Riverside is where California’s citrus industry began. Two navel orange trees planted here in 1873 founded an industry that reshaped the state’s economy, and one of the parent trees is still alive downtown. The California Citrus State Historic Park preserves a working grove.
The city’s everyday food is Mexican, and the taquerias and panaderias along University and Magnolia are the best value. The downtown around the Mission Inn holds most of the independent restaurants and has been steadily redeveloped.
The Inland Empire is not a destination dining region, but it is an inexpensive and genuinely good one for Mexican food, and Riverside is the most walkable base in it.