PLACES & EVERYDAY TURLOCK
The Westside belongs in any account of Turlock. Grocery stores, schools, parks and family businesses have made it a neighborhood of daily routines for generations. West Main Street is a good place to begin, but there is more to it than the route into downtown.
Updated 2026.
How to place it
“Westside” is a familiar local name whose edges depend on the conversation. Here it means the older area around West Main, Lander Avenue and the nearby blocks southwest of downtown. It is not a claim that every resident uses the same boundary.
Places that still serve the neighborhood
- Columbia Park, 595 High Street. The city’s park listing describes playgrounds, courts, picnic areas, walking paths, a pool and a splash feature. The park’s history includes community murals, the Marty Yerby center and the pool’s 2025 reopening. Use the park guide for the practical tradeoffs and seasonal water-play details.
- Cost Less, 255 W. Main Street. The market’s site lists produce, a bakery and a butcher. Its place in an older grocery building is part of the Main Street story.
- Nagina Palace, 1142 W. Main Street. The restaurant’s menu includes Indian dishes, biryani, chaat, naan and vegetarian choices, with dine-in and pickup options.
School history before the familiar Canal Drive campus
Osborn Two-Way Immersion Academy is a current school at 201 N. Soderquist Street, listed by Turlock Unified. A much earlier school story belongs to the Locust and High streets intersection: the National Register nomination locates the first purpose-built Turlock High School there in 1907. The school’s history records the building’s demolition in 1963.
That west-side beginning makes the later move east more meaningful. It was part of a debate over where the growing town’s institutions would go, described in the older east Turlock guide.
A business history that continued
The Journal’s Westside business series follows the shift of major shopping toward Geer, Fulkerth and Monte Vista while documenting the loyalty of customers who stayed with older local markets. It also recalls New Deal on Lander as a major shopping destination. Those memories describe earlier businesses; today’s storefronts and menus deserve their own look.
The Westside also has a place in Liberty Market’s history. Old Lander Avenue and Seventh Street listings, the Doo family’s expansion and former employees’ later businesses connect it with grocery stores across the Valley.
Pair a visit to Columbia Park with a nearby meal, or follow West Main toward downtown and the Historical Society Museum. The Westside’s useful starting points are the places that still bring neighbors together.
Turlock Guide · Areas & Streets · Shopping centers & restaurants · Turlock history
