I was first raised in Europe, in an apartment block just like the one described above (loved it), then in a western state...
You are lucky to have a creek, and perhaps other factors that make your community socially healthy? In general, my impression of suburbs in Northern California is favorable. They're much smaller than the one I was familiar with (Rocky Mountain West state). Property here is expensive, so neighbors don't get the chance to isolate themselves behind quarter-acre lands and identical vinyl fences. But where I landed in the US, miles and miles of suburbs lay uninterrupted except for an Applebees or a Walmart. All had vinyl-fenced yards, no one sat outside. No one walked outside - my relatives visiting and walking would be stared at suspiciously through cracks in the blinds. The crime is low, but paranoia so high that I wasn't surprised when I heard the story of an elderly Indian man struck to the ground and paralyzed when walking through a suburb [1].
For individuals like yourself, this quote applies, I think: “If you want to have the suburban American lifestyle, that will still be on offer,” Mr. Furth said. “What we’re really trying to change is that that has become so universal that there’s not much space left for anything else.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/02/1...