One of my favorite scenes on my previous layout was the couple blocks of "street running" through West Oakland, California I modeled for many years. Carefully kitbashing and scratchbuilding structures found in that neighborhood to get it just right. It had many iterations, buildings constantly being repositioned to get just the right scene, but these four were staples. Two Victorian homes, one of which with a scratchbuilt roofline to match Oakland Victorians, the other a stock kit from IHC, but with a black-owned barbershop annex in front of the garage. See if you can spot Bobby Seale on the steps!
The car repair place (center) is an old Con-Cor kit I kitbashed an entirely new ground floor onto, and added vehicle doors to the front. The corner store is a City Classics kit with scratchbuilt abandoned neon sign hanger, weathered to match a dingy corner store in the area.
