Most people don’t know it’s there. It’s a real treat.”

Open year-round a block farther east on Ball Road is Veterans Park, the newest park in Cypress, which is striving to have no home farther than a half-mile from a green space, DeCarlo said.

The 6.2-acre Veterans Park (at Ball Road and Denni Street) opened in 1994 and features a volleyball sand pit and two basketball hoops, all lighted, plus a picnic pavilion that seats about 60 and includes barbecue grills and a sink. The pavilion can be reserved 10 days in advance by calling Recreation and Parks, (714) 229-6780, or claimed first-come, first-served if no one has reserved it.

Other picnic tables and barbecues dot the park, which also has swings and the city’s newest playground equipment. The park is open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

IF YOU GO

Take the San Gabriel River Freeway (605) to Katella Avenue, go east to Los Alamitos Boulevard, head north to Ball Road and go east.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Cypress

1. Gourmet Pie & Cafe

4139 Ball Road

(714) 995-8930

2. Sederholm Educational Supply

4175 Ball Road

(714) 761-8777

3. Veteran’s Park

4554 Avenida Granada

(714) 229-6780

4. Nature Park

4201 Ball Road

(714) 229-6780